The Word Preached

1 Timothy for the life of..

PreacherNelson David Moncayo
Date8 May 2019
Series1 Timothy
OccasionSunday Service
Length55 min

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Sermon Transcript

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Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to our Wednesday Bible study. Would you please open up your Bibles to the first letter of the Apostle Paul to his disciple Timothy, first letter of Timothy.

And this evening, beloved brethren, we're going to be addressing verse 15 in chapter two that he says yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith, love, holiness with self-control. But, as we always do, let's get the immediate context, reading the same portion of the scripture that we read last week, that goes from chapter 2, verse 8, all the way through chapter 3, all chapter 3. So let's pay attention to Holy Scripture, paying much attention to each one of the words. From verse 8, chapter 2. This is Apostle Paul.

He says, I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling. I wise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness, with good words. 11. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.

Rather, she is to remain quiet for Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control. The saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity, keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's Church? He must not be a reasoned convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into snare of the devil. Deacons, likewise, must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first. Then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives, likewise, must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well, for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also gain confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Then Paul says, I hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and a patrice of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. Amen. The Word of God.

And as I said, we're going to be addressing verse 15, but we're taking this as a unit, as a section of the scripture that comes from verse 15, those five verses. Verse 11, sorry, 12, 13, 14 and 15. We're taking that as a unit. And this is what Apostle says. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. And then the verse, Yet she will be saved. through childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control.

Amen. Now, brothers and sisters, last week I said to you that we are going to take this passage or this unit of Scripture that we have here from verse 11 to 15 and that we are going to, for the purposes of the Bible studies, that we were going to divide it into two different sections. the first section that went from verse 11 to verse 14, and then verse 15, which we are addressing this evening. Last week, that section addressed or we addressed or we spoke about the role of women within the context of the Church when it pertains to teaching. When it comes to teaching, we address the role of women within the context of the Church, and we try to attach that to the authority, to the order that God had established, and this authority that is given by His Word, this order that is given to the Church.

Now this evening we're going to be addressing this other section, which is somehow a verse that it seems to the eyes, when you read it for the first time, a little bit of a tension there. The Apostle is speaking of a woman, of the woman, and that woman shall be saved. He uses that word that is salvation related to. saved through, speaking of the means by which she will be saved, and it speaks of childbearing. So when we put those three words together, saved, through, childbearing, immediately will come a little bit of tension into our minds because we attach salvation not necessarily to childbearing.

So what I want us to do this evening is to address this passage, or this verse that we have in verse 15, from the train of thought, of the way the Apostle is thinking as he's given this, and we will see that Scripture is always very clear, and it's efficient, and it's perfect, and it is coherent, and that Scripture always provides for the saints that which they need. But in order to do that, beloved brethren, in order for us to address that verse 15, that this woman is going to or shall be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love, holiness and self-control, before addressing that it's very important that you have in your mind the context of what the apostle is doing. The context of what it is around this verse. The context of what it is around not only the verse, but the section that we've just read from verse 11 to verse 15. And yes, I'm going to be needing much of your attention because I'm going to be putting blocks of thought in your mind so that we understand what the Apostle is saying there.

We said this last week, that the Apostle is concerned with the topic of teaching, not only in this section of Scripture, but throughout the entire letter. He is concerned with the role or the activity or the operation that happens within the context of the Church that is called teaching. And we know that he's concerned about it because in chapter 1 he has spoken against false teachers. He has extensively, almost 21 verses, that he has addressed this topic of false teachers. And now, also from this verse 11 onwards, he's now addressing this topic of teaching.

And in chapter 3, he is going to address those men who are called to be the teachers within the context of the church. So what the apostle has in his mind is, of course, this topic of teaching. And why would he have this topic of teaching in his mind? Why? Well, because what we said last week, teaching is always always comes together with the authority of God.

When we teach the Word of God, then the authority of God's Word is revealed or manifested within the context of the Church, and then we know the mind of God, or we know the heart of God, and that's what He wants for His Church. And something that I said very important last week, beloved brethren, is that we see the authority of the Word of God practically manifested by bringing things into order. This is the power, this is the authority of the Word and the statutes and the commands of God, that when He speaks, that brings things into order. We gave the example of Genesis, that when He spoke out of nothing, that He created light, and the creation of that light was not only bringing light into existence, but this light was order, in order. Day, evening and day, and then we had the first day.

