In this sermon, the speaker discusses the brilliance of scientific minds who often fail to recognize the existence of a Creator. The speaker emphasizes the importance of confession and recognizing our own sinfulness before God. They also mention the significance of Thanksgiving and expressing gratitude to God. The speaker then shifts to discussing social crises and how they are often caused by immorality, such as teenage sex and promiscuity. They attribute the decline in social indicators to the removal of prayer and Bible reading from schools. The speaker encourages the audience to support the ministry of Dave Barton's Wall Builders and expresses concern about the lack of character and integrity in Congress. Finally, the speaker moves on to discussing the passage in verse 3 and the importance of believing in God and seeking Him.

Well, we're continuing our study in Paul's letter to his protege, Timothy. This is one of the pastoral epistles, as they call it. 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus were Paul's letters to pastors. And it's unfortunate that they're labeled that way because most of us sort of jumped to this impression that, well, that's for pastors. And obviously, they were in a sense. And yet, it's misleading because here is Paul writing intimately to his protege. And as he counsels him, as he highlights things, as he shares with him, as he exhorts him, it applies to every one of us. How many of you in the audience are in full-time ministry? Can I see a show of hands? Good for you. You caught up on that. Great. Yes, absolutely. I often do that with the audience. How many out there are saved? All the hands go up and I say, what have you done with it? You know, there's this strange attitude that we have within the body of Christ, you know, that the big goal is to get people to come down the sawdust trail and make that commitment for Jesus Christ. And don't misunderstand me. I'm not disparaging that. But we have a tendency to celebrate that like it's some kind of climax, like it's some type of, boy, now that that's done, let's move on to the next one. And that's not the end of something. It's the beginning of something. The issue before all of us is not life after death. It's life after birth. What are we going to do since we're born again? So I really, I appreciate the reaction that you people are very sensitive to the fact that all of us, no matter what we're doing, are in a full-time ministry. And as we go through this letter, my intention will be to go through the pastoral epistles. And our pace will vary a little bit as the material lends itself to that. But we're going to find all kinds of topics come up. And we're taking Chapter 2 of 1 Timothy tonight. And the basic principle that's going to underlie most of what we're going to talk about is what really Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 40, where he says, let all things be done decently and in order. One of the things as we struggle with various issues of the body of Christ, of the church, of ceremonial issues, and other kinds of issues, Paul's underlying principle is that things should be done decently and in order. That doesn't mean they're rigid. We give freedom to the movement of the Spirit. And yet at the same time, if the Holy Spirit's really the author of it, it'll be done decently and in order. Now, Timothy is receiving, when he's receiving this letter, he is the pastor at Ephesus. Paul had him deal with that. Young guy, apparently maybe given a little bit to being a little too timid, we infer from some of the counsel that Paul gives him. And he seems to be having trouble with some of the things at Ephesus. And so Paul's going to be, of course, dealing with some of that. So let's just jump in with Chapter 2, verse 1. This first eight verses are going to deal with the men. And it's going to deal with prayer. Second part will deal with women. That's why most of the girls came out tonight. They knew this was going to be a tough night for me tonight. But first eight verses, we'll get into pretty easy. Paul says, I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. Simple sentence. But wait a minute, let's look what he's saying here. First of all, Paul's giving a priority here. What's your priority in prayer? First. You know, it's amazing how we seem to resort to prayer as a last resort. Or we have a tendency maybe to dismiss it a little casually. That's tragic. Because one of the ways I was thinking of opening tonight is to ask you the question, what's the most powerful thing you can do in your Christian warfare? You know, in prayer. It's your heavy artillery. We each have a 24-hour hotline to the throne room of the universe. And he's anxious to hear from us. How rarely we really avail ourselves of that. And that's what Paul, first of all. Then he deals with a series, there's actually seven different Greek nouns that deal with prayer. And four of them are right here. First one is translated supplications, thesis. It's actually a term that seems to imply need, indigence, want, privation, penury, pretty desperate need, in other words. Seeking and asking and treating is what the term is. Supplication is probably a decent phrase. But it's really offering a request for a very desperate or very felt need. The next word is translated prayers or prosuki, which emphasizes the sacredness of prayer. It comes close to worship in that sense. And the next word translated intercessions, or perhaps more precisely petitions, entuxis, which is to draw near to a person and converse confidently with them. This phrase, it's Guinness prayer, but it emphasizes fellowship and confidence. A little different