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Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and how many times I've heard the Bible preach dear God, and how many times we've opened its pages and looked at it dear God, but it's always fresh, it's always new. And God I just pray that you would speak to our hearts through the message tonight. Help all of us to apply this to our life and use this to bring us closer to you dear God. And in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now tonight's sermon is probably not the typical sermon that you'll hear preached in churches across America tonight, and it's probably not the typical sermon that you'll hear, even an independent fundamental Baptist church. Now earlier this morning when I was preaching I made a comment about Yellow Pages ads that talk about churches having very practical, relevant teaching. And they'll advertise that, that's their buzzword, they'll say, practical preaching. You will connect with the message. That's what they often say, that wording, or we will connect with you. Get connected. And they use these little buzzwords to try to get people interested and think, goodnight, I'm not going to go and hear about something that doesn't apply to me, I'm going to go and hear about something that's just exactly what I need right now. Well, that's great, but the problem with that is that God wants us to know what we believe, and He wants us to know doctrine. He wants us to know what this book says. And we're living in a day where I talk to people who grew up in Christian homes, I talk to people that are teenagers, young people in their young 20s and so forth, I'll talk to them about the Bible, and they don't have a clue what they believe about certain things. They don't have a clue about doctrine. I want to ask them, I want to say, what have you been learning in church? What has been taught to you? You know, I'm sure it was very practical what was taught to you. I'm sure there were many sermons about how to overcome grief, and how to get your confidence back, and how to, you know, and those are important sermons. But yes, doctrines of the Bible must be preached. We must know what we believe, and I'll tell you something, if it's in the Bible it's relevant, period. I don't care whether you think it's relevant to you right now, if it's in the Bible it must be relevant, because God said man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and so we all need to know everything that's in this book. I talked, for example, let me give you an example, I talked to somebody, I've had this conversation with several people. People who grew up in church, their whole life, and they're not sure whether somebody in some foreign country somewhere, who has never heard about Jesus Christ, whether they're going to heaven or not, and they're not really sure, you know, they're not sure whether somebody could go to hell without having somebody give them the Gospel. And I'm thinking to myself, what kind of preaching have you been listening to? What have you been hearing if somebody doesn't even teach you the most basic rudimentary doctrines, that if you don't have Jesus Christ, you're going to go to hell. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him. And people aren't even sure about these doctrines, what they believe. I don't know, I mean, I just can't believe that somebody would go to hell if they, nobody's ever given them a clear presentation of the Gospel, look, then why would you give anybody a clear presentation of the Gospel? I mean, you'd just be damning them to hell by telling them about it. And so I'm using that to illustrate the fact that a lot of times people don't know what they believe. Not only that, but you'll run into people that are second generation Christians or third generation Christians, and they'll have this set of guidelines and rules that they believe, but they don't know why they believe it. They can't show you in the Bible why they believe it. It's just something that was passed down to them in tradition. And they may know that, well, I just know that I'm not supposed to go to the movies, because the pastor preached against going to the movies, but they don't know why, they don't understand why. And then that's why they get the blockbuster card and they rent the exact same movie and watch it in their house. And they say, but I'm never going to go to the movies, that's bad, but watching the exact same movie in their house is not bad. And it just illustrates someone who has an inconsistent set of principles. Now, don't get me wrong, because I'm against both, but I can prove to you from the Bible why I'm against both. And so I'm tired of a Christianity that says, you know, let's just preach a relevant message that everybody can connect with, and they're going to go out feeling good. Look, we must know what we believe. My three children in the far row, I'll tell you something, by the time they're done growing up in this church, they're going to know what they believe, and they're going to know why they believe it, and it's not going to be based on man, it's going to be based on this book right here. And so I'm going to preach on a subject that is, to me, something that I think is extremely important, because God devotes here half of a chapter to it, and he devotes other places in the Bible to this one subject, and that subject has to do with the length of your hair. You say, wait a minute, you're going to preach a whole sermon on the length of your hair? Yes, I am. Right now, I'm going to do that. I'm going to preach a whole sermon on the length of your hair, and I'm going to show you in the Bible what it stands for and what it means. Now look, if you would, this is kind of like a Wednesday night Bible study, more than a Sunday night sermon, but look, if you would, at verse number four, I'm sorry, verse number three of 1 Corinthians 11. I'm going to show you something interesting here that you may have overlooked in your Bible reading. I know I overlooked this when I was younger, and I remember when I read this the first time and really understood it as a 17-year-old boy, I couldn't believe it. And I've showed this to many people since then, and usually if they had an honest heart, they'd agree with me because, I mean, it's just right there. But look, if you would, at verse number three. They said, but I would have you to know, I'm sorry, but I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Now let me stop here and explain this. God here is talking about authority. He's talking about a chain of command. He's talking about authority. He says, look, you've got a man and a woman? The man's supposed to be the leader there. The man's the head there. In a marriage, yes, the husband is in charge. But then he says the head of the man is Christ. He says, look, a man, he doesn't answer to his wife, obviously, he answers to Jesus Christ. That's his authority figure that he's supposed to be in