Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: One of the things we have to remember is we're not at the local bar. We're not in a place like that. We're coming to the house of the Lord. Paul is teaching Timothy here that when people come to the house of the Lord, especially women, they should make sure they don't make other men stumble in the church by the way they dress and by the way they look.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Well, it's good to have you with us today as we launch a new series for Christian mothers. Today, Raul will encourage you to prize inner spiritual beauty over outward appearance, ignoring the world's constant pressure to pursue physical perfection.

As you stay with us today, you'll also see that the way you present yourself sends a message that either strengthens or weakens your testimony of godly integrity. Here's Raul Ries in First Timothy.

Raul Ries: What kind of a role does a woman play in the church? Because there are many men and there are many women, and, of course, we have the women's liberation movement. It's really important that we understand that Paul and Jesus and Peter and John—none of them were ever against women. And I'm not against women because Jesus loved women, and He had a role for women to play in the church.

Paul the Apostle is going to refer here to adult women, single women, married women, and widows in the church. Paul the Apostle, it is believed—because he was a Pharisee and according to being a Pharisee and being in the Sanhedrin, the seventy-two that govern and rule in Israel—they would have to be married in order to be in the Sanhedrin and to be a Pharisee.

History tells us that Paul the Apostle either lost his wife when he came to Christ and she left him because he was a Christian now, or Paul's wife died before he came to Christ. Paul never, ever got married again. He just dedicated his whole life to proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and discipling men like Titus, men like Timothy, and others that are mentioned in the Bible.

What's really interesting here is that Paul the Apostle wants to make sure that you understand that everything he received was by the Holy Spirit, by inspiration of the Spirit. As God gave His word, they wrote down the Word of God in order to teach the Word of God to people that wanted to hear it.

In Second Timothy chapter three, verse sixteen, Paul said all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. But the problem is that here Paul, talking to Timothy with the problem that's going on in the church of Ephesus, you have these prostitutes that are living in the city and they don't dress very nice.

And so what happens is that the men are being not only bothered by it, but they're being tested by it and they're being tempted by it. If you're the wife of a husband that is a Christian, it's not looking sloppy—being in style, that's cool—but really it's not the outward form, it's the inward form that counts the most: the heart.

Listen, Dr. McGee said if the house needs painting, paint it. That's what he said; I didn't say that. But that's true. It's really important that a lot of times, as he's going to tell us in a moment here, let's look at verse nine so I don't get ahead of myself. In verse nine he says of First Timothy chapter two, verse nine, "In likewise manner," he's referring back to verse eight where he spoke to men what they needed to be, and that was men of prayer.

He says that women adorn themselves in modest dress with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair and gold and pearls and costly clothing. It's very interesting what he says here. Paul is actually saying here that we need to be careful that we don't spend all of our time on the way we look compared to our time in spending with God, because the most important thing is not the way we look outwardly but inwardly before the Lord.

He's telling that to women here because he's saying here that the word that he uses here for "adorn," we get our English word "cosmetics." The word here literally means to arrange, to make ready. We get the word cosmetic; it's actually looking cheap or needy when you look at a person. Paul is saying here that these women were spending more time putting gold on and stuff on their hair and looking so sexual that they were actually making people stumble in the church.

Today we have that problem. Many times men have come to me and said, "Hey, can you preach on—" You know what? I'm not the Holy Spirit. I don't do that. The Holy Spirit has to convict you. But tonight we're dealing with it, so I'm going to tell you some of the things because it's really important that we're living in a generation, in a time where everything is skin. The more skin, the better that you show. And people are not embarrassed today to show off their bodies, to show cleavage, to show whatever they have to show. They don't care today.

But one of the things we have to remember is we're not at the local bar. We're not really in a place—we're coming to the house of the Lord. Paul is teaching here to Timothy when people come to the house of the Lord, especially women, make sure they don't make other men stumble in the church by the way they dress and by the way they look. By wearing all the gold and all the pearls—nothing wrong with wearing gold or pearls, but look modestly. You see? To look godly, not cheap as a prostitute.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for Bible-based resources to help direct you in God's ways. You can also join Raul for Straight Talk on the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10 AM West Coast time. Now back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Let me read to you from the book of Proverbs. Go to chapter five of Proverbs. Solomon talks about that woman. He says in chapter five, beginning with verse three, "For the lips of an immoral woman drip like honey, her mouth is smoother than oil." He says, "But at the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharper than a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay a hold of hell, unless you ponder her path of her life, her ways are unstable and you do not know them."

He's talking about a woman that looks like a prostitute by the way she wears her makeup and by the way she dresses. And what she's doing is she's bringing attention to herself, and the way she's dressing is to bring attention to herself but also to seduce and to get that man, whether it be somebody else's husband or single man, whoever it may be.

