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Good morning.

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How are y'all doing today?

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I'm doing good, thank you very much.

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We like to start our services by welcoming anybody that's joining us here in our sanctuary for the first time,

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or if you're joining us online for the first time, we want to say welcome.

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We're so glad you're here to worship with us today here at Hosanna.

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I've already had a few questions, so I'll just deal with it now.

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My throat is, or my lungs have been kind of sick this last week, so my voice sounds a little froggy.

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And if I have to stop and cough, forgive me.

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Okay, we good?

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All right.

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Well, this morning we are continuing our look at the results of the fall,

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the sin that Adam and Eve committed by looking specifically at the curse on the woman.

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So just as a quick recap, you know, we've been reading and studying that sin entered the world

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as the serpent deceived Eve into eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,

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which then she gave to her husband, Adam, who ate with full knowledge

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and full understanding that what he was doing was disobedience.

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And even though God then addressed them in the order of their responsibility,

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if you remember, he addressed the man first, because Adam was responsible for his family.

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And so he was the one ultimately responsible.

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Then he addressed Eve.

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Then he addresses the serpent.

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Even though he did that, he's going to go on to curse all three parties involved

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according to the upside down order that resulted in the original sin.

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He curses the serpent or the creature first.

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If you remember, to forever crawl on its belly and to eat dust.

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And that was both a literal physical judgment, because we can see that today.

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We see snakes are limbless.

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They scurry around on their bellies and being so close to the ground.

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Of course, the dust is something that just goes into their face all the time.

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But it was also a symbolic look of humiliation and defeat.

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It was a symbolic picture of being brought low.

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And so in that, we saw that God also declared judgment on Satan,

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the power that was behind the serpent or working through the serpent or using the serpent,

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who is ultimately the one tempting Eve and Adam to sin against God.

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And so we talked about how the serpent, the physical serpent,

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being cursed to crawl around on its belly and to eat dust,

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was to be a forever reminder of the results of sin.

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That sin leads to catastrophe.

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Sin leads to judgment.

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And every time we would look at a snake, we're to remember that as God's creation.

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But then it was also symbolic of the humiliation and defeat

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of the ultimate ancient serpent, as he's called in Revelation,

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and ultimately his final and full defeat that will be at the end.

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Additionally, we looked at how God put hostility between the woman and the serpent.

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And we talked about the prophetical hostility and the real hostility that this was.

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The hostility between the first woman and all of her offspring

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and Satan and all who would follow him called his offspring,

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really indicating a prophetic battle for the souls of humanity

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that would rage from then until the end of time.

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And so we've been looking at all of that.

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But the most important thing we looked at last week was in the midst of that judgment on the serpent,

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in the midst of that declaration falling upon Satan,

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in the midst of that hostility, that enmity, that hatred that was then put

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between the woman and her offspring and Satan and his followers.

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We saw in the midst of all of that that God still spoke of his future plan

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to once and for all deal with the poisonous sin nature that now was in all of mankind,

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a nature that all of humanity would be born with from then on,

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a nature that we would be plagued with.

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And then the way God spoke of his future plan,

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he did this by speaking of the ultimate offspring of woman,

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the ultimate one that would come from her line, God born in the flesh,

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God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, the Savior of all mankind,

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who would fully and finally defeat Satan,

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and it was prophetically spoken by him crushing the head of Satan,

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yet in the process that Jesus would be bruised himself by suffering on the cross.

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So now with all of that contextual background here

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and now with the idea of offspring having just been spoken and fresh in their mind,

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God moves on to the curse of the woman, or the curse on the woman,

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and by extension all of womankind.

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Now this curse on the woman was falling upon her as the one whom all offspring would come from.

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All human offspring would come through her, including that ultimate offspring, Jesus Christ,

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who was God being born in the flesh.

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This was a curse that would not only affect Eve herself,

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but every single woman that would be born down to the genetic line of humans.

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It was a curse that affected her specific, unique, privileged biological ability,

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the ability to bring life into this world.

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And it was a curse that addressed the reversal of God's ordained order of leadership and authority in the family,

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which was originally intended to be God,

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and then the man or the husband who is the head of the household,

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then the wife or the woman, and then the creatures that they were supposed to rule over.

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But that was all reversed by Eve following the creatures' words instead of God's words

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that were given to her through her husband.

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And so with the serpent and the creature now being cursed and judged,

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we're going to move on to the progenitor of all women, the curse on Eve.

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And so we're going to be talking about a lot of different things,

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but first we're going to start out by worshiping God.

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We want to praise Him, and we just want to lift up His holy name.

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You know, we've seen that in certain places of the world right now, such as Paris.

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They want to mock the holy name of Jesus Christ.

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And we'll talk about that in a little bit, but we are God's people,

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and it doesn't matter where we are in the world and who we are.

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We praise God. We worship Him.

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It is His name that is to be lifted high because He is the Savior, the only Savior of all mankind. Amen?

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Let's pray. Father, we love You.

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We thank You, God, for who You are, God, and we do lift Your name on high.

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Lord, Your Word is holy. Your words are holy.

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What You've taught us is holy.

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God, You are holy.

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And Lord, that means that even Your judgments are holy.

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And God, as we've been studying the fall of man and woman through their sin,

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their disobedience of You, God, I pray, Lord, that You would continue to speak to us and encourage us, Lord.

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God, we are still under so many of the consequences of that sin and the effects of that sin in this world today,

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but Lord, it was a just and holy judgment that You laid upon mankind.

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Lord, we know that one day we will be fully free of all the effects of the sin,

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but God, right now today we know that it is through our relationship with You,

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through faith and trust in Your death on the cross that we are relieved of some of the effects of this judgment.

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So God, may we understand what You were doing and why You were doing it

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and why this judgment fell the way it did, God, and then be encouraged, Lord,

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at the solution You brought through Your Son.

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Lord, we love You, we praise You, we worship You today.

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It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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Okay, so we are going to be in Genesis chapter 3, looking at verse 16.

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This is the verse where we find the curse on the woman,

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and this comes immediately after God dealt with the serpent and through the serpent Satan himself.

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And so let's read the verse together.

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Speaking of God here, it says, He said to the woman,

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I will intensify your labor pains, you will bear children with painful effort.

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Your desire will be for your husband, and yet he will rule over you.

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You know, this verse has been the source of much debate over the years,

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much debate in our current culture.

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This verse is blamed by some as having been used to justify abuse,

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to justify control, to justify oppression of women.

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And there is some truth to that.

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There are people in places that point to this verse

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and use it to justify male dominance in the family,

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and that is not what it's all about.

