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Good afternoon. Would you take out your bible with me, please, and turn to first Timothy. First Timothy chapter two. First Timothy chapter two, and we'll begin reading in verse eight here in just a moment. Thank you for being here.

Whether in person or online, we're grateful for your presence. And if you're listening to a recording of this, we're grateful for your interest in spiritual things. And I wanna begin with a slight disclaimer tonight. I am normally very hesitant to talk about any sort of current events. I try to be very careful about that.

Sometimes you don't know all of the details of something, and I really like to have time, plenty of time to meditate on something, to view it from every angle. But sometimes the timing is such that you just really can't help yourself in some ways, and maybe it can make it more helpful knowing that these things are happening right now. So with that disclaimer in mind, I was recently asked about a biblical line, a verse in the script that is, always has been and still is a difficult one to interpret. And while meditating on this passage, somebody asked me about this passage. I said, well, you know, here are a couple of options.

I'm not really sure. And then somebody else that that person had asked about it asked me with a whole another group of people that were all eating supper together, and then we talked around it talked about it around the table. And I'm like, well, people are interested in this. People have questions about this. And so I've been meditating on it and trying to prepare a lesson.

But while meditating on the passage, I became aware of two things happening in our society right now here in America that relate to the passage and the attitude much of our society has toward women who have children, mothers. Let's start with two events I became aware of while meditating. On August 10, the governor of Massachusetts signed a bill that allows abortions up to the moment of birth. And this was applauded by many people as you see on the screen behind me, but reflects more broadly the feelings of women in The United States. According to the Pew Research Center, sixty four percent of women in The United States believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Secondly, there is a highly publicized trial that's going on right now of a woman who, by her own admission, brutally killed her three small children. And there were certainly difficult circumstances in this case, and things like this has happened before. But what stood out to me and what I'd like to discuss is the outpouring of support for this woman. Hundreds of women, mostly dressed in pink, showed up at her trial to, quote, stand with Lindsey. And while many of those women would no doubt qualify their support as an expression of the need for support for those with mental health issues, choosing to do so with a woman who strangled her children is chilling to me.

The hashtag same Lindsey has been trending on social media with mothers holding or filming their children and expressing their understanding of what this woman was feeling in the days and hours leading up to the murders. And a GoFundMe set up by her parents since the start of August has already raised over a million dollars. I think that's reflective of where we are as a society. Not all people, obviously. Maybe not the attitude of people here in, East Texas, but in The United States, there has been a turning of the tide on these matters.

And it seems it's reflective of a deeper issue that goes beyond social and political thing considerations. It seems that childbearing and life as a mother is often viewed as an obstacle to a fulfilling life as a woman rather than a gift of the Lord as Psalm one twenty seven and verse three says. And I think our passage tonight that we're gonna consider speaks to this in a powerful, but at first confusing sort of way. So will you read with me in first Timothy chapter two beginning in verse eight? First Timothy chapter two beginning in verse eight.

Paul says to Timothy, I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting, in like manner also without wrath or doubting, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works. Let a woman learn in silence with all submission, and I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression. Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with self control.

The interpretations of this passage are many, and there's a lot that we could be considering in these verses. Now we're gonna discuss the greater context and implications of the verses about silence and submission in a future sermon, but I wanna focus this evening on that phrase saved by, saved in, saved through, the Greek word dia, because of saved because of childbearing that's found in first Timothy chapter two and verse 15. What what is Paul talking about? What does he mean when he says, nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing? What does that mean, and what does it mean to us is what I wanna consider for a few moments this evening.

Well, in my thought and study and meditation on this particular passage, I've decided that there are two possible and true options that we might consider. Each of these are true when considering the rest of the bible. So the point itself is true even if that's not exactly what Paul might be saying. And each of these certainly is under consideration in the greater context here in first Timothy. And before I present the two possibilities, I want us to first notice the pronouns that we see here in verses 13 through 15.

Read again with me. For Adam was formed first, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman, what woman? Eve, being deceived, fell into transgression. Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if and then he mysteriously switches to a plural pronoun if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with self control. So she is saved if they continue in these things.

So to me, that seems to indicate that both Eve and all women are under consideration here in these verses, and those are where the emphasis is found in these two possibilities, with Eve and then with all women. So our first possibility is this, saved in or by or because of or through childbearing means that salvation is found by the seed or through or because of the seed of woman. While Paul is blunt and honest about Eve's sins, he tempers it with this statement in defense of her and all people's salvation through childbearing. I want you to turn back to Genesis chapter three. So this deception of the serpent of Satan with Eve is found there in Genesis chapter three.