Every time that God speaks and accomplishes that which he speaks, then that will bring order. So therefore, when God speaks something and we're not going to speak about the two ways that God speaks descriptive and prescriptive, but when God speaks something for the church and when the church obeys that which God has spoken in his word, the power of the word of God will be manifested in the obedience and in the submission to those statues that come from the heart of God. bringing things into order. And that order, it is not simply that we have things in a good place where we like. Actually, that order is God's order, and therefore is perfection, because God is perfect.

That is the power of the Word of God. So when Paul is speaking of this topic of teaching, He's speaking of the authority of the words of God and how it is seen orderly within the context of the church. He has said that women are not supposed to teach, but that men are supposed to teach. This is what he is saying, and I'm going to submit to you that, as I said, that all of this is all connected and it comes together. Now, brothers and sisters, my purpose or our purpose when we when we're having these Bible studies is that you may be able to derive practical applications for your individual life within the context of the church, that you learn something about God that you love him more, that you want to be more like Jesus Christ, and therefore that you can also apply that in your own life for the benefit of the church, that this can be applied.

So my intention with the Bible study that we're going to be doing this evening, more than giving an answer for what this verse means in verse 15, is that you see the glorious perfection of the word of God, and then you fall in love more with the Word of God. And did you know that that which comes out of the mouth of God is always perfect? It is always perfect. But the second thing that I want us to see is that scripture interprets scripture. that this has to be always the approach to the text that we have in front of us.

That Scripture interprets Scripture, and this may sound basic and obvious and perhaps repetitive because we've said it many times, but brothers and sisters, you do not know how attached we are to our presuppositions, to our traditions, to the way that we do things, to the way that we think. and we should always make our doctrine, please pay attention to this, we should always make our doctrine, our theology, a reaching point. not the departure point. Our doctrine, our theology, our creeds, and what we believe should always be a reaching point, and not the departure point, because the departure point should always be Scripture. Scripture is the foundation of everything that we believe, so therefore, every time that we come to Scripture, we should, to the best of our ability, come to let Scripture interpret itself.

and then be willing also just to define and to improve and to grow into those doctrines. Because if we're not willing to improve and grow in the understanding of these doctrines, so that means that you're not interested in knowing more about Christ, or you think that you know it all, and we don't want to be in any of those camps. We always want to be growing in the knowledge of the truth by the light and the power of the Holy Spirit that He gives to us in Holy Scriptures. So having said that, and having that intention on the table to see the perfection of Scripture, and then also see that it is Scripture what interprets Scripture, I want to add just another thing that comes to mind. And this is that when we're reading Scripture, or the principle that Scripture interprets Scripture, is rooted in the fact, brothers and sisters, that the author of Scripture is only one.

and that is God. God is ultimately the only author of Scripture, and therefore the message from Genesis to Revelation is cohesive and is always the same. So there is no contradiction, it's always perfect, because it's God who has given us Scripture. But in the process, and now this is relevant to the argument that I will make to understand the verse, But in the process of this giving of His heart and His wisdom and His word to us, God has worked providentially through men by respecting who they are and what they know, so that we would receive Scripture. So what I'm saying is, that when Paul was writing something for the churches or when Peter was writing something for the churches, God came.

God did not came and took over all the abilities of Peter or Paul, and they were not aware of what they were actually doing. And they were just writing, writing or dictating. Actually, God, in his wisdom and in his love for the church, he used these men, and their knowledge, and their understanding, and who they were, in order to come up with perfect Scripture. I don't know about you, but I think this makes him more glorious, because he used the human means, human earthen vessels, to give us Scripture for the Church. So that means that when we're reading Paul, When we're reading Paul in Romans, and when we're reading Paul in Ephesians, and when we're reading Paul here in 1 Timothy, we're going to find patterns of how he writes, because he is the same person that has given us those letters.

When you go and read Peter, and then you go 1 Peter and 2 Peter, you will find patterns, because God respected the humanity of these holy apostles, or holy prophets, holy apostles to give us Scripture. This is very important. It is going to help us to understand that Paul right in a particular way. Having said that, having said that, now we need to come to the verse of Scripture that we have in front of us. And as I said, you can see the complications or the really no complications or the tension of it.

