The Gospel Inheritance of Women

Ministry of the, we This week is our care group ministry, and here to tell us a little bit about what God is doing in that ministry is Carlos Limpiaco, our pastor of Care Groups. Let's welcome him. Good morning. just, just to remind you of something that Pastor Mike Berry shared with us a few weeks back in the ministry of the week, and that is that in Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church, we see our experience of the gospel, taking place within the context, Context of, the family care groups and then the Sunday service and so as far as, care groups are concerned, boy, there's, there's been a lot that God I believe has done and continues to do, in our care groups, for example.

We see men, taking on roles of leadership and growing in those roles and that, that's really encouraging. There is significant, significant council. in this body, biblical counsel, that has taken place within and as a result, of the care groups. There's been, spiritual counsel, as well as material needs being met.

Just recently, within the last week, I heard of one care group that had recently gathered together a couple $1000 to help a person with a medical expense and, That's just one example of many of the types of things that are happening, in the care groups. I think that as a result of care groups we have seen, overall, spiritual growth and sanctification. I can think of two families who had come to Cornerstone about 5-6 years back before we began the care group ministry here and these.

Families for whatever reason decided to return back again and upon their return, they said to me that they noticed a huge difference in the body here.

They say that there's a, there's just a sense of joy and a sense of excitement. There's that feeling as if something is happening and I would credit that in part because of the gospel, of course, but also because of how God is sanctifying us. Together as a body, as we gather together in care groups. I want to encourage everyone who, who is involved in a care group to please, excel still more and more in your love for one another.

And if you are not involved in a care group, I would strongly encourage you, to get involved. You can contact me. You can call the front office, on a weekday. leave a message there or talk to our secretary, Lillian, and she can direct you to me and we can begin to move you in the direction of getting plugged into a care group.

Thank you for your time. Thank you, Carlos. Well, let me have you turn in your Bibles this morning to First Timothy chapter two. 1 Timothy chapter 2, we're doing a verse by verse study through the book of First Timothy.

And as we continue in our study, Of this book this morning, we come to 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 15, the final verse of, chapter 2. And my goal this morning is to end up working our way through, verse, 15, and the title of the message this morning is the Gospel inheritance of Women. The Gospel inheritance of women. What I want to end up doing today is is doing a sweep of a number of passages of scripture, that has to do with the subject of the redemption inheritance or the gospel inheritance of, of women, and we will end the final point of the message will bring us to 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 15, and we will try to break open this verse and make sense of what God is saying here.

but ladies, this is one of those messages where I can't believe I get paid to say this stuff. I've been excited this week about just the privilege that is mine to be able to deliver, this good news, to you. To show you, the blessed, place that you have not only as a recipient of salvation, but also as a participant and even the causing of this salvation to even be brought to pass and hence made available to all men. I was interacting with a Sister in the Lord a couple of weeks ago on the subject of, male, female roles in the church.

And in one of, the Exchanges, she sent me this verse, that I thought was very appropriate for, for this topic, where the psalmist says the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places, surely, I have a delightful inheritance. And it's my conviction that any woman that reads from Genesis to Revelation, Beginning in Genesis, and especially focuses on what is revealed in Christ and the New Testament. Any woman who looks at that with a heart that is open to the Lord will end up delivering, I think, something close to this exclamation.

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.

And surely, I have a delightful, inheritance. What I want to do, and I know you guys are not going to believe this, but I have 14 points to make, in this message, and I'll, I'll let up front that my goal, and I tried to make this happen, my goal was to try to cover this material in the first half of the sermon. I actually thought we could cover 14 points in the first half, and then that I could take the time to answer, some of the questions that have been building up. over the, last month.

What it looks like we're going to do is I'm just going to spend the entire time on this subject this morning. I'm going to give you one more week to bring questions to me, and next week, we will take the time to answer those questions. Fair enough? OK, maybe the next 4 weeks, we'll be answering the questions.

