Immediate Context of 1 Timothy 2:8-15

Introduction: The Debate on Gender Roles and the Purpose of the Sermon

0:06 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, March 8, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. May I encourage you to turn in your own Bibles to Paul's first letter to Timothy, the first of these three letters, commonly called the Pastoral Epistles, 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus, 1st Timothy, Chapter 2, and follow as I read verses 8 through 15.

0:48 When I come to the phrase with respect to the manner of women's dress, I will give the rendering of the two words as it is found in the New International Version, which make much more sense to us than the words shame, fastness, and sobriety. I will use the rendering of the NIV, decency and propriety. Verse 8 of 1st Timothy, Chapter 2, I desire, therefore, that the men pray, in every place, lifting up holy hands without wrath and disputing, in like manner that women

1:28 adorn themselves in modest apparel, with decency and sobriety, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly raiment, but, which becometh women professing godliness, through good works. Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness. For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

2:04 And Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being utterly beguiled hath fallen into transgression. But she shall be saved through her child-bearing, if they continue in faith and love and spirit, and sanctification with sobriety.

2:27 It is no exaggeration of reality to state that the issues pertaining to the specific roles of men and women in the home, in society at large, and in the church are matters of great debate and intense agitation in our day. One of the indications of this is a recent edition of the Christianity Today magazine. I mentioned this last week, in which the major subject of this particular edition is women at the helm sorting out the issues. Now, in all fairness, I should mention that there is not only an article

3:09 in which the title is The Ordination of Women, yes, but also one, The Ordination of Women, no. No, but the editorial policy, is one of shameful indecision and lack of commitment on the issue. And so, wherever we turn, we find ourselves confronted with this matter. And since we, as a church, have arrived at that time of the year when we prayerfully consider whether any among us should be recognized and appointed to the offices of elder and deacon, and since we only consider men for the...

3:50 these offices, and since I have never expounded the pivotal passage dealing with this subject, we felt it was time in the providence of God to focus upon the passage which has been read in your hearing. Now, last week, and I say this particularly for the benefit of those who are not with us, I hope those of you who were can remember the simple analogy, I suggested that we should approach this passage in terms of the analogy, of a large target with the central circle, commonly called the bull's eye, being the proper understanding of 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 8 through 15.

Review of Foundational Contextual Circles

4:32 And if we're to plant the arrow of understanding in that bull's eye, we must first of all plant an arrow in four outer circles that are there on the target. Circle number one is what I call the unique and perpetual authority of this letter, Circle number one is what I call the unique and perpetual authority of this letter, in all of its parts. When we come to verse 8 and read the words, I desire that the men pray, when we read in verse 12, but I permit not a woman to teach, the great and crucial question is, who is this arrogant man who allows his desires and his permissions

5:14 to regulate the respective roles of men and women in the church? Well, he is not. He is not an arrogant man. He is a humble servant of Christ who speaks as a duly appointed apostle of Christ, as he intimates or explicitly states in verse 1 of chapter 1, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to the commandment of God our Savior.

5:44 And our doctrine of the uniqueness and the perpetually binding authority of apostolic writings, is drawn particularly from such passages as Ephesians 2, verses 20 through 22. So then we cannot come to the specific concerns of chapter 2, verses 8 through 15, and land the arrow of understanding in the center of the bullseye, unless we recognize that this passage, along with the entire letter, comes to us in the framework of the unique, and perpetual authority of the apostolic power that stands behind it,

6:28 or the apostolic office. Then, secondly, we move in one ring, one concentric circle, and I call this the specific teaching of Scripture relative to the equality which exists between men and women. And according to the teaching of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, men and women are, are absolutely equal in terms of the great doctrines of creation, fall, and redemption. That is, they share equally the dignity of being image-bearers of God, Genesis 1, 26 and 27.

7:08 They share equally in the tragedy of the fall. Every passage which speaks of universal human sinfulness makes no distinction between men and women. And thirdly, they share equally in the privileges of grace and of redemption, Galatians 3 and verse 28. So whatever 1 Timothy 2, 8 through 15 teaches, it teaches absolutely nothing which undermines that threefold perspective of absolute equality and identity of standing before God.