I would be more happy and pleased with the Lord. No, no, with the Lord, sir, with my life before the Lord. If the things that we get from this Bible study is the things that we've said, the things that the scripture is perfect and that scripture interprets the scripture rather than the meaning of the verse that we have before us. So now this verse says that the woman or she will be saved through childbearing if they continue if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self control. So now let's step back and let's ask ourselves, how do we interpret this?

So we ask ourselves, what is the apostle doing? What is the apostle doing in this section of scripture that comes from verse 11 to verse 15? What is Paul doing when he's writing these things to Timothy? Because by asking ourselves this question, we might keep within the context of what he's actually trying to do, and we will not have the risk or we will not have the problem of disconnecting verse 15 from the context, not only the whole context of the letter, but also the context of this verse that we have here. So He has said to us, brothers and sisters, what I'm going to submit to you, that what He's simply doing in this verse 15, 12, 13, 14, and 15, what He's doing, He's giving a practical instruction to the church, by using a comparison, right?

I think that we can conclude that from the text. If we ask ourselves that question from this person of Scripture, we could easily conclude and say, Paul is given an instruction to the church, and in order to give that instruction to the church, he is given a comparison. The instruction that he's given to the church is that women are not supposed to teach, that those who are supposed to teach implicitly are men, and that women are to remain quiet and learn quietly and remain in submission. This is the practical instruction that Paul is given to the church. But in order to give that practical instruction, beloved brethren, he is using a comparison, or he is rooting, or he is founding, I don't know if that's the word, or establishing his practical application on something, and that something is a comparison.

So he's saying just as we men, or women as he says here, a woman has a particular role within the church, there was a woman in the garden who had also a particular role. So he's taking the woman from the church, and he's comparing that to the woman of the garden, and he's also implicitly speaking of the man, singular man, a man. in the church to speak or related to the man, singular man, Adam, in the garden. So he's given a practical instruction, brothers and sisters, using a comparison. He's just comparing those two things.

So that means that whatever verse 15 means, that verse 15 is attached to that. unless you want to say that verse 15 is just a complete, separate teaching that just came to the mind of Paul, that he was just going through a train of thought, and then something came into his mind out of nowhere, and then he gave that instruction, but then he continued on the previous topic, because, you know, if you read chapter 3, that's why I got you to read chapter 3, he continues speaking or addressing that which is related to teaching. Now speaking of the men who are called to teach, So this is the whole train of thought. Everything is connected. So that means that whatever we understand for verse 15, that is connected to that practical instruction that Paul is given to the church through Timothy.

by means of this comparison in which he is taking the women and the men of the church and then he is comparing or giving a comparison for the women of the men in the garden and then basically his practical instruction goes like this he says let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness For I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man rather to remain quiet. Verse 11 and 12. That is the instruction that he has given to the church. He could have finished there, brothers and sisters, he could have finished there. And if we let's say that if we didn't have those verses that come, that would be sufficient instruction for the church to obey and to follow that.

But Paul never does that. He always gives theological foundations to explain why a particular instruction is given to the Church. And he's going to say, this, practically, implicitly, of course, the reason why I'm giving you this instruction for the Church, which is that women are not supposed to teach, but that men are supposed to teach, is because interpreting Paul, this is rooted in what happened in Genesis 2 and 3, right? This is what he says implicitly. He says, for Adam, and Adam is the man that we find in Genesis 2 and 3, Adam was formed first Then if, and then verse 14, he says that Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived, and she became a transgressor.

So now the apostle, this practical instruction that is given to us, beloved brethren, bear with my words, he's rooting that in the garden of Eden. So this Old Testament in Genesis, reality is that which the Apostle is using to give us information about a practical application that we are supposed to follow in the life of the Church. And the way that he presents this structure is very interesting. It's very interesting because what I'm trying just to say to you is that this verse 15, that is the complicated one that we have in front of us, is necessarily attached to this comparison, to this instruction, and to this comparison. So we are supposed to understand verse 15 attached to that comparison.

So I'm going to give you two reasons. The first reason is because this is the way that Paul writes. And the second reason is found within the text. So Paul brothers and sisters, Paul will. He has done it already.

He will come and give a practical instruction to the church. He gives a practical instruction to the church, and then he gives a theological foundation that seems not to be related to it, but it's actually connected and is very related to that which he has instructed. And this is the way that the mind of the apostle works in this portion of scripture, that he says something about the church that has to be done. And then he founds that in some theological argument that most of the time is gospel related. And then he continues with his strain of argument.