But what I want to share with you is 14 facts about your gospel inheritance as a woman, 14 facts about the place of women in God's redemptive program. My prayer is by the end of this message, ladies, that you will look at yourself very differently. Then perhaps you look at yourself now. My prayer for the men, this is as much for the men as it is for the ladies.

My prayer is that we as men, after this sermon, will look at our sisters in the Lord differently. then maybe we have, before. in fact, just, you guys have heard the question, where would the man be if it were not for the woman? You ever heard that asked?

Where, where, what's the typical answer? I'm not asking if you believe this, but what's the typical answer you've heard to that question? Where would the man be if it were not for the woman? Nowhere.

No, what I've heard is in the garden. All right. and from one narrow standpoint, that might be true. But as we're going to see this morning, 40 minutes from now, if I ask the question, where would the man be?

If it were not for the woman, the right answer is we'd be without a savior. We'd be doomed to a Christless eternity, and there would be nothing that we could do about it. and so what I want to do, ladies, and men, is to just sweep through the scripture. This is not exhaustive, but look at 14 facts about the prominent place of women in God's redemptive, program.

All right, so take fast notes. Fact number 1, this takes us all the way back to the beginning of Genesis. fact number one, on the day of the fall, on the very day in which the fall occurred, God announced that the woman will play a vital role in the redemption of mankind. God announced on the day of the fall that the woman will play a vital role in the redemption of mankind.

So Adam and Eve had, have sinned. God shows up in the garden, they hide themselves and, God ends up speaking to the serpent, and then to Eve, and then to Adam, right? In that order. And as God is speaking to the serpent, no doubt Adam and Eve were listening in.

And listen to what Eve and Adam would have heard as God said what he said to the serpent. God says to the serpent who had deceived Eve, he says, I will put enmity between you and the woman. There is going to be enmity between you and the woman. And between your seed and her seed.

Now, God hasn't even talked to Eve yet, but Eve would be able to listen in and say, OK, I guess I'm not going to die today. I'm going to live to see another day. In fact, I'm going to produce offspring, and the offspring that comes forth ultimately out of my womb, will crush the head of this serpent who deceived me, because God says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.

And Eve is probably thinking, man, this is great. I can't wait to, to have children so that this can begin to happen. But then God turns to Eve and says, I'm going to greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. takes the thrill out of that.

But Nonetheless, Eve would know even from what God says to the serpent, that she is going to figure as a woman very prominently in the redemption of mankind and the defeat of the very devil or adversary or serpent that deceived her in the garden. There's a second fact that We can look at that demonstrates the prominent place of women in God's redemptive program, and that is jumping all the way into the New Testament. We observed that God begins the gospel accounts by memorializing for women as the ancestors of the savior of the world, Jesus Christ.

This is actually very unusual, typically in ancient times, they were really into the genealogies.

we even see that in First Timothy. but in the genealogies, almost always, it was just the men who were mentioned. However, in Matthew's account, as Matthew begins his gospel, we have a genealogy, and there are 4 women who figure very prominently in this genealogy as ancestors of the savior of the world. And this is in addition to Mary.

We have Tamar, we have Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. What's interesting is not only are all of these women, but all of these are tainted women, right? Tamar in Genesis 38, I believe, was guilty of prostitution. and deception, Rahab was a harlot, Ruth was, a Moabitas, not of the people of Israel.

Bathsheba was involved in the adulterous affair with King David. What's interesting to me about Matthew's genealogy is that Matthew actually skips generations. There's just generations that he skips over. And this would have been a convenient place to just skip a generation or two and avoid the mention of these women's names.

But, but Matthew intentionally puts the names of these women forever memorializing them at the very beginning in the first chapter of our New Testament. Memorializing them as ancestors of Jesus Christ. There's a 3rd fact that we can observe about the prominent place of women in God's redemptive program. And that is the first person in the New Testament to be told of the incarnation was a woman.