submission to. But watch this. Look at the last phrase. And the head of Christ is God. Now let me say this, is Christ not as good as God? I mean, is Christ inferior to God? Of course not. Jesus Christ is God. And so when we're talking about the roles of male and female, we're not talking about there's one better than another. We're not saying that a man is better than a woman. We're saying that there's a chain of command authority. See, look, Jesus Christ was not inferior to God, yet he said, I do always those things which please my Father. You see, he put himself in subjection to the God the Father. He said that he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. See how he was obedient? He added orders from his Father, and he obeyed those orders from his Father. Now look, that doesn't mean that he was inferior to God because Jesus Christ is God, he's co-equal with God, but he must submit to that authority of his Father while he was on this earth. It's the same thing here, it's talking about men and women. A woman must submit to her own husband, the Bible says. But see, these definitions in verse number 3 where it says, the head of the man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man. Now don't forget that, because look at verse number 4. It says, every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. Now look, is it saying he dishonors his head? No. And see, that's the way most people interpret this, and they're not understanding the context of the chapter. When it says that a man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, is dishonoring his head, it's saying he's dishonoring his head, Jesus Christ. Because the verse before that just said that the head of the man is Christ. And so when he prays or prophesies, having his head covered, he's dishonoring Christ. Now look, you must let the Bible define itself. Let the Bible be its own dictionary. What does it mean to have his head covered? Does that mean he's wearing a ball cap? Does that mean he's got a hat on? Does that mean he pulled up his hood on his sweater? Absolutely not. Look down if you would, I'm going to skip ahead here, and I'm going to show you, in verse number 14, it says in 1 Corinthians 11 and 14, does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him, but if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. You see that? See how God explains himself? In the same chapter he says, look, a woman that has long hair, I call that a covering. It's given her for a covering. And so when he says here, a man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head, it's saying that a man who prays or prophesies, having long hair, is dishonoring Jesus Christ. Now that's what it says. That's what the Bible preaches right here. Now look, that word prophesying is a word that unfortunately has died out of our common vocabulary. A lot of people think that the word prophesying means that you're foretelling the future. Like if I told you, I'm a prophet, I'm prophesying. You'd think, okay, you're going to tell us what's going to happen next week. I mean, you must know what's going to happen in the Middle East right now or something. That's not what it means. See, the word prophesy in the Bible means preaching. Our current word of what I do Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, the Bible calls that prophesying. The Bible uses the word preaching usually nine times out of ten, literally I went through and studied this, nine times out of ten the word preaching is used solely. I mean, going out and preaching the gospel. Preaching to get people saved. And all through the book of Acts, if you look up the word preaching, nine times out of ten it's not in church, it's preaching to the unsaved world, the gospel. It's you, even ladies, every lady should be a preacher. I'm not saying she's a pastor of church, I'm not saying she should be Joyce Meyer, you know, preaching to a crowd, but every lady, yes, she should be a preacher. Because you should be opening your mouth and boldly proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and that's what the Bible says preaching is. But prophesying is what I'm doing right now. Prophesying is standing up and preaching to those that are saved, exhorting, reprove, rebuking, exhorting with all longsuffering and doctrine. That kind of preaching is referred to in the Bible as prophecy. Prophesying. And so God says, look, if a man is praying, publicly praying, in the name of Jesus Christ, a man gets up and preaches a sermon and he's got wrong hair, he says, that dishonors me, that dishonors Christ, it's wrong, it's an offense to God. Now look on to the next verse there in verse number five. But every woman that prayeth or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head, for that is even all one as if she were shaded. He says, look, a woman who gets up and prays or prophesies and she has her head uncovered, now what is it talking about? It's talking about she has short hair. A woman who gets up with short hair starts talking about Jesus Christ. You know, she's with her friends and begins to tell them, well, let me tell you what God's been so good to me. He says, look, that's offensive to me. He says, look, that's wrong for a woman to pray, have in her head uncovered. He says, look, why doesn't she just shave off her whole hair? That's what he's saying. I mean, he's saying, look, if she's not going to grow out of her hair long, if she's not going to have long hair like the Bible says for a covering, then you know what? She might as well just have a buzz cut. She might as well just be like the ladies down in San Francisco and just get a flat top and just go all the way and shear her head because he says, look, it's all the same to me because if you're not going to have it the length that I told you to have it, then you might as well just cut it all off. You might as well just go all the way in the opposite direction of me. If you're not going to obey me completely, God's saying, then you might as well just not obey me at all because I didn't tell you to have short hair. I told you to have long hair to cover you and so God's commanding you that ladies have long hair. Look at the next verse. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn, but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. He says, look, doesn't it bother you? I mean, wouldn't it be bizarre for a woman to shave off all her hair and have a buzz cut and a crew cut and a flat top? He says, look, then why doesn't she grow it out and have long hair? That's what he's saying. And then look at the next verse. He says, for a man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. And then if you skip down a little bit, look at verse number 13. Judging yourselves, is it comely that a woman pray unto God, uncovered? He said, does it sit well with you to see Joyce Meyer with her little short haircut? Doesn't she have short hair? I'm not sure. As far as I remember, she's got her little bangs and her little tapered haircut in the back, kind of like mine, tapered kind of like mine. Maybe she has the same barber as I do, but she's got her little tapered haircut in the back, and she's got her little bangs, and she's up there praying and prophesying. It dishonors Christ. It dishonors her head, which is her husband. It's making a fool out of her husband. It's making a fool out of Jesus Christ. And he says, look, does that sit well with you, born-again, spirit-filled Christian, to see a woman praying or prophesying, having her head uncovered? And look at the next verse. Does not even nature itself teach you? He's saying, look, don't you just know it just by nature? I mean, don't you just have a clue that it's a shame for a man to have long, if a man have long hair, it's a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covenant. He says, look, I don't even know why I'm even explaining this to you, because you'd think that nature itself would teach you that women have long hair and men have short hair. You say, why are you preaching on this, Pastor Anderson? I mean, I've got these burdens, and I need help in my life. Hey, I'm preaching on this, because there's a whole chapter in the Bible about it. I'm preaching on it, because I go to the store, and I go out and about, and I see all these queers everywhere with their little saggy, sissified little hair, and they got their little earrings in there, and they're talking like girls, and they're cloth-dressed, they wear makeup. I just got back from San Francisco four days ago, which I like to call San Francisco, because it's filled with a bunch of sick perverts. I went there, and I went into a store, and literally every single man working at the store was a homosexual. You say, I don't like this kind of preaching. You know what? Then go to almost any church in this city, and you won't find this kind of preaching. Go almost anywhere in America, you won't find this kind of preaching. If you don't like this kind of preaching, you're not alone. You can go almost anywhere and not hear this kind of preaching. But if you want to come to a church that's going to preach the Bible and take a stand for something, then come here. Because you know what? These boys in the front row right here, they're going to know what they believe. I don't care whether people like it or they don't like it, these three boys are going to know what they believe. These three boys are going to have a short haircut, and they're going to understand why they have a short haircut. Now, I'm going to tell you something. I'm tired of the world creeping into the church. I'm tired of going to churches and seeing men with long hair. Now, you say, look, you're judgmental. You're judging people. Let me explain to you what judging people is. First of all, look, if you would, at verse number 31 in 1 Corinthians 11, because God knows what you're thinking when you're reading this. Ah, so judgmental. How can you look at the length of somebody's hair and tell whether they are rebelling against God or not? I mean, good night. You don't know their heart. Well, look at verse number 31, because God knew that somebody might have that reaction. It says, for if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. You see that? He says, if we judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Now, look, what does it mean to judge someone? Well, God says this, judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye need, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but consider'st not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and behold the beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to remove, to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. You see that? So he says, here's the goal. It's not that judging is wrong. Because look, if I look at somebody with long hair and say, that guy's not right with God, because he's got long hair. If I look at Joyce Meyer with her little bobbed haircut, and I say, Joyce Meyer is not right with God, because she has short hair, she's praying a prompt sign with her head uncovered, and she's dishonoring Christ. Am I judging her? No. She's been judged by this book. You understand? You see what I'm saying? Now, a judge is somebody who interprets things. A judge is somebody who decides what's right and wrong. I don't decide what's right and wrong. I don't decide the length that God commanded a man to have on his head. I don't decide the length that a woman is commanded to have on her head. I don't judge that. That's none of my business. The person who's judging is the person who makes their own set of rules and guidelines. And God says, look, don't be a hypocrite. He says, you make sure that you're straight before you go worrying about somebody else. He says, you worry about yourself, but you know what? He says, you might want to cast out the beam out of your own eye so that you'll be able to help somebody else cast out the beam out of your own eye. And so, look, when I'm preaching right now, if I'm casting the beam out of somebody, if I'm casting the moat out of somebody's eye, hey, that's my job. I'm a preacher. I'm supposed to reprove. I'm supposed to rebuke. I'm supposed to tell people they're wrong. That's my job. That's what God called me to do. He said, preach the word. Be innocent in season, out of season. Reprove, that means tell people they're wrong. Rebuke, that means tell people you're wrong again in another way. That's the same word. And then it says exhort. And I don't even know what that means. I'm just sticking with the verse two that I know. I'm kidding, of course. I know what exhort means. But hey, look, two-thirds of my preaching is telling people what's right and wrong, according to the Bible. Oh, you're so judgmental. You're such a legalist. Hey, look, I'm not a legalist at all. I'll tell you something. You know what legalism is? Legalism is when somebody says you have to work your way to heaven. Legalism says, do this, do this, do this, and you'll go to heaven. Look, hey, you can go to heaven with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in one hand as long as you've got Jesus Christ in your heart and you're saved by the blood of the crucified one. Hey, you'll go straight to heaven, my friend, because the Bible says, by grace are you saved through faith, and then out of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should both believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. But let's not forget that though salvation is free, God says, if you love me, keep my commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments. So what's the problem with the long-haired man? What's the problem with the man whose hair is down to his shoulders or he's got long hair? What is his problem? I'll tell you what his problem is. His problem is a love problem. His problem is that he does not have enough love for God to keep God's commandments in the Bible. And