tone. All these are essentially synonyms, but they each have their subtle differences. It emphasizes fellowship or confidence. In fact, in 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 5, the same word will be used dealing implicitly with a blessing and a meal. But the emphasis is one of fellowship and intercourse and intimacy. And then the last one of this series of four is Thanksgiving, Eucharistia. It's sometimes, it's suggestive. In fact, we should imitate David. You realize that some of David's psalms were nothing but Thanksgiving. You know, many people have a little acronym. They call it ACTS, as I recall. Some people formalize structure of prayer. They do that. And all those are good ideas to open your prayer with adoration, to just pause and focus and acknowledge and announce and revel in the adoration, because you are in direct communication with the creator of the universe. That's staggering when you really embrace that. Brilliant minds, I should say otherwise, brilliant except for their scientific orientation, who are struggling to understand the universe, don't even recognize there is a creator, and you and I have the opportunity to converse with them anytime, day or night. That is so breathtaking as you try to embrace it. It's overwhelming. And confession is the usual typical, typical pattern some people teach. Indeed, we should come like Isaiah to the throne saying, Woe is me, for I'm a sinful man, O Lord. As you really understand who he is, and as you really understand who we are, that is a staggering insight. But then, of course, Thanksgiving, which is the third in the little paradigm that some people teach. And, of course, here it is the fourth in this issue after Thanksgiving. Then supplication, I guess, is the last one to make the little paradigm. But anyway, it's interesting. Psalm 103 is a psalm that is all Thanksgiving. I always remember, for some reason as a child, I memorized the first two verses. Have you ever been at dinner and started eating and realized you forgot to say grace? Then you use Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Now, don't get any guilt trips. The Jews usually bless the food after they've eaten. I guess they do it both. But anyway, there are occasions where you bless. Anyway, the other thing in this first verse is giving thanks. Be made for all men. Notice all. We're not talking about limited atonement here in some of these doctrines. For all men. No person on the earth is outside the influence of prayer. That means saved and unsaved. And you can find all kinds of verses that talk about praying for the unsaved. You find it in Numbers 14, 19, 1 Samuel 7, 1 Samuel 12, Jeremiah 7. In fact, there's one place where God finally tells Jeremiah not to pray anymore because there are circumstances afoot there for the unsaved. Remember Stephen when he's being stoned. What does he say? Lay not this unto their charge. But all men, saved, unsaved, close at hand, far away, enemies, friends, all need their prayer. Well, that brings us to verse 2. We're making good progress here. For kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. We should pray especially for those in authority. We really should. They carry heavy burdens. We do that for a number of reasons. But verse 4 is going to highlight an unusual one. And that is that the word may continue to go forth. Pray for those in authority. Not only for their own welfare. Not only for their own discernment in their decisions and resolve in their commitments. But also that the circumstances might prevail to allow the word to go out. We take that for granted in this country. It's going to end pretty soon. Where do we get the... You know, we have a strange American attitude. I call it an American disease. Christians in this country are arrogant in that they presume that we're going to be spared for what most of the body of Christ and most of the world for most of the last 19 centuries has had to endure. It's called persecution. And our negligence, our lack of diligence, our silent pulpits have allowed the pagan left to take charge of this incredible heritage that you and I have been beneficiaries of. It could very well be coming to an end. Now this leads... There's a corollary subject here that I can't resist getting into a little bit. I won't badger it excessively. We are, so you don't misunderstand my subsequent remarks, to be submissive. First of all, absolutely submissive to God. And as you discern God's ways, you'll also be secondarily submissive to human institutions and authorities. Make no mistake about that. That's what God would indeed have us to do. But many people don't read Romans 13 carefully. It's often quoted in this regard. Romans 13, the first few verses says, Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. No problem. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. And 1 Peter 2 says a similar kind of thing. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men. Do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God. Now, and that's all fine and good. There's a couple of phrases there that should bother you. One is that a ruler is not a terror to good works. What happens when they are? That's the question. Part of the difficulty that we have is that the Bible does not speak in the vocabulary of a representative republic or a free democracy in which the officials that are in charge are our employees, where the laws that are drafted by elected officials have prevalence over the officials themselves. So you see, we're in the peculiar position of having our submission to the republic and the rule of law and constitutional processes rather than to any specific persons. And therein lies the strange paradox. Because in our case, it's our diligent stewardship that should put godly men in office. Our biblical commitment is to uphold the law and the legal order. So anyway, we are not committed to an endorsement or approval of lawmakers or even laws in an absolute sense. And Christ's absolute supremacy over our lives qualifies the absoluteness of human regulations and laws. Now, you say, gee, give me some examples of that. Well, I'll give you one. That's John the Baptist. His preaching was an example of the proper indictment of, at that time, that government and its authority. Jesus said of John the Baptist, Truly I say unto you, among those born of women, there is not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist. That's in Matthew 11, verse 11. And nevertheless, John the Baptist was beheaded for indicting publicly the ruling authority, who was a pagan. He wasn't criticizing even a Christian. He was preaching against what? The pagan ruler of that time. For when Herod had John arrested, he bound and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of brother Philip. For John had said to him, It is not lawful for you to have her. That's in Matthew 14. And so the opposition to a leader's behavior, public criticism of it, and the declaration of his moral unfitness for office is not necessarily inconsistent. With a submissive spirit to the governing authorities, because your governing authority is the U.S. Constitution. We live in a day when military people have been court-martialed for insisting upon being loyal to that Constitution, which should give us pause as to what's going on. Now, by the way, I believe that we're going to be seeing the persecution of Christians in this country in the future. And I joined J. Vernon McGee, who goes on with not only that view, but he also believes that this will probably not include a lot of church members. Because his point is, quote, The liberal church is so compromised today that they will go along with whatever comes along. Close going. And that's not one of my flippant remarks. That's one of J. Vernon McGee's remarks to which I embrace. So we live in an interesting dilemma. Yes, we should pray for our leaders. But one of my most intense prayers, and I encourage you to give this consideration, if you care about your children and grandchildren, you need to pray that the rule of law be restored. That justice be restored. Because we have a wholesale criminalization of the executive branch, as is manifested by Judicial Watch's interim report, which is available on the internet. And it's available from the asking from Judicial Watch in Washington. We have an overreaching judiciary, which has chosen to make laws rather than interpret them. And most of the social policies in this country over the last several decades have come from the court, not from representative government. So we've got a problem in the judiciary. And Dave Barton's book, Impeachment Colon, reigning in an overreaching, he's talking about impeaching judges, not the president, in that particular publication. Outstanding publication. Dave Barton's ministry, Wall Builders, is one I encourage you to investigate. Get the materials, and if you feel led to support it, it's, I think, one of the great ministries in this country. And you look at the Congress, I keep making the remark that it's populated by invertebrates. It's, there's a few, thank goodness, thank the Lord, that there are a few courageous people on the Hill. But large measure, we've seen a dramatic demonstration of their spinelessness, their inability to discern right from wrong, their absolute absence of character and integrity. And so that's something that deserves a great deal of prayer if you care about the legacy we're leaving our kids. But let's moving on. Let's, we're down to verse three. Paul continues in Timothy, for this is a good, this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. The word good there is a Greek word emphasizing intrinsically good, not just its effects. Fair and beautiful are somewhat synonyms. The Pharisees prayed to be praised by men, Matthew 6. Christians, of course, praise to please not men, but God. And the purpose of prayer is not to get man's will done in heaven, but God's will done on the earth. And the expression that I like, prayer is God's way of enlisting you in what He is doing. Prayer is God's way of enlisting you in what He is doing. Verse four, who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now, therein lies the big paradox. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all turn to repentance. Well, gee, can't God's will be manifest? No, because He's given you a terrifying, terrifying, terrifying gift, your sovereignty, your free choice. It's a courtship thing, not an authoritarian thing. And therein lies this incredible paradox. But God's preference would be to have all men saved and come to repentance. Because for God so loved the world, not just a few, the whole world, that He gave His only Son. And so His desire is that all men come to salvation. And we'll go through a lot of verses, but let's keep moving. Verse five, for there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Boy, if you don't remember any other verses in this chapter, 1 Timothy 2.5 is one you want to have emblazoned on your psyche to remember, because it is an important one. There is only one God, and therefore there's only need for one mediator. And that mediator is Jesus Christ. No other person can qualify to be our mediator. Not the intercession of angels, not the intercession of saints, nor Mary. Make your list. It's tragic how clear this