And Genesis chapter three teaches us about sin entering in the world through the sin of Eve and then through Adam. And the problem of sin and the problems that sin brings is is shown in chapters three through 11. It shows us the dire and destructive and devastating consequences of this curse of sin. It establishes that mankind needs help to escape the curse of sin. But I want us to consider some specific curses that come because of sin.

First, consider the curse that is on woman in verse 16. To the woman, God said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain, you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. It's interesting that this curse relates to childbearing, but there is also a hint of hope that relates to childbearing as well.

If you drop down to verse 15 and the curses on the serpent, God says, and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. This is the first of the messianic prophecies in the Bible that tells us that there is a Messiah coming who is going to fulfill salvation for mankind, and this messiah is going to be the seed of woman, the descendant of woman. So Genesis chapter three hints at that solution, and then God in Genesis chapter 12 makes solution more apparent. After again showing the consequences of sin in chapters three through 11 in chapter 12, the solution to sin is starting to be to come to form through the promises that God makes to Abram, who we would later know as Abraham.

Genesis chapter 12 and verse one. Now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you.

And what's the opposite of a blessing and bless? A cursing and a curse. Right? So he says, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. He puts it in the same terminology of Genesis chapter three later in Genesis 22 when he says, in your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.

So blessing, you will be a blessing. I will bless you. In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. That word blessed should jump off the page to us as it's the opposite of that word curse found back there in Genesis chapter three. And this promise is not just to Abraham, but to all the families of the earth.

And all the rest of the Bible is working out of this promise to bring about this seed of woman, this seed of Abraham, this descendant who would make salvation available to all people. And in another place, besides first Timothy, Paul makes clear who it is that God is talking about, that this is all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Go to the New Testament book of Galatians, Galatians chapter three, if you would. Galatians chapter three and verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.

He does not say and to seeds as of many, but as of one and to your seed who is Christ, the Messiah whom we know as Jesus. Well, what does that do for us that this promise was fulfilled in Abraham's seed? Well, through through Christ and through his covenant in verse 26, for you are all children of God through the faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek.

There's neither slave nor free. There's neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Now don't misunderstand what he's saying. Those distinctions still exist, but in the sight of God, we are equal before him despite these differences in us. Verse 29, and if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

And if we are Abraham's seed, that means we're Eve's seed. We are the descendants of woman, and we are heirs, fully children, fully heirs through the seed of Eve and Abraham. Whatever our gender or our race or our background, we have been made sons or children of God. And so the point in Genesis three, as well as at least part of Paul's point in first Timothy chapter two is this, even though the woman, Eve, yielded to temptation, even though she was fully deceived in a way Adam was not, and even though she exercised a corrupting influence over her husband and giving him the fruit, and thus being separated from God because of her sin, salvation is still possible. Possible for Eve and possible for all who would come after.

And not only that, but she is given the role by which that salvation would be made possible by bringing the child, Jesus, into the world. Childbearing is the means by which God chose to make the incarnation possible, and it is only through the incarnation that salvation is made possible because Jesus came and because he lived as a man. In Galatians chapter four, I want you to notice the terminology that Paul uses in the next chapter in verse four. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. Why say born of a woman?

I mean, how else would you bore be born if not of a woman to remind us of this promise that in the seed of woman, the head of the serpent would be crushed? Because that is a fulfillment of this promise to Eve in the curses to the serpent. And thus, God turns sin and curses on their head and brings about blessings through Jesus Christ, and woman is saved through childbearing. Okay. That's a, I think, a rather sound biblical argument to be made from this passage.

But how does that apply to those things happening in the world? How does that apply to you and to me and the world in which we live? I think it comes back to our attitude and the way we view childbearing, the home, the family, and mothers. We need to see childbearing for the miracle it is, not just physically and literally, but spiritually. A huge part of the desire for the fruit was to be like God.

Remember? She saw the fruit. Yes. It was it looked like it would taste good, and it was it was pleasurable to the eyes, but it was desirable to make one wise. And the serpent had told her, when you eat it, you will be like God.

