Do this, you've been seated for just a little bit. Let me read and stand as we read this. It's 1 Timothy chapter 2. I want to read verses 11 through 14. 1 Timothy chapter 2 Verses 11 through 14, only through 14. Our main thought is here in this text. It reads, let the women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the men, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. You may be seated. Thank you so much for standing. I thought it was important to go back and spend this day considering this portion of scripture and the topic, which is women silent in the congregation. I want to remind us all that this text has for its setting Paul writing a letter to Timothy. Timothy, in turn, is to command the pastor teachers, whoever they are of the Ephesian congregation, not to teach any other doctrine than that they had received of the Apostle Paul. This is the overriding context for this scripture. This doctrine that they weren't to teach otherwise includes issues related to church order. the way a church is supposed to operate. The public worship of a church should operate according to the word of God. If it does not operate like that, that church is out of order. For example, in, I'm not gonna turn there, but I wanna cite this. In 1 Corinthians chapter, I believe it's chapter 11, I may have it wrong, chapter 11 verse 23, the word mad is used. It means beside themselves. If someone in the congregation or some persons in the congregation has the gift of languages, where they spoke in another tongue, a language there that others were not familiar with, they weren't allowed to speak unless there was someone else in the congregation who had the gift to interpret that language. For that to have occurred, to give that language without an interpreter would be viewed as the congregation being mad, beside themselves. And what does it mean, essentially? That it's confusion. And so there's order in the congregation, that's very important. There is an order that applies to every congregation, every church, not just this church. And we're gonna find that out in just a moment. For example, every church has only two servant offices, pastors and deacons. There are only two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper, the order of things and things that are observed. People that serve in certain ways. Every church should be involved in the spiritual exercises of the day, of prayer. When we're gathered together, you've seen these things take place. There's been prayer. A number of prayers have been offered up. The congregation corporately exercised with those that led in prayer. There was corporate praise. Someone led in that praise. It has order. And there was a corporate operation of praising the Lord together in song. So there's order in so many ways in the congregation. The roles of men and women. are to be maintained in the congregation. That is part of church order. A church that is ordered correctly also distinguishes in their services the roles of children or of elder men. and younger men, elder women and younger women, husbands and wife roles, and widows and their role, all of that, whether or not you've given it much thought, all of that is part of the order that takes place in a congregation that is ordered according to the word of God. Now it's kind of almost habit for a lot of it, we don't give it much thought, but those things that I mentioned, you actually are observing those things when we just bring them forward. to your remembrance. Now the text here of 1 Timothy 2 verses 11 through 14 concerns the issue of women and their voice in the assembly. We're not considering something that used to be practiced in the early churches and that has somewhere along the way passed away. We're considering a present commandment of the Lord. The issue of silence for women comes to us in two commandments, two of them in scripture. It's found here in 1 Timothy 2, 11, let the women learn in silence. That is imperative, it's a commandment. The other one we're going to go to in a little while is in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 34, and it commands this, let the women keep silence in the churches. So it's a commandment. What do we know about the commandments of the Lord? It's one of the most visible means for showing our love for Christ. If we love the Lord, these two commandments are no exception. Okay? Jesus said, we could have used this with any commandment of the Lord in scripture. It belongs attached to every commandment from the Lord. If you love me, keep my commandments. That was John 14 verse 15 and verse 21. He went on to say, he that has my commandments and keeps them, He it is that loves me and he that loves me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. John again in the first letter, chapter five, verse three, this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are ungrievous. So immediately we understand that every commandment of the Lord is important. So, in our text it reads, and we do a little, we're gonna do a little bit of grammar. A little English grammar to help us get the sense of the scriptures this morning. That's mostly what we do. We're just giving out what is written right here. And you'll see. I think it'll be a blessing to you. It reads in verse 11, this first sentence. Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. Again, by context, the pastors are to instruct the congregation in this matter and remind them that this is a commandment. So, if you're a God-called man, if you have the intonations to the opposite of a bishop, you are in the hot seat because it falls to you to be sure to remind the saints about all of the commandments of the Lord, including this one, okay? You're in a hot seat. Some folks might not immediately appreciate this doctrine. It may not set well with everyone here today. I don't know. But that's not the basis for my giving it to you. I have to obey the Lord. I leave the results with the Lord. He'll work. Preachers must be faithful to instruct the saints of the Lord's commandments. And quite frankly, I fear that there are many men that have failed in their ministry to serve the Lord because they've only taught a part of the counsel of God rather than the whole. They seem like they might like to pick and choose what it is they're going to teach. And well, that's a little bit uncomfortable. This is a little too much. I don't think they can take that. And they never bring it. And that's their fault. They shouldn't do that. I am reminded of a man who said to me years ago that when you don't have any men in the congregation, you might do differently. And then I noticed that sometime later he had a number of men in the congregation and he did the same thing. He didn't change. So there must have been another reason for us not teaching the congregation the truths of the word of God. That's a sad thing. We don't get to pick and choose what we teach the congregation. we must teach the whole counsel of God by his grace. Now, I want to say this, theoretically, theoretically, all of us would agree that doctrine should be taught. We would all agree that every commandment of God's word is important, theoretically. But when it comes to applying them, differences begin to manifest. It says what? Let the women learn in silence. One of those commandments. Third person singular imperative. It, notice the singular. Every woman has to come to this and apply it. Here, the woman, every woman has the responsibility. If you know the Lord, you have a responsibility to respond to this commandment. You have the responsibility while in this assembly to learn in silence. pointing this out. Learn is a verb. It's an action word. Learning is the act of receiving the instructive information that is given in the services while we're congregated. Positively, we want to note that a woman is to learn during this time. It ought to go without saying, but I want to emphasize that. Women are to learn during the corporate exercise of the congregation when things are being taught. They ought to learn. Every woman by this text is encouraged to learn. They're encouraged to participate with the church in the corporate exercise of receiving instruction of learning. No woman of the Lord's church should ever be discouraged from learning. What is the definition for learning? The Oxford dictionary says it very simply, to acquire knowledge. The verb learn, now I want you to notice that. Look at that sentence. The verb learn is modified with a prepositional phrase, which is in silence. That phrase reveals the means through which the act of learning is accomplished. She is to receive the instructive information that is disseminated during the services in silence. Like, for example, the adverbs of slow and fast, those might tell us how someone might be driving a car. So in silence tells us how a woman is to learn during the services of the congregation. So what does silence mean? It is translated in scripture with the word silence, also with the word quietness. It's a noun. The adjective is translated peaceable and quiet. The verb of this word, hesukezzo, is translated to hold in peace. To rest, thinking about women and being silent. To cease and to be quiet. The act of learning is governed here by the word and the phrase in silence. Now, look at the sentence again and see that there is another prepositional phrase that also modifies that same action word learn. Notice the phrase, with all subjection. Notice that? It's also modifying the verb learn. Not only is the woman to learn in silence, but she is to learn with all subjection. So now I need to know what subjection means. As a noun is translated every time, with the word, English word, subjection. And it's found in our present book, 1 Timothy chapter three, verse four, with reference to the one who might be called into the ministry. One of the requirements for him, it says in verse four, he is to have his children in subjection. How is he to have them? In subjection. We want to consider that word. With all gravity. That verb is translated in scripture to be subject. And it helps me to know this, to be submitted. And importantly, to be subdued, to be put under, to obey, to be under obedience. The woman is to apply every aspect of subjection in this time of learning. I think that means that she would subdue herself in her countenance, in her eye, and in a way that she learns in the congregation, so that the congregation, with her present, is quiet and at rest. You know, there's no quicker way to upset a congregation than for one of the women to get upset. That's an understatement. And I don't mean that bad, but there's a sensitive and emotional side to women that needs to be subdued in this congregation, in a congregation of the Lord. Not that you, I'm not implying in any sense that anyone's out of order here. And that's not the reason for this lesson. It is to bring before us what is being taught and to appreciate the commandment of the Lord. We came across this doctrine, believe it or not. The Broome Park Missionary Baptist Church didn't practice this when I was a member. Way back. Well, we didn't practice it. It was almost like we didn't know anything about it. It was like it had passed away. And it took a brother visiting who began to be a member of the congregation, came into the church, and he raised the issue. He says, you got women speaking in the congregation and leading in certain things. What's going on here in light of this text? And so we began to look at it. And we said, whoa, whoa, whoa, we have made an error. slipped in on us we didn't know. And we corrected the way as far as I know to this day we have corrected this in this congregation. And that's a good thing. And we might be caught sometimes and we need to be taught these things along the way or we will let things slip. But I think with all subjection She is to subdue herself in those things while she's