is taught in the scripture, and yet how confused many well-meaning Christians are on this subject. By the way, a small point. I read it the way it's in your King James, that there's one God, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. The word, the definite article is not in the Greek. A more precise translation would be Christ Jesus Himself man. Okay, it's a small point, grammatical point. But the great, great... Well, let's back up a minute. As you mature in your Christian awareness, your first great discovery that's overwhelming is when you realize that the creator of the universe became man. At the Christmas season, we celebrate the whole concept that He became man, dwelled among us, went to the cross. I love that little phrase. You know, He was crucified on a cross of wood, but He made the hill. Down which it stood. But then, as you mature in your Christian growth, and you begin to realize what a holy God really means, and you realize what sinful man really is, and you realize the gulf that exists between a holy God and puny, sinful, rebellious man, that there's something you'd encounter that's even more overwhelming than the idea that God became man. The thing that's even more overwhelming is that as we meet here right now, there is a man sitting on the throne of the universe. That's staggering. See, we all tend to think, well, Jesus became a man for 33 years. Died, resurrected. We sort of... He's back there again. Don't realize that He became a man forever. The only man-made things that you will find when you get to heaven is in scars. Anyway, verse 6. Who gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Now, the word ransom doesn't need explanation to us, probably, and to Lutron, which is basically what is given in exchange for another as the price of His redemption. And Christ, of course, paid the full price for our redemption. And, of course, it's not difficult to amplify this a little bit to make it real, but my favorite way of doing this is to present to you the gospel according to Barabbas. Now, Barabbas stood under the righteous condemnation of the law. Okay, Barabbas knew that the one who was to take His cross and take His place was innocent. He knew he was guilty. He knew that guy was innocent. He knew that Jesus Christ was for him a true substitute. He knew that he had done nothing to merit going free while the another took His place. And he knew that Christ's death was for him completely efficacious. It absolved him completely. So Barabbas and Jesus changed places. The murderer's bonds, curse, disgrace, mortal agony were transferred to the righteous Jesus, while the liberty, innocence, safety, and well-being of the Immaculate Nazarene became the lot of the murderer. Jesus Barabbas is installed in all the rights and privileges of Jesus Christ while the latter enters upon the infamy and the horror of the rebel's position. Both mutually inherit each other's situation and what they possess. The delinquent's guilt and cross become the lot of the just one. And all the civil rights and immunities of the latter are the property of the delinquent. Why am I going through this? Because you and I are in Barabbas's shoes. We know we're guilty. We know he's innocent. And we traded places. Anyway, moving on to verse 7. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, Paul says, and an apostle, parenthesis, I speak the truth in Christ and lie not, close parenthesis, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. And of course, the definition of it, he says a preacher and apostle. Preacher, we know what a preacher is, a herald and a messenger vested with public authority, conveyed with official messages and so forth. That's what the Greek word tends to convey. And of course, in the New Testament, it's used as God's ambassador or herald, a proclaimer of the divine word. The word apostle, of course, is a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders, specifically applied, obviously, to the 12 apostles of Christ, but in a broader sense, also applied to eminent Christian teachers like Barnabas, Timothy, Silvanus. But it's a strange, you may say, kind of a strange verse because here's Paul saying, I speak the truth. You know, so your thought that runs through your mind, gee, all liars say I speak the truth, you know. But you got to remember, in the context, he's talking to Timothy who traveled with him, who knew him, who is probably one of his closest companions. So he's just asserting something that Timothy knew to be true. You follow me? It's a little different. If I said this to a stranger, it doesn't mean much. But if I say it to my partner, my friend, you see, I'm acknowledging something he already knows in a way of underlying it. Let me give that a little more impact there. And verse 8, I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. And of course, from this verse, we all should never pray without holding up our hands, right? Of course not. There are many, many prayer postures in the scripture. In 1 Kings 8, they are standing without stretched hands, as is suggested here. In Daniel 6, verse 10, Daniel's kneeling. In Luke 18, they're standing. In 2 Samuel 7, they're sitting. In Genesis 24, they're bowing the head. In John 17, lifting up the eyes. In Genesis 17, falling on the ground. And obviously, there isn't any particular posture of the body while praying. Sit, stand, hands up, head bowed, you name it. You try to do them all at once, you're likely to hurt something. So, the important thing is not your posture, but it's the posture of the heart. And I think it's pretty obvious. I don't have to amplify that. By the way, the term holy hands is