That was the attraction for the sin. But in many ways, the closest people come to being gods of creation is when a woman creates a baby. It is not a nuisance or an obstacle to life, but one of the greatest purposes of life and brings new life into the world. And by it, we all have been born, and by it, we all can be saved because Jesus was born of a woman. Eve is called in Genesis three in verse 20, the mother of all living.

And maybe we weren't we aren't as impressed with the miracle of life as we should be, the miracle of childbearing. It is weirdly wonderful that God designed woman to create and carry and deliver a new life, a new person. And, yes, fathers have a very small part in that, but it is nothing in comparison to the creative power contained within the womb of a mother. And how silly to live in a society where so many believe, well, life only begins at birth. How can anyone who has seen or experienced the growth and development of a child in the womb believe such foolishness?

Life is created through childbearing. And even after birth, an infant immediately looks to his or her mother as the giver and sustainer of life. William Thackery wrote I don't even know who William Thackery is, but I love this quote so much. Don't Google him. I'm scared.

Let Google him first. Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children because she was the one who, in one sense, created them. And she sustains them, and she provides for them, and she loves them, and she teaches them. Maybe we need to get our wonder back when it comes to the miracle of childbearing, And that through this miracle, God chose to bring about our salvation, the salvation of Eve, the salvation of all women, and the salvation of all people who would be willing to come to Jesus Christ. So that's the first possible and true option that I see here, that it's saved by the seed or through or because of the seed of woman.

But let me suggest this second option. Go back to first Timothy chapter two. And I say two options. These are close and similar. I would say in many ways, they work together.

I can almost imagine Paul sitting down and writing. I don't know if Paul did this, but I wonder if Paul knew that some of these things were gonna be more difficult to understand than others. You know, Peter acknowledged that. He write, our beloved brother Paul in the scriptures that he's written, some of those things hard to understand. Right?

And I wonder if maybe Paul wrote this, he giggled to himself. Oh, that's a good turn of phrase. You know? What are they gonna how are they gonna understand this correctly? And it is possible that he had more than one thing in mind.

Certainly, we can see that with the her and they. Right? Eve and all women. So consider this second possibility that perhaps works with the first. That this idea of saved by or in or through or because of childbearing is this idea that a woman is saved by fulfilling her role in godliness.

In other words, childbearing is representative of everything a Christian wife and mother does in service to her husband and her children in the home. And Paul has emphasized, hasn't he, in the verses preceding the place and role of woman in the church and the home. But he wants to make clear that this is this is not some sort of second rate citizen. This is not a demotion for woman, but it is vital to the plans and purposes of God that she fulfill her role. Salvation is on the line here saved by childbearing.

And this concept of different roles is God designed, including the roles he gives of authority and submission in regard to men and women in the home and in the church. The role of submission is no less important than the role of authority. And how do I know that? Well, let me ask you. Is the role of the son of God any less important than the role of God the father?

No. All of us would say, of course not. And yet, what does first Corinthians chapter 11 and verse three say? Connecting this to the roles of men and women, but I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Christ willfully submitted himself to the father.

And God and Jesus are equals, yet Jesus submitted himself. Why? Because Jesus had a different role to play in the plan of salvation than God the father. And this different role did not and does not change their equality as God. Consider the last line in this verse that we read.

First Timothy chapter two and verse 15. Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with self control. The if clause, they will be saved in childbearing if is indicative of various aspects of the Christian life. Right? Faith, love, holiness, and self control are vitally important to living as a Christian.

But let me ask you, shake your head this way or that way, are these the only things required of Christians? No. Of course not. There's much more that's required of us as Christians than just faith, love, holiness, and self control, but that does encapsulate much of what is in view when we think about the Christian life. Now that shows us two things.

Number one, it's not a physical obligation, just having children and keeping the home alone that is under consideration. Someone can be a wonderful mother, but they still have to do the things that Christians should do in order to be saved eternally. And Paul is not hinging her or women's salvation on some physical act, be it procreation or something else. But secondly, I think this clause strengthens the case for this second option, strengthens the argument that childbearing is representative of all the things women do in their role in the home. These four things aren't all that Christian women should do to be saved, but they are representative of the Christian life.

And so too childbearing isn't all that a woman in the home does, but it is representative of the woman's role in the home. Wives and mothers, when you fulfill your role in the home while continuing in the faith and love and holiness and self control, when you do those things, you are doing kingdom work. It is related to God and the things of God. It brings about salvation. You are bringing about your salvation and the salvation of others when you do that.