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It has been wrongly used that way,

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but we do have to understand going into what this verse is talking about,

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is that there is a radical difference between what is sinful,

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abusive control within the marriage context by a husband

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and the authority that is granted to him by God.

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Okay, those are two mutually separate things.

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And so a husband taking the role of spiritual leader in his family

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and leading his family and being in that place,

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and we'll talk more about that next time, is not abusive.

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Okay, what's abusive and sinful is when it's used to subjugate

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and dominate and hurt and all of that.

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And so obviously one of those is wrong and a terrible perversion

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of what is right and good according to God's word.

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And so the curse on the woman, it's in two parts, right?

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But both of the parts have to do with relationship and family life

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and really deals with what I consider the greatest calling,

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the greatest gift that God has given to humanity,

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which is to be fruitful and to multiply.

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That was a part of the call in the very, very beginning

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when God created man and woman and he says,

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be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.

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That was the mission, right?

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To be a people that would just grow biologically, multiply out,

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and be a people who loved and served God in that relationship.

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And so this first part of the curse on woman has to do with her unique

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biological privilege of being able to carry children in her womb

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and the idea of being pregnant and carrying children

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and giving birth to children, which is the wonderful,

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beautiful blessing of bringing life into the world.

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And then and or, and we'll talk about that, mothering,

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which is just being a mother and raising children really in a fallen,

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sinful world and we'll talk about that as well.

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But all of these things, these three things individually and together,

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really are possible interpretations of what the curse is.

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And so the second part of the verse is very, very hotly debated.

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And it has to do with a woman's relationship to her husband.

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So some try and say that the second part of the curse has to do with

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a woman's simply trying to control their husband's via seduction, via sex.

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And the interpretation of that centers around that word desire

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that we see there and we're going to talk about that.

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And then other people say it simply has to do with a woman's desire to lead

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or to be in or to take authority and leadership over her husband

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and her family as Eve did in the garden.

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We've been talking about that for a couple weeks.

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And that all centers around the interpretation of the phrase,

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yet he will rule over you.

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So my goal here is to not just look at the words of the verse and all that,

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but also look at how these words and phrases are used in other places of

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scripture so that we can together come to an interpretation of what he is saying

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and then through that come up with applications.

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So let's start with the first part of verse 16.

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He said to the woman, I will intensify your labor pains

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and you will bear children with painful.

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Around this hostility that God said I'm going to put hostility between the woman's

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offspring and between Satan's offspring or interpretively the people that would

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follow after who he is.

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And so that word offspring that he uses there, for the woman it's referring to her

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biological children, right?

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Those are the offspring that she would bear.

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And then for Satan, he doesn't have kids in that sense.

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So it's those that would be of his nature, of his mission, of his plan following

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after him.

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And so the judgment moves from that now on to the woman starting with her

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privileged role, right?

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And we talked about that, the call of mankind was to be fruitful and multiply.

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And so the first part of the curse has to do with that, addressing the method by

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which she would do so, bearing children.

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And so there's two parts to this as well.

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There's intensified labor pains and painful effort in bearing children.

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Both have to do with this God gifted, naturally joyous area of her life, but

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both involve pain, increased in intensity and the effort put forth in doing so.

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So, you know, really biblically, one of the most central aspects of a woman's

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existence is her ability to carry into birth and to mother life.

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That is one of the unique blessings that God gave to you.

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That is why I believe Satan has been attacking it so aggressively and trying to

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pervert the idea that, ladies, you have been given a unique and beautiful

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privilege.

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And now our world's trying to say, no, men could have babies too.

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And well, but how can we say that?

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Because we say nobody's a man or a woman, right?

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It's all confusing.

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But the devil has been trying to attack this very beautiful privilege that God

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gave to woman.

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At the very core, man and woman together were given four very important

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distinct functions in Genesis 1 verse 28.

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And I mentioned it already.

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He said be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.

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That was the mission that God gave to them, the call, how to live and how to

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serve me and all of that.

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And so this was accomplished in Eve's part.

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On Eve's part, her part of that function was conceiving, carrying, birthing, and

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raising children.

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That was her part of the being fruitful and multiplying.

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And then ultimately filling the earth, right?

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That was her role in that.

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Now both the man and woman were involved, and we understand that biologically.

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But Eve's part was the conceiving, the carrying, the birthing, and the raising.

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So the idea was that together they would accomplish God's plan.

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Together they would accomplish God's will.

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Together they would do everything they were created to fulfill in that sense, to

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be a blessing in that regard.

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And so man would supply the seed.

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Woman would then incubate, carry that child, grow that child.

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And then in the process of her carrying and letting that child grow in her womb,

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man was to provide for her, to tend the garden, to collect the food, to take care

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of her, to protect her before, obviously, because she was his wife, during that

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pregnancy, and then be there as a part of the birth and then the raising that

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child, his part in all of that was to provide for that family.

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We see that from the very, very beginning.

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And the reason man's role was there is so that his wife would be healthy and

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whole and safe in all ways, able to succeed in that call that God had on her

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life.

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That it wouldn't be a burden of her, it would be a joy.

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And so this is the idea when they were both working together and this calling

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on man to provide for his family and to protect and provide for his wife so

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that together they would accomplish God's will in that.

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We're going to deal with that part next time on the curse on the man.

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But some of you possibly, whether here in the room or watching online, you may

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have just heard that.

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And regardless of the words that actually came out of my mouth, what you

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may have heard is, oh, so women only exist to have babies.

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Male privilege, right?

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Chauvinism.

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Now, that mindset, I just want to encourage you.

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One, that's not what I'm saying and I'm going to deal with that here more, but

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that idea is a poisonous lie from the pit of hell, okay?

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The devil wants women who are the only blessed conduit through which life comes

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upon this planet by God's design.

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The devil wants women to disdain that God-given honor.

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The devil wants women to view pregnancy, carrying, bearing, and raising children

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as some bad thing, as some limiting thing, right?

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It's been a while now that women go, no, I want to pursue my career.

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And so the idea of having children, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with

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pursuing a career, by the way, but they view children as something that's going

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to hinder that and being a mom is something that's bad because it's going to

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hinder all these other things and that's exactly how the devil wants women to

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think.

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Because if women say, I don't want to have children, guess what happens to the

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human race?

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It ends.

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And so I want to be very clear that I'm not suggesting that women are in any

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way restricted to or limited to only bearing children and being mothers.

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What I'm trying to establish here is that it's a high privilege.

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It is a high calling to do so.

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It is the one thing that God has gifted you women to do that men can't do

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regardless of what our culture says.

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The ability to mother.

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Dads try, but dads aren't moms.