That intrigues me. the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, and Mary was the first one who heard an explicit announcement from an angel about the incarnation and how that was actually going to take place and in fact, that she would be the one through whom it would happen. The angel did not appear to Mary's dad and then told her dad to go to Mary. The angel did not appear to Joseph first.

He appeared to Mary first and then later to Joseph. So in the New Testament, the very first person to be told in detail of the imminent incarnation of the savior of the world was a woman. Fact number 4, the person through whom the Savior came was a woman. Obviously, Mary was the mother of Jesus.

And so we observe in the very beginning of our New Testament that the person through whom the Savior of all men came into the world was through Mary. And Luke chapter 1, verse 48, Mary is so blessed by this, she says, behold, from this time on, all generations will count me blessed, and indeed, all generations do count her and will through all of eternity count this woman to be blessed, because she was the mother of the Messiah. But ladies, the fact that God chose Mary to be the mother of the Messiah doesn't just say something about Mary.

It says something about you.

I love what John Stott says. He says, we must never forget what we owe to a woman. If Mary had not given birth to the Christ child, there would have been no salvation for anybody. No greater honor has ever been given to woman than in the calling of Mary to be the mother of the savior of the world.

I want you as women to receive that blessing into yourself that God would choose. it was through the woman, as it were, that, the serpent deceived her, and then on the other side of the deception of Eve, Eve brought the fruit to Adam, and he followed her lead. Through her, sin came into the world, according to 1 Timothy chapter 2, and now we observe that God takes women and situates her in such a way so that through the woman, salvation comes into the world. Is God not a God of redemption?

And, what grace, what mercy is this? As we continue, a 5th fact about God's placement of women in redemptive history is, as we read through the gospel accounts, we observed that the first Samaritan convert to Christ was a woman. Why did that happen that way? It didn't have to happen that way.

But in John 4, Jesus begins a dialogue with a woman. And talks at length with her, tells her to go get her husband, husbands, and she ends up ultimately going and doing that. So Jesus says, go to the men, go get your husband. So he's obviously instructing her to go to the men that are in her life, and she does and says, come and see a man who told me everything that I ever did.

Ladies, is it OK for you to evangelize a man? Is it? Was it OK for the Samaritan woman to go to the men in her life, and to tell them about Jesus and invite them to come to him? Yes.

But we observe here that the very first Samaritan convert to Christ was a woman and then through her came word of Christ and the salvation of many in the region of Samaria. In addition to that, I don't think this is coincidental, but the first Gentile convert to Christ recorded in the gospel accounts was a woman. It was the woman of Tyre and Sidon, who was very persistent, and wanting to get to Jesus and receive from him what only he could give. And her faith was great.

In fact, Jesus ultimately said, oh, woman, your faith is great. What a model your faith is. And so in the gospel accounts, the very first Gentile to actually put their trust and demonstrate great faith in Jesus was a woman. Fact number 7, the person who anointed Christ for his burial was a woman.

You read in Mark chapter 14, where, a woman comes into the room and she begins to anoint Jesus, feet with expensive, ointment. And when you read the narrative, it's very clear. Jesus says she has done this for my burial. This woman actually is not just anointing Jesus, but she seems to be ahead of the male disciples of Jesus in comprehending that his death is imminent.

And it mystifies those in the room, but she understands he is going to die. It's unavoidable. And she shows this advanced knowledge, and she comes in and she literally is like, this is my only chance. I'm going to anoint him for his burial.

And because this woman was criticized, but also because of the beauty of of what she had done in serving him in this way. Look at what Jesus says, and he says this of nobody else ever again regarding any other deed they do. He says, truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken. In memory of her.

This woman will never be forgotten. What she has done for me, wherever the gospel goes over the entire planet, in any age, I will see to it that what she has done for me will be spoken of. Man. An 8th fact.