so, look, the number one reason, I'm going to give you several reasons why a man should have short hair from the Bible and why a woman should have long hair. The number one reason why is because the length of your hair is a picture of your submission to authority. See, God put this perfect picture, think about it, think about how smart God is. He puts something on your head called hair, and it's something that you constantly have to deal with if you think about it. I mean, God gave you this, and obviously God chose the length of your hair to be a picture of your submission to him. Or if you're a woman, a submission to your husband, and also your submission to Jesus Christ. Now look, think about this. Your hair, and first of all I want to say this, there's only 260 chapters in the New Testament. Now you say, man, that's a lot. That's not really that much if you think about it. And the more you read the Bible, the Bible gets smaller and smaller. When you first start reading the Bible, you're like, good night, this book is huge. But the more that you read and say the Bible, the Bible gets smaller and smaller and smaller. And so you'll start to realize that 260 chapters, I mean, there's really not that much. You know, 1189 chapters in the Bible, and yet God takes one chapter and almost completely devotes it to this subject. Why? Because he just so cares how your hair looks? Well, yes, but see, God gave you the length of your hair to teach you a greater truth. See, your hair is something that's constantly growing. My hair is constantly growing. It's growing right now. Every day my hair grows. And so every couple of weeks or so, I have to decide and I have to take an effort and say, I'm going to choose to obey God in this area. And I'm going to go down and get my hair cut. I'm going to put a razor to my head, I'm going to put scissors to my head. I'm going to get my hair cut because God commanded me to get my hair cut. Now look, if I just decide, well, I'm just not really going to worry about it. I'm just going to remain neutral on this thing of haircuts. Look, my hair is going to grow long. If I just passively let it go, it's just going to grow and grow and grow and grow. And so God gave me something as a man that I constantly have to decide. I'm going to cut this off. I'm going to cut off my hair. I'm going to cut off my long hair because it's long. I'm going to cut it off and I'm not going to have it. I'm going to obey God. I'm going to do what God asked me to do. And so God is trying to teach us a picture here of something that we have to just constantly take heed to obeying God. It's something that we constantly have to work on. It's always creeping up, isn't it? I mean, it's always getting a little longer, my hair. I mean, it's always this tendency, if you just let it go, it's just going to get worse and worse and worse. I was telling my wife the other day, I said, honey, because my wife cuts my hair. I said, honey, I need a haircut. I'm starting to look like a long-haired hippie. I said, and you're laughing because I never get a haircut. I said, honey, I'm starting to look like I'm John Lennon from the Beatles. I said, my hair is getting out of control. I'm embarrassed. I'm ashamed. I need a haircut. And look, that's something that I have to do constantly, because why? It's constantly encroaching on me. It's constantly creeping up on me, my long hair. I've got to cut it off. And so I'm being dramatic. I'm being facetious. But at the same time, look, that's the way it is with all of God's commandments. If you don't make an effort and say, I will obey God, I will get the wrong things out of my life, I will guard on my separation from the world, hey, you're going to lose it. My hair is going to grow out all over the place. And so that's what God's trying to show us. Now, look, why is it wrong for a man to have long hair? Why should a woman grow her hair out long like God told her to? Well, if you think about it, God has given us many commandments throughout the Bible. Now, let's think about this commandment, thou shalt not kill. Would you consider that a big commandment? That's pretty major, isn't it? I mean, isn't committing murder a very grievous sin? I mean, God thinks so. You say, well, all sin is equal. Okay, we'll tell that to God because God said to put a murderer to death. He didn't say to put the guy with long hair to death. He didn't say to put a liar to death. He says, look, murder is a very grievous sin. He put the death penalty on certain violations of his law. Other things he said, they pay a small fine. If they steal something, they have to return it fourfold and so forth. But look, wouldn't you consider thou shalt not kill? That's a big commandment. Wouldn't you consider thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might? Wouldn't that be the most important commandment in the Bible? Since God said this is the first commandment. He said this is the greatest commandment. Let me tell you the second most important commandment. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. That's the second most important thing. Okay, wouldn't you consider this an important commandment? Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature? That's pretty important. I mean, actually, if people's lives are in the balance, going to heaven or hell, they must have somebody give them the gospel. And so that's an extremely important commandment. That's a major commandment. Look, these are the big things in life. What about the commandment to be in church? Well, God said that the house of God, the church, is the pillar and ground of the truth. He said that he gave his own blood for the church, it says in Acts 20, 28. It says, I died for the church. They said, upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Hey, isn't church important? Church is very important. Now look, in light of all these commandments that I've listed, all these great big commandments that God has given us, grievous sins to avoid, like murder and adultery and things of that nature, the idolatry, and then also just important admonitions positively where he says, you must love me, you must love your neighbor, you must be in church, read the Bible, meditate on the word of God day and night. These are what we would consider the little commandments. And yes, God calls them little commandments. I'm going to show you that in a minute. They're the little commandments. These are the little commandments. Hey, man, get a haircut. Little commandments like how you dress. Little commandments like just little things that you'd say, well, it's not really that big of a deal, good night. There are a lot more important things than the way that I dress or there are a lot more important things than maybe the length of my hair. Just things that you'd consider, what's the big deal? I mean, it's not that big of a commandment. But think about this. Is it harder to obey the big commandment or is it harder to obey the little