in this learning process, in the corporate learning experience of the congregation. With all subjection would have every woman subject themselves to the role that the men should have during the assembly. I want you to turn to the second commandment given concerning silence and women, and it's in First Corinthians chapter 14, verses 34 and 35. We wanna work through this. We're not done with Timothy. We'll come back and finish with this text, but we're gonna work through this text for a moment. Look at it, 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verses 34 and 35, which is almost parallel to those words that we have read in Timothy. What this text does is amplifies the importance of women being silent, not just in the learning exercise of the congregation, but in the congregation period, in the congregation. So it's a bit more amplified in that respect. Notice that it is also a commandment, let your women keep silence. It's an imperative. So this is as important as any other commandment. So here, beginning at verse 34, see the two words, the first two, let your. It's a church in mind. Brethren, let your women, Paul writing, it's important, gets our attention. It's not just, we're not concerned about what the world does. We don't care. They're gonna do what they do. And we've gotta be careful because we're influenced so many times by what's going on out there because we're becoming ignorant of what the word of God says. We don't wanna be like them. We don't wanna be like the world. Let your women, notice this time plural, all of them, keep silence. Let them keep silence. Now I want to define, this word is a different Greek word than the other. In Timothy, it was hesychia. This one is sygao, both verbs, but notice here, to get more of an idea of what's being taught, the emphasis. What does this word mean? Well, and I'm not going to turn to these texts, but I want to cite them. And I think most of you, your minds will come to the text. You'll know enough about it to be able to get a good sense of it. In Luke 9 verse 36 is translated to keep close. When the disciples were with the Lord Jesus in the Mount of Transfiguration and they heard the voice of the Father speak from heaven, it says, they kept it close. which is further described by the verse with the words, and told no man. So you get the sense of what being silent means. In Luke chapter 20, verse 26, it's translated to hold their peace. When Christ answered the question concerning whether they should pay tribute to Caesar or not, they couldn't contradict him, so they what? They held their peace, the idea of keeping silent. Again, in Acts chapter 15 verse 12 is translated to keep silence, and also held their peace during the conference in Jerusalem to counter the error of circumcision that was making its way into the churches. The multitude that had gathered together of the church in Jerusalem, they kept silence when Barnabas and Paul stood up to tell them what great things the Lord had been doing as a minister of the gospel among the nations. They kept silence. The multitude of the believers of the congregation in Jerusalem kept silence and they held their peace so that they could hear. what they were saying, and sharing the corporate experience. Again, in Romans chapter 16, verse 25, it's translated, which was kept secret. And it refers to the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the revelation of the mystery. Notice this, which was kept secret. It was quiet. No one knew about it. since the world began, but is now made manifest according to the commandment of God. And one more time. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 28, is translated keep silence. In the early Corinthian church, we have made a reference earlier when the languages of tongues was going on, if there was no interpreter, they were to be keep silence. They were to keep silence. You get the idea. And this is the Greek word sygao here. So let your women keep silence. And we immediately have where? In the churches. In First Timothy 2.11, a woman was to keep silence. which had an issue to do with receiving instructions. Frankly, she's not to give feedback, okay? And here, she's simply to keep silence in the congregation, in the church. Now, what follows is the reason for this. It doesn't matter whether or not we agree with it. What we need to understand is there is a biblical reason for it, and that all of us should heed it. For the reason is it. We're grabbing the idea of the speaking. For it is not permitted. They, by the word of God, are not given the liberty It's not given unto them to speak, but they are commanded, because we saw it was an imperative, the words are supplied. They are commanded to be under obedience, subject. That's the same as in Timothy. They are to be subdued during this time. As what? Also says the law. So whatever this is here, this reason is given, there is biblical support in the word of God for it, and we need to consider it. And we may not give it much thought, but it brings up the importance of headship, not just in a family relationship, but in the congregation. is headship. This rule is based on the matter of headship. But what is headship? Headship is a biblical respect to the God-ordained roles of men and women, male and female. In 1 Corinthians, notice this, chapter 11, verse 3. First Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3 brings up the issue of headship. What is it? It's establishing a biblical, a God-ordained order for not just churches, but for families, all the people of God, where they are. There is something about this. Here it says, but I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ. He's giving the roles of men, women. And the head of the woman is the man. And the head of Christ is God. Take a look at Genesis chapter two, and we'll begin with verse 18. Genesis chapter two, verse 18, and then we'll drop down to verse 21, and read through verse 23. And here we have