also idiomatic of clean hands. When you see that expression in 2 Samuel 22, Psalm 24, clean hands implying a blameless life. So when you say holding up holy hands, obviously, he's talking literally in a sense, but he's also speaking idiomatically that we hold up a pure life. And he says, without wrath, that we should say without anger and without doubting, or the word there should have been translated disputing really, in faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please him. The book of Hebrews tells us, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Philippians 2, Paul also says, all things without murmurings and disputing. And we could go on about that, but let's use our time better because now we get into the more controversial part of the passage. What brought most of you out on a snowy night? What am I going to do with the rest of it? Because now Paul deals with that untouchable subject, the status of women in the Bible. In our particular day, you say that the feminists would certainly view the views of Paul and also Peter, by the way, in 1 Peter 3 and elsewhere, simply outdated, right? And you might be very amused to discover that those views were considered outdated in Paul's day too, because this feminist movement is nothing new. Most of these arguments, what's really amazing, by the way, is you can't find a theme, an argument, an idea, a whatever that isn't anticipated in the scripture. I'm not referring to this particularly because we're going to deal with this pretty easily, but it's amazing to me how you get into serious doctrinal disputes or some new thought comes through, you discover it's not new at all. There's nothing new about the new age. That's paganism, pantheism, whatever, from way back and the scripture deals with that. Gnosticism, almost every heresy, there's not a heresy you can encounter that the Holy Spirit hasn't anticipated. But we're not talking about heresies here. We're talking about something much more subtle. But these views that Paul's going to express do come from the word of God. We'll note this particularly, in fact, we might skip ahead. This is one of the places that might be useful because we're going to discover in verse 11, Paul is going to summarize this by saying women should be in subjection. It literally means to rank under. It doesn't have anything to do with valuing or worth. It has to do with order and authority. We'll come to that. And that's going to be underlying theme as he develops his thought. Getting back to verse 9, let's work our way up there. Paul says to the women, in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly array. So the ones that studied for the lesson didn't wear their pearls or costly array tonight. You're to be congratulated. No, I'm kidding. Obviously, we could talk a lot about the artificial glamour of this world in contrast to the true beauty of a godly life. You might be interested. The word adorn here in the Greek is cosmeo, which means to arrange or put in order. And when he speaks of modest apparel, it's a similar rooted Greek word. The word modest comes from cosmeos, which means well arranged. Now, it's interesting that both these words are derived from the Greek word cosmos, which means to bring order out of chaos. And that's the same root from which we get the word cosmetic. I just thought I would. There's a number of people in this audience that are never going to forgive me for that exegesis. And of course, we as fellows are indebted and applaud the effectiveness of that industry. So and the word sobriety here is actually not. It's a little different than you and I tend to use the word today. It means having a sound mind, self-control, good sense. And now this issue of braided hair is that's a term that generally can mean hairstyles in general. Ephesus, where Timothy was ministering, was characterized by competition for social popularity as expressed by elaborate gowns and fancy accessories and so forth. And it was the fashion to try to outdo one another in expensive hairdos arranged with costly jewelry in the hairdo. This was the style of that day. And all of this, of course, calling attention, all these things attempting to be competitive. They all have their analogies today, maybe not in the same expression. And of course, there's nothing wrong with owning jewelry. The Shulamite in Song of Songs wore gold and silver jewelry in chapters one and four and so did Rebecca in Genesis 24. And you could go on and on. And Isaiah has much to say about it in Isaiah 61, verse 10. And in the interest of running out of time, I won't digress because there's nothing wrong with jewelry. It's a question of their approach and their proper use. As being a costly garments, Pliny the Elder, he's a first century Roman historian, described the dress of the wife of Emperor Caligula, Lollapalina, which was worth several hundred thousand dollars by today's reckoning. Philo, the first century Jewish philosopher, described a prostitute as wearing gold chains, bracelets, hair done up in elaborate gaudy braids, eyes marked with pencil lines. Do you never heard of that? Eyebrows smothered in paint and wearing expensive clothes, lavishly embroidered and so on. So this form of ostentation is obviously nothing new, nothing unique then or today. And yet, obviously, there's some places where it can be considered inappropriate. But see what Paul is saying in verse 10, which becometh women professing godliness with good works. Women should be glamorous external. Paul is focusing on the internal. Or some people say, beauty is only skin deep, but ugliness goes clear through or something. Now, a woman cannot claim to