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And they're not meant to be moms.

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It's meant to be a team.

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Now, and I also understand as I get into this, because I want to be sensitive to

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there are women possibly in this room and watching online where you can't have

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children.

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There are people who maybe have had children or lost their children in the

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process of the carrying that child.

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And we're going to address some of that later, but please don't receive what I'm

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saying here as trying to make you feel like you're less than.

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That is not what I'm saying.

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But the fact that there are women in here that may be experiencing the effect of

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the curse, which is the disease and the sickness and the malfunction of the

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human body, doesn't diminish the beautiful high calling and priority of what

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God created women to do in a broad sense.

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Okay?

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We all agree on that?

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Sweet.

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All right.

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So, but like I was saying, you know, the idea for womankind as a whole, it

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really is the greatest and really most important opportunity to fulfill God's

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call on humanity.

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It's massive.

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To be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth, to birth life, to raise godly

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children, to train them up in the way they should go, right, as the Bible says,

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that they would then live their own lives going forth carrying the standard of

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righteousness, loving God, proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ.

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I really don't think there's any higher honor for women.

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But the devil has worked hard to get mankind to view it as exactly the opposite,

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to view carrying children as an inconvenience, to be removed like a cancer,

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to view mothering and raising children as some outdated or patriarchal method of

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control, to have the idea that a woman whose first priority is raising her kids

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means that she's somehow weak or she's somehow unskilled, and that is all

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ridiculous offensive nonsense.

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Don't let the world tell you that because they're wrong.

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So, yeah, man would do his part as well in the process of bringing kids into the

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world, but their roles in the process, they were distinct.

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They were very different but complementary.

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Being a parent was never meant to be a solo endeavor, and it is a tragedy today

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that there are so many single moms and single dads, and I applaud you for putting

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in that effort to do what was meant to be a team effort in church.

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That's why we rally around single parents, to help them, to bless them, to

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support them, because they are doing something that is an incredibly beautiful

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calling, but they're doing it on their own, and that's not how it was meant to be.

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So if you know single parents that are struggling, help them out.

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Step in.

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Do something.

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Can I buy dinner tonight?

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Can I whatever it may be, you know, because they need our help, right?

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They just need our help, and this isn't meant to diminish anything you're doing

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as a single parent, but it's meant to say we recognize that you're doing something

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amazingly awesome, and how can we help?

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That's the idea that I'm talking about here.

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So, but all of this birthing, raising, carrying, all of that idea, it was meant

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to be this wonderfully joyous, almost effortless blessing in the forever

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paradise of Eden.

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It was meant to be this blessing of just joy that was always in the presence of

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God Almighty and perfect fellowship, and you know, for those of you who have been

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parents, imagine, imagine raising a sinless child with a sinless husband.

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We can't imagine that at all.

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Imagine what that was like or going to be like in the garden.

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How blissful, how joyous, how amazing, and yet because of sin, this high

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God-given calling was cursed.

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Now, it's still a fulfilling joy.

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It's still a blessing from God, but it's tainted with the effects of the curse

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and the judgment, and so it's not without heightened pain.

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We're going to talk about that both physically and emotionally.

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There's pain that comes in the carrying of children, in the birthing of children,

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and in the raising of children, and those three things from that point on will be

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incredibly hard and incredibly taxing and incredibly hurtful for a woman, and so

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let's parse this real quick.

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The first thing he talks about there is labor pains.

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He says, I will intensify your labor pains.

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In the Hebrew, that is a word called aitzaban, aitzaban, and what that word

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refers to is simply pain and anguish as a result of some difficult work, right?

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Now, contextually, the difficult work is childbirth and childbearing, and so it's

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pain and anguish as a result of childbearing.

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In other translations of the Bible, it's rendered pain in childbearing, pain in

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your pregnancy, pain in childbirth, and so what this phrase is referring to is the

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whole process of carrying a child to term and then giving birth to that child.

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That is what it's referring to very specifically.

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Now, he says there, I will intensify it.

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That means to become greater or more numerous.

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What's interesting, though, is what this indicates is in God's original design of

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woman, without flaw, without sin, in an immortal body incapable of death, perfect

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in every way, pregnancies and giving birth wasn't like it is today.

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It wasn't as painful, but when he says, I will intensify it, that does indicate

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that there was some pain, some discomfort in giving birth, but nothing like the

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stressful, the extremely painful suffering that pregnancy and birth can be today.

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Now, I don't know exactly what that means and what that would look like, but that's

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what the word indicates.

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So he says, I will intensify your labor pains, and he says you will bear children

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with painful effort.

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Now, that phrase almost sounds exactly the same, doesn't it?

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It's like is he saying the same thing twice?

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Well, the phrase there, painful effort, is a different word than the one he used

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with labor pains, right?

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I will intensify your labor pains, and then he goes, you will bear children with

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painful effort.

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Different Hebrew word altogether.

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This word, painful effort, has the same meanings as the other one, but an

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additional meaning.

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So it also means hard, difficult, painful manual labor.

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It's referring to physical pain in a general sense, but it also includes

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emotional pain.

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It can be translated sorrow or suffering in the sense of a mental type of

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suffering, and so he goes, you will bear children with painful effort.

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And then that word, bear children, again, is referring to the delivery of a child

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and the whole process of labor, and so this word includes the emotional effects

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of carrying a child, right?

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And I've lived with one, my assistant Irene and her husband.

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I live in the same place with them, and I was there through her pregnancy, and

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so although I have not personally got to experience that, I got to experience

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that in an auxiliary way, and yeah, wow, lots of emotional pain and lots of

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physical pain through all of that.

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There's a difficult work in carrying a child.

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And so what this curse is saying is woman, you who bring life into the world,

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you whose offspring are going to come into this world and ultimately be at war

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with Satan, you're going to do so in much greater pain, much greater difficulty

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than before.

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That's Eve's curse.

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Eve, you had it good.

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You were going to bear children.

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It was going to hurt a little bit, but it wasn't going to be anything like it is

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now, but because you disobeyed God, your call, your special, unique calling to

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be a part of being fruitful, multiplying by bearing the children and giving birth

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and raising them, that is now going to be extremely emotionally and physically

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difficult, painful even.

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You know, there's a lot of fears and anxieties that some women have that

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accompany childbirth, right?

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There's been a lot of times where I've talked to women and they're worried.

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Am I going to have a healthy outcome?

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Is my baby going to be born healthy?

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Am I going to be okay in all of that?

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Of course, in our modern world, it's like, can I afford it?

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Then they have concerns.

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Will the child grow up to be a good person or are they going to be the

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Antichrist, right?