the beginning, or the establishment of Headship. I want you to notice this was established before the fall into sin. This is God's order. It didn't matter if mankind fell into sin or not. This is the order of God for us, all men, universally. This should be acknowledged, but it's not. But at least it ought to be among the people of God. I'll tell you what, if anything at all, This is the thing that the world absolutely hates. They're turning this thing upside down like we never thought it could be. And yet here we have it. And praise God that you've heeded the word of God. You're obedient to these things. You have this in your families. I love to see this, it's proper. I see a man, he decides to do something and I see, I've seen it, I have it. I decide to do something. My wife disagrees with me. And we might have some words. And we might get into a tiff. And we might be out of shape for a day, hour, two days, three days, four. You don't know me. I get bent out of shape for days at a time. I'm not commending that. But I'm telling you. But you know what? At some point, she shuts her mouth, and she says, you're the one that's leading this home. I won't say another word. Now, that's right. I didn't say that the man did right. I didn't say I did right. But that was right in the order. The home has order. And I'm telling you. Even in bad decisions, children pick up on order in the home. And it's important. They need to see this play out in our lives as parents. And it does, it actually stands out so many times when bad issues come up. And the role is magnified, you can see it. Notice this, this is where headship is, before the fall, Genesis 2, 18. And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him, notice that, I'm making this for him, and help meet. Verse 21, And the Lord God caused the deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. But the Lord brought her to the man, not the other way around. I know there are some Christians that think that it's okay if he stays home and takes care of the kids while she goes out and works. I don't agree. I think If there is an option, it ought to be the other way around. And the guy ought to get up and go to work and allow for his wife to come home and take care of the children. That's a biblical order. I can't justify any other way. This is not a matter of opinion. This is biblical. And I know there are some extenuating circumstances, but we're talking about generally in the churches. This is the way families and the church families ought to be organized. This is God's order before sin. Notice, we just read this, man was appointed, careful with these words, we need to be careful what, we communicate ideas that are right when we use right words and we communicate bad ideas when we use bad words. A man here before sin was appointed a superior role of head to the woman. The woman was appointed a subordinated, not an inferior, but a subordinated role to the man, okay? Very important. Now I want you to notice, after the fall and the sin, this role distinction is increased. In Genesis chapter three, verse 16, And I believe that's what Timothy's referring to when he refers to the law. She's commanded to be under obedience, as also says the law. Here in Genesis 3.16, all the way back there with the first human pair, husband and wife, unto the woman the Lord said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception." Lots of thoughts you can think about here. But notice, in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and here it is. It is increased. It wasn't before, but now it is. And thy desire, your attraction, your longing shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule, have dominion over thee. Now, I can't imagine how the world will respond to what I just said, but that's the word of God. And we just simply believe that it's right. We need to remember this. Notice all this is part of his headship. It's for this reason that the woman is commanded to be in silence and subdued in the congregation. And as we read in 1 Timothy, silence dictated how she was to learn. Here, silence. in Corinthians dictates her responses during the services as a whole at this time. Notice in verse 35 of 1 Corinthians chapter 14. It's not permitted to them to speak, but they're commanded to be in obedience. This also says the law, and if they will learn anything. The implication is that she has a desire to know more that requires of her to speak. That's what you're being drawn into this discussion. But wait a minute. Before you do that, he says, if this is the case, if they will learn anything, put in a then, Let them ask their husbands where? At home. Now, that's important. For women in the churches are silent. At home, ask questions. And what? Let your requests, women, let your requests be made known to your husbands. Now, there's a reason for this. It's good order. I'm telling you, it's good, and you may not even understand it at the moment, but if you even meditated it through the week about this, I think you'll open to understanding this even more. This letter to the Corinthians establishes that no woman, no wife, no daughter, no widow should speak in the churches during the meetings. Wives have husbands they may ask them when once they come home. Daughters have parents. Widows, if they're not widows indeed, have others that they may ask as well. The point is not during the congregation. This is not Craig Thurman's opinion. This is God's means for women to receive the information they desire to have. Incidentally, this is God's means for provoking men to assume their responsibility as heads of their homes and leaders in the churches of Jesus Christ in spiritual things. You know, I'll never forget, we hadn't been married but a few weeks. I had shipped off to Germany. Lou Anne and I were married, and the Lord opened the door, and she was over there in six weeks. And I had an apartment all set up, and I remember we wanted to find a