love, worship, and honor and fear the Lord. And at the same time, disregard what his word says about her behavior and God's design for her in church. The real theme here is not her appearance, except as a symptom of something else. And that is her yielding to God's order as described. He's going to develop that here. Verse 11, he says, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. And the word subjection is sometimes translated submitting or submit in Ephesians chapter 5, the same central word, literally means to rank under. It has to do with order and authority, not with value or ability. Anyone that's been in a military unit understands the idea of rank. It doesn't have to do with value. It has to do with order. And especially in a combat unit. And by the way, all of us are where? In a combat unit. In a combat unit. Let's realize that. Paul, I mentioned before, First Corinthians 1440 says that all things should be done decently in order. And that deals with the relationship between children and the parents, between employee and employer, between citizens and the government and the rest. There's an order. Without that order, you have anarchy and you have that which makes one pray to the devil. By the way, submission is not subjection. God, by the way, has used women throughout the Old Testament. We see Deborah, Ruth, Queen Esther, those examples. It's interesting, though, that even Deborah, with all her greatness, declined to lead the military campaign, deferred that to Barak, less than there, against the Canaanites and all that. We are never to underestimate the importance that godly women played in the church. You need to understand, women had a low place in the Roman period. But the gospel changed all that. Because Jesus first revealed his messiahship to a woman in John 4. Only a woman recognized his announcement of his forthcoming death in John 12. He'd mentioned that in Matthew 16 and elsewhere, and the guys didn't get it. The guys didn't get it, but the women did. At least the one woman did. Women were at the cross, and they were the first to herald the news of the resurrection. And of course, we read in Acts 9, Dorcas, and Acts 16, Lydia, and Priscilla in Acts 18, the godly women in Berea and Thessalonica, all through the scripture. Paul greeted at least eight women in Romans 16, including Phoebe, the deaconess, who carried the epistle to the dressees. Now, the word silence here is an unfortunate translation. The word peaceableness or quietness is really the intent of the Greek word hesychia. The idea is not to be meddlesome or intrusive. That's really what the term is intended to convey. It's the same word that's translated peaceable back in verse 2. And Paul gave a similar admonition to the women at the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 34. But of course, the primary focus there was they're not speaking in tongues in the assembly. There's a place to speak in tongues, but not in the assembly. In effect, was the gist of that. Verse 12. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over a man, but to be in silence. And against that word. And here he interprets the meaning of chapter 11. Chapter 11 is a general rule. It has to do with in the assembly and it has to do with the order of authority with a man being at the head. He's going to develop that here shortly from the creation itself. So he defined it. What he's really talking about is just being, holding their peace, during the worship services. By the word, the word teach here isn't just the teaching. It's to be a teacher in the sense of an office of a teacher. Didesco in the Greek implies that. It's using the present infinitive rather than the aorist infinitive, which implies that it does not forbid women to teach anywhere. It means in that particular role or not to assume the role of a pastor or a teacher in the life of the church. Women are permitted to teach. Older women are teach the younger in Titus chapter 2. Timothy was taught by his mother and his grandmother as will be brought out in second Timothy twice in the second letter. And there's nothing wrong with a woman instructing a man in private. Acts 18 deals with that. And let me tell you, can't a man helps me all the time? I get instructed all the time at home. It would be disruptive if she jumped up and called everyone's attention every time I misspeak or say something wrong. She will deal with that later. Okay. And by the way, I'm not being gratuitous here. Some of the great insights I've gotten in the scripture come from Nan's diligent study. I still echo her definition of truth. You know, what is truth, Pilate said. That's an ambitious study if you want to find out what does scripture say about truth. And then the first one that suggested to me the definition. Truth is when the word and the deed become one. Boy, it's a powerful definition. I got that from her. I couldn't even begin to attribute the insights that I share with you that I've really gotten from her in the intimacy of our fellowship. But the point Paul is making here is that the woman shouldn't try to take the place of the man in the order within the body. That's the point he's trying to make. And he's going to develop that because in verse 13 says, for Adam was first formed than Eve. That's a priority. It's not a succession. It's not that he was better than her. He was first formed than Eve. That's an argument from creation. And by the way, Paul uses the same argument in 1 Corinthians 11. In the interest of time, we'll keep moving, but you can look it up. First 10 verses of the 11th chapter of 1 Corinthians deals with that. Priority does not mean superiority. It just means