In this sermon, the preacher discusses the spiritual lesson found in the progression of music notes from F sharp to F natural to F flat. He emphasizes the importance of truth in the heart, head, library, and everywhere else. The preacher encourages attendees to recharge their spiritual batteries at the conference and not be discouraged by the challenges they may face in their service to God. He also highlights the power of Jesus' sacrifice and the assurance of eternal life through the gospel. The sermon concludes with a reminder to stir up the gift of God within oneself and not let spiritual fervor dwindle over time.

with joy. I'm looking back to the time probably when they parted, and Timothy had broken down when he said goodbye to Paul. Nothing unmanly about that. In fact, the truth is we need more tears in our Christian life. Somebody said, Lord, deliver me from the curse of a dry-eyed Christianity. Lord, deliver me from the curse of a dry-eyed Christianity. The gift of tears. And then Paul says, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded in you also. I like this. Lois and Eunice. Was Paul a male chauvinist? I wouldn't gather it as I read his his letters. And this reminds us of the tremendous value of a godly Christian home, doesn't it? Your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And he said, I'm persuaded in you also. He almost seems to speak a little more definitely about Timothy's grandmother and mother. I'm not sure that the women of Wellesley would be too happy with his birth, because, you know, they invited Mrs. Bush to come and be their commencement speaker. At least the college did, Wellesley College. And there was a contingent that protested against it. What had she ever done? All she had ever done was to be a mother and a wife. She had never carved out a career for herself. Such arrogance and such ignorance as well. For women, the feminist movement which started off ostensibly to elevate the status of women has really accomplished the reverse as far as the world is concerned. How much we owe to godly Christian mothers. I think it was John Wesley who said, I learned more about Christianity from my mother than I did from all the theologians of Europe. Good for you, John Wesley. And as I thought about this today, I went back to my own childhood and youth, and I thought this. Thank mom for being at home when we got out of school. Thank mom for being there to discipline us when we really needed it. Thank mom for wearing out your knees, praying for the salvation of your boys. And she did. Thank mom for seeing that the house was always well stocked with good Christian books. Stocked, planted, with a purpose. Thank mom for entertaining the Lord's servant. It was a sanctifying influence in the home, and we learned lessons of servanthood as well. Thank lord for keep mom for teaching us the value of hard work and of discipline. Thank mom for taking in work in order to pay for our education. Thank mom for teaching us a love for Christian poetry and Christian music. And thank mom for encouraging us in the ways of God and of holiness. Never stood on a platform, never took public part in a meeting, but I wouldn't be here today apart from that. And I get so weary, but what I'm hearing today even in evangelical circles about the whole matter of women and their ministry and and so forth, I get so weary of the way some alleged scholars twist and turn the word of God on this subject. So there isn't enough left to make soup for a sick grasshopper. I have a great encouragement to it also. Simple, common, ordinary people aren't taken in by these abstruse theological arguments. They have something that protects them against such folly, and that something is wisdom. We want to go back to the bible. What does the bible say about it? Well, to put it very frankly, the bible says that leadership in the church in the new testament church is male. That's what it says. That has no aspersions on our sisters. I don't know why the idea persists that standing behind a platform and preaching is greater than being a mother in a home. Who ever invented that? Actually, we say the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. And I rather agree with that, don't you? The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Ah, but they say Galatians chapter 3 verse 19 where we're all equal, you know, in Christ Jesus neither bond nor free, male nor female. Of course it's true in Christ Jesus. That means as far as our position before God, male has no preference over female. A person who has Christ is complete, needs nothing else as far as fitness for heaven is concerned. You can't improve on that. No one, no Christian is any more fitted for heaven than another. That's exactly what it means. That has nothing to do with role in life. It has to do with our standing before God. Why wrench it out of the context and make it something it was never intended to say? But if somebody will say to me, yes, but aren't all believers priests? Yes, all believers are priests. Aren't all believers royal priests? Yes, all believers are holy priests and royal priests. And aren't the sacrifices of God, of the New Testament priesthood, a person's possessions, his praise, his person, his prayers, and his certainty? Yes, they're all that. Doesn't that mean that a woman has equal place as far as ministry in the church? No, it doesn't mean that. It means the same one who established all believers as priests has a right to put control on the public exercise of the priesthood. That's