All right, turn with me if you
would to 1 Timothy chapter two. 1 Timothy chapter two. We've been
in and out of the book of 1 Timothy, very slowly going through it.
This morning it will be our Bible study. And this is going to be
a true Sunday school. This is really going to be a
Sunday school. We're going to look up these
words and study some of the words that are here and see the true
meaning of them, what's really being said here. Because if we
don't get to the heart of what is actually being said in these
verses, we are going to be completely misled by our ignorance of the
word and of the scripture. We will be totally misled. If we don't understand this,
then we'll lead ourselves way off the beaten path. And you'll
see what I mean here in just a second. Let's pick up where
we left off last time. We'll begin reading in verse
eight. Let's read verses eight to 10. First Timothy two, verse
eight. I will, therefore, that men pray
everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting, in
like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel,
with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair, or gold,
or pearls, or costly array, but which becometh women professing
godliness with good works." Now, each one of those verses
mean what they say, all right? Never does a verse of scripture
say something and not mean what it says. Never. Never. Those verses mean exactly what
they say. I'm going to tell you this though.
Oftentimes we misunderstand the meaning. We misunderstand what
it's saying. It means exactly what it's saying. But usually the problem for us
is we don't understand what it's saying. So in a moment, we're
gonna see, when we look back on this, you're gonna say, yep,
that's exactly what it's saying. But I'm gonna go ahead and tell
you this. We're gonna start right here. This is not saying, and
it does not mean, that men should go around everywhere praying
and lifting up their hands like this. It does not mean that. And it's also not saying that
women should wear flat shoes and a jean skirt that almost
touches their ankle and a gray or a drab colored top with no
jewelry and no makeup and a miserable look on their face. That's not
what it's saying. And I am glad for that. I'm really
glad for that. I was thinking about this and
I thought that's the moment to shut up at that point. That's
where a man gets himself in trouble saying, I'd rather my wife wear
makeup than not wear makeup. Get her hair done than not get
her hair done. But I will say this, I'm glad. I really am glad
for that. I am glad for my sake. But I'm
also glad for your sake. I am so glad for your sake that
you are not under that miserable bondage. And I am so glad for
the fact that we men, all right, all of the men in this room are
not in absolute ignorance and in arrogance and in self-righteousness
putting all you women under that bondage. I'm so thankful for
that, that God has relieved us from that mess. That's all it
is. It's just a bunch of mess, and I pray that the Lord will
free more, both men and women. I pray He'll free many more.
Silliness. All right, then what does it
mean? Well, start with verse eight. 1 Timothy 2, verse eight
says, I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere lifting up
holy hands without wrath and doubting. I wanna give you the
definition of all these words, okay? When you get a concordance
and it's a Bible dictionary and it'll tell you exactly what that
word meant, when it was written, the Old Testament is Hebrew,
the New Testament's Greek, it's just a dictionary. All right,
so the word men means males. A lot of times in the scripture
it'll mean men and women, this time it just means men. Pray
means pray to God, supplicate, it means worship, that's what
it means, worship. Everywhere means every place
at all times. Lifting up means with festivity,
a festival, a holiday, celebrating. Holy hands, Holy means right,
divine, innocent, pure, blameless, hands are hands. Without wrath
means with no worthiness of punishment, okay? No worthiness of punishment. And doubting, without doubting
means with no fickleness or change. Now, in just hearing the definition
of those words, can we not see that he is not telling vile,
self-righteous, wicked men to go around lifting up their hands,
putting on a show for everybody at Walmart and everybody at the
restaurant, and every time they have an opportunity to draw attention
to themselves. That's error. That's silliness. That's wickedness. I can see
men worshiping God everywhere at all times in the heart with
joy and celebration but you lose me at holy that's where you lose
me innocent blameless Absolutely pure hands, lifting up absolutely
innocent, blameless, pure hands. Hands that are completely without
worthiness of punishment and without fickleness and change. All right, we're going straight
to the point. Here's the punchline of the whole thing. If we are
going to worship God at all times, with joy and celebration by lifting
up holy hands that are completely spotless and sure, then we have
to lift up Christ's hands. We have to lift up Christ's hands. When I look at my hands, this
is what I see. Sin, vileness, Wickedness, guilt,
shame, blame, that's all I see. I see hands that are worthy of
wrath, hands that are worthy of punishment. I think about
the absolute ignorance, bless their hearts, the ignorance of
men who think that their hands are worthy to offer up to God,
this holy God. and the foolishness of men who
think that God would accept their worship by what he sees on their
hands and in their hands. Verse eight means exactly what
it's saying. What it's saying, that's what
it means. But let's make sure we understand
that it's saying, The only hope that we have of worshiping God
without His wrath coming on us is by offering up holy hands. We must offer up holy hands. Therefore, we'd better not offer
up our own. The works of our own, the only hands that we have
are Christ's hands. That's the only holy hands that
we have. Men love to lie from the pulpit.