first came before the second one. But then he goes on to another issue arguing from the fall of man. Verse 14, Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. And Satan deceived the woman into sinning. We find that from 2 Corinthians 11 again. Also obviously from Genesis 3 first dozen verses. Man sinned with his eyes wide open. The disorder we have today in society in general, in the church in particular, comes from violating God's God-given order. Now, I can't touch on 1 Timothy 2.14 without highlighting a side observation that you might find provocative. And it's often misunderstood, and I'm sure I'll be misquoted. So please try to understand what I'm saying. I'm going to suggest to you that there's a very provocative parallel between Adam and Christ. One of Christ's titles is the last Adam. You've heard Paul use that. In that sense, the first Adam is a type or a foreshadowing in some way of the last Adam. Now, it's interesting to understand what happened when Adam came home that day. They both had been sinless, clothed with light, according to some hints in the scripture. They walked with God. We have no idea what the universe was like then because everything we know about the universe is post-curse. I usually challenge debate sometimes just saying prove to me that Adam lived in only three dimensions. You can't. I'm not saying he did live in... But the point is we don't know. There are people that believe that our original ten dimensions were unified and they were fractured to the four and the six as the scientists know them now. We live in four dimensions, length, width, height, and three spatial dimensions in time. We know there are six other dimensions that are curled in less than 10 to the minus 33 centimeters. They're only inferable by indirect means. We know that in particle physics behavior. You want to get into that. And if you're interested... By the way, we have a briefing package on that called Beyond Perception where we try to deal with particle physics and the Bible. But the point is, and the view is that in Genesis, by some, is that in Genesis chapter 3, by the curse, the universe was fractured into two parts. So we have the physical and the spiritual as we think of it today. But those are conjectures. But the point is Adam comes home. He had not sinned yet, hey. But she had. Now, if it was any one of us guys, the conversation would have looked... would have went something like this. Boy, kid, are you in trouble? I'll pray for you. No. Adam loved her so much that he knowingly chose to join her in her predicament rather than go on without her. I won't ask for a show of hands, guys. How many guys love your wife that much? He loved her so much that he chose. I'm not saying he should have chose. I'm not condoning his sin. Don't read into that kind of thing. I'm just saying he chose to join her in her predicament. And because he did, she had offspring from which came the Redeemer that she could be saved. If he had not done that, there was no path for her to be saved. Because there would not have been offspring, there would not have been a Redeemer. You see what I'm saying? So in a sense of speaking, don't overextend this, but in a sense of speaking, let me just phrase it this way. I tend to visualize Adam as a type or a foreshadowing or as a hint of the last Adam who loved us so much that he gave himself for us so that you and I could have fellowship with the Father throughout eternity. Okay, so anyway, let's move on here. The point of Paul's making in the reading though is that men and women are equally gullible. They were both deceived by Satan, but Adam went into it with his eyes open. That's the heavy part of this verse. Now, the scripture does teach us that we can all be easily deceived. Abraham listened to his wife in Genesis 16 and got into big trouble when she suggested Hagar and all of that. Later, he listened to her counsel and God told him to obey her. And so there's examples both ways. There is no greater blessing than to be married to the right woman. Boy, a godly woman's price is above rubies. I'll tell you something very, very strange. I'll be very, very honest. I've been married to a 20-year-old for over 40 years. And she helps me continuously as a counselor, as a consoler, and as a living example. And those of you that know the products of our ministry know that the real meat, the real value in terms of a walk are not my tapes, the prophecy stuff and this and that. It's her, her books. The Way of Agape. And be transformed. And I think her next book, Faith in the Night Seasons is going to be the best thing she's ever done. Last verse, Paul continues, Notwithstanding she, the woman, shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness and sobriety. Now the word saved there, don't get confused that the word sozo in the Greek, it means to rescue, preserve, be safe, unharmed, to heal, to deliver from. It often is used in the New Testament without necessarily referring to spiritual salvation. Many people read that word and try to interpret that somehow having to do with salvation in the sense that we use it soteriologically. No, no. What Paul is saying is the woman's primary ministry is not the church, it's in the family. Women are far from being second-class citizens because they have the primary responsibility for rearing godly children. And this, by the way, this doesn't mean that God wants all women to bear children because we discover in 1 Corinthians 7 many women won't get married. And I don't think God's expecting to raise children without being married. Anyway, the point is you take any one of these and overextend it, obviously. 