7:47 And then we concluded with a consideration of the third circle, moving closer to the bullseye now, and it's what I call the pressing apostolic burden which precipitated this letter. Or for you kids, more simply, why in the world did Paul write what he did when he did? Well, that was a pressing apostolic burden, and it drew forth the letter, and he tells us very clearly what it is in chapter 3, verses 14 and 15. These things I write unto you, hoping to come to you shortly, but if I tarry long, that you may know how men ought, and that word ought is the key,

8:32 how men are under obligation to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. It was Paul's great vision, both of the nature of the church and the function of the church, it is God's church, it is pillar and ground of the truth that made him so passionately concerned for church order, and in particular for the relative roles of men and women within the church. And if we share the apostles' vision of the nature of the church as God's church, and of its function as pillar and ground of the truth,

9:16 then this matter of the relative roles of men and women within the church can never be a matter of pragmatism to us, it can never be a matter of indifference, and surely it cannot, it must never become a matter of sinful conformity to the existing pressures of a godless and lawless society. And tragically, and this is the first time I have said it publicly in such simple, blunt words, but I am prepared to stand by the assertion I am convinced that 98% of the kind of agitation which has precipitated feature articles of this nature

10:00 grows out of the pressure of a lawless society upon the church. It isn't that we've become more careful students of our Bible and all of a sudden have discovered some amazing new truth about the relative roles of men and women. Not that at all. What has happened is our lawless society, manifesting its ultimate rebellion to God at a point in which God's creative activity and rule cannot be denied, namely, the fixation of the sexes in their specific roles.

10:36 Our lawless society has reached the point where its lawlessness is screeching out at that very point. And a sick and a moribund church has succumbed to the pressure of the screams and howls of that society. And now has run to its Bible to try to bend its Bible to fit the shape of what the world is saying ought to be. And that's a tragedy, but it's the reality.

The Immediate Contextual Pressure: The 'Sandwich' Analogy

11:04 And therefore, as the people of God, we must think biblically about these matters and come to the perspective that the apostle had that pressing burden that the church as pillar and ground of the truth would manifest the truth of Scripture even with the church. With respect to this crucial issue. Well, all I propose to do tonight is bring you one circle closer to the bullseye. So I should be a bit more brief than usual.

11:31 I'm not promising I will be, but I should be.

11:36 And then, God willing, next week, we'll aim our arrows at the bullseye. But we want to plant an arrow now in that circle that is closest to the bullseye. We've moved in now from the outer ring, the unique and perpetual authority of the apostle. Next ring down, the specific teaching of Scripture, concerning male and female equality, the pressing apostolic burden.

11:58 Now, the ring right next to the bullseye, and it's what I'm calling the immediate contextual pressure exerted upon this passage. The immediate contextual pressure exerted upon this passage. And I'll explain what I mean by that terminology. In most portions of the Word of God, as with any literature, there is what the late, esteemed Professor Murray used to call a universe of discourse.

12:30 That is, any given statement is not spoken in isolation from other parts that relate to it. In our particular universe, there are various heavenly bodies, each related to each other in a different way, and we do not understand the place of one divorced from its relationship to others. Now, generally, when you hear, when you hear preachers talk about, well, let's consider the context, the context is the universe of discourse. As we concentrate upon the specific text or verse of Scripture or group of verses, as in our case, verses 8 to 15, we are doing so, as it were,

13:13 putting the telescope upon one body. But we must see that particular body in relationship to the other bodies that surround it and to which it is related. Related, as it were, by gravitational forces of thought. That's the universe of discourse.

13:31 To make it more simple for your children, let's consider it like a sandwich. And there's something before that is the top piece of bread, something after that's the bottom piece of bread, and the passage we're trying to understand is the slice of meat or the peanut butter and jelly in the middle. Now, I understand peanut butter is getting so expensive, you just have to have plain jelly these days. But be that as it may, when we try, as it were, to understand the significance of the peanut butter and jelly or just the jelly, we cannot do so apart from the piece of bread on the top or the bottom if what we're really analyzing is the peanut butter and or jelly that's part of a sandwich.