And this is, this is so exciting for me. the first people to witness the empty tomb were women. You read in the Gospel accounts and, and we see this in every case that the first people to show up on Easter Sunday morning, on the day of the resurrection were women. They were the first eyewitnesses of the fact that Jesus was Out of the tomb, the stone was rolled away.

They were the first ones to see that the tomb indeed was empty, and that leads to a 9th fact. And that is the first people to see the resurrected Christ Himself in the flesh were women. Now, why would God structure it this way? That's, that's not just a coincidental thing.

God is intentional about what he does, ladies, and God so chose in his sovereign plan to cause it to happen, that the women were the first people to be eyewitnesses of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He appeared to them before he appeared to the male. Disciples of Jesus. That's one of the reasons that, that we know that the resurrection accounts are true, because any writer in this day would have never had women being the first eyewitnesses of the resurrected Lord.

A woman's testimony, folks, was not even admissible in a court of law. Anyone making up this story would have never made it up this way and said that women were the first eyewitnesses of the resurrected Lord, but God in His sovereignty chose to reveal Himself to women. The resurrected Lord, even before revealing Himself to men. That leads to a 10th fact, and that the very first messengers of the resurrection of Jesus Christ were women.

This is the most fantastic event in all of the history of human civilization. There is no grander single event than the resurrection, bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Amen. And the first eyewitnesses of that event were women, and the first commissioned messengers of the news or the truth of that were women.

In fact, the women were told to go to the men with this message. When they encounter the angel at the tomb, the angel says, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold, he's going ahead of you in the Galilee, and there you will see him. And then as they began to do that, Jesus himself, Appears to them, and he tells them, Go and take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see me.

In John chapter 20, verse 17, Jesus tells Mary Magdalene to go to the disciples and to give them the news of his resurrection. And so she did. Mary Magdalene came. Announcing to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said certain things to her.

And so God and His sovereignty, ladies chose to have women to be the first eyewitnesses of this amazing event, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and he makes them the very first messengers of his bodily resurrection. And I think it's worth Whatever effort you put into pondering why this is so. I want all of us to ponder this. And others have pondered this, and I'm sure there's even more here than what we could even capture in this message this morning.

one writer writing in the late 300s AD pondered this and listen to what he said. He says, for since, as the apostle tells us, the woman, being deceived, fell into transgression. And was by her disobedience foremost in the revolt against God. For this reason, she is the first to witness the resurrection.

Indeed, by making herself at the beginning a minister and an advocate to her husband of the counsels of the serpent, she brought into human life the beginnings of evil and its train of consequences. Therefore, By ministering to Christ's disciples, the words of him who slew the rebel dragon, she might become to men the guide of faith, whereby the first proclamation of death is annulled. You see what he's saying there? Just as the serpent gave to Eve a lie, She brought that lie to her husband, an evil lying announcement or message.

God saw to it that thousands of years later, some women would show up at another garden. Where there was a tomb where a fantastic event will have occurred that crushed the head of this serpent, and he would make women the messenger, and he would send them, go and speak this. In the garden, the serpent said, Yeah, as God said. But in the garden of the tomb, the angel says to the women, he is not here, he's risen just as he said.

And as in the garden, the woman was the messenger of deceit and the falsehood that plunged the human race into sin. So God makes women the first messengers of the truth of the resurrection of Jesus that makes salvation possible. Isn't God amazing? He knows how to weave an incredible story.

And, and, and yes, God had every right to plunge man and woman. And to eternal damnation and utter uselessness, to where they could never even receive salvation. But God not only says, I'm not going to do that, I'm going to accomplish salvation and make you the recipients of this. But God even takes the woman and he elevates the woman to a place where she actually plays a vital role in the bringing to pass of this salvation.

There is an 11th fact that I want us to look at this morning, and that is that women spoke in tongues and prophesized right along with the men on the birthday of the church. Women spoke in tongues and prophesized right along with the men on the birthday. Of the church. Here at Cornerstone, we believe that the day of Pentecost is the day in which the church age was inaugurated.