You are fulfilling your God given role as the maker, Titus chapter two and verse five, and the manager, first Timothy five and verse 14, of the home. This is your domain where you have authority and husbands and fathers are to submit to and support you in that specific realm and role. And Paul wants you to take heart. Your work is noticed by God, and your work is important. When you survive, and maybe that's the right word, survive, the sleepless, thankless nights just keeping your children alive, you're working in the kingdom.

And don't minimize that work. Don't minimize that work, whatever our society says. And when your children grow and you start training them to practice the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. You are sowing the seeds of kingdom citizens, preparing them to bear that fruit when they choose to take Christ into their heart and life. You are planting the seeds of the kingdom when you bring your children to bible class, when you bring them to services, when you teach them to sit in the pew to worship, to turn in their bibles, and to sing the songs.

You are sowing those same seeds and planting those seeds when you do those same things at home. You are doing kingdom work when you teach them to pray, when you teach your children to be respectful to their elders and kind to their peers. You are laying a foundation for the spirit's work in their life when you are patient with them and expect them to be patient with others. And when you continue to teach them to love God, to imitate Jesus Christ, and to submit to the holy spirit's word and will, you are bearing fruits of salvation in their lives and in yours. You and they, and who knows how many more, can be saved through your childbearing and through your child raising.

So the second one, how does that apply to the things that are are happening in our world? Lots of ways we could put it. May I put it this way? Motherhood is not a sentence to be begrudgingly carried out. It is a gift of life and salvation, and it is difficult.

Difficult in ways that I have not personally experienced, only observed. But it is one of the highest callings and greatest works that a woman can do. And all of us, as Christians, must stand against the attacks on this amazing role and position that God has given to woman, beginning with our own homes and our own families and our own wives and our own mothers and our own daughters so that they might know what god has called them to. I was talking with a young lady, and there were a number of others who were there. She is fairly recently married, and she and her husband are considering having children.

They're both good faithful Christians and are considering this idea of having children. And there's a lot to consider with that, isn't there? And she was going through some of the things, like she likes her life right now. She likes the things that she's doing. She and her husband have a great relationship and all these things, and she's a little afraid children are gonna mess that up, to which I said, yeah.

Probably so. No. To which I said, it's gonna be different. Yeah. It is gonna be different.

But I would suggest it's also gonna be better. That having children is a gift. And for those blessed to receive that gift, not all marry, not all have children, and you don't have to do those things in order to be who God has called you to be. But for those who are blessed with that gift, it is an opportunity for you, and it's an opportunity for the children that you bear. See what salvation looks like in God.

Saved by childbearing. I mean, that should ring true to us as Christians because being born again is the picture of our salvation in Jesus Christ. Is it not? I want you to turn to one final passage, John chapter three and verse three. John chapter three and verse three.

We studied this in bible class. I was teaching in the junior high class not too long ago as Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. And Jesus, in verse three, he just comes off the top rope. He doesn't mess around. There's not a lot of pleasantries.

He gets right to the heart of the matter with Nicodemus. And in verse three, Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So one new birth. You've been born before, you gotta be born a second time, born again. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old?

Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born, one new birth with two elements, born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say to you must be born again.

And so Jesus does what Paul and Peter and others often do in the scriptures, this mingling of the spiritual and the physical that these two things work together in order to bring about God's purposes and God's salvation. And certainly, that's true in the passage that we've studied, that we see the spiritual ramifications of this promise to Eve and that Eve and women will be saved through the seed, the descendant, the child that was born to Mary, that we know Jesus the Christ. But, also, there is this sense in which there is salvation found in fulfilling this role here on earth, fulfilling that role in godliness where salvation can be found in both the mother and the children as she fulfills that role. And yet what Jesus says here relates to all of us, that each and everyone who will be saved in Jesus Christ must be born again. Born of water, and there is water right here behind the screen, but it's not just a physical bath that's under consideration.

It's not just being washed clean on the outside. It's a spiritual rebirth, born of water and the spirit by which through the blood of Jesus Christ, your sins can be washed away. That salvation by rebirth is available to all who are willing to come to Christ in humble submission. And if you're here tonight, you know that's what you need to do. Won't you be saved?

Won't you come and be saved through this kind of birth? And in gratitude for the birth that you were given physically that you have that opportunity. And to our mothers, thank you for the work that you do in God's kingdom and in your homes, and I pray we will all support you in that work. If we can help in any way, won't you come now while together we stand and while we sing? All things are ready.