14:11 Well, in a real sense, verses 8 through 15 are sandwiched, you see, between two very pivotal issues which exert a very powerful pressure upon the thought patterns within those verses. We must not, therefore, seek to come to grips with verses 8 to 15 without subjecting our minds and our thought processes to the pressure of the immediate context. And I like to view it this way. Verses 8 through 15 stand here in the middle, pressing down from above our verses 1 to 7, exerting a downward pressure

14:54 upon our understanding of the paragraph in view. And then there is an upward pressure from chapter 3, verses 1 through 13. And there is that upward pressure of Paul's treatment of a specific subject in those verses which also materially influences the language and the thought patterns of verses 8 through 15 of chapter 2. Now, all of us is aware of what happens when statements of Scripture are wrenched loose from that universe of discourse, from that contextual pressure.

15:37 Some of you, perhaps, have seen temperance literature in which Colossians 2 and verse 21 is printed in bold letters, Touch not, taste not, handle not. And that was the great text of the temperance movement. To bind people's conscience to a position of total abstinence. Well, in the context, Paul is condemning that very mentality.

15:59 He says, Why are you subject to men's rules which are touch not, taste not, handle not? Now, there may be, in certain instances, a good case for total abstinence. There is always a case for temperance. But there may be a good case for total abstinence.

16:14 But you don't prove it from Colossians 2.21. That text is condemning a doctrine of total abstinence based upon that. Based upon man-made rules and regulations.

Misinterpreting Galatians 3:28

16:25 Well, you see, so often in this whole debate, people take Galatians 3.28 and they say it's plain, it's simple, it's clear. In Christ there is neither bond nor free, Jew nor Greek, male nor female. What more do you want?

16:40 All sins are utterly obliterated in Christ. And if the church is made up of people who are in Christ, then in the church there should be no sexual distinctions. Just that simple. Isn't that clear?

16:53 Well, why debate the subject? Well, you see, the problem is, Paul is not dealing with whether or not there are assigned roles to males and females in the church in Galatia when he wrote those words. He's dealing with an entirely different subject. He's dealing with the subject of the privileges that come to all believers in the New Covenant.

17:16 And that not one of them needs any of the trappings of the old Mosaic ceremonies in order to be a full-blown Christian. The subject matter of the book of Galatians, and in particular, that context of Galatians 3. So when he says, In Christ there is neither bond nor free, male nor female, he is not obliterating the God-ordained distinctions of male and female with respect to other considerations. And to take that verse and to apply it to these issues is to do exactly what Paul says he refused to do.

17:55 That he would not manipulate the Word of God. It is to do what Peter condemns. He says the ignorant and the unstable rest. Literally, they put on a torture rack and stretch out a shape.

18:08 They rest the creatures, that's the force of that verb, to their own destruction. Now, do you see why it's so important to take a whole evening's exposition to just aim at planting an arrow in that one circle? The immediate contextual pressure that is exerted, upon this passage. Alright?

The Top Slice: 1 Timothy 2:1-7 on Corporate Prayer

18:27 Having convinced you of the importance of this, I trust, not only for tonight's consideration, but all our handling of the Scriptures, now let's try to look, first of all, at the piece of bread that's on the top of the sandwich. Alright? Verses 1 to 7 of 1 Timothy, Chapter 2. Now, the subject matter is very clearly announced in the opening words.

18:52 I exhort, therefore, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving, be made for all men, for kings and all that are in high place, that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, Himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, the testimony to be born in its own times,

19:34 whereunto I was appointed a preacher and an apostle, I speak the truth, I lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Paul's first specific exhortation with respect to church order and practice has to do with the subject of corporate prayer. Remember now, the great concern is behavior in the house of God. And here is the first explicit reference to a dimension of behavior within God's house.