Watch what he says in verse seven: "Therefore hear me now, my children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Remove your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others and your years to the cruel ones, lest aliens be filled with your wealth and your labor go to the house of the foreigner. And you mourn at last when your flesh and your body are consumed." That's speaking of a venereal disease.

And say, "How have I hated instruction and my heart despised correction? I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor inclined my ear to those who instruct me. I was on the verge of total ruin in the midst of the assembly and the congregation." Because this young man went down to this whore, what happened? He lost everything plus his own life. You see?

It's really important that we understand what the Bible says about a woman that has to be modest and a woman that is godly. Not by the way she dresses, not by the way she looks, but her characteristics come as she gives herself to the Lord, and she serves the Lord and she loves the Lord. That's what matters because beauty goes away pretty fast. You see?

That's why today we have such a difficult problem in Hollywood, and in LA, today, in all the world, where 40-year-old women are trying to look like 21-year-olds and 50-year-old women are trying to look like 30-year-olds, so they go and they get every type of operation so they can look just like their daughters and be just like them. You'll never be that way; just accept it. That's what God says. You're going to get old. You're going to get old. We're all going to get old. Don't try to keep up with the world. Don't try to keep up with your daughter or whoever it may be. Be what God has made you to be. Read the Bible; what does the Bible say? He has a lot to say about that woman that looks cheap and looks like a whorish woman.

Look what else he says in verse twenty of chapter five: "For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman and be embraced in the arms of a seductress? For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord," which means what? God sees everything. "And he ponders all his path. His own iniquities entrap the wicked man and he is caught in the words," notice, "in the cords of his sin. He shall die because he lacks instruction, and in the greatness of his folly, he shall go astray."

But check this out: in verse fifteen through verse nineteen, he talks to the husband about adultery. Be satisfied with your wife that God gave to you. Read it. Look what he says: "Drink water from your own cisterns, running waters from your own well. Should your fountains be dispersed abroad?" He's talking to the man. You want to have children all over the place? You know there's a lot of men that do that and then they don't take care of those children.

Verse sixteen: "Should your fountain be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the street? Let them be only your own and not for strangers with you. Let your fountains be blessed and rejoice with the wife of your youth," the first wife He gave to you. You see? He says as a loving deer and graceful doe, let her breast satisfy you at all times and always be enraptured with her love. Don't let that love kindle out; keep the fire going. When that fire goes out, then what happens? You'll look somewhere else and you'll be entrapped.

And yet Paul is telling us and Timothy and Solomon tell us that there are women in the church and outside of the church that are looking for men as bait by the way they dress. Chapter six, verse twenty-four: he says again, he's warning of adultery in verse twenty. "My son, keep your father's commandment and do not forsake the law of your mother. Bind them continually upon your heart, let them run around your neck. When you roam, they will lead you. When you sleep, they will keep you. When you get up in the morning, notice, they'll speak with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the light, reproofs of instruction are way of life to keep you," notice, "from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress. Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure you with her eyelids."

Look what pornography does to man. Women that sell their bodies to make money—I mean, it's sad, it's terrible, horrible. They use young girls, and yet the guys that are behind it are becoming millionaires and they use somebody else as a slave to sex. Here Solomon says—Solomon's an expert on this—he says, "For by means of a harlot, a man is reduced to a crust of bread." Think about that.

How many men have fallen in the slaughter just because a woman looks whorish and he's pulled by her and he'll fall with her just for a moment's time. Think of all the sailors, Marines, Army, Air Force, Navy overseas, and they come back with venereal diseases and then spread it to their wives. I've been there. I know. I'm telling you. Solomon knew what he was talking about.

Look what he says: verse twenty-seven, "Do you think a man can take fire in his bosom and his clothes not get burned? You think you're going to get away with it? No way. Can one walk on hot coals and not his feet get burned? So is he who goes into his neighbor's wife; whoever touches her shall not be innocent." God warns us to really be careful what we do.

He goes on, chapter seven, verse six: he says, "For at the window of my house I looked through the lattice and I saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths a young man devoid of understanding." Here's a young man, sixteen, seventeen years old, and here is a prostitute that's going to get him. Notice, a young man devoid of understanding passing along the street near her corner, and he took the path of her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black dark night.

And there a woman met him with an attire of a harlot and a crafty heart. She was loud and rebellious; her feet would not stay at home. She's always on the road, always gone looking for men. At times she was outside, at times in the open square lurking in every corner. So she caught him and she kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him—I mean, she was all decked out, the whole makeup, all dressed up—she just caught him and kissed him.

And look what it says: he said, "I have peace offerings with me, my son. Today I have paid my vows." What did it mean? She had just gotten off her period. He says, "Now you can come home with me. Watch this. I have peace offerings today with me, I paid my vows, so I can now come and meet with you, diligently to seek your face, I have found you. I have spread my bed with tapestry," notice this, she fixes it up, "colored my coverings with Egyptian linen. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh and aloes and cinnamon, and I have come, let us take our fill of love until the morning." That word love is not marriage love; it's eros love, physical love, lustful love. One night.