This is just what he has done in the beginning of chapter two. This is exactly what he has done in the beginning of chapter two. Pay attention to the very interesting way that he writes. So go to chapter two. I said to you that you should bear a little bit with my words.

Go to chapter 2. Brothers, this should make us love this book a lot and more. Look what Paul is going to do. He's going to, just the structure that I gave you, he gives a practical instruction to the church, and then he's going to found it upon some theological aspect that is related to that practical aspect of the church, but then he will continue with his practical instruction for the life of the church. So in verse one, he says, first of all, then I urge, in chapter two, verse one, First of all, then I urge the supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

Basically, he has said, I want by through my apostolic authority, I want you to pray for all people. OK, this is basically what he has said. He said he names intercession and prayers and supplications. All of this is pray and pray for all people. Now go down to verse eight.

He says, verse eight, don't read what continues in in verse three and onwards, but go to verse eight. He says, then I desire then that in every place the men should pray. So what Paul has done, what Paul has done, beloved brethren, is that he has given a practical instruction to the church that you should pray for all men. And then he's going to enter into a theological argument to then come back to the practical instructions that he's given to the church. And as we remember, because our brother has explained this to us, he's going to say, I desire that you pray for all men.

And then he says, why? For this is good and pleasing in the sight of God. And this God, who is pleased by you praying for all men, is the savior of all types of men. He desires all people to be saved. And this salvation that God desires for all type of people, he has made it possible through Jesus Christ, who is the mediator between God and all of these men.

He is the ransom. He was given as a ransom. And this is the testimony of which I am an apostle. And then he says, I decide then that all men should pray. Paul is given a practical implication, a practical application to the life of the church.

Pray. And then he is given these gospel glorious. theological message that says that God is pleased in the prayers of his saints, that this God desires all people to be saved, that is Jesus Christ the means by which this salvation is accomplished, and that the testimony of the redeeming work of Christ is what has made Paul an apostle to the Gentiles. This is what he does. This is the mind of the apostle, and then he comes back to the practical application that is given to the church.

He says then, I desire that all men pray, and then he moves on to women to say, I desire that women should behave in a particular way, and then he connects that to teaching. I hope that that makes it clear, because this is the structure that the apostle has here. This is the structure that the apostle is presenting to us. He's given a practical application to the church. He's saying women are not supposed to teach, but men are supposed to teach.

And this is rooted theologically in what happened in the order given to us in creation. Men was created first, woman was deceived first, and she became a transgressor. And then he's given us a glorious, a glorious theological comment that is gospel related. I said to you, brothers and sisters, that what I was trying to do is to prove to you that necessarily verse 15 is attached to the train of thought that the apostle has, which is these Instruction to the Church, based on this comparison that is rooted in the Guardian, that this is attached for one reason, the Apostle, this is how he writes. I proved that to you, I hope, by what he did in chapter 2.

But more importantly than that, within the text. we cannot disconnect verse 15 from the rest of the argument for one simple reason and that is a grammatical reason and that grammatical reason we can read it and see it there just think about it before you see the verse every time that you read that verse I'm not going to assume things into your mind, but let's say, well, this is for my case, every time that I heard this text, the first thing that came to my mind is that the Apostle was speaking of women. The Apostle was speaking that women shall be saved through childbearing. This is not what the apostle is saying here. He may be saying that implicitly, but he's saying something that is more explicit.

He uses a clear pronoun. He says, Yet she will be saved. He says, She will be saved. Who is the she that he has just spoken about? that is, IF.

So he says, verse 13, for Adam was formed first, then IF, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman, which woman? IF was deceived, and IF became a transgressor. Yet, SHE, who is the SHE? It is IF. Now, why is this important?

This is not going to change anything, whatever interpretation you have of the SHE. This is important for you to understand that whatever the apostle has in mind in verse 15, is connected to what he has just said. Not only because this is the way that he writes, as I tried to prove to you in chapter 2 in the beginning, but because by using this pronoun in verse 15, he is necessarily speaking of the woman that he has just written about, and this is... Now, not only the word she is going to help us to connect these practical applications that we have here is still in the garden. Brothers and sisters, there are four elements.

There are four elements. And I'm really sorry that this Bible study is just like this. Please pay attention. There are four elements, beloved brothers and sisters, in this text that are necessarily rooted in the narrative of Genesis 2 and 3. They are necessarily.