church, and yeah, I could have done better. We weren't satisfied with what we found, and so we didn't do anything, hardly anything at all. But I was humbled. and how much she knew the scriptures. I was ashamed at how little I knew them. And you know what? I felt so ashamed, I began to get my book for myself and lead my wife instead of have her lead me, like I ought to do. It doesn't mean that a man's always smarter than a woman. That's not the idea here. But he's to lead the home in spiritual things. He's to find out. In this case, the way this is set up, it would make him get in the book. Honey, what does that mean? He said this in the services today. I don't understand it. Well, I don't either. It might be a good time to have a Bible study and get into the book individually and together. It's a good thing. Well, what this does, it keeps a distinction between the roles of men and women, publicly and privately. God's order is preserved among His people in the families and in the congregations. The doctrine, this doctrine, this thing that you can hear, you can hear it. I tell you what, I'd be really nervous to bring this up anywhere else. Here, I have no problem at all. I know that you believe these things. It wasn't a concern to me. But this doctrine is like a salt that wards off the corruptive influences of a lost world. I mean, it just does if you keep practicing it. The world is confused about these most basic elements. They don't even know that marriage is between a man and a woman anymore. I mean, what do you expect about the order in a home? What do you expect in churches? They say they're churches, and they got women preachers, pastor in churches, and such and so forth, teach it. It ain't right. It ain't right. They might bring great Bible lessons. That's just well and good, but it ain't right. It is not right. Again, they asked her husband home, and immediately we see another reason why. Four, well look, you might not feel like it. I might not feel like it. It doesn't change it. But let me just say this. It ought to be this way, because it's a shame for women to speak in the church. It ought to be that way. It ought to be something that causes embarrassment. and personal shame to men that sat by. It ought to. What does shame mean? The idea is filthy or defiling. Maybe I don't feel like that. Maybe I need to get in the book again for a while until I start understanding the will of God. I need to be ashamed when these things, if they're ever violated, It's a shame for women to speak in the congregation. It's a shame, it would be a shame to this congregation to violate this rule. The place in the church, it's a shame for women to speak in the church. It's reiterated. How can we miss the point? Now Paul closes chapter 14 with these words. And what is it? He's emphasizing Notice, he says, let all things, in verse 40, let all things be done decently. Let them be well schemed. In other words, schemed according to the Word of God. Let all things be done decently and in order, as if you could, in your mind, see the course of the priests Coming in, perhaps week by week, they'd come in and serve in their course and go out and another course comes in. That's the kind of idea that you have here. There'd be order in the church, proper places where people are functioning. And they do function. Men and women, boys and girls, that know the Lord function in the assembly. And we want to get to that point in just a moment. So now, let's just go back to 1 Timothy chapter 2 at verse 12 and finish this this morning. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 12, but, so we have something important here, but Paul says this, I suffer not a woman, those are strong words, I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man. In view of the preceding, verse 11, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection, but I suffer not a woman to teach nor usurp authority over the man. How can a woman think that she should teach? in the congregation when she's commanded to learn in silence with all subjection, to keep silence in the churches in view of those commandments. How can she think otherwise? And that she should ask her husband at home if she desires to learn anything further. Paul saw such as completely incompatible to true Christianity and therefore he states this personally, I suffer not. He did not permit it. Strong words, straight words. He did not permit it. He would not allow that rule to become routed in the practice of any church where he came. That's the order that he established when he saw churches raised up in various cities. He taught it and he practiced it. in a congregational setting. This is the function that belongs to the men. There is no instance where women came, you won't find it in scripture, look, you won't find any instance where women came in conference with the men of the church or churches as they considered doctrinal matters. You don't see it. There's not an instance where They did that. Only men gave instruction on the day of Pentecost. You'll see that. Only men of the churches were appointed to places of offices and apostles, evangelists, pastors, deacons. Only men of the church were selected to serve in that way. Only men in the church served again and again. Only men in the churches went back and forth in conference between the churches. You'll see that in the Jerusalem Conference, there was men involved. You don't see a mixed conference, and there's a reason for that. There's order. Men are responsible for these things. I noticed that there would probably be at least two objections to this. Someone might say, well, wait a minute. You know, Philip had daughters who were prophetesses. And they prophesied. They must have prophesied because they were prophetesses. But as far as I could tell, that would be understood only in the privacy of their home, in the home. There's no reason that this rule would be violated by them. Again, there's a noted place in