20:11 And what he does is, first of all, to emphasize the primacy of corporate prayer in the life of the church. We might say the primacy of all kinds of prayer. I exhort, therefore, and the words first of all do not mean simply first as opposed to second and third in numerical order, but as one lexicographer has rendered it, in the first place, above all, especially, in other words, first not only in terms of the various items I'm going to address myself to, but first in order of importance. So the subject matter, then,

20:54 is the primacy of all kinds of prayer in the corporate life of the church. Then in the second place, he moves on to touch on the comprehensiveness of this prayer. What ought to mark this praying of the people of God in the house of God, the church of the living God? Well, notice how comprehensive is to be the sweep of their prayer.

21:21 Such prayer, using all forms and kinds of prayer, Such prayer, using all forms and kinds of prayer, Such prayer, using all forms and kinds of prayer, Such prayer, using all forms and kinds of prayer, supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving, notice now, be made for all men, for kings and all that are in high place. Here is a comprehensive scope to the prayers of the people of God. And having touched, then, upon the primacy of all kinds of prayer, the comprehensiveness of prayer, I'm not expounding in detail the passage, just giving you the overall sense of it. He then zeroes in on the specific concern of such prayer, verses 2 and 3.

22:03 The latter part of verse 2, that this is to be the focal point of such prayers, that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. There is to be this primacy, and comprehensiveness of prayer, focusing upon this concern, that God would so work in these areas for which we pray, that our lives may be conducted in such a manner as to advance the cause of the gospel and the truth of God.

22:45 And then he concludes with what we might call the theological rationale for such prayer, verses 4 through 7. This, that is, pleasing to God is based upon the fact of who God is, what He is like, and what His purposes are with respect to the salvation of men. It is the God who would have all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, the God who has sent His Son as the one appointed mediator, the God who has appointed His servant Paul as a preacher and an apostle. And this forms what we might call the theological rationale for such prayer.

23:27 Now, I'm fully aware that there are secondary issues which arise almost inevitably by the very reading of this passage. The problem of the will of God. In what sense does God will the salvation of all men? In what sense did Jesus Christ give Himself a ransom for all?

23:47 But it's not my purpose to expound in detail, verses 1 to 7. I am only seeking to acquaint you with the passage sufficiently so that you may feel the contextual pressure coming down upon verses 8 through 15. Now, do you begin to feel something of that contextual prayer? The church is to be marked as a community whose communion with God and dependence upon God is marked by eminent corporate prayer.

24:22 I will, he says, or I exhort, first of all, all kinds of prayer be made in this comprehensive sense with respect to the cause of the advancement of truth and the triumphs of the gospel in the light of who God is and what God has purposed for the salvation of men. Now, if the church is to be pillar and ground of the truth, what kind of truth is being set forth by a prayerless congregation? By a congregation that does not give itself to all kinds of prayer

25:02 and to the comprehensive concerns outlined by the Apostle? Is it true that God's heart is a large heart that takes in all men? Is it true that Christ is a Savior adequate to the needs of all men and freely offered to all men? Is that the truth of the gospel?

25:23 Why, surely it is. Why, the prayers of the church should reflect that truth, for the church is pillar and ground of the truth. Is the church utterly dependent upon God for the accomplishment of those goals? Is the church utterly powerless to turn men's hearts apart from the work of the Spirit?

25:47 And the answer is obvious from Scripture, yes. Why then, you see, any church in which there is not a predominant concern for corporate prayer is a church that is not bearing witness to the truth of its utter dependence upon the Spirit. And that's why the Apostle gives this emphasis of the primacy, the comprehensiveness, the subject matter, and the theological rationale for corporate prayerfulness. But now there's one question he hasn't answered.

26:25 That's what the church is to do in its corporate life, but who is actually to do the praying? Is it just the elders? Or just the teaching elders? Is it just the elders and the deacons?

26:41 Is it anyone indiscriminately who desires to pray? Or is it the men of the church who are competent to become the mouthpiece of the congregation? And it is that specific question to which he addresses himself in verse 8, and notice the connective. I desire, therefore, that the men pray.

27:10 Now notice the connection. I exhort, therefore, verse 1, first of all, that supplication, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving be made for all men. He lays upon us the great duty and privilege of the primacy, the comprehensiveness, the subject matter, and the theological rationale of our praying. Having taken care of that issue, he now addresses himself to the question, who should actually implement this when the church is gathered?