So that means that not because only Paul writes this way, not because he's using the pronoun she that is referring to Eve, but because these four elements are of course clearly seen in Genesis 2 and 3, then verse 15 must be interpreted in light of this glorious instruction given to the church by this comparison. What are the four elements? The four elements are this. First one, He has given us the order of creation, right? He has given us the order of creation.

Who was created first? Adam was created first. Second element that the Apostle has given us. And I want you to see how they flow logically, sequentially, and even in time. Adam was created first.

And then if, that is the first element that he has in his mind. Now imagine yourself when he was writing this, he was thinking, he was using his mind, he was using his knowledge of the Old Testament. So the first thing that comes into his mind is that Adam was created first. Second element that he gives us is that he gives us the order of the deception. You call it deception?

the order of the deception he gives us the order of the deception so we know that he's a seal that his mind is a seal in genesis 2 and 3 right he says adam was created first and now he gives us the order of the deception he says the order of the deception was that woman was created first and then the second and the other and then was sorry that the woman, Eve, was deceived first, and then implicitly we know that then the one that follows is Adam, or at least that Eve was the first one to be deceived. This is what he says, second element. But then he is going to give us now a third element that is necessarily, that is necessarily rooted and found in the narratives of Genesis 2 and Genesis 3. She says, or he says, Paul says, she became a transgressor Now think about your Bible knowledge about that word transgressor, that you break something, that you transgressed something. And in the Bible, when we speak about transgression, we speak of sin.

The deception of the woman made her a transgressor. And then probably first John comes to your mind that says that sin is the transgression of the law. And this is what happened in the garden. You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the law of God, because the day that you eat of it, you will certainly die. The woman was deceived and then the woman obey and she became a transgressor by breaking the law that God had given to Adam and then in Adam that to if not only we have the order of creation, but also we have the order of the deception.

We have the consequences of that deception, which is a woman becoming a transgressor. But also we have this word, childbearing, brothers and sisters. She, I'm talking about the pronoun that is found in verse 15, has to be speaking of if. Why? Because now he's going to say that this she, if, shall be saved through childbearing.

Now, does any childbearing come to your mind from Genesis 2 or 3? The curse that God gave to the woman was about childbearing. Go to Genesis. Verse chapter three, verse 16. Verse 16 unto the woman, he got said.

I will surely. Multiply your pain in childbearing. In pain, you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Now, brothers and sisters, I don't know, but at least this is how my mind works.

But it would be very difficult for me to say that Paul has spoken about or written about the order of creation. Adam was created first. that he has spoken about the order of the deception, Eve was deceived first, that he's speaking about the consequences of the deception of Eve, that she became a transgressor, and that when he says she, referring to Eve, he brings to his mind childbearing, and that he does not have in his mind the childbearing as a curse that was given to Eve. those four elements are connected in the mind of the Apostle. So what I've tried to prove to you here are just a couple of things.

The first thing is that verse 15 is necessarily connected to the train of thought of the Apostle, so that we cannot disconnect and create an application to this verse 15 just to make it suit our theology. We cannot do that. This is connected to the train of thought of the Apostle. Second thing that I've tried to prove to you is that the woman, when he says she, that it's referring to Eve, and therefore more proof that this verse is connected to this instruction given to the church based on this comparison that is rooted in Genesis 3.15.

And even more than the pronoun, I have also given you this childbearing with these other three elements that aren't necessarily rooted in this portion of Scripture that the Apostle, who knew all the Scripture, who had probably memorized most of the Old Testament Scripture, when he was writing this, he will not just come up with a word that is not related at all to this story that is given to us in Genesis 2 and 3. Therefore, how then are we to understand this verse that is speaking of a reality that seems to be connected to Eve, but that we know, brothers and sisters, that the Apostle is giving a practical instruction to the Church using this comparison. So even though he is still using Eve as the object of the actions that are happening in verse 15, he is still speaking of Eve as a representative women this is what a puzzle has done let not a woman and then you can follow that with with the singularity of the pronouns that you use he doesn't use plurality of plurals he only uses the singular he says let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness verse 11 then he says I do not permit a a woman singular in verse 12 exercise authority over a man singular not plural and then he when he gives his reason for adam singular of course not plural was created first and then he speaks of the deception of if singular woman and then when singular woman or individual woman and then when he moves into verse 15 He continues using that she. He's speaking of this relationship, this representing relationship of Adam to men and Eve to women. But we are to understand the verse for the application of the women through the light of the application of Eve.