It was the birthday of the church. And so consequently, it was the first gathering of spirit filled, Believers after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. And so it's just very intriguing to look at what happened in that first church service, as it were, and what we observe is women were gathered in this service. In fact, if you read Acts 1, we learned that there were 120 gathered.

The disciples are mentioned. But also it says, and there were women in this gathering of the 120. Some of the women are even mentioned by name. All right.

So we know that in this gathering of the 120, in Acts 1, that there were women among that number. We then come into Acts chapter 2. And in verse 4, it says, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak. With other tongues.

And that word all means all the men and the women of the 120 that were gathered in the upper room. We know that women were speaking in tongues, the praises of God and prophesying right along with the men, because when they're criticized for what's happening and people observing or thinking these, these people are drunk, Peter stands up and defends what is happening. And he says in part, what you are seeing is the beginnings of the fulfillment of the prophecy of the prophet Joel, when God through him says, in a future day, your sons and daughters shall prophesy.

Verse 18, even on my bond slaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of my Spirit.

And so what we see in the inauguration of the church age is that God is very intentional and pouring out and lavish abundance, His Holy Spirit on men and on women. And we observe that women were speaking in tongues and prophesying right along with the men. That leads to a 12 fact because we might look at that and go, OK, That happened in Acts chapter two, but maybe that was a, a one time thing and women just simply should not be speaking audibly in a mixed assembly like this.

so how do we know that what happens here regarding women speaking in this context is normative for, the rest of the church age.

That's what leads to the 12 fact, and that is that, Women are specifically, in 1 Corinthians 11, women are specifically said to be authorized to pray and to prophesy in the assembly. Women are specifically said to be authorized to pray and prophesy in the assembly. In fact, I don't have, verse 4 on the slide. If you want to real quickly turn to 1 Corinthians 11, I'll show you this.

In 1 Corinthians 11:4, Paul, let me get to it. Paul says in verse 4, every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. And so clearly Paul approves of a man in a mixed assembly praying and prophesying aloud. He's simply saying that a man who does this with a covered head is disgracing his head, but obviously Paul would approve of men praying and prophesying in a mixed assembly, correct?

You guys with me? Yeah. All right. Verse 5, and this is on the screen.

Every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head. We have every reason to assume that the apostle Paul completely, entirely approves of women praying and prophesying in the church assembly just as much as he approves of the men doing the same. He's simply making the point in verse 4 and 5 that when men do this, They should not have their heads covered, and when women do this, they should have their heads covered. Now, let me say a few words about this.

I know that at Cornerstone, we covered this passage back in, 2001. And try to do the best that we could do with, this passage, and if you need to know, I am still working on this passage. But I also understand that we have a church full of people that passionately love the Lord who don't agree on every aspect of the way that this passage was. Preached and understood from the pulpit.

There are people who would look at this passage and question whether Paul's explicit, Instructions are applicable fully today and, and there are also some who would question what the covering is. Some would say that it is the hair, and others would say what I said back in 2001, that it is something in addition to the hair. The beauty of the gospel is that we do not have to agree, On all of such things in order to glorify God. We glorify God sometimes by disagreeing and loving one another in the context of that disagreement.

All I would ask is that we all have a spirit of humility. About a passage like this that none of us feel that we've arrived, but that we keep studying and keep learning and seeing what God has for us. And also, I want Cornerstone to be a church where those who Understand this passage differently than what I preached in 2001, that they have freedom to practice this passage as they understand it and that they feel that Cornerstone is very much their church home. Having said that, I also just as passionately want Cornerstone to be a church where people who do understand this passage.

The way that it was preached back in 2001 and people who want to apply this passage the way the church did for 1950 years, that they feel that Cornerstone is a home for them and that they can practice this passage and not feel like they're being looked funny at, OK? So can we all just affirm each other's right to practice this passage as they presently understand this? and having said that, here's my point in bringing this up, that unfortunately, it's a controversial issue between believers, but actually Paul's intent is extremely positive.