27:47 When the church as the living temple is brought together and all its stones are in place, and the Spirit of God is present in His own livingness, to articulate these concerns. And he then moves very naturally with this connective, therefore, I desire, therefore, that the men pray. And so the subject of verse 8 is addressed specifically to the men in the house of God. Now don't take it out of that context.

28:24 He is saying nothing explicitly about who prays at family worship in your home. Who prays and who may pray when you meet several couples for fellowship tonight in your homes. It's addressing itself to that issue at all. It's talking about the church in its corporate life and identity as the house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

The Transition to Men's Role in Prayer (1 Timothy 2:8)

28:49 And therefore verse 8 begins with this very natural transition from the duty of prayer to those who are to discharge the duty in that context. And we'll study that verse, God willing, next week. The specific directive to the men that draws, as it were, its attraction from verses 1 to 7, the subject being prayer. But now Paul didn't just sit down and shoot this letter off and put anything that came into his mind.

The Bottom Slice: 1 Timothy 3:1-13 on Church Officers

29:22 He had purpose to deal, as he evidently deals with the subject in chapter 3, verses 1 to 13, of the office bearers in the church. So let's look now at the slice of bread that comes up underneath and meets the jelly. All right? We've looked at the top slice.

29:38 Now the bottom slice. What is the pressure exerted upon chapter 2, 8 to 15 by chapter 3, verses 1 through 13? Well, here the subject matter is equally clear. This passage is very familiar to those of you who attend the adult class, for in recent weeks you've been led in the study of it and the parallel passage in Titus 1 by Pastor Nichols.

30:04 Here we have the subject of church officers, bishops, synonym for elders, overseers, bishops and deacons. Notice verse 1. Faithful is the saying, if a man seeks the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. Verse 8.

30:23 Deacons, in like manner, must be grave, not double-tongued, etc. So the subject matter of the following context is that of the recognition of those whom Christ is giving to the church as a gift both to labor in the work of oversight, bishops or elders, and to labor in the work of the official service arm of the church, the diaconate. Now, when he treats the subject of elders, he assumes that their function can be ranged under two basic ends. That of ruling

31:07 and that of teaching. Notice the emphasis. The elder must be one who among other things is, the last phrase of verse 2, which is just one word in the original, apt to teach. And why must he be an apt teacher?

31:23 Because he must function as a teacher, as an instructor of God's people, one to one, one to two, one to ten, or one to four hundred. It makes no difference. He must be one who according to the language of Titus 1 is able to exhort in the sound doctrine and to refute gainsayers. But now we read on verse 5, if a man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?

31:53 Now here the office of a bishop or an elder is described in terms of these two great functions of teaching and of taking care of God's church. Now Paul knew he was going to treat this subject. And by the very nature of its treatment, he knew that women would be excluded from that office. Therefore it is as though he anticipates the question, when you now take up the subject of overseers, since women will be excluded from that, what is their function?

32:32 And so you find a much fuller of the responsibility and role of women in that preceding passage than you do of men. One verse he takes care of the men, then he takes verses 9 through 15 to address himself to the subject of the women and their respective roles. But now knowing something I'm sure of the density of the human mind as well as the perversity of the human heart, he says explicitly in that very passage that we'll be looking at in detail, God willing, next week, these words, verse 11 of chapter 2. Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection,

33:16 but I permit not a woman to teach nor to have dominion over a man. Now let me ask you children, if an elder is described as one who must teach in the assembly, teach the people of God, must rule over the house of God, and Paul has just said before he describes the elder that way, I suffer not a woman to teach or to have authority or dominion over a man, is there any way, by any stretch of the imagination, you can dare to say what this man says,

33:59 the ordination of women to the office of an elder? Yes. I mean you have really got to dance a jig around the Bible to come to that conclusion. You have got to rest and twist and force and pummel the Word of God out of its native shape.