commandment? Look, what's easier, to love your neighbor as yourself, to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself, or to go down to the barber and get a haircut if you're a man? Which one's easier? It's a lot easier to get a haircut, isn't it? I mean, think about it, what's easier? Is it easier to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy mind and with all thy strength or is it easier, you know, to dress the way that the Bible tells you to dress as a lady and dress modestly? Look, it's easier, the little commandments are the easy commandments. Let's face it, the little ones that would be called by most churches unimportant, preachers won't preach on it, they say, ah, it's not important, it's not a big deal, it's not relevant. Hey, those are the easiest things to do. And that's why God said if you're faithful in the little things, then you'll be faithful in the big things. Look, God is saying, hey, why don't you start out with some of these little commandments and just obey them? Because I said to obey them. And then maybe you'll be able to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Maybe you'll be able to be a soul winner and win people to Christ and obey the great big man. Look, it's a lot easier to follow the little rules that God has like where he says, look, get a haircut, go out of your hair if you're a lady. Hey, it's a lot easier to obey that than when he tells you, hey, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's hard to do that, just day in, day out, week in, week out. It's hard to be a soul winner. It's something that you have to work at. But obeying these standards and convictions, obeying the rules, so to speak, that God has for us, it's easy. The only reason that you don't do it is out of rebellion, because it's so easy. It's only a heart that says I refuse to obey what God says here, clear as day. I refuse to obey it because I have a problem with authority. A woman who has a problem with her husband, you think Joyce Meyer is obeying her husband tonight? You think she's submitting to his every whim tonight? He's probably sleeping on the couch tonight because she runs things. Just look at her, she's got a short haircut. You say, how do you know that? Because she's got a short haircut, that's why. And the Bible says if she has short hair, she just openly is dishonoring her husband. I'm sure she's married, right? You're my resident Joyce Meyer expert, okay? I point to you and I ask you and then you tell me about it. Hey, I don't like you naming people's names. Hey, then don't read the Bible because Paul names the names of Alexander, Hymenaeus, Diotrephes, Phygelus, Hermogenes, and on and on down the list. He said, watch out for these people, they're wrong. Let me give you their names. Let me put their names in an eternal book that's going to be around thousands of years later, some guy in Phoenix, Arizona in 2006 could be preaching against people. He doesn't even know who they are, except he knows that they're out of hell because I named them. And so I don't mind naming names. I'll name names so I'm blue in the face because I want to preach like the Bible preaches. And so number one, it's a question of, it demonstrates your submission to authority. Number two, it's such an easy commandment to keep, why not just keep it? I mean, why not just do it? I mean, if it's so easy to just go down and get a haircut or go out there, hey, just do it, big deal. If you have such a problem with God, you don't love him enough to fork over that $15 or whatever it counts or buy a razor and have somebody give you a haircut, hey, look, is your love for God that shallow? Get a haircut if you're a man. And then the third reason that I have here is because God is a God of division. Look if you would at Genesis chapter one, all the way to the beginning of your Bible, Genesis chapter one. Genesis chapter number one. And see the third reason why it's so important for a man to have short hair and for a woman to have long hair. And by the way, I grew up in church my whole life, I've never heard any preacher preach against a woman having short hair in my life. I've heard preachers preach against men having long hair constantly. But I've never heard a preacher get up and preach that a woman should not have short hair because there's always short haired women in every church. And so they're not going to preach because they don't want to offend them. And again, that's what I was talking about, having inconsistent standards and guidelines that are rules that are not based on the Bible, but they're based on tradition and what you've been taught. And so look, if you're going to be against a man having long hair, be against a woman having short hair. Because it's only fair. But look at Genesis chapter one. Now this is the first chapter in the Bible, and I find this very significant. I love the feeling when I finish, every time I finish reading the Bible cover to cover, I just love starting over the next time. And I just love, I've just finished the Bible cover to cover, I love to just start right here, Genesis 1-1, and just start reading it all over again. And I just think that this must be a very significant chapter for God to say, look, you're going to read my Bible? And how many people, this is probably the chapter that's been read by more people than any other chapter in the Bible. Because if you think about it, how many people start out to read the Bible and say, I'm going to read through the whole Bible. Start out here. Maybe they only make it one chapter. I've known a lot of people that made it one chapter. Maybe they make it ten chapters. Maybe they read the book of Genesis. This is probably one of the most read chapters. Genesis 1 and Matthew 1, probably the most read chapters in the entire Bible. And so here God says, look, this might be my only shot at some people. And so I'm going to make sure that I let them know what I'm about. I'm going to let them know what I believe in, and let them know what the Bible's about. Look at verse number four. Well, let's just start reading at the beginning. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void. And darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Now what's God saying there in verse number two? He says, look, he created the heaven and the earth. But then it was without form. There wasn't any distinction. There weren't any lines drawn. You see what I mean about form? It didn't have any shape. It didn't have any sharp contracts. It was just kind of without form. It was just without void. I couldn't even really make out what it would be like. You know, it wasn't round. It wasn't square. It didn't have any lines. It was just without form. It was void. And it says, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. You see, what did he start with? He started with an earth that was dark. That's what it said. It said, darkness was upon the face of the deep. The earth was without form and void. I couldn't make out any lines of distinction because it was so dark. So what does he do? The first thing that he creates, he says, let there be light. And there was light. And he says, wait a sec. Whoa, whoa, whoa. We've got light and darkness. This is not going to work. This is not how I am. He said, I like things to be separate. And so what's the first thing he does? He says, I'm going to create the light. But wait a minute. I better divide the light from the darkness right now. And so what did he do? He divided the light from the darkness. Look at verse number seven. And God made the firmament. And God divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. It was so. So the second thing God creates, he said, wait, stop. I better divide this. I better separate this out into two different things. I want to divide this. Look if you would now, verse number, that was verse number, I'm sorry, look at verse six. I skipped one. He says, and God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. And let it divide the waters from the waters. And then in verse seven he reiterates the division here of the firmament. Then look if you would at verse number 14. The Bible says again, and God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night. And then again in verse number 18 he says, and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. Now let me ask you something. Is division good or bad? It's good. He said, I saw it. It was good. I saw that the light was separate from the darkness. I like that. I saw that night is separate from day. Man, I like that. It's good. He said, I saw that the waters in the atmosphere that are above the firmament and the water that's down in the ocean, you know, that's floating on the water. He said, I saw that separation there at the horizon. And he said, I like that division. I like to know what's what. I like to see things delineated. I like them separate. I like them divided. I'm a God of division. The first chapter in the Bible is all about division. That's what it's about. It's about God creating things and then dividing them. He says, look, I divide the light from the darkness. I divide right and wrong. Now look, next chapter, Genesis chapter 2. I'm sorry, look at verse 27 of Genesis 1. I'm sorry, it's from the same chapter. Genesis 1, 27, the Bible says, so God created man. Remember the theme of this chapter. One theme is division. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him. Male and female created he them. You see the division there right away. See the distinction where he says, look, I'm creating two different kinds of people. I'm creating a male and I'm creating a female. And he says, they're separate. They're divided. They're different. He says, I don't want them to be the same. I don't like the unisex movement. He said, I want there to be a man who's distinctly male and I want there to be a woman that is distinctly female. Turn, if you would, to Deuteronomy chapter 22. This is the fifth book in the Bible right there in the Pentateuch at the beginning of your Bible. Deuteronomy 22. And I'll tell you something. You know why this type of preaching, and I don't preach this way all the time. Maybe I do preach this way all the time. No, I don't. But I don't preach this way all the time, but this is the type of sermon that's needed in our day. And no, it's not every service, but this type of sermon's needed. Because sometimes we just need to push the reset button and remember the basics of what God says here. And look, let me tell you something. You know why people don't like this kind of preaching? Some people don't like this kind of preaching. I hate to break it to you. I'll tell you why. Because it divides people. It divides. It's the kind of preaching when you preach and say, this is right, this is wrong. No, there is no gray area. No, there are no exceptions. There are no exceptions. It's white, it's wrong, it's black, it's white, it's dark, it's lightness. God has divided it. What it does is it in turn divides people. Because there's going to be a certain crowd that says, I will line up with what God says. And then there's going to be a certain other crowd that says, I will not line up with what God says. I will go somewhere else. And there's the division that happens there. Is it positive or is it negative? Well, God thinks it's positive. Look if you would at Deuteronomy 22.5. We'll see this distinction. Not only does God want a man and a woman to have different hair, but look at verse number five, it says, the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man. Neither shall a man put on a woman's garment. For all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God. Now look, it says here that a man is not supposed to put on a woman's garment. And that a woman is not supposed to wear that which pertaineth unto a man. Now does it say that doing that is an abomination? Is that what it says? Look at it. Does it say doing that is an abomination? No. It says all that do so are an abomination. See, he's saying look, if you do it, you're the abomination, is what he's saying. Now look, if God wants a man to have a short haircut, and really there's only two ways you can have your hair, short and long. And he says, I want a man to have short and a woman to have long, so there'll be a difference. So there's a distinction, because I like things to be delineated. I like things to be differentiated. And then he says, when it comes to clothing, he says, I don't want a man to put on a woman's garment. Now let me ask you something. Is God telling a fairy tale here about clothing that does not exist? No, I think he's talking about real clothing. So he says, a man should not put on a woman's garment. Is there a garment in this world that's a woman's garment? There must be, or else God wouldn't say that. And so a lot of people say, I believe that women should not wear pants, and I think that they should wear skirts and dresses, but they don't know why they believe that, or they don't know why the Bible says that. But look, there must be, let's just use logic. God said, come and let us reason together. God's a logical God. And I want to ask you something. Does there exist a garment in this world that is a woman's garment? Yeah. Am I supposed to put it on? No. I mean, should I come to church tonight and walk out here in a skirt and say, listen to me, quit judging me, okay? Why are you so worried about that? If you knew my heart, my heart loves God. Yes, I'm wearing a skirt tonight, but my heart is right with God. Now look, you'd say, no, Pastor Anderson, you are an abomination because you're wearing a woman's garment. And so, yes, there exists a woman's garment. Now, there must also exist some clothing that pertains to a man because God's telling a woman, do not wear clothing that pertains to a man. Now, when I was, I was talking to you about this before the service, but when I was a teenager, I started going to a fundamental