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Part of the chapter I want to look at was verse 3 where the Bible read, The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as become of holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. And the title of my sermon tonight is teachers of good things. Teachers of good things. And I really want to focus this on the aged women. And I think this is a doctrine that's very important today. But we see that there's not very many people that are fulfilling the scripture and what this is saying. That there's a dearth in the land. That there's not a lot of aged women that are teachers of good things. That they're teaching the young women. And as you look at this list, there's eight things that the Bible says when it's clarifying what the teachers of good things are. It's saying that they may teach the young women to what? Be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. And as I was going through this list and preparing my notes, I felt like there was no way I could preach all of that in one sermon. So I'm going to break it into two parts. So that tonight, I'm just going to focus on the first four. I'm just going to focus on the first four. And then later, I'll preach another sermon to cover the last four. But there's just so much in the Bible that talks about this. And I think it's important to understand that the Bible does address women in a lot of scripture. And that it's very important that God doesn't look at women as being second-class citizens, as being unimportant. Women are very important in our society. And I'm going to prove that tonight. Go to Psalms chapter 95, if you would. But the Bible started out and says, be in behavior as becometh holiness. The Bible teaches that women are supposed to be in behavior. And I think when it uses that wording, a lot of women ought already be offended. They would already be offended that they're being instructed on how to do something, that someone's telling them what to do, that the Bible's saying, hey, you should be in behavior. They're already offended. But that's not how we should be as Christians. Look at Psalms chapter 95 verse 6. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. And we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me in Saul my work, 40 years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, it is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. Under whom I swear my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest. Go, if you would, flip back to Psalms chapter 23. The Bible says there's people that they just always are erring in their heart. They don't want to know God's word. And as men and women of God, we should never have this attitude. We should always be ready to be corrected by the word of God. God has given us this word to correct us, so that men and women can be in behavior as becometh holiness. Look at Psalms 23 verse 1. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, for his name's sake. A passage that the Bible speaks of is so eloquent. People love Psalms 23, but you know what it's teaching? It's teaching instruction. It's teaching Jesus Christ wants to guide you. He wants to be your shepherd. He wants to lead you in paths of righteousness. And I think as we read these few verses, you can see, he's not leading you somewhere dangerous. He's not leading you down a dark path. None of the Bible is going to do anything destructive to your life. It's not going to ruin your life. God wants to lead you to green pastures, beside the still waters. And while the Bible may seem anti-culture, it may be against what Americans do, it's not a bad path. No it's a good path. Christ will always lead you into a good path. So when the Bible's instructing women to be in behavior, this is not a bad path. This is a good path. He wants to lead you in the right ways. He wants to lead you in the paths of righteousness, for his name's sake. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 7. The Bible said, though, that women should be not false accusers. And I think, you know, probably if you're just going to pinpoint what's the biggest temptation for women, what's the biggest thing they struggle with, I would say one of it is gossiping. It's just, you know, talking bad about other people, making a bunch of accusations. And we see it's talking about the aged women. I think once a woman gets to a certain age, a lot of times she tends to just, that's how she is. She's not going to change. She's already kind of, that's her personality. So she's grown up being a gossip through all of her younger years. Now she's just really in trouble. Now she's probably a false accuser. She's just constantly, you know, blaspheming people and making all kinds of accusations up. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 30, verse 10, accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty. The Bible says that we should not be making accusations against people, but I think a tendency would be for women to look at somebody the way they're dressed or look at the way that somebody acts and just start making all kinds of accusations. Well, I bet this person's a drunk, you know, I bet this person's a drugger. I bet this person, you know, commits all kinds of other sins just by the way they look or just the fact they don't like them or just the fact that they said something mean to them. They just start then bringing all kinds of railing accusations against somebody. And this is just a tendency that's for men and women. It's not just women that'll do this, but I think it's, you know, women lean in this direction a little bit more, right? And the Bible's saying that the aged women should not be false accusers. Why? Because that example is gonna be rubbed off on the younger women and they're gonna see that example and then they're gonna follow in that pattern. I mean, you just see the generation after generation. The grandmother, she's always making false accusations and then her daughter's making false accusations and then the teenage daughter's making false accusations and we see it's important for the elder women to make sure that their speech is always calling. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter seven verse 20. For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken. Lest thou hear thy servant curse thee. For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise has cursed others. You know the Bible's saying? It's saying when someone speaks evil of you, when someone says something bad about you, when someone gossips behind your back, the Bible says you should just take no heed to it. Because for certain you talk bad about others. For certain you gossiped about other people in your past, you said things that you shouldn't have said so you should just take no heed to the fact that somebody's lying about you or falsely accusing you or saying all manner of evil. But I think the temptation for women when they hear something bad about them, well, you know about her? Did you hear about so-and-so and what she did? And what she was wearing on Sunday? And where she was at? And what she let her husband do? And how she was talking about her family? It's always a common temptation to give tit for tat. To go and, you know, if someone does wrong to you, to do the same to them. And the Bible's saying it's very important that we take heed, that we don't take heed to the words that are spoken against us. Because guess what? We've