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We're always worried, you know, praying about that.

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You have anxiety about the world the child is being born into, right?

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Do I want to bring a child into this world because this world is so dark and

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gross?

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And then, you know, women even have personal emotional anxieties and stuff.

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Will I be a good mother, right?

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Can I do it?

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These are all things that I've been told to run through the mind of a woman

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thinking about childbirth.

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None of that existed prior to the fall.

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None of it.

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Eve never thought, am I going to be a good mom?

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She just was going to be a mom.

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Eve was never worried about the world she was going to bring a child into

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because it was perfect, right?

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All of this is a result of the fall.

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And so after the fall, every time a woman would get pregnant, carry a child,

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give birth to that child, all that emotional pain, all of that physical pain,

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it would be a reminder that when Eve traded obedience to God's word, which was

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given to her through her husband's authority as head of the house, she also

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traded the effortless, worry-free, lightly physically uncomfortable experience of

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being fruitful and multiplying in paradise.

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And she traded it all for a much more physically and emotionally painfully

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intensified one.

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And so the result of this, the result of the fall is that there are women who

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simply don't want to have children.

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That's fairly common in our world today.

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There's a lot of women who don't want to have children and they have a lot of

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reasons, but one of the ones I hear a lot is because they're scared of one or

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more of the things that I listed.

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And so the devil just smiles when that goes through our mind.

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Aha, well, I've stopped that one from doing the unique, beautiful thing that God

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equipped them to do.

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Now, I do believe there's room in the application of this to include the

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physical and emotional pain of raising children, right?

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I was on the other side of that as a kid, giving my mom extreme emotional and

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physical pain, right?

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Yeah, I was not a good kid, at least in my teenage years, you know.

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But raising children, right, is hard in every way.

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And then you add to that the emotional pain of women who want to carry a child

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and they can't, or the emotional pain of carrying a child and they lose it, or

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they actually carry the child and give birth and then something tragic happens.

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You know, those who have miscarriages or stillbirths or lose their children

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prematurely for some reason, those are all things that are a result of sin and

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death entering into our world.

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And the greatly painful experiences for women, they're a result of the fall.

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And so I say that to encourage you, if you're hearing this message and you're

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grieving in your spirit because you're falling into one of these categories I'm

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talking about, I can't have kids and how am I even going to enter into God's

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blessing?

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I want to so bad.

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That's not God punishing you.

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That is the result of sin in this world.

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Please understand that.

467
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:09,000
But with all of this stuff just combined together, this once beautifully

468
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:16,000
perfect call that is unique to women and meant to be an almost effortless joy,

469
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:20,000
it wasn't taken away from women in the judgment.

470
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:23,000
It was just made way harder than it was supposed to be.

471
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,000
You know, God could have said, all right, the judgment is you can't ever have

472
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:27,000
kids anymore.

473
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,000
He didn't do that.

474
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:34,000
There's a grace in that that women were still going to be able to participate in

475
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,000
that call with their husbands to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth and

476
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:38,000
subdue the earth together.

477
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:41,000
Like they were still able to participate, but wow, is it going to be much harder

478
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:42,000
than it was supposed to be.

479
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:46,000
And so that's the first part of the curse.

480
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:51,000
The second half, verse 16, it says your desire will be for your husband, yet he

481
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:55,000
will rule over you.

482
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:56,000
All right, here we go.

483
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,000
We ready for this?

484
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,000
All right, let's dig into this.

485
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,000
This is the second part of the curse on woman and it has to do with her

486
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,000
relationship to her husband.

487
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:10,000
Again, these are things that are aimed at what was supposed to be, right?

488
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:15,000
Aimed at what is and was God's standards in most cases.

489
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:18,000
See, we talked about this when we looked at the creation of Adam and then the

490
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,000
creation of woman, right?

491
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:28,000
And I believe that God's intention for most people in most cases is marriage.

492
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:33,000
Is marriage coming together with another, you know, having that complementary

493
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:38,000
union, that helpmate that is perfectly complementary to her husband and you

494
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,000
guys together go forth to honor God and to pursue God.

495
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:46,000
And a part of that is following that call to have kids and to bear children

496
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:49,000
and raise up the next generation in a godly way, right?

497
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:56,000
That is, I believe, God's desire for most people in most cases.

498
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:59,000
But there is a call on some people to be single.

499
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,000
We know that in 1 Corinthians chapter 7.

500
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:06,000
Paul teaches, you know, hey, if you could remain single, that's a good thing

501
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:10,000
because you're going to have an availability to serve God more than someone

502
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:14,000
who has to worry about the needs of his wife and his family and stuff.

503
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:18,000
And so if you're single, don't disdain that, right?

504
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:20,000
If you don't want to be single, that's fine.

505
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,000
But you pray to God about that.

506
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:26,000
And you say, God, you know my heart, but while I am single, I'm going to serve

507
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:30,000
you like my married friends can't, right?

508
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,000
You're just, God, I'm so available to you.

509
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:34,000
And so that's the idea here.

510
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:37,000
But some people, they look at, you know, single people go, well, you know,

511
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:44,000
a single woman, aren't you just dodging the curse then by not getting married?

512
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,000
No.

513
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:52,000
There are many other effects, many other effects of the curse that we all suffer.

514
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:56,000
But the whole debate over this verse and the interpretation of this part of it

515
00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:59,000
revolves around the words desire and rule, right?

516
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:00,000
It sounds weird.

517
00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:05,000
Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you.

518
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:09,000
So the question when we read that is what does it mean that a woman's desire will

519
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,000
be for her husband?

520
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,000
Desire what is the idea?

521
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:17,000
And what does that have to do with him ruling over her?

522
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:23,000
You know, you would think, isn't it good for a wife to desire her husband?

523
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:25,000
And absolutely.

524
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:28,000
Like, you should desire your husband.

525
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,000
You should like him, you should love him.

526
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,000
I know there's times when you don't like them, but that's temporary, right?

527
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:36,000
It's just there's this process in all of that.

528
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,000
But what is he talking about here?

529
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:46,000
Well, since the context so far of her curse has been about having children, some

530
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:51,000
people say her desire here is to want to be sexually active with her husband and

531
00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:53,000
to, you know, keep having children.

532
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:57,000
But he's going to make the decision about that, and he could say no.

533
00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:59,000
That's how some people interpret this.

534
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:05,000
But others say it's a second separate curse from the first part, and it just

535
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:08,000
simply has to do with the authority structure in the family.

536
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:15,000
That she will want to lead the family just as Eve led Adam in that sense in the sin,

537
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,000
and therefore she isn't given that role in the family.

538
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:22,000
She has to submit to her husband's leading, and we actually see some of that in

539
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,000
Ephesians chapter 5.

540
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:26,000
And some people go, well, it's neither one of those.

541
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,000
It's just simply saying that, hey, guess what?

542
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,000
There's going to be conflict in marriage.

543
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:34,000
Good luck, right?

544
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:35,000
So let's figure it out.

545
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:36,000
Okay.

546
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,000
The word desire, what's that word mean?

547
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:44,000
In the Hebrew, that word means a very strong emotion or feeling to have or do

548
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,000
something.

549
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,000
Something is not defined, okay?

550
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,000
The word is only used three places in all of Scripture.

551
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,000
It's used here.

552
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:59,000
It's used again in Genesis 4-7, and it's used in Song of Songs or Song of Solomon

553
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:01,000
chapter 7 verse 10.

554
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:05,000
Now, it is a word in the Hebrew where its placement and its context within a

555
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:08,000
passage is what defines something.

556
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:09,000
Make sense?

557
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:13,000
The word itself doesn't define what the desire is, the something, but how it's

558
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:17,000
used and its placement in the passages is what it says.

559
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:23,000
So you have this desire to have or do something, and it's contrasted with yet

560
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:25,000
he will rule over you, right?

561
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:26,000
It says yet.

562
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:29,000
So it's like this is what you're going to want, but this is going to happen

563
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:30,000
instead.

564
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:34,000
Now, that word rule means to exercise authority or be in charge over or be

565
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:36,000
appointed to do so.

566
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:37,000
Okay?

567
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:38,000
That's what the word rule means.

568
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,000
So let's read verse 16.

569
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:44,000
Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you.

570
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:50,000
So the grammatical structure of this is party A, woman, will have a strong

571
00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:54,000
emotional feeling to do something to party B, who's the husband.

572
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,000
So you've got A, woman, B, husband.

573
00:36:56,000 --> 00:37:01,000
Yet party B, the husband, will be appointed to exercise authority over

574
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,000
party A, the woman.

575
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:09,000
So it's not too difficult to go the something has to do with what party B

576
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,000
does, desires contrasted with rule.

577
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:16,000
Well, let's look at Genesis chapter 4 verse 7 and see how it's used.

578
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:20,000
This is a section that is right after God accepts Abel's offering but not

579
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:25,000
Cain's, and then Cain gets mad, and God says this in Genesis 4, 7.

580
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:28,000
If you do what is right, won't you be accepted.

581
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:31,000
But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door.

582
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:36,000
Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.

583
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:41,000
Now, the grammatical structure is almost identical to Genesis chapter 3

584
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,000
verse 16.

585
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,000
And when I say almost identical, it's that the verbs that are used are

586
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:51,000
exactly the same, but in Genesis 3, 16, they're in a future tense.

587
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,000
Here, they're in a present tense.

588
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,000
But that doesn't change the meaning of the words here.

589
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,000
So you have desire and you have rule.

590
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:02,000
The same exact words seen in Genesis 3, 16 contrasted the same here.

591
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:08,000
So party A, sin, has a strong emotional feeling to do something to party B,

592
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:14,000
Cain, but party B, Cain must exercise authority over party A, sin.

593
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:21,000
And again, the something that is desired has to do with what party B does.

594
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:24,000
Now, let's look at Song of Solomon chapter 7 verse 10.

595
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:28,000
I am my loves and his desire is for me.

596
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:31,000
Do you see that the grammatical structure is different?

597
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:38,000
B, Solomon has a strong emotion or feeling to have or do something to A, his wife.

598
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:41,000
Do I need to explain that?

599
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,000
Okay.

600
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:48,000
There's no contrast, though, in this one between desire being opposed to

601
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:49,000
something else, right?

602
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,000
We don't see that contrast.

603
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:54,000
And then, like I said, the context of the book makes it very clear.

604
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:55,000
This is a sexual desire.

605
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,000
He is physically wanting to have his wife or to be with his wife.

606
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:03,000
And so you go to the context of Song of Solomon is obviously this beautiful

607
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:07,000
relationship, physically, emotionally, mentally, the marriage night, all of it.

608
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:12,000
It's this beautiful picture of this desire between a man and a wife and how

609
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:13,000
they express that, right?

610
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:15,000
That's what Song of Solomon is all about.

611
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:20,000
But the context of the Cain and Abel story is will Cain do things according to

612
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:22,000
God's way or not?

613
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,000
That is the question.

614
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:26,000
And we know that Cain did not.

615
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:29,000
Instead, he went and he killed his brother Abel.

616
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:39,000
So what we see there is sin's desire was to rule over Cain, was to lead Cain,

617
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,000
was to get Cain to do what it wanted.

618
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:45,000
And then God said, but you must rule over it.

619
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:48,000
Don't let it tell you what to do.

620
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:50,000
You rule over it by doing what God wants you to do.

621
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,000
That's the idea.

622
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:54,000
Now, then we go look at the curse on the woman.

623
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,000
The question is the same.

624
00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:00,000
Would she do things according to God's word and God's way or not?

625
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:04,000
And ultimately in the garden we saw that she did not.

626
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:09,000
Instead, she went against God's word that came through her husband because God

627
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:12,000
told Adam, don't eat of the tree.

628
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,000
And so we deduced that he shared it with his wife.

629
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,000
So she ate of the tree and then she gave to her husband.

630
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:19,000
And again, we're going to deal with his curse next time.

631
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:25,000
But Genesis chapter 3 and then Genesis chapter 4 and both of those places,

632
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:29,000
the context and the grammatical structure seems to tell us that party A,

633
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:35,000
which is woman or sin, their action was to exercise authority or rule over

634
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:40,000
party B, which was the husband or Cain.

635
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:45,000
And the wrong in that scenario was that party A led to something bad,

636
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:47,000
something that was against God's way.

637
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:51,000
And so the woman led her husband to disobey God as she was doing.

638
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,000
We're going to talk about him doing it with eyes wide open a little bit.

639
00:40:54,000 --> 00:41:00,000
But then in Genesis 4, it's sin led, directed Cain to murder his brother

640
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,000
instead of doing what was right.

641
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:07,000
So we could dismiss Genesis 3, 16 being about sexual desire simply based upon

642
00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:09,000
parallel usage and grammatical structure.

643
00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:13,000
And all of that is biblical nerd stuff to come to this conclusion.

644
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:20,000
We can understand desire is a strong emotion or feeling to have or do

645
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:25,000
authority or to exercise authority, rulership over her husband the same way

646
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:28,000
Eve did at the tree.

647
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:33,000
She listened to the serpent, which was not God's word, contrary to God's word.

648
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:38,000
She did the wrong thing and then she gave her husband and then he did it

649
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:40,000
following her lead and her curse.

650
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:46,000
Then from that point forward is she will want, long for, crave, desire that

651
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:50,000
same authority over her husband for all time.

652
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:55,000
Yet, God says, the husband will rule.

653
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:56,000
The husband will be in charge.

654
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:59,000
The husband will exercise authority.

655
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:04,000
The husband is appointed to do these things over his wife and the family.

656
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:10,000
Now, this has been, sometimes it is expressed by women, wives thinking or

657
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:13,000
expressing things like my husband is an idiot.

658
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:17,000
And if I was in charge, things would be way better.

659
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:18,000
You know?

660
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,000
Some wives think that.

661
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:22,000
That's the curse.

662
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:23,000
If I was in charge, it would be better.

663
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:26,000
If I was in charge, I would make the right decisions, you know?

664
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:31,000
Or it's just simply, I don't agree with his decision and so I don't want to do it.

665
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:32,000
Right?

666
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:35,000
Even though he's head of the family, head of the household, you know, this isn't

667
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:38,000
talking about, well, you can't have a discussion.

668
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:39,000
No.

669
00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:40,000
It's a partnership, right?

670
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:43,000
Husband and wives communicate, talk, discuss.

671
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:47,000
But the idea is when it comes down to a final decision, that authority has been

672
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:50,000
given to the husband by God.

673
00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:54,000
And yet, for all time, the woman's curse will be she'll wrangle against that

674
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:56,000
sometimes or a lot of times.

675
00:42:56,000 --> 00:43:06,000
Now, Genesis 3 16, as a side note here, it's not, this isn't where male headship

676
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:09,000
in the family in the marital context comes from.

677
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:10,000
Like, right?

678
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:13,000
The idea that the husband is supposed to be head of the home, it wasn't invented

679
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:17,000
here in woman's curse because it was already established in the creation order.

680
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:18,000
Right?

681
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:21,000
Man was created first, then Eve.

682
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:24,000
And so that was the authority structure, God, man, wife, and then they would rule

683
00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:26,000
over creation.

684
00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:29,000
But in that context, in the perfection of Eden, in the presence of God, in the

685
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:34,000
absence of sin, there was no conflict, no selfishness, no difficulty of any kind

686
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:36,000
in Eve yielding to that.

687
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:38,000
It wasn't hard for her to do so.

688
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:40,000
My husband is the head of the house.

689
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:41,000
That's how it is.

690
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:42,000
Cool.

691
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:43,000
I'm completely content.

692
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,000
I have no issue with that.

693
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:48,000
The curse, however, brought issue with that.

694
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:54,000
And so now even the relationship with her husband would be increasingly difficult,

695
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:58,000
just like the call to be able to carry birth and raise children would be

696
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:02,000
increasingly an increased difficulty and pain and all of that.

697
00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:08,000
Now, so the woman would now have a craving, a longing, a desire to be in charge

698
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:12,000
over her husband who was called to be the spiritual and the practical leader in

699
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:15,000
the household.

700
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:18,000
And yet she wasn't given that authority.

701
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:21,000
And in that moment, marriage counseling was invented.

702
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,000
Okay?

703
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:25,000
But don't think guys are off the hook here.

704
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:27,000
We're again going to deal with that next time.

705
00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:29,000
I've said that like five times already.

706
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:33,000
But nothing here in this curse is implying that a husband is allowed to be

707
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:38,000
forcefully dominant, abusive, controlling, or anything like that.

708
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:41,000
That is a perversion of the authority God gave to men.

709
00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:45,000
And that is again another result of the fall, that husbands in the garden were

710
00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:47,000
perfect.

711
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:50,000
But because of the fall, not so much anymore.

712
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:55,000
So this is simply establishing that due to her sin, a woman would no longer

713
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:59,000
enjoy that peaceful, blissful, content relationship of authority in her

714
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:00,000
marriage.

715
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,000
Instead, it would be a struggle.

716
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:03,000
It would be a contest.

717
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:06,000
It would be a fight against the God-appointed authority of her husband.

718
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:11,000
And that struggle would bring discord and hurt into her life in what was

719
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:15,000
supposed to be this beautiful, wonderful, sin-free relationship.

720
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:17,000
That's what this is talking about here.

721
00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:21,000
Now, what's interesting is Paul the apostle appeals to this same

722
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:25,000
interpretation when he's writing his letter to Timothy.

723
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:31,000
In 1 Timothy chapter 2, he's talking about authority in the church.

724
00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:35,000
And in 1 Timothy 3, he actually gets into these are the qualifications of

725
00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:36,000
elders.

726
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:39,000
These are the qualifications of deacons and deaconesses.

727
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:43,000
And it is in that section right there where he establishes that elders,

728
00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:46,000
overseers of the church, are to be males only.

729
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:48,000
That's where he establishes that.

730
00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:50,000
But this is what he says in 1 Timothy 2, 12.

731
00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:53,000
He says, I do not allow a woman to teach her to have authority over a man.

732
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:56,000
Instead, she is to remain quiet.

733
00:45:56,000 --> 00:46:00,000
And you're going, what does that have to do with the curse and the marriage

734
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:02,000
relationship and everything?

735
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:05,000
What you see here in the New Testament is that authority structure that God

736
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:09,000
set up originally that was flipped upside down, that he forced back into

737
00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:13,000
place through the curse, that same authority structure that takes place in

738
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:17,000
a Christian home, that same authority structure takes place in God's house.

739
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:19,000
That's what it was setting up here.

740
00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:23,000
And so Paul is about to teach spiritual authority and leadership in the

741
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:25,000
church here in 1 Timothy 2 and 3.

742
00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:30,000
And when he says, I don't allow a woman to teach, it's simply the idea of

743
00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:33,000
authoritative defining of doctrine.

744
00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:39,000
It's the thing that elders are called to guard in Titus 1, verse 9.

745
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:43,000
That the male overseers, the male leadership of the church, they're the

746
00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:48,000
ones that are called to authoritatively define the doctrine, the beliefs of

747
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:50,000
the church, right?

748
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:53,000
Now, that's not to say that a woman can't ever teach anything in any

749
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:54,000
regard.

750
00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:57,000
It's not even saying specifically that a woman can't teach if men are

751
00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:58,000
present.

752
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:02,000
What it's saying is just that in God's house, he appealed back to the same

753
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:06,000
creation order and said, just I haven't called women to authoritatively

754
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:07,000
define doctrine.

755
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,000
That is for the elders only.

756
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:12,000
But then look next at what he bases that on.

757
00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:15,000
He says in verse 13, for Adam was formed first, then Eve, creation order.

758
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:19,000
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed.

759
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:24,000
So the interpretation that this is she's going to want to rule over her

760
00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:26,000
husband, yet he's going to rule over her.

761
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:31,000
This is what Paul is appealing to when he's saying the men are the elders in

762
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:32,000
the church.

763
00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:34,000
I just, God didn't call the women to that, right?

764
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:39,000
Now, if we go back to Genesis 3 16 and we go, no, it was the woman wanted to

765
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:41,000
have sexual control over her husband.

766
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:44,000
And then you go to 1 Timothy 2 and you go, that doesn't make any sense.

767
00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:45,000
Right?

768
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:48,000
The women are going to want to have sexual control over the church.

769
00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:50,000
That's not what he's talking about, right?

770
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:54,000
So that's how we come to that interpretation in Genesis 3 16 because it's

771
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:57,000
used in the New Testament referring to authority and rulership.

772
00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:02,000
And so he says the first reason is the creation order and was created first.

773
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:06,000
So for that reason, he has authority in God's house just the way he has in his

774
00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:07,000
family.

775
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:09,000
The second reason is as the woman was deceived.

776
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:14,000
And what that's referring to is that she believed that which was contrary to

777
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:16,000
God's word could be true.

778
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:19,000
The servant said, did God really say that?

779
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:20,000
He didn't say that.

780
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:24,000
As a matter of fact, God is wrong and she went, huh.

781
00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:27,000
And then so just the way God set up his church is he goes, okay, I'm just the

782
00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:30,000
ladies aren't going to be the one establishing authoritative doctrine.

783
00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:33,000
That's going to be the men.

784
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:37,000
Now, like I said, in the context of God's house interpreting what God has said

785
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:41,000
and wants for his family, that's why the church operates the way it does.

786
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:44,000
Males still hold the place of head of household in their own homes.

787
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,000
They're still called to leadership within God's house.

788
00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:50,000
And then of course, Paul goes on to give detailed qualifications.

789
00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:51,000
Why?

790
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:55,000
Because just because you are male does not mean you're automatically

791
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:57,000
eldership in the church.

792
00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:01,000
This is not saying that guys have authority to walk around here Sunday

793
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:04,000
morning, woman, do this, and blah, blah, blah.

794
00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:06,000
You do that, you'll probably get punched, okay?

795
00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:08,000
Don't do that, right?

796
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:11,000
I might tackle you and go, what are you doing, you numbskull, right?

797
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,000
It's like, no, that's not what it's saying, okay?

798
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:17,000
It doesn't mean all men have authority over all women.

799
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:21,000
But going back to the curse, it's, hey, in the context of this union

800
00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:26,000
and this partnership, in the context of fulfilling this call to be fruitful

801
00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:33,000
and multiply and fill the earth, in the context of woman, your part in that

802
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:41,000
plan, because you upset the structure at the tree, then I'm going to make it

803
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:44,000
what it was supposed to be, but now it's going to be so much harder.

804
00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:46,000
It's going to be so much more difficult.

805
00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:49,000
It's going to be so much more painful both physically and emotionally.

806
00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:53,000
And from the curse forward, the very center of a woman's existence was

807
00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:56,000
impacted by sin and judgment.

808
00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:59,000
Her part in that calling was impacted.

809
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:01,000
Her part in the marriage relationship was impacted.

810
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:04,000
It was all just messed up with sin.

811
00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:10,000
But even in that, as we saw with the serpent, God's grace was present.

812
00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:16,000
And this is the grace in God's curse on woman, is that the sense of

813
00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:23,000
dissatisfaction, the sense of disease, not disease, dis-ease in what is

814
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:29,000
supposed to be the most joyful, rewarding, blessed areas of your life,

815
00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:36,000
your marriage relationship, your motherhood, the dissatisfaction you have

816
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:40,000
there, the frustration you have there, all that stuff, it was meant to be

817
00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:46,000
a reminder that the bliss, the perfect relationship of perfect peace, it's

818
00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:51,000
no longer a woman's circumstance in this world.

819
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:55,000
The things that she was given the highest priority to do, not the only

820
00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:58,000
thing, again, just the highest priority.

821
00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:02,000
I think it's the highest calling to be a part of that for a woman and also

822
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:07,000
the highest calling for man, again, we'll talk about that next time.

823
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:10,000
It was no longer going to be easy.

824
00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:14,000
It was no longer going to be without difficulty and without struggle.

825
00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:20,000
But that struggle then reminds you, one, that's what we lost, right?

826
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:23,000
But two, these punishments are God's graces because when you're in that

827
00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:29,000
situation where your marriage doesn't give you everything you want, right,

828
00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:34,000
when your husband isn't the perfect man that you wanted and you're frustrated,

829
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:40,000
when mothering is filled with pain from pregnancy to birth to raising that

830
00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:45,000
kid, right, it's like, ah!

831
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:46,000
Nothing completely satisfies.

832
00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:48,000
All of that is God's grace.

833
00:51:48,000 --> 00:51:49,000
Why?

834
00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:53,000
Because it drives you into the arms of God.

835
00:51:53,000 --> 00:51:58,000
It drives you into His presence.

836
00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:03,000
The willing soul that is in all of that will truly find satisfaction, will

837
00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:07,000
truly find joy, will truly find peace in God's arms.

838
00:52:07,000 --> 00:52:10,000
And ladies, that's why God allows this to happen.

839
00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:14,000
And you're like, well, that's, I don't like that.

840
00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:15,000
Yeah, it is terrible.

841
00:52:15,000 --> 00:52:18,000
The effects of sin are terrible.

842
00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:22,000
But because she strayed from God's word, God's created a situation that's

843
00:52:22,000 --> 00:52:27,000
going to drive you right back to Him because that is what we need, both man

844
00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:30,000
and woman, God's presence to be in His arms.

845
00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:35,000
And so because Jesus came and became a curse for us, that through faith in Him

846
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:41,000
we would find salvation, ladies, you're going to find here on earth some of the

847
00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:46,000
peace and the joy and the contentment that was meant for you in the garden in

848
00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:48,000
Christ.

849
00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:52,000
In Christ, you're going to find the enablement to live the way that God

850
00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:54,000
created you to live.

851
00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:58,000
Not perfectly, that time's going to come in the future.

852
00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:02,000
But ladies, in the fallen state we were like, I cannot yield to my husband's

853
00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:03,000
leadership.

854
00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:06,000
In Christ, you can.

855
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:08,000
But Lord, did it?

856
00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:12,000
God's going to deal with him, deal with your part.

857
00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:16,000
Again, this doesn't mean subject yourself to like, oh, well, I'm afraid for my

858
00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:17,000
life.

859
00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:19,000
No, that's not what I'm talking about.

860
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:25,000
In the general sense of when you have that itch, that itch to resist, to argue,

861
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:30,000
to stand against, to cut him down in public, to whatever, when you have that

862
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:34,000
itch to look at motherhood as, oh, that's a waste of time, that's all that's going

863
00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:36,000
to do is limit my life.

864
00:53:36,000 --> 00:53:41,000
And when you have that itch and you want to scratch it, Christ is the one who's

865
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:47,000
going to allow you to go, no, that's not how it's supposed to be.

866
00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:52,000
That I can follow my husband's leadership.

867
00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:58,000
That I can and do and should and will look at motherhood as the greatest

868
00:53:58,000 --> 00:54:03,000
opportunity that I have to be a part of God's original call.

869
00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:07,000
That even if you're in the place where the effects of sin are causing you to not

870
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:13,000
be able to have children, to still look at it as this beautiful thing God created

871
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:18,000
and pray for and support other women who are able to do that, but to not disdain

872
00:54:18,000 --> 00:54:21,000
what God has created.

873
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:26,000
Even though you can't live it perfectly, you can live it possibly because the God

874
00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:31,000
of the universe dwells in you through salvation.

875
00:54:31,000 --> 00:54:37,000
And so all you have to do is call out to your Savior and ask for grace and ask

876
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:43,000
for mercy, to see things as God does.

877
00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:45,000
And when you do that you'll be blessed.

878
00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:49,000
It's going to be hard, but it'll be possible.

879
00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:54,000
And that's what we gain in Christ now and it'll be all gone, the sin and everything

880
00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:56,000
when we get to heaven, amen.

881
00:54:56,000 --> 00:54:57,000
Let's pray.

882
00:54:57,000 --> 00:55:02,000
Father, we love you so much.

883
00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:05,000
I pray, God, that as your Spirit has been in this place today that you've spoken

884
00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:08,000
to all of us.

885
00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:16,000
Lord, I pray for those who are mothers and have experienced the pain, the emotional

886
00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:25,000
pain, the physical pain, God, that you would just speak into their hearts.

887
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:29,000
Remind them that all of that is just a reminder that sin exists, that the fall

888
00:55:29,000 --> 00:55:34,000
happened, and that they would be driven into your arms because you are the hope,

889
00:55:34,000 --> 00:55:36,000
you are the Savior.

890
00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:42,000
That God, when they feel like they can't do whatever it is here in this world as a

891
00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:48,000
wife or as a mother, God, that they would experience them being able to do it

892
00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:51,000
through the power of your Spirit.

893
00:55:51,000 --> 00:55:56,000
God, that they would find that the more they cling to you and your word, sin will

894
00:55:56,000 --> 00:55:58,000
stay far away.

895
00:55:58,000 --> 00:56:04,000
But they would also remember that as they stray from your word, sin is ready to

896
00:56:04,000 --> 00:56:06,000
destroy.

897
00:56:06,000 --> 00:56:11,000
God, I pray for women that are here that maybe can't have children, Lord, and that

898
00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:14,000
has its own set of emotional pain.

899
00:56:14,000 --> 00:56:18,000
God, I pray that you would bring comfort into their lives.

900
00:56:18,000 --> 00:56:22,000
Lord, of course, if it is your will to do a miracle and reverse some things, God,

901
00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:24,000
you've done that before.

902
00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:28,000
But Lord, that every woman that is in that position would understand that you are

903
00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:34,000
not punishing them, that this isn't because you are mad at them or that they've

904
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:36,000
done this or that wrong.

905
00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:38,000
It is an effect of sin.

906
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:42,000
And Lord, again, may that drive them into your arms.

907
00:56:42,000 --> 00:56:49,000
Lord, those that have lost children and they have a unique set of pain, emotional

908
00:56:49,000 --> 00:56:53,000
and physical, Lord, that you bring comfort into their lives, that they would

909
00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:56,000
find peace in you, Jesus.

910
00:56:56,000 --> 00:57:01,000
And if there's any lady in here today, Lord, that doesn't know you, and they have

911
00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:05,000
yet to find that peace, that contentment, that joy in the midst of all these

912
00:57:05,000 --> 00:57:11,000
pains, Lord, I just pray right now that they would call out to you and say, God,

913
00:57:11,000 --> 00:57:14,000
I'm hurting.

914
00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:18,000
And I believe you know I'm hurting.

915
00:57:18,000 --> 00:57:24,000
And I ask you, God, to come into my life because I know the hurt is a result of

916
00:57:24,000 --> 00:57:27,000
sin in this world.

917
00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:33,000
Forgive me of my sin, all of it.

918
00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:40,000
Help me, Lord, to find joy in this world, in who I am and who you created me to

919
00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:43,000
be.

920
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:47,000
Lord, I pray, God, that you would just set me free from the control of sin, that

921
00:57:47,000 --> 00:57:53,000
you would give me the authority over sin to say no.

922
00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:56,000
Thank you for loving me, Jesus.

923
00:57:56,000 --> 00:58:00,000
And God, I just pray for all the women in this room that are married that you

924
00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:03,000
would work in their hearts as well, Lord, as they experience the effects of the

925
00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:10,000
fall every day, that again, Lord, they would run into your arms to be able to do

926
00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:14,000
what they cannot do on their own, to experience some of the joy of what that

927
00:58:14,000 --> 00:58:18,000
perfect relationship was meant to be and that, God, that they would all live in

928
00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:21,000
that hope of what will be when we get to heaven with you.

929
00:58:21,000 --> 00:58:24,000
Lord, bless the women.

930
00:58:24,000 --> 00:58:26,000
Bless the women of our church.

931
00:58:26,000 --> 00:58:30,000
Bless the women that don't know you, God, that they would come to know you.

932
00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:32,000
Bless the moms.

933
00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:34,000
Bless the single women.

934
00:58:34,000 --> 00:58:37,000
Lord, we pray for single parents that they would find the help and support they

935
00:58:37,000 --> 00:58:42,000
need from the very place that they should be able to get at the church.

936
00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:44,000
Lord, you heal.

937
00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:46,000
Do a mighty work.

938
00:58:46,000 --> 00:58:47,000
We thank you and we love you.

939
00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:48,000
It's in Jesus' name we pray.

940
00:58:48,000 --> 00:59:13,000
Amen.