Head covering.

In the New Testament was an issue because women were allowed to do things in the New Testament that they were not allowed to do in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, women were not allowed to pray aloud and to prophesy in a mixed assembly in the synagogue gatherings. Women had to sit in a separate room. They could not be seen.

They could not be heard. And so there was no talk of women doing this thing in a mixed assembly gathering. But in the New Testament, women are elevated to be able to do such things. And Paul is saying, ladies, when you do this, I want you to have a covered head as a symbol of your submission to your husband, the authority in your life, and also look at verse 10.

Paul says, a woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head. And, and, in the context while praying and prophesying in the mixed assembly. And yes, that word authority can speak of and probably speaks of the authority of her husband. Under whose authority she is ministering in a public way.

But this word authority, listen carefully, this word translate authority could have the meaning authorization, authorization. in fact, listen to what one writer says, the head covering represents the new authority given to the woman. It's not just the authority of the man that's on her head, but it is a tangible symbol of her authority that has been given to her under the new dispensation to do things which formerly had not been permitted to her, such as praying and prophesying, and the assembly of God's people.

Paul intended for a covered head to be a tangible symbol that demonstrated a woman's authorization to do these things that formerly women were not allowed to do.

And so clearly, in Acts 2, we find women speaking in tongues and prophesying in a mixed assembly. and we have in 1 Corinthians 11 Paul in an epistle actually affirming this in a very clear way. A 13th fact that demonstrates the high place of women in God's redemptive program is that in Christ, women are equally entitled to the blessings of salvation as men are. And Paul affirms this in Galatians chapter 3, verse 28.

He says, there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ. This is a staggering statement for the apostle Paul to make.

When you look at the Preceding verses, what you observe is that Paul is saying, we are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. We've all been baptized into Christ, we've all been clothed with Christ. In Christ, there's neither male nor female. And what he's saying is that he's not saying no longer are there any males.

No longer are there any females. No, those distinctions are preserved in Christ, but his point is, That there is no distinction between the sexes in terms of God lavishly pouring out his gospel blessings upon his people. Whether a person is slave or free, they get gospel blessings in equal abundance. Whether a person is a Jew or Gentile, doesn't matter.

They get gospel blessings in equal abundance, whether someone is a man or a woman in the church, it doesn't matter. They receive gospel blessings in equal abundance. We are all one and equal in Christ. That's why in 1 Peter 3:5, Peter is speaking to husbands, and he says to husbands, you husbands, show your wives honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life.

And ladies, I want you to feel the sensation of God coming alongside of you and putting his arm around you and then talking to your man, and saying to your man, just listen to God as he speaks to your husband. And he says to your husband, you honor this woman, honor her. As a fellow heir of the grace of eternal life. She is an equal recipient of salvation and the blessings of salvation along with you.

That leads to the final fact that I want to look at this morning, and this brings us to 1 Timothy chapter 2, and that is that God desires that Christian women be liberated from Eve's sin. God desires that Christian women be liberated from Eve's sin, from, from their own sin, and in the context, we're going to see how that partly means from Eve's sin. Ladies, God is for your liberation. There is no greater advocate for women's liberation in all of the universe than God on Unfortunately, the liberation he's after is a different liberation than what many women in our culture today are longing for and striving for.

But God is the biggest advocate of women's liberation that you'll ever meet. And his desire is that women be liberated from sin, from sin's guilt, and from sins. Power and thinking specifically of the sin of Eve, God desires that women experience salvation from the perpetual practicing of Eve's sin and recycling that over and over and over again. God wants to deliver and liberate women from the practice of Eve's sin, and from the stigma of her sin, as well.