what it means. And that's exactly what you have in the word of God. Let me say that again. The same one who established the New Testament priesthood, God, by the Holy Spirit, has a perfect right to put control on the public exercise of the priest. And that's what God has done. But not satisfied with that, I'm going to tell you this. Well, isn't what Paul says just a matter of the local culture at that time? And my answer is emphatically not. The moment you adopt the culture argument, you can get rid of that tract of the word of God. You get rid of baptism, you get rid of the Lord's Supper, you get rid of anything that you don't like. You get rid of all the teachings about discipleship which cut us so very much. It's a matter of the culture of that day. It's not a matter of the culture of that day. Paul, to enforce it, goes back to creation. He goes back to the order of creation. He goes back to the purpose of creation. And that transcends culture, doesn't it? And not only so, he uses expressions like, because of the angels. Are the angels just limited by the culture of a particular time? Don't be silly. Come on, give me a break. But the real clincher to me is what the Apostle Paul says. If any man among you think himself to be spiritual, let him acknowledge the things I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. Isn't that what he says? The commandments of the Lord. I think that God has given, in some way, the most exalted ministry to our sisters. 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 50, Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with self-control. What does it mean? It means the most wonderful privilege has been given to Christian women of raising up a godly seed, so to speak. Given to a Susannah Wesley, to raise up a John Wesley, and a Charles Wesley, and 17 other Wesleys. Really marvelous when you start to think of it. It might seem from the preceding verses that woman doesn't have an effective ministry. She's to be silent, she's not to teach, nor do you serve authority over the man. Nevertheless, don't run away with the idea that she's reduced to a non-person. She shall be saved in childbearing. What about all the sisters that aren't allowed to, that aren't able to marry, or to raise children? Well, the Bible can't take every situation in such broad principles, and this is the broad principle. I often think it's very interesting that right after that verse, she shall be saved in childbearing, the very next verse is, this is a faithful saying, if a man desires overseership, he desires the good work. Raising up godly leadership for the church? I don't think there's anything greater than that. I really don't, and I pay my tribute tonight to Christian sisters who have found fulfillment in lives of obedience to the word of God. And so when I come to this verse, my heart beats just a little faster when Paul speaks about Eunice, Lois, and your mother Eunice. I'm persuaded in the also. Then he says, therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. Stir up the gift. Just as things in the natural realm tend to unwind, it's true in the spiritual realm as well. Here's a church that might at the very beginning be a tremendous tribute to a great moving of the spirit of God, but the years go on and things go into a dull routine, and the fire is gone. It happens in individual lives, too. We get older, you know, and you can become cynical and dull, and life doesn't have the same vigor for you. We need to stir up the gift of God which is in us. Did you know that at the beginning of the season, the cuckoo bird song is in F sharp? Did you know that? There's a little lesson on music. As the season progresses, it goes down to F natural, and at the end of the season it's F flat. There's a spiritual lesson in that, isn't there? F sharp, F natural, F flat. Man, movement, machine, monument. Got it? Truth in the heart, truth in the head, truth in the library. Truth, where is it? The history of Christian work, we've got to guard against it. That'd be a wonderful thing if we come to this conference and get our spiritual batteries recharged, huh? Wonderful. Maybe some of you are here, you're discouraged, and years of service in the mission field, and it seems that it's all reduced to ashes. Possible. God is still on the throne. Stir up the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hand. Then Paul says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of discipline. Sounds fine. Actually, we have in the provision of God, in the word of God, and by the spirit of God, everything that's necessary. You wonder about that nowadays when you hear that the necessity of all kinds of additional things. We want to get back to basics, and as far as the scriptures are concerned, we have in the word of God, and by the ministry of the spirit of God, everything that is necessary for serving the Lord effectively. And then I like what Paul says here, therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. Good, remember this was written from prison. Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me his prisoner. A Roman Catholic priest who, in many matters theological, is very far removed from us, wrote this. Never be you ashamed of the blood of Christ. I know it's not the popular religion of the day. They will call it mediation, but you know as well as possible, for the whole Bible, from never you be ashamed of the blood of Christ. You are blood bought of the redeemed, of all those on earth redeemed by his blood. The uniform we wear is scarlet. If you are ashamed of your uniform, for goodness sakes man, leave the service. He said, never be ashamed of Christ. That is the song of the redeemed. To him be glory and praise forever and ever. Amen. Once years ago, when Dr. Barnhouse was in Philadelphia, and they were having a great meeting, and he was shoutly defending the great doctrines of the Christian faith, another minister came to him and said, the trouble with you is you are a medieval obscurantist. Dr. Barnhouse said, that meant more to me than the Distinguished Service Medal. I like that. Because of his defense of the Christian faith, he was labeled a medieval obscurantist. He said, that meant more to me than the Distinguished Service Medal. Never be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, his prisoner. Paul said, but share with me in the suffering for the gospel according to the power of God. Now, some of you know more about suffering for the gospel than the rest of us, but Harold Tingen once said, there's no future for any movement unless it can count on people who are willing to suffer for it, and we must know where we stand. If we're able to trust him and one another, we may expect times of costly blessings, but if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. And, you know that the New Testament envisages every Christian suffering in some way for the namesake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christian young people in schools suffer for his name, don't they? They're ridiculed, they're called strange names because of their faith and their stand in Christ. Christians in the workplace, they suffer. They're looked down on as odd creatures, and those out on the gospel front lines suffer as well. Maybe there's nothing more than a sneer. You know, what a wonderful thing it is for us who've never reached up and felt the warm blood, and brought our hand down, and had the privilege of rejoicing that we were counted worthy to suffer that for the Lord. You know, it is wonderful. Instead of being abashed by the rebuke and ridicule of the world for that strange God, he's allowing me to suffer in that little way, at least for his name's sake. This will all be reckoned up in a coming day. Share with me in the suffering for the gospel according to the power of God. He didn't tell us it was all going to be rosy, did he? He didn't tell us it would all be Gloria in excelsis, or a mountaintop experience of suffering for the sake of the gospel. Then he says finally, "...who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our work, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus, before time began." I just want to mention verse 10. "...but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." What does that mean? He has abolished death. We see death around us all the time, don't we? Cemeteries, funeral parlors, morgues, how come he's abolished death? Well, perhaps we could explain it this way. Here's an army contingent, and there's an officer in charge, and he's really a tyrant. He abuses his men and rules over them with a rod of iron, as it were, and they're in terror of him. But one day, because of certain infractions in his party, he's called back to headquarters, and he's stripped of his authority, he's stripped of his rank, and sent back to the contingent. He's now a private. He still exists, but he's been put out of commission, and that's what happened to this child of God through the work of the Lord Jesus. Let me think about it this way. You do know that in the Old Testament, believers had very dim and indistinct ideas about life after death. I think if you had said to the average Jew in the Old Testament, a believing Jew in the Old Testament, what happens when you die? I think he would have shrugged his shoulders and said, Tiol. And really, Tiol has more of indefiniteness about it than it has of definiteness. It really just means the indistinct body shape. You never get famous for that, for answering that. You say, but I'm going to think of something else. You can think of a few verses in the Old Testament that seem to be dreams or streaks of light on the subject. I know that my reading of them, I celebrate with his likeness. Two, I don't think you can think of six figures, maybe, not many. They had very dim and indistinct views of life after death. Now, think of our position today in Christ. To die is to depart to the beam of Christ, which is my son. Our bodies go into the grave, our spirit and soul go right back to the Lord Jesus. We're in the conscious enjoyment of his presence. He's abolished that. He's stripped death of its power. It's no longer the feared soul, but the messenger of God that brings our souls to heaven, brought life and immortality to life by the gospel. How much we owe to the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of us have known him since our childhood, and it just seems so routine, but it really should be listed as a holy gasp for a promise all the time when we think of the wonders that his grace has brought. Shall we pray? Father, we stand in awe of thy words. It is surely sweet to our taste, and we relish in it. We thank you that every word of God is pure. We thank you for the lessons you speak to our hearts tonight through this portion, and once again, we just want to thank you for godly Christian sisters who have such a desire to stay as close to the word of God as possible, and to find fulfillment within the confines of your sacred scriptures. We give thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.