scripture concerning Priscilla and Aquila. And a man came through the area named Apollos, and he didn't know the word of God quite as he should have known it. And what did they do as a husband and wife? They took him aside and taught him the word of God more perfectly. Both of them. He used a plural pronoun. They did it. And that's proper. That doesn't violate this order. But that didn't take place in the congregation. It did not. It would be a terrible assumption to say anything like that. Paul would not allow teaching. And listen to this, or any other thing that would displace the man in the congregation as the head of the woman. Now, what are they told? They are to be in silence. Both these letters, Timothy and Corinthians, touches on the place where the church meets together. And this is when men should lead and women should be silent. It's not the same when once we leave the congregation, It's not the same at home. It's not the same at the fellowship dinners. There are different things. We have different functions going on. There's not the church coming together where that's not the rule. But we know when this applies. There are other times when women may do certain things. For instance, I already cited Aquila and Priscilla, how they took Apollos aside and instructed him in the way of God more perfectly in Acts chapter 18. But notice in Titus it mentions that women teach. Notice an order among the elderly women and the younger women. And it's even noted among young men and elderly men. There's an order. They age women likewise that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers. of good things. They can instruct, just not during the congregation, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands and to love their children, be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. That's an important, very important function of women. Don't underestimate that. Now Paul gives two reasons here in Timothy for women to learn in silence. First of all, verse 13, for, we considered it just briefly now, Adam was first formed, then Eve. Simple statement. Adam was first formed, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. There are two reasons here. given why women are to learn of silence with all subjection. The first reason precedes the fall. Like we had pointed out earlier, Adam was first formed in Eve. That preceded the fall. It's an order by the Lord. In Corinthians chapter 11, verses 8 and 9, again with headship, The man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. The Lord took the rib from the man and he built a woman. That's what the idea of Genesis is all about. And that's what he's referring to here. And neither was the man created for the woman, but what did he do? The Lord brought the woman to the man. The woman for the man. The second reason, and related to the first, is Adam was not deceived. but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Now, this one, a man says, she was not adapted to the situation of headship. Well, she wasn't originally. That wasn't the Lord's purpose for her, which made it proper that she should ever occupy, afterwards, occupy a subordinate situation. At least this much can be said that the Lord magnified or increased her subjection to the man, which we'd already read in Genesis chapter three, verse 16. Thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee. So let me close with these remarks. I know it's warm, but it's an important topic. For these reasons, It is for these reasons that the Lord commands the women to keep silence. Siga'o in the churches, if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. To learn in silence, heisukia, with all subjection, not to teach authority over the men, but to be in silence. We consider these commandments as they relate to women. I'm not picking on women. It was just that time it was necessary. We've considered these commandments as they relate to the women during the times when the church is assembled for services. I don't know what other context it would apply to. It has to apply to this particular setting. And all of us would agree that every commandment is important and should be obeyed. The application of these commandments is that women should never independently and publicly express themselves during the services of any church, any church, not just this church. This isn't Hidden Hills Congregation's way. This is the Lord's way in all the churches where we come. And on the other hand, It's right for everyone, and we want to emphasize this point. It's right for everyone, men, women, boys, and girls, to participate in the corporate exercises of praise, singing, prayers, thanksgiving, and most importantly, learning. I know the world has turned this upside down, but there are still a few churches that continue to honor God by keeping these commandments. Why is it important? least in my estimation, because honoring the God-ordained roles of men and women in our homes and in our churches points to Christ who is head over all. In first Corinthians 11 3, I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. In verse 7, For a man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory of God. But I want you to know this point, but the woman is the glory of the man. Christ is over all. In Ephesians chapter one, verses 22 and 23, God has put all things under the feet of our Lord. and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all. We should be proper, fitting witnesses to Christ. Christ is most clearly perceived in his children when they obey his commandments. We don't want that distorted. We don't want Christ distorted. in any way by the way we have ordered this congregation. If we're ordered according to the word of God, he will be most clearly seen among us. And that's what we want more than anything else. This isn't a guy and a girl issue, a man and a woman. That's not it. It honors Christ, and that's good. Praise the Lord. Thank you for your attention.