Look what it says in verse 15. It says, well, let's start in verse 14, and it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression. But women will be preserved, and this is the Greek word for saved, and I want us to understand that in the full saving meaning of the term. The woman will be saved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

Now I got to tell you guys, verse 15 would, I think, in the minds of most scholars rank in the top 10 of the most difficult passages. in the New Testament, there's just a number of, interpretive challenges. We're going to do our best just with a little bit of time that we have. I want to give you a, a literal rendering of this.

because, the questions are the, the, the women that are mentioned at the beginning of verse 15, who is that? Is it women plural or woman singular? Is it talking about Eve? The word saved, what does that mean?

Does it mean physical salvation? Does it mean spiritual salvation through the bearing of children? A woman saved through the bearing of children? What does that mean?

So there's just a number of, of issues, but a literal translation is what you see on the screen. And I want us to follow this pretty tightly. He says in verse 14, it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman, and who was the woman? Eve, right?

The woman being deceived fell into transgression, literally in the Greek text that then says, but But she will be saved. The, the word woman doesn't even occur in verse 15. So it's not, and it's not plural. It's she.

In other words, the woman who fell in the garden, she will be saved. When Paul begins verse 15, he has Eve on his brain. He's talking specifically about her, but Paul and speaking about her, begins to, he, he's speaking of her as representative of all women. So he says, but she will be saved through or by means of literally the child bearing.

In the new American Standard, it says to the bearing of children and it's plural, children. It could mean that, but that's not technically what the Greek word literally means. It just simply means through or by means of the childbearing. So let's just leave it that way for right now.

If they, for some reason, Paul now goes into the plural and says if they, and that's part of what creates the difficulty. But if we understand that Paul begins verse 15, speaking of Eve as a representative of all women, and that's what's on his brain. Then it's not surprising that as he rounds out this chapter, that he then uses the word they to speak of all women who Eve represent. If they, in other words, women, continue in faith and love and sanctity with self.

Restrained. So at the very least, Paul is saying that she, Eve, and all women represented by her will be saved. If you don't have a clue what that means, at least know it's a good thing. All right.

God wants a very good thing for women. He really does. And let's take it in the full saving sense. God wants women to be saved from the guilt of their sin, from the power of their sin.

And from the ultimate eternal condemnation that they and men deserve for their sins, God is bent on the full salvation of women. How does this salvation come for Eve and for all women whom she represents? He says, literally through or by means of the childbearing. You say, well, what does that mean?

Does that mean that, that by giving birth to children, I can experience spiritual salvation. Well, that's one of the tough questions that's asked. But if we go with just the simple wording of the text that the woman, Eve will be saved through the childbearing or through the bearing of the child, what many commentators do with this is they say that what is being spoken of is you go back to Genesis 3:15, speaking of the seed that would come from the womb of Eve. George Knight on this passage says the most likely understanding of this verse is that it refers to spiritual salvation through the birth of the Messiah.

Eve will be saved through The childbearing. From her wound would come the seed. That would ultimately deliver her and all women. So, with that in mind, and again, that's not without its difficulties.

So, if you disagree, that's, that's fine. This is a tough passage, but with that in mind, Eve and all women whom she represents will be saved by means of, the birth of the child, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, they will be saved through Jesus. And theologically, that's an extremely true statement, right? Women are saved through Jesus, the child whom the woman delivered will deliver her.

So a woman will experience salvation through this child that is born of woman. And then it says they will be saved if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self restraint. So they're saved through Christ by means of Christ, they're saved, assuming that they believe in Jesus Christ, believe in the Savior, believe in God, and continue. and persevere in that faith, theologically, that creates no difficulty at all.

A woman will experience the fullness of salvation through Jesus Christ. And if she continues, not just she has faith, but she remains in this realm of faith and love and sanctity with self restraint. Ladies, if you want to experience the full liberation that God wants you to experience, then remain in faith. See, Eve, if you do that, you will be delivered from perpetually repeating Eve's sin.