Baptist church, and I would hear preaching about women shouldn't wear pants, and I didn't agree with it at all. I mean, for the first several years I went to that church, I didn't agree with it. And I thought to myself, good night. Pants are not men's clothing. Like, think about these capri pants or these women's type pants, very, you know, pants with flowers all over it or some kind of very womanly pants. I said, that's not men's clothing. I'm not going to wear that. Good night. I'm not going to go and buy those kind of pants. This is not men's clothing. But, you know, then I realized something that I wasn't thinking about. I was thinking about the fact that, okay, there are some things that are distinctly men's clothing, and then there are some things that are distinctly women's clothing, and then there are some things that can just kind of go either way. That's what I was thinking, you know, like pair of pants or whatever, you know, women could wear pants, and that could just be a feminine style. But then I thought about it, and here's what I thought about, and when I understood this reading the Bible, I understood why that didn't fly. And I'll tell you why. Because God wants there to be division. And so why would God have a certain clothing be a unisex clothing? Like, think about it. If what I believed as a teenager were true, when I was 17 and 18, you know, 19 years old when I believed this, if what I believed were true, then you could have a man and a woman who are both wearing a pair of jeans, they're both wearing a button-up pack shirt or something, college shirt, you know, or a T-shirt even. Let's say a T-shirt. You know, they could be both wearing a T-shirt, they're both wearing a pair of jeans, they're both wearing tennis shoes, they could be dressed in exactly the same clothing. And it wouldn't be wrong, right? Because pants can go either way, man. And so you could have a man and a woman dressed identically the same. And according to what I believed, that would be okay. But look, do you think that that would please God when God says, I just love for there to be a difference between man and woman so much, I'm going to say, if you wear, sir, what pertains to a woman, that's an abomination. I mean, look, God doesn't throw that word around. There's only certain things that he says that about. And he says, honey, if you put on that was pertaining to a man, you're an abomination. Look, obviously he's not pleased with somebody just saying, okay, well, let's all just put on a jumpsuit and we can all wear the same thing. You know, you see these futuristic sci-fi movies where everybody's just wearing a jumpsuit, everybody's just wearing coveralls. Hey, that's not of God. God says, yes, I don't want everybody to wear the same thing. I want men to wear men's clothing that can only be worn by a man. And I want women to wear women's clothing that can only be worn by women. I want men to have a haircut that only men have. It's called short hair. The haircut that Jesus Christ had on this earth, short hair. And I want women to have a clothing that's distinctly a woman's clothing that's just for them. It's just for them. And I want their hair to be a length that only they have. That's long hair. And so, look, instead of trying to decide like the Pharisees always did, where the Pharisees were always trying to see what they could get away with. I mean, the Pharisees were always trying to say, is it lawful to do this, is it lawful to do this? Can we do this? Can I divorce my wife for every cause? Can I do this? You know, trying to see how much they could get away with. Why don't we have the attitude to say, how much can I please God the most? I mean, instead of deciding what the minimum is, what can I do and not be an abomination? You know, what can I wear to where I'm just on the other side of being an abomination? Look, this is the attitude that I would have. I would go to God and say, God, what would be the ultimate thing for me to wear? I mean, what would be the greatest thing for me to wear? What would be the thing that would make you the happiest for me to wear? I mean, I don't want something that you would tolerate, God. I want to know what would be the perfect thing to wear, because the Bible says, be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is heaven is perfect. And none of us will achieve perfection, but that's our goal. You know, we're trying to constantly purify ourselves and get closer to God. What God would be the best thing for me to wear? Look, if you're a woman, it would be woman's clothing. It would be distinctly feminine clothing. It would be skirts and dresses, period. If you're a man, it would be putting on a pair of pants. And you say, like, men don't wear skirts. Hey, I was in, where were we? We were in Michigan. We were by the Lake Michigan. And I don't know if this is a new thing, these bikers were there. These biker guys, they were wearing skirts. I mean, these, like, big burly biker guys and beards and some big Harley Davidson t-shirts, and they had jean skirts on down to their knee. You remember, did you see that guy? I don't think so. But anyway, I mean, they were wearing them. And they weren't, they were just wearing them. It was just the style. I hope that's not some trend that's gone on, but it wouldn't really surprise me, to be honest with you. And so that's what God is against, this unisex movement. Look, it's in our country. Look, women didn't used to wear pants. I hate to break it to you, but a hundred years ago, no woman wore pants. You know, they wore skirts and dresses. That was back when the queers were in the closet. That was back when it was safe to walk outside at night. That was back when this country had some morals and decency. It wasn't just every billboard just shoving some kind of filth down your throat. That was back when there was a delineation and a distinction between man and woman, when you didn't have to be embarrassed in public because you don't know whether to call somebody he or she because they're just ambiguous. Their hair's a little bit shaggy. You know, I've seen a couple before walk into a store, and they both have shaggy hair. They're both wearing jeans. They're both wearing a T-shirt. They're both wearing tennis shoes. I could not tell which was which. Maybe they were both the same, God forbid. But this couple, I couldn't tell which was the male and which one was the female because the guy looked so sissy and the girl looked so rough and tough. I couldn't even tell the difference. It's not of God. But not only that, it's easy for us to point the finger at somebody and say, well, look, this person is not following the standards of the Bible. But hey, how about the division that should be in our lives, something that separates us from the unsaved crowd? Now look, when I'm at work, I want there to be a difference between me and the unsaved people at work. I want people to be able to notice a difference between me and somebody who's not saved. Now look, in the book of Daniel, I preached about this a few weeks ago. Daniel chapter 1, it says that the king looked at all his workers, he looked at all his up-and-coming young men, and there were all the world's finest and brightest there, all the unsaved crowd, all the wicked crowd, and they were the smartest minds, the most talented in their ability, but he said, you know what, I've found four men, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he said I've found them to be ten times better than the world. And he wasn't talking about their godliness. I mean, he wasn't talking about the Bible. He said they're ten times better at their job. He said they're ten times more productive, they have ten times better attitude, they are ten times the employee, they are ten times the intellect. He said these guys are great. Look, there should be a difference between an unsaved person and a saved person on the job. I mean, it shouldn't just be, you're a Christian? Wow. Really? What church do you go to? It should be, you know, I kind of figured. I mean, you tell them, well, you know, actually, I go to this Baptist church, and they just say, you know, yeah, that's what I kind of figured. You know, I can kind of tell by the fact that you didn't listen in on the dirty jokes that we were telling, you know, you just kind of took off. I can tell by the fact that you abstained from alcohol. Even just that, these days, is a strange thing, because so many people drink. You know, I can just kind of tell just by the clean language that you use. You know, I can just tell by the fact that, you know, you had your Bible with you every day and set it out for that. That was my first hint. And so, look, there ought to be a division. God says, I want there to be a division between the holy and the unholy. He said, I want there to be a division between right and wrong. Hey, look, is your music distinctly godly music? Or is it just kind of this gray area kind of music? No, is there a division between the music that you participated in and the music the world participated in? Is there a division between the kind of music that we sing in this church and the kind that you hear if you turn on your radio dial when you drove out the driveway there, if you turn that on? Yeah, there's a difference. I like that, and God likes that. Because God says, I'm pleased when things are divided. So why does a man need to have short hair? And why does a woman need to have long hair? Because of the division that it creates. Because of the division that it creates between male and female. You say, well, it's not really a moral issue. I mean, it's just, I mean, they're not really hurting anybody. Hey, look, it's a moral issue as soon as you start disobeying God. As soon as you decide, I don't have to obey God, I can have my hair however I want, you just put yourself in the place of God. You know what, I don't care what God says, I'm going to decide. And that's why the length of your hair is a sign of your submission to authority or it's a sign of just open rebellion against God. Now, look, there's a fifth reason why a man should have short hair and a woman should have long hair. It's because the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5.22 in turn there, and you'll only see this if you have a King James Bible. Any other Bible in the world, including the New King James Version, including the NIV, including the Living Bible, any Bible you want to name, unless you have the King James Bible, this verse will not even be in your Bible. It will say something completely different, nothing even close to this. But look if you would at 1 Thessalonians 5.22, look at this short little verse. I love the short verses of the Bible. They're so easy to memorize. And not only that, but I love the short verses because God said, what I'm saying is so important, I have to put it in a verse all by itself. I mean, I just have to take this and just put it in a verse all by itself because it's so important, I don't want it to be crowded out by any other ideas, so I'm just going to put it in a verse by itself, just one statement, one thought. Look at that, 1 Thessalonians 5.22, only in the King James Bible. Abstain from all appearance of evil. Look, I don't want to do anything that's an appearance of evil. I don't want to, you say, look, I'm not a hippie. I'm not some guy with long hair. Hey, no, no, no, you got me all wrong, pastor. I'm not a hippie. I'm not some kind of a communist anarchist. I'm not some kind of a liberal or I'm not a homosexual. I'm not a rebel. I'm not trying to rebel against Christianity. I'm not trying to rebel against God. I love God. I'm not like that. No, I don't have a problem with obeying God. No, I mean, I want nothing more than to please God. I read the Bible. I'm not part of that crowd. I'm not trying to overthrow the things that are right. I'm not like that. I don't listen to the acid rock music. I don't listen to hard rock and stuff. I'm not into grunge. Look, if you're not like that, then why would you want to look like you are? Why would you want to be associated with that crowd? Because as soon as somebody sees you with long hair, if they know the Bible, they're going to say, this guy's not submitting to God. As soon as they see you, even if they're in the world, they're going to assume that you're part of that crowd. They're going to assume that you're rebellious. They're going to assume that you're against the things of God, that you're against Christianity. And so why would you want to be grouped in with that crowd? You need to abstain from all appearance of evil. You don't want to appear to be evil even if you're not evil. You want to abstain from all appearance of evil. And so here's the conclusion. Let me just wrap it up with this. If you love Christ, and I mean, look, you're here on a Sunday. You're in church on Sunday night. Hey, you love Jesus Christ. That's why you're here. And that's why you come to church. You love God. You want to hear the Bible preached. You love the things of God. You love the people of God. That's why you come to church on a Sunday night. Look, if you love God, then these kind of little issues, hey, what's the big deal, right? I mean, if I love my wife, I'm going to accommodate her. That's my ability. And look, it's such a little issue, whether we're talking about clothing issues, you know, if God wants you to wear a skirt, ladies, or a dress. I mean, look, how hard is this to accommodate? You know, if God wants you to get a haircut, sir, it's like, how hard is it to just do it? Hey, look, if you love God, it should be easy for you to just say, God, what do you want? I'll just do it. And not only that, but you say these little issues. Let me read for you some verses, and I'll close with these two verses. Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse number 15 says, take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoiled the Bible.