So the question that we should follow after this is, When if we take these four elements, that Adam was created first, that the deception came first to Eve, and that by that deception, this is the glorious part, that she became a transgressor. And that by being a transgressor, we can change that word by saying that she became a sinner, that she became a lawbreaker, that she became a hater of God, that she became an enemy of God. But then the apostle speaks of salvation. So then we need to ask ourselves, brothers and sisters, what are the implications, the gospel implications of this curse that was given to the woman so that the apostle uses it to give an instruction to the church? Do not allow Sophie to distract you.

Please pay attention to this part. The curse, brothers and sisters, when the woman and when the men sinned, when the woman and when the men sinned, God said, in the day that you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall certainly surely die. Judgment for the sin was death. That's what they deserved. They deserve death.

They deserve to disappear. They deserve to be thrown into eternal hell. Even without humanity, they deserve to be thrown into hell because they have broken, they have transgressed the glorious law of the Triune God. But instead of destroying them, He's going to give them a curse. And if you compare the curse and you compare death, it's much better to receive the curse.

This curse compared with this death is grace. Grace was given unto them. And the curse that the women received, it was that every time that they will give birth, They will always be aware of this reality that the experience of childbearing will come with pain and sorrows. Brothers and sisters. The curse given to the woman of this moment of childbearing was a reminder of the condemnation that women or humanity, but particularly women, have because of the transgression of Eve and Adam.

Adam, Eve, women. It was a reminder, or is a reminder, of the debt that humanity, in this case women, have before God. Independently that a woman is going to have or not kids, every time that a soul is born, and then in the providence and decree of God, He decides that that soul is going to hold or carry the female gender, when that woman is born or is given life, that woman will always, when she grows, independently if she's going to have kids or not, providentially, or for whatever reason, she will be always at the expectation that if she's going to give life, that this experience will come with pain and sorrow, or will come with, as the Bible calls it, pain. This curse given to the woman is a testimony, brothers and sisters, a biblical testimony. It's a reminder of the judgment that was upon humanity and particularly women, and that these will eventually end up in death.

That if this problem is not fixed, that this will necessarily end up in eternal death. We live in a society that are haters of God, but in biblical culture, in biblical understanding, in biblical knowledge, in biblical, in Bible, God given. tradition and culture and language and words and concepts. Every time that a woman was about or when a woman is conceived and when this woman is born, then there will be a testimony. My daughter, this is the curse that God has given to women because of the transgression of the law.

But But just in the same way that God extended his grace and gave his grace to Eve, same grace is given to women. Brothers, if you read the Bible and if you go through the New Old Testament and if you just simply do a word search and then you try to find all the childbearing verses, you will see that the prophets and the authors of the Old Testament always attach the pains and the sorrows of childbearing to the judgment of God that it is to come to the judgment of the punishment that is to come either to his covenant people or to the hidden or to the Gentiles. And I have some verses here, but I don't want to address that. If you see in the Old Testament, you will see that childbearing. Actually, let's see.

I think it's beneficial that we see it. Let's get him in some 46. Every time that the Word speaks of this childbearing, it is connected with the pains of judgment that it is to come. Psalm 46. Did I say 46?

Sorry, 48. Psalm 48. Let's just read from verse 1. Great is the Lord, verse one. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God.

His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the holy of all the earth. Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great king. Within her citadels, God has made himself known as a fortress. For behold, the kings, small letter kings, for behold, the kings assembled. They came on together.

As soon as they saw it, they were astounded. They were in panic. They took to flight, trembling took hold of them there, anguished as of a woman in labor. a woman in labor or a woman who is about to go through the experience of childbearing. It is a woman that is approaching, when the prophets are using this testimony, not the woman, but when the prophets are using this testimony, connected to the judgment, connected to punishment.

But when the woman is approaching that moment, that moment is a reminder. It's a reminder. that the sin that was committed through Adam and Eve brought judgment upon humanity, brought the judgment upon humanity, and if the problem is not solved with God, then women will not be saved through childbearing. Why? Because what the apostle, brothers and sisters, is saying is not that salvation is accomplished by or through childbearing.