34:20 For whatever Paul is saying by the inspiration of the Spirit in plenary apostolic authority in verses 8 through 15 of chapter 2 is conditioned by that which he holds in his mind in terms of the direction for elders and their recognition in chapter 3. And furthermore, since he takes up the subject of deacons, the diaconate as an official office, though it is not a ruling office, demands administrative authority. In the institution of the diaconate we read in Acts 6,

35:04 whom we may appoint over this business. And it is not without reason that the apostle assumes that all who will be recognized as deacons are of the male gender, for he says in verse 12, let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. And if ever a doctrine of deaconesses was to be established, here is where it would be established, but Paul is very careful in verse 11 not to say deaconesses in like manner, he simply says women, indicating that women would be

35:47 conscripted to perform specific service on behalf of the church as a service ministry without an office bearing capacity. And women like these who do have assigned to them specific functions within the church as a service, as a service and ministry arm of the church do so nonetheless without an official office being assigned to them. And the apostle was fully conscious of these issues that were in his mind and therefore the terminology, the language, the directives of verses 8 through 15

The Lord's Words and the Dignity of God-Assigned Roles

36:30 of chapter 2 have upon them the upward pressure of the context which is to follow. So that as we attempt to land our arrow dead center in the bull's eye we must do so feeling that pressure from above verses 1 to 7 and the pressure from beneath chapter 3 verses 1 through 13. Now I simply remind you as I try to bring this to a conclusion and then several points of application that these are the words of the Lord. As the apostle said, if any man thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual

37:14 let him acknowledge that the things which I say unto you are the words of the Lord. Now there may be someone sitting here thinking he's a man, he's got the pulpit, he can promote his own cause. My friend if you're thinking that way may I lovingly, may I lovingly and I pray that God would make me so to speak that you could not withstand the grace and the wisdom with which I would speak to you. That's language extracted from the description of Stephen.

37:45 My friend, it is not in any spirit of wanting to promote male dominance. It is in the spirit of recognizing that if God has mercifully and wisely suited a woman for a specific role you are no friend to that woman to force her into a role for which God did not create. Doing the little fish no favor when you go down and take it from the local pond there at Verona Park and you say poor little fishy you can only swim in the water and there are all these lovely trees

38:29 and look at these birds they can do marvelous things flying around and through and on top and away from and back into the trees. Little fishy, I want to take you out of your terrible bondage and let you share all the liberties of a bird. And so you take your little fishy and you put him up on the limb. You're not doing him any favor.

38:50 You're spelling his demise. You'll have a little fishy funeral tomorrow when you go back to see him. He'll be gone. Limp, stiff and stinking.

39:05 Both, all three at once. I don't know what he'll be but he won't be alive. That's for sure. Why?

39:13 Fishy friend for taking him out of the pond and putting him in the trees. And no one would encourage them for roles create them. It's a form of...

39:36 And I'm here to speak in the interest of the preservation of the dignity and the glory of your femininity when I set forth the roles which God has assigned to you and those which he has not assigned to you. The same is true with men. It's only people who don't understand the responsibility nor feel the responsibility of the peculiar role of a man to think it's something glorious. Time after time I've said to my wife I wish I could capitulate

40:18 and give up the leadership of this household to you. I'd like the buck to stop with her instead of me. And when we've consulted and prayed and gone over a thing and up and down one side and around it and gotten all our facts and we've come to some agreement on an issue, ultimately I will answer to God for that decision when I stand in the judgment. Not my wife.

40:48 She'll answer to whether or not she submitted to me to answer for that decision. You think I like that? I'd have given up the leadership role in this assembly a long time ago if I could have done so with a good conscience. You think it's something to make you dance with joy to think that when I stand before God I'm going to give account of the hundreds of people that sit in this place?

41:12 I've got enough to do to give account. I've got enough to do to give account for this character. Keep him in line. You think there's something glorious in this?

41:24 Only because you have no understanding of what's involved in it. No, no. This is not a matter of attempting to press men into a place of prominence in order to feed their ego, to give them a corner on a position from which they can crush females. No.