"Come and let us take our fill of love until the morning, let us delight ourselves with love. Listen, for my husband is not at home." She's a married woman. A married woman playing on her husband while he's out on a journey, on a trip or working at night. She's inviting her lover in. "He has gone on a long journey and he's taken a bag of money with him and he will come home on appointed day." Notice with enticing speech she catches him and he yields. With her flattering lips she seduces him, and immediately she went after her as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool to the correction of the stocks until an arrow struck his liver. A bird hastened to the snare, he did not know it would cost his life. He's going to die. Imagine that.

And now therefore listen to me, my children, pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside in her ways, do not stray into her paths, for she has cast down many wounded and all who were slain by her were strong men. They were not weakling men; these were strong men, men of integrity, men who thought they had it all together. They got seduced by this woman at the job, at the gym. Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death. You see? Every person she comes to, she sends them to hell with her seductions.

That's why Paul here is instructing Timothy: "Timothy, listen," he says to the women, "in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest things." Don't be showing your belly in church. Don't wear tight pants so you can see everything. Don't put all kinds of makeup so you look like a doll. I'm just going to be honest. But how beautiful it is when you look at a woman in her 30s or 40s or 50s and she looks modest. She's not trying to impress anybody. She's not sloppy. She keeps up with herself in her age and she acts her age. People respect that more because she's a godly woman.

But here Paul is saying to these women, "Listen, make sure you're not just into cosmetics by the way you look. It's really important the way you dress for the situation. If you're going to come to church, come modestly. Be in style, but be modest. Don't be like the rest of the world. Don't let people think of you something else that you're not by the way you look." That's what Paul says. Be careful because people might get the wrong idea. It's really important that we listen to the counsel here that Paul has for each one of us and each woman here tonight.

Paul says here, be careful if you want to be really a woman of God, then be careful how you look and how you dress. Make sure he says that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair and gold pearls and costly clothing. Notice what he says here: we have to be modest in what we do, he says here. Really important.

And then check this out, this is so cool. Verse ten: he says, "But with what is proper for women professing godliness with good works." Look what he says here. Women are being tested and what is that? The woman has to show her attitude, and what is her attitude? Godliness, living according to godliness. You want to be and you want to impress God, not men. You see? You want to be pleasing to the Lord. And by good works, by good works he says here. Here he's talking about showing your devotion to God in your works, not to man.

You're involved in the church, you're involved in Sunday school, you're involved in the women's ministry, you're a godly woman, you take care of your husband, you take care of your home, you take care of your children, you love your husband, you love your children, and people can see that. But if you're not doing those things and you're only into yourself and you're trying to seduce and you're trying to get somebody else's husband, or you're just trying to make people stumble, then God says that's wrong, then you're not godly and you don't have good works. And God says to that woman, "I will judge you."

Guest (Male): We hope today's lesson has inspired you to prioritize inner spiritual beauty and godly wisdom as you seek to be a strong Christian role model for your kids. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's lesson was titled "The Role of Women in the Church." For a donation of five dollars or more, we'll be happy to send you an unedited version. Just call us at 800-634-9165.

We'd also like to tell you about a resource specifically for mothers. This six-part study from Raul is available on both CD and flash drive, with each lesson exploring more of what it looks like to walk closely with God and lead the way for the next generation. You'll find that one of the best things you can do for your kids is to nurture your own spiritual life, keeping the Lord at the center of all of your goals and priorities.

To order Raul's motivational mother's series, visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165. We'll send you the six-message CD set for twenty dollars or the thumb drive for just twelve dollars. That's 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California, 91765.

Be sure to explore our many free resources. They're easy to access anytime, anywhere. Check out the podcast of all of these programs on iTunes and Spotify and on the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel. For digital Bible studies and live-streamed Bible teaching, download our free app. Raul's daily devotional emails will also help you keep scripture at the forefront of your mind and heart, and it only takes a minute to subscribe at somebodylovesyou.com. Your tax-deductible gifts help us keep sharing wisdom and direction from God's Word, and we are grateful for your partnership. Join us next time as we continue this series with a look at the motherhood journey of an Old Testament woman named Hannah. We'll see that in her struggle to have a child and later in the spiritual dedication of her son, Hannah was committed to faith, worship, and prayer. Now with a closing comment, here's Raul once again.

Raul Ries: Think of how many women in churches tonight have seduced men of God and have destroyed their lives and their families. If you find yourself in a situation where you took somebody else's husband, you come to the Lord now; God forgives you. He's cleansed and washed, but don't do it again. And if you're here tonight and you have a problem with your wardrobe and you're dressing up to go to work or to go anywhere else to impress and to actually have people look at you, you need to check your motive. You need to check your heart. You need to be a godly woman, one that God is looking at and one that God is going to bless as you do what God says in His word. Because if not, God will have to deal with you personally.

Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.