probably said the same thing. We've probably said worse. We've done the same thing. You know, it makes me think of this TV show called The View. Now, I never watched this show, but I think everybody just knows. It's just a group of older women, I mean, especially when it started out, the women, Debbie, Matt and Opelous, Star Jones, Meredith Vieira, Joy Vihar, and Barbara Walters. These are all women over the age of 40 or 50. They were the starting cast of this show. And all they do is they just sit around and just gossip about people. They're just constantly making accusations against all kinds of people. The way they look, the way they dress, the way they act, all the decisions they make. This is wicked. The Bible says that's not holiness. That's not what the elder women should be like. No, they should be teaching the young women to be sober and did not take heed to the accusations that have been against them. The Bible says judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. And the only way you're gonna do righteous judgment is by using this book, is by using what God's Word said. Another thing that it said is that they're not given to much wine. I think sometimes we get confused what the word wine means in the Bible, but usually the word wine is just reference to wealth. It's a reference to having prosperity. And I think with the Bible saying not given to much wine, it's not saying you can drink a little bit of alcohol. It's saying, no, you shouldn't be given to a lot of prosperity, to a lot of wealth. And I think the temptation for the elder women is, well, now they have the kids out of the house, now it's time to just relax. Now it's time to go and have some vacation. Now it's time to just go and indulge and fulfill all the desires that I wanted when I was a young woman and I couldn't. And the Bible's saying that you shouldn't be doing that as much wine, meaning it's okay to every once in a while treat yourself, it's okay to enjoy the things of life. It's the gift of God. But they shouldn't be spending that as their primary goal in life. We see a lot of times older people, the elderly, what do they wanna do? They just wanna travel. They just wanna take their time and just enjoy life, they're not really focused on their kids anymore. They're not really focused on their church anymore. They're not really focused on anything. They're just basically waiting to die. We see that's not what the life of an elder person is to be. The life of an elder person is to instruct the younger, is to be a good example, is to teach and to train the younger generation, to give them the wisdom that God's given unto them. I'll read for you one verse, it says in 1 Peter 3, who's adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plating the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart and that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God a great price. Go to the Romans chapter 12, if you will. So the Bible even instructs that women should not be dressing in fancy clothing. Even the elder women. And I think, if you were just to be honest, you went to these independent Funnel of Baptist churches, it's filled with a lot of old people. And you know, the older women, they like to dress fancy. They like to dress really nice. But the Bible's saying, look, it doesn't matter how old you are, it doesn't matter how young you are, you should not be, you know, having your adorning being your physical appearance. What you look like, what you wear as women. No, it should be the hidden man of the heart. The fact that you're a meek and quiet spirit. The fact that you're observing God's word and you're doing it. That's what's inside of God a great price. Not the fancy clothes, not the gold and the silver and looking fancy and enjoying all of the things of this world. You shouldn't be self-indulgent, even at an older age. And I think that's just a tendency that a lot of people would have. I looked up in an article, it says, why don't more men go into teaching? Because he gave a couple negative things, but then he said, teachers of good things. And I think the Bible, one of the biggest emphasis for women is teaching. And you say, well, is that what we see in the world today? Yes, it is. We see women just have a natural tendency to want to teach. And the question would be, why don't men, you know, aren't they in more positions of teaching? Why aren't they teaching a lot of children? Why don't we see all these men? I believe it's just true that God's nature, that women are built to want to teach children. Women are built to be teachers by nature and men by nature, they don't want to teach the children. They want to go work hard. They want to do, you know, sweat by the brow of their face. That's not what men and women are designed to do. And even in the world today, we see this as true. In America, in this article, it says, across the country, teaching is an overwhelmingly female profession and, in fact, has become more so over time. More than 3 quarters of all teachers in kindergarten through high school are women. According to the education department data, from 2 thirds three decades ago, the disparity is most pronounced in elementary and middle schools where more than 80% of teachers are women. Now, do you think it's just a coincidence that the Bible's telling the women to teach the children, to be teachers of good things, to teach the young women, and then that's just the profession that they choose? I mean, nobody's forcing women to be teachers. Nobody's forcing women to get any particular career or any particular job, but they just seem to gravitate to certain professions that are always outlined in what the Bible teaches they should be doing anyways, but at home. The Bible's saying, look, the women, they're natural teachers. That's the thing that God's given unto them. Look at Romans chapter 12, verse three, for I say, through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. Now, a lot of women, they would not like this because they think it's degrading. So teaching children, that's not important. But you know what, we should have a sober mind. That was the first thing that they're supposed to teach the women is to be sober, and to have a sober mind and to realize the importance of teaching children, the importance of instructing the youth, the fact that the mother's job is extremely important, that you can't replace it. There's nothing to replace it. It's invaluable. The man's not the one to teach the children, so they need the mothers to teach the children. It's crucial. It's vital. Go, if you would, to 1 Corinthians chapter number six. We know to be sober also could be to be humble, to be diligent, to be thoughtful, to be grave, to be level-headed, to be serious. It's more important for the women to serve than to be served. And we see that comes through what? A sober mind. Not thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Oh, I need to have a career. I need to be the CEO. I need a bunch of praise from men. I need to have all the fancy money, and I need to be given too much wine. No. The importance of a mother is to instruct the children, is to instruct the younger women, is to be there to guide them and to teach them all the things that the Bible has. Or that they need to live in this world. It says in Proverbs 31 verse 26, she opened up their mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness. Now, there's a lot of women today, especially young women, that you could call ditzy. And I think it's a sin. The Bible says that the woman should open her mouth in wisdom. And where are they gonna get that wisdom? From their mother. Their mother is gonna teach them the word of God and they're gonna have wisdom. And when they open their mouth, it's gonna be in wisdom. It's not gonna be stupid and ignorant and sound foolish, but we see some women will just ham this up because they think it's fun. Because they think it's cool to sound like a dummy. To sound like a retard. To sound like they don't even know what they're talking about. And there's all these women, they just don't even understand the importance of being knowledgeable. I don't believe that women should be unintelligible. That they should be unintelligent. I believe the Bible teaches that women should be very wise, very smart. But you're only gonna get wisdom from this book. You're only gonna get wisdom from God's word. You're not gonna get it from this world. So it's very important that the elder women would teach them God's word. Teach them the wisdom that comes from God's word. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, having a form of godliness, but knowing the power thereof, from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses and leave captive silly women laden with sins led away with divers lusts. Silly women, that's what I would call ditzy. They're just kind of stupid. They don't really know anything. And they would even admit it. They're like, well I'm just kind of stupid. Well that's bad because guess what? Men are gonna come in and lead you captive and lead you away. There's a lot of evil people out there. There's a lot of deception out there. And if you're just a silly woman, you're gonna be led away with all kinds of sins and divers lusts. It's not right to be unwise. And if you want your daughter to just be led away by some wicked man, by Shechem the son of Hamor, then don't give her any wisdom. Then don't teach her anything. We see the mother that loves her daughter is gonna give her tons of wisdom, tons of instructions so she'll be very smart so she won't be led away by this deception. She won't be led away by some man that wants to take advantage of her, that wants to destroy her, that wants to take her innocence from her. We see it's super important that women should be wise. But where are they gonna get it from? Their mother, from the elder women. It's so important. As a father, I have a daughter. I don't want her to be led away by some man. I don't want her to have bad things happen to her. So you know what's really important for me? Is that my wife is a good example and teaches my daughter the wisdom that comes from the Bible, that she's a good example, that she's very intelligent, that she knows what God's word says. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter six, verse 18. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. But he that commiteth fornication sineth against his own body. What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Now someone would say, I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna be a teacher. I don't wanna be a servant. The Bible says you are bought with a price. It's not for you to decide what God's will is for your life. It's in the Bible. And you can say, hey, if I wanna follow God's will, it's gonna be through his word. And we already read Psalms chapter 23. The Lord's not leading you in a bad place. He's not leading you in a bad direction. The Bible says that God will give you the desires of your heart. I believe inside every woman, she has the desire to teach the young women. She has the desire to teach children. That's why you see so many women teachers. But women need to think soberly about their role. They need to think soberly about the job that God's given them. Realize that their job is super important. We see so many people turning away from God, having no morals, being unintelligent. Why? Because the elder women are not teaching the children. Because there's no example. Because there's a dirt in the land. We see the older generation, the baby-loomer generation, by and large, just rejected this. They didn't teach their children. They decided to go into the workforce. They decided to not teach the children God's word. And we see so many people are turning out to be wicked and not loving the Lord, not following after truth. And if the women had thought soberly about their job, said it's more important for me to teach the children than for me to have the career, than for me to enjoy the much wine, than for me to have the praise of men, than for me to do all of my heart's desire, then we would have the young children actually following God. We'd have the young children actually desiring to be servants of Christ. Go to Song of Solomon chapter one. The Bible says in Jeremiah three, Therefore the showers have been withholding, and there has been no latter rain, and thou has a whore's forehead. Thou refuses to be ashamed. The Bible describes a whore as being one that would never be ashamed. When she's doing wrong, you can't tell her that she's wrong. She can't be corrected by the Bible. Why? So you can't think soberly. A woman that's gonna have a sober mind is gonna be able to be corrected by the Bible, is gonna be able to understand, hey, my job as being a mother, my job as instructing younger women is very important. I should not forsake that. So the first point is to be sober, Mike. And I think that's very important is that women understand that their job is super important. It's irreplaceable. It's not replaceable by a man. You can't replace the elder women by men. We need the elder women. They're super important. But the second point was to love their husbands. It's important that the elder women love their husbands. I think the question would be, how do you love your husband? What does it mean to love your husband? And I think in Song of Solomon, we see an example of a woman who is madly in love with her husband. I mean, there's no question about the fact that this woman just truly loves her husband. So let's get some wisdom here and see how you can love your husband. Says in Song of Solomon, chapter one, verse one, the Song of Psalms, which is Solomon's, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine. Again, I believe the wine here would be referenced to self-indulgence, to wealth. The Bible's saying here that this woman desires her husband more than all riches, more than going and traveling somewhere, more than having the fancy clothes, more than having the big house, more than having the fancy car, more than having the credit card that she can go shopping and buying whatever she wants. She loves her husband more. She has more desire to him. She has more satisfaction through her husband. That's a lot of love. The Bible says, and look at verse seven, tell me, oh, thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon, for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flock to thy companions? She says, whom my soul loveth. I mean, she said, I love you from the bottom of my soul. This woman loves him. So go to chapter three. We're gonna see some ways that she loves him. Look at verse four. It was but a little that I passed from then, but I found him whom my soul loveth. I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him in my mother's house into the chamber of her that conceived me. I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the rose and by the high ends of the field, that ye stir not up nor awake my love till he please. So we see there at the end, she doesn't want anybody to wake her husband up. She wants them to get his rest until he pleases. Meaning what? She's selfless. She actually cares more about her husband's desires, about her husband having some kind of joy or satisfaction in herself. She says, don't wake my love. Let him get his rest. We see that she's caring more for her husband than herself. She's not thinking of herself. She's thinking of her husband. This is the best way to describe love is putting someone else before you. We see even Jesus Christ, he laid down his life for ours, right? That's the greatest example of love, here in his love, that he laid down his life for us. The Bible makes it clear that having love is being selfless. And we see if you wanna love your husband, you have to decide to be selfless. You have to decide to put your spouse before you. And this goes both ways. This isn't just applied for women. As husbands, we also should love our wives. We should decide to put our wives before ourselves and to give satisfaction to our wives. But we see it's a two-way street. Marriage is a picture of not what can I get from this person, but how can I serve the other? Marriage is a picture of two servants trying to serve each other constantly. It's a great thing when it works out. It's a great thing that both people are trying to serve the other person because it's just constant blessing after blessing after blessing. And you know, when you're selfless, when you serve someone else, you're not expecting anything in return. So you're just constantly blessing the other person, being selfless, no matter how they act, no matter how they are. Oh, my husband was a jerk to me tonight, but I let him get his rest because I love him. You know, my husband said something rude to me, but I still gave him his dinner. I still respected him. I still gave him a kiss. I still gave him his attention. I still gave him everything he desires, not because he deserves it, because I'm gonna put him before me. I'm selfless. We see love. Look at the chapter number five, verse eight. I charge you daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, they tell him that I am sick of love. What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us? My beloved is white and ruddy, the cheapest among 10,000. His head is as the most fine gold. His locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of water, washed with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers, his lips like lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the barrel. His belly is a bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. Now, I believe this is a good example of how a woman can increase her love for her husband. Because in this passage, we see a lot of things that his wife, or that this woman is noticing of her husband. Look at verse 10, my beloved is white and ruddy. Now, some people might not even like that. Some people might not have, that might not be their taste, right? And at the beginning it said, what is thy beloved more than another beloved? But we see beauty's in the eye of the beholder, and she thought it was, she liked it. She liked that her husband was white and ruddy. I think for a woman to increase her love, she should focus on the attributes of her husband that she likes. She's just saying, you know what? My husband, you know, I really like how he looks. I really like how he talks. I really like that he's smart. I really like that he's a hard worker. I really like that he's strong. I really like, just focus on the things that you like about your husband. You can probably make a huge list of things that you could say, hey, I really like this about my husband. And you know what, it'd be different for every woman. It'd be different for every woman what that list would be. But that's how you're gonna increase your love about your spouse, is when you're focused on the attributes of your spouse that you truly enjoy. But we see, when the opposite is true, there's a lot of bitterness. There's a lot of strife. When you're focused on, oh, I don't like that he snores. Oh, I don't like, you know, that he's always coughing. Or I don't like, you know, the way he combs his beard. I don't like the way he parts his hair. You know, I don't like, you know, the way his belly button looks. It's an idiot, I like an Audi. You know, don't focus on the things you don't like about your spouse. Focus on the things that you do. That'll help you increase your love. We see this woman, she's sick of love. She loves her husband so much that she's sick. I mean, she just has so much desire to her husband. And we can get some indication here that this woman wants to spend time with her husband, doesn't she? I mean, she's so sick, she's constantly searching for him. So as husbands, when our wife is showing us this kind of love, we should give them the time of day. We should give them the attention back that they deserve, so we can satisfy that love. Go to Proverbs chapter 17. Says at the end of that chapter, it says, his mouth is most sweet, yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, oh daughters of Jerusalem. I mean, she thinks he's altogether lovely. And you know, when you're full of love towards another person, you really do think they're perfect. I mean, you kind of just think, you know, I love everything about this guy. He's just altogether just perfect. When you're just sick of love, when you're focused on the things that attract you to your spouse. Because when you first start dating somebody, most of the time you're not focused on all their errors and all their problems. You're just focused, man, she's so pretty, she's so nice, oh man, he's so handsome, he's so strong, and you're just full of love. And you think, man, this person's perfect. And a lot of times, marriage is what, you know, reveals the imperfection. Marriage, living with a person, being around them constantly. But if you think of good things, if you think pure thoughts, if you think on the things that are good, you can have a stronger love for your spouse. Look at Proverbs chapter 17, verse nine. He that covered the transgression seeketh love, but he that repeated the matter separated very friends. So again, it's kind of taking on the same point. A woman, you know, if she covers a transgression, she's seeking love, what? She's not focused on the negative. She's not focused on what's gone wrong. She's not focused on her husband's faults. No, she's focused on the good things, why? Because she's seeking love. If you want love towards your spouse, if you want your husband to have love back towards you, cover the transgression. Oh, he said something and I didn't really like it. Oh, he said something and I could have interpreted it as being offensive. You know, he said, hey, you made a really good dinner tonight. Oh, I don't make a good dinner every night? I mean, don't focus on the bad, focus on the good. He said he made a good dinner. And even if he does say something wrong, even if he does say something that's offensive, if you want to seek love, cover the transgression. Because we see, you know, it usually goes the other way, right? When she says something mean unto you, then you don't have any love back. And we see it just becomes this fight, becomes this constant strife, take for a tap, we're constantly, you know, well, you probably said that because of your