The Gospel and Church Order

41:43 May God take away any such thought from the mind of any one of you. It is simply an attempt to be honest with the word by which God has directed us, his creatures, so that we may realize our truest joy in filling the role for which our Creator God made us. Now, we've spent two Lord's Days working our way from the outer circle towards the bull's-eye. And it could well be that someone says, Pastor, isn't that a little bit of a distorted sense of values

42:26 with people on their way to perdition? And no doubt with unconverted people present in the services to spend two Lord's Day evenings dealing with matters of women and men and their relative roles, a little bit of an upping of the equilibrium of true perspective and a proper sense of what is important and what is not. Should not the gospel be preached? Should not practical duties be opened up and expounded?

43:03 Well, as we saw this morning, congregational life must validate the gospel. You try to preach the gospel in the context in which men and women have no idea and no submission to their God-appointed roles, and you're preaching the gospel in a context in which it is likely to have very little effect. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth. And if this truth is not manifested in our life as a church, namely that God has assigned specific roles to men and women and that it is in our best interest as well as the securing of His highest glory to understand those roles

43:47 and to submit to them, then we are not a pillar and ground of the truth at that point. We are the pillar and ground of heresy. Is it burdensome for a man to take his God-assigned role? No.

44:02 Liberty is found. The thing my carnal nature might impel me is doing the thing for which God created me. And furthermore, this is not removed from the gospel. For Christ died according to Titus 2.14

44:23 to redeem us from all iniquity, purify to Himself the peculiar people zealous of good works. And what are good works? Behavior in the house of God that is according to the rule and word of God. And Christ died to make Trinity Church after the model and pattern of apostolic direction.

44:48 May I say it reverently, when He went to the cross to bear our seed, He bore upon His heart that great vision that He would have congregations of His people where He Himself would come by His Spirit in His ascended power and glory and dwell amidst the people who would count His will their delight. That was part of the joy set before Him for which He endured the cross and despised its shame. We say we are a company of those who love Christ. Well listen to the word of Christ if you love me.

45:27 Keep my commandments. What commandments? Let any man who thinks himself spiritual or prophet acknowledge the things which I say. Paul says on these issues that I will therefore that the men pray.

45:44 I permit not a woman to teach. That's the word of Christ. If we love Him we will find it our delight to keep His commandments. And you see it's very easy to make the very natural transition to preaching to the unconverted.

Application to Unconverted and Converted Hearts

46:03 What's the need of an unconverted man? Well he's a rebel against God. What's the need of an unconverted woman? She's a rebel against God.

46:11 Neither indeed can it be. The state of the heart that some of you will be unveiled in the exposition of this passage may be already just moving from the outer circles. We haven't even aimed an arrow at the bull's eye yet but the other arrows have found you. Because you've sat there and said I don't like this idea.

46:30 Who's to tell me what I have to be and cannot be and do and can... My friend, you know what that disposition is?

46:38 That's your carnal mind that is not subject to the law of God. That's the evidence you're a rebel against Almighty God. And it is this, His law, His word impinging upon your spirit that shows you to be what God says you are. And that's why you need a Savior who can not only change your record, all of the things you've done in pursuit of that rebellious nature, but you need one who can change your heart and give you a heart that will count His law your delight so that you'll be able to say, Oh, how love I thy law.

47:16 To be able to say, I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. And so if you've sat here tonight because I cannot see your heart, many of you, I wouldn't even know your thinking on this point. Some of you visitors, others of you relative newcomers to our midst, my friend, if you've not found your heart running out with delight and eagerness saying, Oh Lord, man, I want to know my place according to the instructions and directions of your word. Lord Jesus, teach me what I am to be and to do as a Christian man in the house of God.

47:59 Your heart has not run out that way, but you've been drawing back and you've found a spirit of defiance. It could well be, my friend, that that's an indication of where you really are spiritually. As a woman, perhaps you've found yourself seething and boiling within. My dear friend, this is why you need to heed the call to repent and to believe the gospel. Flee to the Lord

48:23 Jesus who can change that rebel heart and make it a heart that loves the law of God so that all of your thinking conditioned by years of submersion in or immersion in the thought patterns of the world, that that mind may be renewed by the word and spirit of God. And that renewed heart and renewed mind will then begin to impel you in the direction of the will of God. And dear Christians, I remind you of the admonition of Romans 12. Be not conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

49:03 I pity, and I say that not in a condescending way. I hope I say it in the spirit of Romans 9 and Romans 11. I feel anguish and pity for the precious young people and children of our congregation, so many of whom have so few models to which they can look and where from every quarter they're being bombarded with the language and the thought patterns that utterly contradict and would overthrow everything taught in this...