Eve's fundamental error in the garden is that she did not believe in God. She did not believe in the goodness of God. The serpent lied to her and said, God's holding you back. He's holding you down.

God's not being good to you. She believed that lie. She was deceived out of believing in God. She did not continue in faith in God.

Ladies, you will be delivered, you will be liberated from perpetually repeating Eve's sin. If you Not just believe in God and in His goodness right now, but if you remain in that and not allow yourself to be deceived away from faith in God and in His goodness. Also, he says, by remaining in love, this doesn't just mean remaining in giving love to God and to other people. No, first of all, it means to remain in sight of love.

In other words, God's love, God's loving provision. And then secondarily loving God in return and showing love to other people. Again, one of Eve's fundamental errors is that she looked at the full provision that God had given to her. God said, stay inside of this.

And Eve did not remain inside of that love. She stepped outside of that love and took something that God had prohibited. You ladies will experience the fullness of salvation that is in the heart of God to give you. You will be delivered.

You will be saved from perpetually repeating Eve's sin if you, unlike her, remain inside of God's loving provision, believing in His goodness, also remaining in holiness or sanctity. In other words, you as a woman, see yourself as being set apart. You separate yourself. From you set yourself apart from sin, and from that which God has not provided, that which God has not, or that he has prohibited, you separate yourself from that, and you are fully devoted and owned by God, and by His goodness.

Eve did not remain in faith and love and holiness. You will be delivered from perpetually repeating Eve's sin, and you will be delivered from the stigma of Eve's sin. As a woman, If you put your trust in Christ and remain in faith in God and in His goodness, and you live inside of and remain in sight of God's love, And you also continue in sanctity and holiness, and look at the very end of verse 15 with self restraint by living. With self restraint.

This word self restraint showed up in verse 9, speaking about modest apparel. A woman is to adorn herself with proper clothing modestly and discreetly, and that word discreetly is the same word that we see translated self-restraint at the end of verse 15. This speaks of acknowledging the enormous power that you possess, but you rein in that power and use it only for good, and you never use that power in any way to work at cross purposes with God. Eve was an incredibly powerful woman, and she used that power wrongly.

And plunge the human race into sin. You ladies will be liberated from perpetually repeating her sin. If you continue in faith and love and sanctity and if you understand the power you possess, which Paul acknowledges here. And you use it only for good.

And only in the ways that God instructs you to. This is the gospel inheritance of women, and any woman who would look at this with a heart that is halfway open to the Lord, would say of her inheritance, the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places, surely. I have a delightful inheritance. Let me ask you to bow your heads this morning.

OK. We're going to take up an offering here in just a moment. And there's a comment card that's in your, Bulletin, and you're welcome to fill that out. If there's any prayer requests or praise items, we would encourage you to put those on the back of the, Comment card and we'll.

Take those things to the Lord in our Tuesday staff meeting and I also put it on our church family prayer sheet. Let's just go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to bless this offering and, To seal The things that we have heard to our hearts. Dear God, as we come into your presence, through prayer, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the wonderful way that you have exalted women to a significant role, even in the bringing to pass of redemption and how you have elevated women.

To be equal recipients of the salvation blessings that come through Christ and how you elevate women to a position where even in mixed gatherings, they can speak, they can speak to their brothers and to their sisters of the mighty deeds of God. They can speak truth as a sister in the Lord for the benefit of all, including the men. In fact, in this happening, there is an attempt on your part to reverse. What went wrong?

Where women are truth speakers. Who are agents through which The experience of salvation from sin. is deepened in the lives of all. Thank you, God, for your amazing grace toward all and as we see this morning towards women who are precious.

Thank you for this opportunity to give to you and return to you a portion of what you have blessed us with, Lord. We give ourselves and what we have to you. In the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, See them together again. The mystery of the cross I cannot.

agonies of. You the perfect holy one, trust your son. Trying to be a cop reserved for. You has washed away my