It's rather that the apostle is saying that the woman who is in Christ Because then he says, if they abide, or if they keep faith and love and holiness and self-control, he's speaking of the woman, not the woman or the women of the world. He's speaking of the women of the church. He's speaking about the order that should happen within the context of the church, about teaching. He's speaking that the woman in Christ Even though she knows that when that moment is approaching and there's going to be pain and difficulties and sorrows, she will be safe through it. Not that she will actually survive after giving birth, because there are many Christian women that would die after giving birth.

We have the example in Genesis. but rather that these curse of these pains of childbirth are not a testimony or a witness of the curse that is upon them unto eternal death. But independently of what happened after giving birth, that these women will be eventually saved. The curse that has been imposed upon women has no condemnation effects upon Christian women who are in Christ, because if their faith and if their union with Christ is genuine, they will abide in faith and in love and in holiness and in self-control. So basically what the apostle is doing or saying here, brothers and sisters, is an abundance of grace.

It is a gospel message in chapter in Chapter two. In the beginning of Chapter two, he said, Pray for all men because this is good in the sight of God. And this God desires all type of people to be saved. And this salvation is to be accomplished through Jesus Christ, who is the ransom for many, and this ransom for many has brought that testimony of which I am an apostle, so therefore pray for all men." The apostle is exploding theologically and doctrinally, giving upon his argument a gospel reality, that is, God desires all people to be saved through Jesus Christ alone.

This is what the apostle does here. He's not speaking about practical aspects of the life of the woman, which he will do in chapter 5. He's just giving and he's just saying this. The woman that was in the garden, that was not created first, was created second. She should have submitted to the authority.

She was deceived first. By this deception, she became a transgressor. But upon this transgression, salvation was available. And then taking that example of the woman, applying to the woman of the church, that women will be kept, that women will be saved through childbearing, because the curse, brothers and sisters, of childbearing does not communicate to the woman who is in Christ You are under the ultimate consequences of this curse. Yes, you are still upon the curse that is in your flesh, this thorn that is in your flesh.

Just because you're a woman, you're still under the curse of the pain and the sorrows and the difficulties of childbearing. But if you are in Christ, but if you have faith, but if you have genuine love, but if you have holiness, if you have self-control that can be found only in Jesus Christ, this woman shall be saved. Brothers, I don't know. which words I should use to explain the amazement or the amazing grace that the Apostle is trying to communicate to the women within the context of the Church. And basically what he's doing is giving a practical instruction to the life of the Church, a theological foundation that supports this, but then he explodes in his argument, speaking of Christ and the Gospel, and then coming back to the topic of teaching.

I don't know about you, but this changes my perspective of even when my wife is about or will be about to give birth, because oh my daughter, independently, independently, if a woman is going to have or not children, a woman has on herself the curse that was given to humanity through Eve, that the action or the coming to childbearing will have with itself pain and sorrows and it will be an experience that it will be testifying to the transgression that Eve committed because of the deception and that because of this federal headship of Adam through Eve through all humanity that we are in debt before God, because just in the same way that she broke the law in the garden, just as Romans 5 says, we are all sinners because we all have sinned. And in them, in Adam and Eve, we also receive also these curses that they were given. But Christ is the one that saves us and keep a similar language the apostle will use somewhere else in 1st Corinthians is speaking of the salvation that is supposed to be through something other than faith and he's not speaking that that something is the means by which salvation is accomplished but rather that this person is going to be kept is going to be preserved is going to be saved through, is going to be protected through this, in the case of 1 Corinthians 3, fire, in this case childbearing. The woman or the women who are in Christ have this testimony of eternal condemnation removed from the natural curse that is imposed upon them because of what happened at creation. So then they have the hope...

Think about this. They have the hope that if they are in Christ, and they are pregnant, and they are going to give birth, independently of what happens in the childbearing process, independently of the sufferings, or independently if we make it through and we are alive after they give birth, that the curse, this curse does not have power on them anymore, because it has been removed entirely by the person of Jesus Christ. So then what it says in Revelation chapter 21 became or becomes true for those saints that are taken up into glory or for when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, that there will be no tears, that there will be no sorrows, that God will be the God of his people and these people will be the people of this God, that he will indwell the dwelling place of these people. There will not be any other type of curse upon the flesh of the saints. And just as Peter says in 1 Peter 1 verse 5 that we are kept by the power of God through our faith.

The Apostle says that those women in Christ are kept through the curse that is upon them of childbearing because they are in Christ. I really hope that that helps and that that was clear. Amen.