father. You're stupid like your father, you know? You make all the same mistakes as your dad would. You look like your dad when you say that. Man, I don't like the way you dress, you look like your dad. I mean, you see all these, you know, strifes and conflicts. It can just, it escalates into a whirlwind, into a fire. But if you cover the transgression, now you're seeking the love. And this applies to both ways. It's not just women, it's not just men. But I think this is an important thing that if a woman wants to seek love towards her husband, she should try to cover those transgressions. The Bible says in Proverbs 21, it is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and angry woman. It's saying, look, when she's just always trying to pick you apart, when she's just always focused on your flaws, you'd rather just be in the wilderness by yourself. She'd rather be out in the woods with her gun, out, you know, doing anything else. You don't wanna be in the house with a woman picking you apart. You want her covering the transgression, then you're gonna seek the love. Go to Proverbs 31 if you will. So you see, the second point was that the elder women are supposed to teach the younger women to love their husbands. You know, I think unfortunately the opposite is usually the case. I feel like every time around these older couples, they got to this point where the woman, the wife is constantly nagging against her husband. She's constantly just saying, you know, mean things about the husband. She's constantly just causing all this strife. You say, oh, it's all in jest. Oh, it's all in sport. No, it's not. It's teaching it to the younger women. It's teaching them it's okay to be disrespectful to your husband. It's okay to pick them apart. It's okay to always be negative. And we see that's not seeking love. That's not helping marriages. You're destroying other people's marriages by setting a bad example. We see that the elder women need to teach the young women to love their husbands, to always be focused on the good attributes. Because you know, when you first start out in marriage, sometimes it can be rough. And the older women need to teach the younger women, hey, your husband's gonna screw up. Guess what? It's gonna happen over and over and over. He's not gonna pick up the laundry. And then he's gonna forget to pick up the laundry. And then he's not gonna pick up his clothes. And then guess what? He's gonna leave a mess in the kitchen. And you know what? He's not gonna put the trash bag back in the trash can. And you know what? He's gonna forget to put the vacuum up. And I mean, it's just gonna be over and over and over. And if you focus on all the mistakes, you're not gonna have a good marriage. You're not gonna be having the love that God wants you to have towards your husband. And it doesn't affect just you. It affects the younger generation. It affects everyone around you. If you're around other women and they're just talking bad about their husbands, it's not calmly. It's wicked. And it doesn't make anything right. I don't wanna be around someone talking bad about their spouse. It's not good. It's not a good example. But not only just loving their husbands, they should love their children. Look at Proverbs 31 verse one. The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. Again, it's talking about a woman doing what? Teaching. It's important for women to be teachers. And you know, to be able to teach something, you have to know something, don't you? You can't teach something if you don't know it. So it's important for not only women to be able to teach, they have to first know. They have to first learn. They have to first be instructed. And we see when there's a break in the generation, now there's a problem. Because these women now have to learn on their own. They have to instruct themselves so then they can teach the younger generation. It's a taxation on those women on that generation. When there's a gap in the generations. When the mothers are not teaching the daughters. And the mothers are not teaching the sons. Go to Proverbs chapter six, flip back. You say, well, what was it that she was teaching? Well, it says in the second verse, it says, what my son, and what the son of my womb, and what the son of my vows, give not thy strength unto women, nor thy what ways to that which destroyeth kings. You know what she was warning them against? Whores. She was saying, son, don't go around whores. Don't give your strength unto women. Don't let women take your power from you. And you know what? A young man that's around a whore will lose his power many times. He'll lose his strength to walk away. He'll lose his strength to go in another direction. He'll lose his strength to walk in the paths of righteousness and he'll walk in the ways of boredom. He'll walk in the ways of a whoremonger. He'll walk in the paths of death. It's not a good path. Look at Samson. What happened to Samson? He gave his strength unto women, literally. Delilah took his strength from him. He wasn't instructed by his mother, apparently, or he didn't listen, one of the two. I think this is a personal one for me because my mother, she actually did warn me against whores a lot. I mean, she would say, hey, if a woman calls you, I'm gonna hang up on her. I'm not gonna talk to her. Women should not be calling you. And you don't wanna be hanging around these women. And she would say, as a young man, she'd say, look, John, there's gonna be a woman that's gonna come around and she's gonna wanna lie with you so that she can become pregnant and you'll be forced to marry her. It's like, you need to stay away from this type of woman. You need to stay away from loose women. You need to stay away from women that are dressed like whores. This is what my mother would teach me. Now, of course, as a young man, I thought, where are these women? I don't know where these women are. I don't know what you're talking about. But it was true. And I didn't really take heed to her warning that there were women like this, that there are women that will just lie with any man, that they're seeking a young man that they can destroy. The adulteress will hunt for the precious life, the Bible says. And it's true as the day is long. And there are loose women out there that you should be avoiding. But you know who you should get that instruction from? From your mother. From a godly woman. From a woman that's teaching their sons and their daughters, hey, don't hang out with whores and whoremongers. Don't go around these type of people. They're gonna ruin your life. You might have pleasure for a moment, but you're gonna have a burden for your life. You're gonna ruin and destroy your life. Look at Proverbs chapter six, verse 20. My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Skip to verse 24. To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Lest not after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread. And the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth into his neighbor's wife, whosoever toucheth her, shall not be innocent. We see the father and the mother both have a role in instructing the children to stay away from these type of women. Staying away from these type of people. Why? It's gonna destroy your son's life. It's gonna destroy your daughter's life when they go out and they hang around with these type of wicked people, with fornicators. But you know, the baby boomers weren't teaching this. They're not