by telling people he has no hands but your hands, not realizing
what utter blasphemy that is. Not only are they saying that
he has no hands of his own and he can't do anything without
your help, he's saying that, but more blasphemous than that,
if my hands are his hands, then that's saying that he has sinful,
wicked, vile, polluted hands. And that's utter blasphemy. That's
absolute blasphemy. So this is what verse eight is
saying. When it comes time for us to worship God, we had better
stick our hands in our pockets. That's what we need to do. And
we'd better, in our hearts, lift up the perfect and holy work
of the perfect holy hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. His hands
are the only hands I have before you. His work is the only work
that I have before you. That is the only thing that we
can offer to God, the finished work, the righteousness ALL THAT
PERFECTION, THE SCRIPTURE SAYS, HE WENT AROUND EVERYWHERE DOING
GOOD. AND THE REDEMPTION. THAT PERFECTION AND THAT SIN
PAYMENT OF BLOOD OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. VERSE 8 SAYS, I
WILL THEREFORE THAT MEN PRAY EVERYWHERE LIFTING UP HOLY HANDS
WITHOUT WRATH AND DOUBTING. IF WE LIFT UP CHRIST'S HOLY HANDS,
Then we can lift them up without fear. There's no worthiness of
punishment. And we can lift them up in full
assurance without doubting. I wonder if these hands will
be accepted. Oh yeah, they'll be accepted. All right, let's
look at verses nine and 10. Verse nine says, and these are
four important words, in like manner also that women adorned themselves
in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided
hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but which becometh women
professing godliness with good works." In verse 9, the word
women means females. Ladies, it specifically means
a wife. All right, remember that. That's
what it specifically means, a wife. Adorn themselves. Adorn means
to put on, to put in order, to make ready themselves in modest
apparel. Modest means well-arranged, orderly. Apparel means clothes, a covering. With shamefacedness, that means
beholding. It means to behold. It means
with downcast eyes toward men and modesty toward God. It means
reverence. Verse nine says, and sobriety,
that means soundness of mind. Clearness of mind. Not with broided
hair. I guarantee you, that's the one
that gets all you ladies. You're wondering, wait, did I
braid that? All right, this is what it means. Woven, weaved,
twisted, intertwined, intermingled hair. Gold, pearls, costly array
are all things of value and worth, things of great price. He said,
don't adorn yourself with that. But rather, verse 10 says, that
which becometh women professing, that word means confessing, Godliness. Godliness means reverence toward
God, the worship of God, devoutness toward God with good works, worthy,
acceptable deeds. All right, now those two verses
mean exactly what they say. Exactly what they say. Women,
meaning the wife. All right, now this is spiritual.
The bride of Christ, women representing. You're gonna see, I'm gonna go
ahead and give you a, here's a little nugget of what's to
come. If you look down at verse 11,
let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. I suffer
not a woman to teach, nor to assert authority over the man,
but to be in silence. Adam was first formed, then Eve.
Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived. Adam represents
Christ. Eve represents His bride, all
of God's people. And everything that it has to
say about the woman represents all of us, men and women, the
bride of Christ before Him. And like Job said, I think it's
time I put my hand over my mouth. It's all an illustration of Christ
and His bride. Everything Paul said in Ephesians
5, you can apply it to a physical marriage, but he said, I'm talking
about Christ. and his bride. So the wife representing the
bride of Christ, all of God's people ought to be modest people. Let's not just skip over that
both in worship and in everyday life. We should not do radical
things in order to draw attention to ourselves. We should not,
you know, people think, well, you know, I'm not under the law,
I'm under grace, I can go do what I want to. Paul said, God
forbid. All we're doing when we do things
that draw attention to ourselves is we're idolizing the flesh.
We're just glorifying and worshiping the flesh. And that needs to
be squashed, especially when it comes to glorifying and worshiping
God. All of that needs to be put away.
I thought about the Kentucky Derby. The biggest concern for
women at the Kentucky Derby is who has the best hat. I made
sure all the women had no hats on before I said that. I was
hoping nobody would wear a hat today. All right, you go to the
prom. What's the biggest concern at
the prom for a girl? Who has the best dress? All of that needs to be squashed
when we present ourselves before God to worship Him. All of that,
but here's the fact of the matter. All right, I say all that, but
here's the fact of the matter. That hat and that dress is not
the problem. There's nothing wrong with that
hat. And there's nothing wrong with that dress. They are not
the problem. The problem is in here. The problem is in the heart. We can have a problem in the
heart whether we're wearing a hat or not. We can be completely eaten up
with sin whether our hair is braided or not. Totally eaten
up with sin. There can be just as much pride
in modesty as there is in extravagance. And I'm going to repeat that
and that needs to be repeated about a hundred times because
there's more pride in modesty. There can be and there is more
pride in modesty than there is in extravagance. What Paul had
to say to the men, he was dealing with the heart of the matter.