1 Timothy chapter 2. Basically, Paul is making an argument not about women keeping silent in church in a denotative sense, but rather to preserve the order. He makes that argument in the Corinthian letters. He makes an argument here in Timothy that God has an order. And how interesting it is that Satan's attack... If you want to find out what's important, notice what Satan is attacking. He's attacking the family by the rise of homosexuality and it's condoning... By the way, the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not homosexuality. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was the government condoning homosexuality. They were elders in the gate and so forth. Anyway, the point is Satan's attack is on the family. And we watch the confusion of roles, whether it's the homosexual thing, whether it's the feminist thing, whether it's abortion. You look at these various agendas of the pagan left. They are all designed to attack the tenets that Paul has highlighted to us as being essential for order and decency in the church. So why should we be surprised? Now, one of the things that I couldn't connect the dots... I'm basically a systems engineer and I didn't really put it all together. Until I can put it all together, I don't really understand it. As a first grade student in political science, you all know that dictators always look for crises. Whether it's Hitler or Stalin, whoever, they all create crises to consolidate their power, to increase their reach, to decrease the freedoms of their constituency. So dictators always have sought crises. The great discovery in the modern age is that social crises work just as well as military ones to increase budgets, to increase the governmental control over the citizens, to decrease freedoms. They always fly these things under wonderful banners, whether it's the war on poverty or the preservation of the environment or the war on... They always have a wonderful banner that they fly under. But the game is always the same. Now, the other insight we've got from modern behavioral science and other things is that social crises are caused by immorality. Teenage sex promiscuity causes AIDS, causes teenage pregnancies. Literally 84 charts are typically brought up to show you the social indicators in this country. And they've all been improving up till 1960, 61, 62, and then suddenly go off the charts adversely. What happened in 62, 63? What happened to cause a total change in our culture? Prayer was outlawed from schools. Reading the Bible was outlawed in schools. All these bizarre decisions by the Supreme Court and others. Now, it took me a while to connect the dots. Governments increase their power with crises. Immorality causes crises. Why should we be surprised that governments have an incentive to promote immorality? You close the loop. If the government can promote immorality, I'm talking population control and the horrible scandals that hide behind Planned Parenthood, the Nazi beliefs that are the foundation of that whole thing. You can go, if you start studying this, it is an eye-opener to realize there is an agenda. That agenda is out of the bowels of hell. And this country is succeeding due to the negligence, lack of diligence of the pulpits and the Christian body. May God help us. Let's stand for a closing word of prayer. Well, Father, we thank you for this opportunity to gather together in your name. We thank you, Father, that in your kingdom, there are no accidents, that we're all here right now by your divine appointment. We thank you, Father, for this opportunity to come before you in the throne room of the universe. We do ask you to help us, each of us, to be more committed to prayer. We thank you, Father, for this opportunity for fellowship with you. Help us, Father, to more fully acknowledge you in all our thoughts and all our actions and all our decisions. We do ask you for discernment in all our decisions and help us, Father, with resolve in all our commitments. And, Father, we do come before you and pray for those that are in authority. We pray, Father, for the representatives and the senators that are faithful to your word, that do meet each morning for prayer and for Bible study. We pray for their encouragement, their strengthening, their protection. We ask for your protection, your hedge about each of those that are pursuant to preserving this heritage that you have given us as such an incredible gift and yet that has come at such a high price. But, Father, we also confess before you our own negligence, our presumption, our ingratitude, and dereliction of our responsibilities in holding our representatives more accountable. And, Father, we also come before you and thank you for the women in our lives. And, Father, we start by thanking you for the one that brought us forth in childbirth. We thank you, Father, for the heritage and training that has brought us to where we are today. We thank you above all for your Holy Spirit, for we realize that everything good in our life, everything good in our life, has come from your hand. And, Father, we also thank you for not only the selection but the preservation of our mates. We pray, Father, that you would forgive us for our neglect, our ingratitude, our presumption, and not taking better care of them. We would ask you, Father, to help us to reflect our repentance in our conduct and in our witness in our actions as well as our words in the days ahead. As we commit ourselves again this night into your hands in the name of Yeshua, Yeshua HaMashiach, our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer, our one and only mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen. God bless you.