raising their children. There's a dearth on the land. I looked at some statistics. It says from the mid 60s to the mid 70s, the ideal number of children radically swapped from four plus to two. So what it's saying is they've done some surveys and they basically just asked people, married couples. They said, hey, how many children would you want to have? What do you think is just ideal? If you just got to pick the number of children that you have, how many do you want? And in the 60s and 70s, about 50% would say they wanted four plus. Their number would be four or five or six or seven, some number above four. And that only 30% or 25%, a very smaller number, would want two as their ideal number. But in a very short period of time, it completely flip-flopped. Where just in the mid 70s, it went from the mid 60s to being mostly wanting four plus and not wanting two to just in 10 years, it go into a complete opposite direction. Where now 50% only want two children and only 15% of people want four plus. I mean, more than half of the country wanted four plus kids. They thought that was ideal. That's what they're desiring. And then in just 10 years, it dropped all the way down to 15% and we see that mothers do not want children. They don't want to instruct the children. They don't want to have the children. And you know why they want to have two so they can go in the workforce. So they can go to work. Because directly proportionate to that is the number of women just jumping in the workforce. In the 1948, only 29% of the workforce was female. By 1960, it was 33, so it's jumped up 5%. 1970, it's 38, jumped up another 5%. 1980, another 4%, 43. 1990, 45. 2000, 47. So now, basically it's about 53% to 47%. It's almost 50-50. Now men and women are going in the workplace almost 50-50. Why? They're not staying home to love their children. They're not staying home to teach their children. To teach them to stay away from the whores like the Proverbs 31 limit taught. And it's an epidemic. That's why we see rampant fornication. Why do you think you see rampant fornication? It's because the elder women are not teaching the children to not commit fornication. To not go around the whores and the whoremongers. We see the second thing that she warned in Proverbs 31. It says in verse four, it is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. You know what I think when I read this? The women can be hard preachers too. They can preach hard unto their sons. They can preach hard unto their daughters. Hey, don't hang around with the whores. Don't drink any liquor. Don't drink any alcohol. Don't hang out with these type of people. Give it to the drunk. Give it to the derelict. Give it to the guy that, you know, is gonna perish. Bible says wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging. Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Bible said in Proverbs chapter six that it was the law of thy mother. That's a pretty strong word. Mothers should realize they have a lot of authority in their children's lives, and they need to lay down the law, saying, hey, you're not gonna hang out with those type of people. You're not gonna go in the way of the daughters of the land. You're not gonna hang out with the whores and the whoremongers. You're not gonna go to the bars. You're not gonna be going to these parties where people are drinking and committing fornication and destroying their lives. No! And we need to have the mothers rise up and have that law. But you know what they're doing? They're going to work, and then the kids are just raising themselves. And then the kids are just doing whatever they want. And then when the mother gets home after a hard day, now she wants to go out on the town because she's had a hard day at work. So they get a babysitter, so they just let the kids do whatever they want. It's wicked. The Bible teaches that the women should love their children. And if you love your children, you're gonna spend time with them. You're gonna spend the time to teach them, to instruct them. Go to 2 Kings chapter 18. I was reading this, and this just really stood out to me. I think it's very cool, but the Bible says in Proverbs 29 and 15, the rod and her proof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. The Bible says if you leave a child to raise himself, the mother will be shamed. It doesn't say maybe or hope so. She will. She's gonna bring herself to shame when she doesn't raise her child. You know the cure is that? Bringing the rod and her proof. She's gotta be teaching them and instructing them and disciplining them, laying down the law. The rod is the law. Look at 2 Kings chapter 18 verse two. 25 years old was even to begin to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. That's a pretty good name. That's my daughter's name. I named her Abi, okay? That's where I got it. It says, and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. Now it says that Hezekiah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. But what did it say? What was the thing it said right before that? It gave the name of his mother. You think that's a coincidence? Go to 2 Kings chapter 21 now. Look at verse one. Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign and reigned 55 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Heziba, and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. After the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. Look at verse 19. Ammon was 22 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Mashulamith, the daughter of Hagaraz of Jotbak. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did. Look at chapter 22, verse one. It says in verse one, Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adiah of Boscath. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned on the sight of the right hand or to the left. Now let's stop here for a second. So we're seeing what? Who's the mother? And then what? He did right in the sight of the Lord. Then we see who's the mother? He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. We see it's a constant pattern. It's saying, hey, here's the mom, and then here's what he did. But look at this one. It says, and his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adiah of Boscath, and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned on the sight of the right hand or the left. Now it's also saying as his father did, or as his father did in the previous passages, right? And so he's saying, oh, well, it's just the father that's important. He's just doing what his father did. It's the father that's the one that's teaching the children how to act. I think this proves that that's not really what it's saying. Because it's saying here, he walked in the way of David his father. Now was David alive when Josiah was alive? No. David was not any kind of influence into Josiah as a personal person. He was not there instructing him in person. He wasn't giving him any admonitions. Now, of course, we have his records from the Bible. We have the works that he did, and that could be a record unto him. But who's the person that's teaching him those things? I believe it's his mother, Jedidah. She's the one instructing him in the ways of David the father, the ways to go. Look at chapter 23, verse 31. Jehoahaz was 20 and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Hamutol, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. Look at verse 36. Jehoiakim was 20 and five years old when he began to reign. He reigned 11 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Zebuda, the daughter of Padidah of Rumah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. Look at chapter 24, verse eight. Jehoiakim was eight years old, when he began to reign, he reigned in Jerusalem three months, and his mother's name was Nahushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done. Look at chapter, or verse 18. Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to reign. He reigned 11 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Hamutol, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. It's saying constantly, the mother, and he did right. The mother and he did evil. I think this is a direct correlation to the fact that, look, the mother has a big impact on how the son's gonna be raised. It's saying, here's the mother, and here's how the kid acts. Here's the mother, and here's how the kid acts. Isn't that how people are today? They look at the kid, who's his mother? The kid that's playing, you know, doing something wrong that he shouldn't be doing, what do they always ask? Who's his mom? Where's his mom at? Who's the mother of this kid? Why? Because the mothers get the blame for the children. You know, they also get the praise for the children. Well, look at verse 15 now. It says, and he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty, the land, those carried in captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. So we see Jehoiachin's mother, what? She was carried naked into Babylon. That sounds like a lot of shame to me. That sounds like a bad thing to happen. But what happened if that mother had decided to raise her son in righteousness? Had decided to raise him in the word of God? Had taught him the instructions of God? She wouldn't have been carried away into Babylon, would she? Her son may have done that, which is right in the sight of the Lord. The Bible says, train a child up in the way you should go, and when he's old, he will not depart from it. What if she had trained him in righteousness? What if she had trained him in godliness? Then she wouldn't be shamed by carrying naked away into Babylon. It's not that women don't have an important role. They have an extremely important role, and they need to love their children. Why? Well, it's for two reasons. If they love their children so they can be, they can do that which is right, but guess what? You're gonna bring yourself to shame when you don't. You're gonna have a lot of repercussions when you don't train your children wise. So let's go to my last point. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. So we're just focusing on the first four, because I think there's a lot in the Bible. And you know, there's a lot in the Bible for women. There's a lot in the Bible directly to women, and then there's a lot of instruction to just people, and women need to realize it's not just for man, it's for everybody. The whole book of Proverbs is for man, woman, boy, child. It's for everybody. It's not just for men. And there's so much instruction and discretion and guidance that we can be given from the Bible. So the fourth thing that the elder women are supposed to teach the young women is to have discretion, is to be discreet. It says in Proverbs chapter 17 verse nine, he that covered the transgressions seeketh love, but he that repeateth the matter seperateth very friends. I already read that, but in another life, we could look at this verse as saying, a woman that has discretion understands when to speak and when not to speak. When to cover that transgression. When to realize, hey, I shouldn't just repeat every matter that comes to me. You know what, I've probably spoken evil of other people before, so I shouldn't just repeat when other people speak evil of me. I shouldn't go around telling, well, I don't like this person. Did you hear what they said about me? Did you hear about what they said about my husband? Did you hear about what they said about the pastor? Did you hear all this small talk? Now, I'm not talking about someone threatening your family's livelihood or they're talking about something wicked. Go to the police, go to the proper authorities, but I'm saying when it's just, she said that I looked ugly. She said that I looked fat. She said that she thought my dress was out of season or whatever. She got mad at me because I wore white on the wedding. Guess what, don't wear white on weddings, okay? I didn't know that, but you're not supposed to do that, okay? But even if you do something wrong, a woman that has discretion realizes there's certain things that I just shouldn't say. There's certain things I shouldn't repeat. When I hear something that's not good to be repeated, I should keep my mouth shut. Says in 1 Timothy 2, verse 12, but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor do I serve authority over the man, but to be in silence. The Bible teaches that women are not to be the one to come up and preach the word of God. They're not supposed to be the pastor. They're not supposed to be the deacon. The Bible says that they're supposed to just learn and be subject unto the preacher, be subject unto the person that has the authority, to be subject unto their husband. That's not to mean that they're demeaning, they're less valuable, that they're not important. No, the Bible's just saying that's not their job. Their job is not the one to get up and preach the Bible. They're supposed to be in silence. They're supposed to just learn. And a woman that has discretion understands that. The woman that doesn't have discretion doesn't realize that it's not like that. She's gonna get up and preach, like Joyce Meyer. She's not, she doesn't have no discretion. She's not discreet. She doesn't realize that it's not her job to get up and preach the Bible. So she gets up and just blabs her mouth and teaches a bunch of false and wicked doctrine. Look at 1 Corinthians 14, verse 34. Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. Now this is not to say that women can't be as intelligent as men. They can't have the same wisdom. They couldn't even necessarily orate a good sermon. I'm sure if my wife got up here and preached, it'd probably be a hard sermon. But it's not right. It's not godly. It's not biblical. It's not what the Bible teaches. It's not their proper role. It's not to say that they're less valuable. It just means that they don't have the proper discretion. You know, not every man should get up and preach either. Not children shouldn't get up and preach. Does that mean they're not important? No. It's just saying that only certain people are the ones that get up and preach the Bible. Only certain people are the ones that get up and proclaim God's word from a pulpit, or from being in a church position. Go, if you would, to Proverbs chapter seven. The Bible says in Psalm and Psalms, chapter four, verse three, thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is calmly. Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy walks. The Bible there is talking to the wife. And he's saying, you know what, my wife's speech is always calmly. Why? Because it's coupled with discretion. A woman that doesn't have discretion, when she goes around, she just blabs things that she shouldn't be saying. When she's saying dirty things, perverted things, when she's talking evil of her children, when she's talking evil of her husband, that speech is not calmly. She doesn't have discretion. And the Bible's saying that's not what is desirable into a man. A man doesn't like a woman that's going out and just blabbering her mouth, and speaking all this perverseness, and speaking things that she shouldn't. A man likes a woman that her speech is calmly. It's always pleasant. It's always kind. Look at Proverbs chapter seven, where you turn to look at verse 10. And behold, there are men of a woman with the attire of a harlot and a subtle heart. She is loud and stubborn. Her feet abide not in her house. The Bible contrasts the godly woman with the whorish woman, and saying the whorish woman, she's loud. She's stubborn. She's always letting her opinion be known. When she has a different opinion than what's being said, she just wants to let it come out. She has no discretion to keep silent. She has no discretion to not talk when she shouldn't. She has no discretion to realize her position or her role or her authority. Now, does that mean that women should never talk? Does that mean that women's voices shouldn't be heard? No. Women's voices should be heard throughout all the land. They should be constantly teaching the younger women. They should be constantly teaching their children. Their voice is very important. They need to have the wisdom of the Bible. If they want to preach, preach to their children. Preach to the younger women. Teach them the things of the Bible. But it's not calmly for them to get up and preach the Bible to a church. It's not calmly for them to speak evil of their husband. It's not calmly for them to speak evil of their children. And we see the whorish woman, she's just loud and she's stubborn. Meaning what? She wants to talk when she's not supposed to. And she's gonna fight to do that. The Bible says in First Peter chapter three, but let the hidden man of the heart and that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God, a great vice. A godly woman is one who's meek of a quiet spirit. What is meekness? Meekness is understanding that other people are more important than yourself. It's esteeming someone more important than you. And the person that's esteeming more important, they're gonna listen. You know, there's a guy, I won't say his name to embarrass him, he actually goes to our church now, but when I would go to soloing marathons, I would always talk to him. And he was one of the best listeners that I've ever met. He would always, if you're speaking to him, he'd never interrupt. He would never over talk you. Everything that you would say he was attentively listening to, he could articulate back, you know, an intelligible conversation. He could tell you wasn't just in one ear and out the other. What'd you say? Or he'd ask a question that you could tell they weren't really paying attention, or they would just say something. Everything you're saying, it's like he's dropping on every word. And it wasn't like it was, you know, this strange flatter or something. You could tell the person was just genuine. And you see, that's what's very desirable. Men like it when a woman has this type of attitude, has this type of spirit. She is deemed her husband is very important as being more important than herself. Not that that's true, just the fact that that's her attitude. That's how she's acting. And when the husband speaks, she gives him reverence. She gives him honor. She has a quiet, she's keeping her mouth shut. She doesn't have to over talk him. She doesn't have to outdo him. She's just letting her husband give her whatever wisdom he wants to. And we see there's obviously a dialogue between husband and wife. I'm not teaching that women shouldn't speak to their husbands. I'm just saying it's very attractive when you have a person that actually listens to what you have to say. When they're not always over talking you. When they're letting you speak. And we see that comes from being meek and having a quiet spirit. Go to Proverbs 31, the last verse I'll return to. So what's the conclusion? The conclusion is that the elder women needs to teach the young women to be sober. What does that mean? It means that their job is important. Women are super important in this world. They are the ones that raise the children. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. That's so true. The next generation was raised by women. Every man that's in leadership today had a mother. And the mother hopefully taught them things. And we see it's so important to have godly women. For them to not realize that their job's not important. No, their job is extremely important. Not only that, they need to love their husbands. We see that it sets the right example for the younger women. To realize, hey, we should love our husbands. We should give them the respect and the adoration that they deserve. And how can you love them more? Focus on the good. Focus on the good attributes. Cover the transgression. And not only that, they should love their children. How can you love your children? Spend time with them. Teach them the Bible. Teach them godly things. And not only that, godly women will have discretion. We need the elder women to teach them that discretion. When the older women are always just blowing off their mouth, when the older women are just constantly blabbing and saying all things that they shouldn't, it teaches the young women to do the same thing. But you know what? They keep silent. When they have neatness, it also teaches the younger women, hey, this is what I should be doing. This is how I should be acting. This is how I should treat my husband. This is how I should treat other people. Look at Proverbs 31, verse 30. Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain. But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. I think in every woman, the desire to feel attractive is super important. I think that would just be something that's just innate in women. They want to feel attractive in some way. They want people to have desire towards them. But the world seeks this through what? Through beauty, through vain adorning, the outward adorning of the flesh, the putting on the fancy clothes, the having the fancy hair, the having the gold and the silver. We see God doesn't look at that and see that's beauty. He sees the beauty as being godly, as being righteous, as being adorned with good works. And that's having the meek and the quiet spirit. So as a woman, what are you gonna adorn yourself with? Are you gonna adorn yourself with godliness? Are you gonna be the behavior that's become of holiness? Or are you just gonna seek that which is of the world? Seek the vain beauty, seek the vain attraction, seek the vain favor. We see a woman that fears the Lord, she shall be praised. God will praise the women that decide to live a godly life. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Father so much for your word. Thank you so much for your instruction. I just thank you so much for every mother and all the elder women. I pray that we would have a new generation of women that would rise up to decide that they want to instruct the young women in godliness. That they want to have discretion. That they want to love their children. That they want to love their husbands. And most importantly, they want to be sober about their role. They want to be sober about the job that you've given them. The importance of serving and not to be served. I just pray that your words would sink into our hearts and that we would just draw closer to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.