He wasn't dealing with physical hands. Shove your hands in your
pocket. This is a heart thing. And in
like manner also, what Paul has to say to the women, he's dealing
with the heart of the matter. When the Lord told Samuel to
go to the house of Jesse, I love the story of when God told Samuel,
I want you to go anoint my king. All right, so he told Samuel,
you go to the house of Jesse. He has all these sons. And when
Samuel went, he did not know he was going to anoint David.
He didn't know who it was. And David was the smallest. He
was the youngest. They started at the biggest,
the tallest, but this is what the Lord told Samuel. He said,
Samuel, don't look on his outward appearance. I don't look on the
outward appearance. I look on the heart. I look on
the heart. Based on the definitions we just
heard, spiritually in the heart, this is what Paul is saying,
as the bride of Christ, adorn yourself in modesty. lowliness, meekness. Don't come
in your own glory. Men or women, don't walk in to
worship God in your own glory, desiring your own glory. Come
desiring the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Come with a desire
to be robed, covered, adorned in the beauty and the glory of
his righteousness, his apparel. put his apparel on with eyes,
eyes of the soul that truly behold him and reverence him. How many
times do men and walk, men and women walk into a house of God,
not reverencing him. They don't know what it's all
about, but it's not about him. He said, wife of the bride of
the bridegroom, wife of the groom. You come in with eyes that behold
him and reverence him, eyes that are downcast toward men but reverencing
toward God. Come with a clear mind. May the
mind of Christ be in you. He humbled himself and made himself
of no reputation. He said, I'm meek, I'm lowly. He said, don't weave or try to
intertwine your glory with his. You know what 1 Corinthians 11
verse 15 says? It says, a woman's hair is her
glory. What should she do with it? Lift
it up, bind it up, try to weave it, try to intertwine it. Don't
turn over there, but this is what Jeremiah 7 verse 29 says. Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem,
and cast it away. He's not telling them literally
to get rid of their hair. This will fix it. Y'all get rid
of your hair. He's not saying that. He's saying take all of
your own glory, all of your own crown, and cast it away. So you can take everything that's
left and cast it on Christ. Cast it all on Him. I wanna physically
show you this. This is precious. I believe you'll
see this to be precious. Look with me at Luke 7. We're
almost done. Luke chapter 7 verse 36. It says in one of the Pharisees
desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the
Pharisees house and sat down to meet. And behold a woman in
the city, which was a center, which was a center. When she
knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisees house, brought
an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his feet behind
him, weeping. and began to wash his feet with
tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed
his feet and anointed them with the ointment. You can't do that
with braided hair. And I'm not talking about hair. You cannot do that with braided
hair. Our Lord is not even on this earth anymore, but we can
still do that right now in the heart. All right, you can come
with the most beautiful updo that Kingsport has ever seen
and still come to worship God with the let down hair that is
ready to wash the master's feet and kiss his feet and anoint
his feet with everything you have in the heart. that hair
of the heart. That's a prime example. Paul
said, don't array yourself in the gold and the pearls and the
costly things. Don't put the value on you. Don't
put the worth on you. Don't see the riches to be on
you. Cast all of the unsearchable
riches on Christ. He's the pearl of great price.
His blood is that precious payment of value. The riches of His grace
and His mercy, that's the costly array that all of His people
wear. His wife puts on. That's what
it is also to profess godliness. It's to profess Him in all of
these things. It's to confess Him. It's reverence toward God. and
the worship of God and faith toward Christ, casting it all
on Christ, that's the only good work that a sinner can do before
him. Faith in Christ, that's the only good work. And that's
not even a work of our own. That's the gift of God. That's
a work that he does and gives it to his people. So our good
works are only of Him, through Him, to Him, by Him, in Him. He's our good work. Do we have
any good works to go meet God with? Yes, we do. Christ, in
Him, what He's done, He is our good works. So let's read it
one more time. Back in the text, 1 Timothy 2,
verse 8. It says, I will therefore that
men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and
doubting. In like manner also that women
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety,
not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but
which becometh women professing godliness with good works. If men ever get a hold of the
holy hands of Christ, they'll lift them up. If God ever reveals
the holy hands of Christ, they will honestly shove their hands
in their pocket and they'll lift up his hands. And if women ever
get a hold of the beauty and the glory and the good works
of Christ, they'll put them on. They'll put it all on. I pray
the Lord will teach us that. Teach us to do men. Pray the
Lord will teach us that. Ladies, pray the Lord will teach
us that. All right, you're dismissed.