49:41 I plead with you, if you're a child of God, to soak your mind in the word. Be careful of the literature you read. Many of you are not strong enough to expose yourself to the kind of stuff that's in this magazine. I don't think it's something to be considered noble that they print both sides of the issue. The Scripture's just

50:03 as clear on this issue as it is on the deity of Christ. What would you think of Christianity today if they printed an article saying, Jesus Christ sorting out the issues. Is Jesus Christ God? No. And then four pages

50:18 later, is Jesus Christ God? Yes. Would you think them very fair and open-minded as an evangelical magazine? The one issue is just as clear as the other.

50:30 In fact, I think there's more Scripture to support the Arian position on the surface of things than there is Scripture to support their position. I don't believe the Arian position. It is heresy. It is anti-Christian theology. Jesus Christ is

50:48 very God of very God. There never was a time when the word was not. Whatever God has been, he has always been Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But you see, the point I'm making, this looks all very nice and clear and open-minded, printing both sides of the issue. They're

51:06 exposing weak minds to a convincing system of error. Is that noble? I call it wicked. Some of you are exposed to that, and some of you read literature that you're not strong enough to digest and to spit out the bones and the poison.

51:25 You tempt God by reading it. Some of you listen to programs you ought not to listen to. You've been infected. You read magazine articles in good family magazines.

51:35 You're not mature enough and well grounded enough in the Scriptures. You better spend a lot more time in the epistles of the New Testament and a lot less time reading Ann Landers and Dr. Joyce Brothers and whoever else is giving advice. Until your mind and spirit are so soaked in the word of God that when you confront that other business you can see clear through it and nail it to the wall with a broken heart.

52:04 It's a very difficult thing to do. But you have to accept the Lord. May God grant that as a congregation we will be grounded in our understanding and we will be committed in our affections and will that we may be a pillar and ground of the truth where women manifest the glory of their God-given role and all the beauty and again I'm not using saccharine but the sanctified Christian womanhood will ooze from the women of this congregation and all of the beauty the true masculine beauty of men who embrace their roles in the graciousness

52:48 and in the gentleness and in the authority of Christ. All the beauty of that will be seen in this place as well. If we're to be a true pillar and ground of the truth, we better be living out the truth with respect to the God assigned roles of men and women. May I urge you to study now the passage very carefully during the week and come prepared in dependence upon the Spirit of God and pray for me that God will help me in my preparation as I seek to open it up verse by verse and phrase by phrase when we meet together God willing next week.

Closing Prayer

53:28 Let us pray. Our Father we are so grateful that we have not been left at the mercy of our own whims, our own fancies, our own notions but that we have a word which is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway and we would plead for grace to understand its truth and for more grace to run in the path that it marks out for us. Holy Father if we know our hearts before you we do not have ill will

54:13 to those who have eroded or have been influenced by the eroding pressure of the world who perhaps many love you sincerely and yet have been misled oh God will you not have mercy upon your church in this hour that the influence of the world may be purged from its ranks and that truth and truth alone will reign supreme in the heart and in the lives of your people. Help us as a congregation be with any dear sister who is struggling with these issues anyone who has had an unusual bombardment of

54:57 mind and spirit by the thinking of the world Lord help that particular sister in Christ to know that your will for her is good acceptable and perfect help any man who is struggling who feels himself so inadequate for the assigned role of leadership given to him in your word Lord help him to look away from himself and his weakness and to find his strength in you enable these dear children amongst us who grow up in an age in which these issues are so confused and the lines are so blurred oh may our homes and our life as a church be a model

55:40 and a pattern to them an oasis in a desert of relativism oh God grant this for the sake of your beloved son receive our thanks for this day for your presence with us sanctify the remaining moments that many will spend sharing their hearts with one another in fellowship meeting with each other in various homes may the Lord's day be crowned with a glorious sense of your blessed presence and for these mercies we will praise you through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen