(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

And so Titus 2, verse 3, notice what the Bible says, The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given much wine, teachers of good things. Here in verse 3, it talks about the aged women. Now, when you look at the context, the context is not talking about a certain age. Like if you're 50 and older, you're an aged woman. No, it's speaking toward experience, because it's talking about being a mom and being a wife, okay? And so let's say there's a lady who gets married when she's 20 years old. And let's say she's, you know, 35 years old. We wouldn't say she's aged in terms of being old at all. But if she's raised like five or six kids, and she's been married for 15 years, well, she would be an aged woman in the context of having experience, okay? And likewise, if there's somebody who was maybe older, but they hadn't had any children, then they wouldn't be able to teach the young women here as it's talking about, about being a mom, okay? And so it says, the aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as become with holiness, not false accusers, not giving too much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women, okay? Now, we're never going to be a church where we have, you know, a lady seminar where, you know, my wife or some other lady is up here, like preaching a sermon towards the other ladies. But in context of teaching the young women, it's talking about teaching about being a wife and a mom. You say, what does that mean? It means when somebody has their first child a few weeks later, and that child is having a little bit of trouble breathing, they're going to be really scared, and they're going to be messaging ladies at church, what do I do? And then ladies that have experience will say, hey, just do this. And then 10 minutes later, the problem solved. That's the benefit of having a godly church where there's people that have experience because they can teach these practical tips that they learn through experience, okay? We learn via experience. If you don't have experience at something, if you're new, it doesn't matter if you've read the Bible 100 times, if you're a new mom, a new wife, you are still in a learning process, okay? Obviously, reading the Bible will help you, but at the same time, you're starting something brand new. Look, somebody graduates from college, and they've got a 4.0, they've got a master's in mechanical engineering, but their first day on the job, they're going to probably be the worst employee because it's all new. They do have a lot of knowledge, and that's going to help them as they go, but at the same time, you're starting something new, okay? And so anybody who's a first-time wife or first-time mom, look, you're going to have things that you're going to need to learn. And you know what? When you're at a church of soul winners and people that love God, there are women with experience, aged women, and they can help you with things, right? When our son Zeph was born, I may have been at Verity Baptist Church and working for the church, and maybe I had read the Bible more times than a lot of people, but I was also a first-time parent. And so it's like I had questions that I asked other people that were younger than me, and they hadn't been saved as long, but they had more experience, okay? Nothing beats experience. And that's the context here of teaching the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. You say, Brother Stuckey, why do I have to learn how to love my husband? Why do I have to learn how to love my children? I mean, isn't that just automatic? Well, not according to the Bible. The Bible says actually that's going to take some time. It's going to take effort. Because love is not, like Hollywood says, just this feeling that comes about you. It's actually action involved. Which means that when you're a first-time wife, you know what? It is going to take some experience to learn how to love your husband properly. Meaning that when you do get in a fight, you know what? It's training ground. You're learning. Brother Stuckey, when I get married, me and my husband will never get in a fight. All right. I mean, good luck with that, right? It's like, no, I mean, when two people around each other all the time fights are inevitable, they're going to take place. There are no two people on the planet that agree 100% on everything. And there's no two people on the planet that can be around each other 24-7 and never have any disagreements, never have a bad attitude, always be patient. No, I mean, that's ridiculous. Okay. And it says to love their husbands to love their children. Now, we're going to talk about being a mom here in several weeks during this series. But you say, Brother Stuckey, why do I have to learn how to love my children? Isn't that automatic? Well, yeah, it's automatic when that child's born. But then also when that child wakes up at 2 30 in the morning and you're exhausted, you need to learn how to love your children, right? Because it's difficult. It's hard to go on very little sleep, right? And then be a good mom, be a good wife. These are things the Bible says that you learn from women with experience. That's what the Bible is saying. Verse five, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Now, oftentimes I try to do alliterated sermons where I start with the same letter and all the points. But this sermon, what we're going to do is just look at Titus two, verse five, and we have five points. So really, Titus two, verse five, that's the sermon. To be discreet, that's point one. To be chaste, that's point two. To be keepers at home, that's point three. To be good, that's point four. To be obedient to their own husbands, that's point five. Titus two, five is the sermon. Okay, so point number one, to be discreet. What does it mean to be discreet? Here's a dictionary definition. Careful and circumspect in one's speech or actions, especially in order to avoid causing offense or to gain an advantage. So according to a dictionary definition, being discreet means you're careful with what you say and with your actions. Go to Proverbs 14, Proverbs 14, Proverbs 14. Meaning that if you're discreet... And look, I preached on the husbands last week. I'm not going to re-preach that. I'm preaching towards the wives here today. But look, if your husband's in a bad mood and he makes you upset and you feel like just saying something really mean, if you're discreet, you're going to keep your mouth shut. And you're not going to just act really angry. No, if you're discreet, you know what you're going to do? You're going to learn to control your temper. That's what it's saying to be discreet. Okay, look, when you're around people all the time, you can't just say everything that you're thinking. If you do that, you're going to cause a lot of harm and a lot of damage to that marriage. Proverbs 14, verse one. Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. Now, when it says every wise woman buildeth her house, I don't think it's saying that she's got a hammer, she's got a screwdriver, she's got a drill, and she's building literally the house. I mean, think of Acts chapter 16. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved and all thy house, representing the household. Meaning, if you believe you get saved, and the same promise is to everybody in the household, if they believe they get saved. Because salvation is an individual thing. So the house is the household, okay? So when it's saying every wise woman buildeth her house, what it's saying is she has strong character and she is a blessing to her husband. She's a blessing to her children. She helps teach the children the word of God. She helps train the children. She builds that household, she doesn't tear it down. She doesn't pluck it down, okay? Go to Proverbs 21. Proverbs 21. Proverbs 21. Proverbs chapter 21. And so when it comes to being a good wife, you should have the attitude, I'm trying to build up that house. And a large part of that is to be discreet. Be very careful with what you say. Be very careful with your actions, right? Don't be bastos. Don't be rude if you're in a bad mood, right? I mean, if you're tired because the kids didn't sleep, don't pass that on to your husband, right? If you're mad, and even if the husband is rude, we talked about them last week. Here's the thing, you still need to be discreet. Don't have this attitude in marriage, I'm just gonna get even. He was mean to me, I'm gonna be mean to him. And then it's just one after another, it gets worse and worse and worse and worse. And you know what, honestly, that's how a lot of people go about their lives with everything. And they go about their marriages like that. Well, if he was mean to me, I'm gonna be mean to him. Well, good luck having a successful marriage then. Proverbs 21 verse nine. What the Bible is saying here in verse nine is, it would be better to have a very small place and yet there's no fights than having this massive 20 bedroom mansion that costs like, I don't know, you know, whatever, 20 million pesos or whatever, this really fancy house, and yet you're always fighting. It would be better to have a small place and you don't argue. You say, Brother Stuckey, why is it that when my husband comes home from work, he doesn't come through the front door, he sets up a ladder so he can go through the back entrance in the window and then I don't even know he's home. And he's just like up there in the attic and it's like 40 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Celsius and he's sweating. Honey, do you want to know I'm all right? I'm just gonna sleep up here tonight. Why is that? Well, I mean, maybe you're a brawling woman, according to the Bible, right? Turn to 2 Samuel chapter six. 2 Samuel chapter six. But you say, Brother Stuckey, why does my husband not want to spend time with me? Well, maybe it's because you're not discreet. Maybe because he gets home from work and he's tired and he's exhausted and he's frustrated. And yes, maybe he is a little bit rude because he's had a bad day at work. But then when you're not kind and you're not discreet, then you know what? He might just want to go to his bedroom and just be alone, right? Look, that's not the sort of marriage that you want. And look, when it comes to being a good wife or a good husband, it takes work. It takes effort. It takes character. It's not easy, right? If you want to have a good marriage. Okay, here's an example in 2 Samuel chapter six. And I talked about this last week with the husbands and I showed the faults of David. But now we're going to look at the faults of the wife in this situation. 2 Samuel six verse 16. And as the Ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michael Saul's daughter looked through a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord. And she despised him in her heart. And so she sees him leaping and dancing. And she inside of her heart, she hates him. Despise is a word for like strong hatred. She hates her husband. She's very angry. Okay, this is a woman that is looking for a reason to be mad at her husband. Right, sometimes people can just, they're trying to find a fault in someone and they're trying to find something where they can get really angry and they have this hatred. You know, it's true when you look at godly preachers out there and there's certain people that will listen to like a hundred hours of preaching to try to find faults in them. Let me help you out with something. If you listen to every sermon I've preached here and you come with a list of all the problems that I've showed or all the things I've said wrong or maybe add a bad attitude, you know what? You will have a list. You say, why? Because if you investigate someone's life 24-7, we're all sinners. You're going to find problems. And here's a wife who is just looking at her husband to try to find something wrong. And look, what she finds is he's in a good mood and he's leaping and dancing. Like, you know, just whatever, right? It's like, I mean, is that the worst thing? And obviously she had hatred because of the fact he's married to someone else. And I get that. We talked about that last week, but she's trying to find a reason to be mad. Don't have this attitude when your husband comes home. Well, what can I find? I've had a bad day, so I'm going to find something I'm mad about where I can blame him and be rude to him. Verse 20, then David returned to bless his household. And Michael, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, how glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself to the day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovered himself. And so basically she starts this fight. He takes it to another level and that's pretty much the end of this marriage. They don't legally get a divorce, but it says at the end in verse 23, therefore, Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no child onto the day of her death. They had no children because they weren't really husband and wife after this point. Only legally were they husband and wife, but that's why she never has a child. Go to James chapter one. James one. James one. James one. Now I would suggest if you ladies struggle with this, then you might want to come up with a system or a strategy. If you just immediately say something really rude, maybe you might want to just get in the habit of going to another room and just thinking about it and praying about it and let your emotions calm down. I mean, do what you have to do, but if this is a problem you struggle with, it's going to cause major problems in your marriage. And it's just going to be week after week after week after week, and it's going to be miserable. And what you're doing is you're plucking down that house instead of building it up. Okay, James one verse 19. James chapter one verse 19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. Right? The Bible says to be swift or quick to hear and slow to speak. And yet most people are kind of the opposite, right? They're quick to speak and slow to hear. Instead of just immediately when something bothers you, you're just quick to speak. Do what the Bible says. Be swift to hear and slow to speak. Learn to control your emotions, okay? Go back to Titus chapter two. Titus two. And let me just say this. I didn't say this in the introduction, but you say, brother Stuckey, I'm a guy in this room. So why do I need this sermon? Well, I mean, if you're married, it's important for you to help you understand what is the role of a wife and to understand, you know, the difficulties in being a wife and to help you appreciate the role that your wife has. If you're a young lady in here and you're not married, well, obviously, you know, you should be trying to learn these things ahead of time. It's going to help you out when you actually do get married. Or if you're a young guy in here and you're not married, well, I mean, you need to know what to look for in a wife. And so, look, the reality is if you meet a woman, you say, man, you know, I really like her. Is she discreet? No. Is she chaste? No. Is she going to be a keeper at home? No. Is she good? No. She obedient, you know, to her father would be a good test if she'll be obedient to the husband. No, but she's pretty. Okay, I mean, prepare to dwell in the corner of a house top and go through a ladder into your house, right? That's what you're preparing for in life. Okay, so point number one is discrete. Point two is chaste. To be discreet, to be chaste. Okay, what is the dictionary definition of chaste? Abstaining from extra marital or from all sexual intercourse is the direct definition. However, I want you to realize that this word appears three times in our Bible. And if you look up every reference, that's not really the only connotation for what the Bible is trying to say. Part of this is, yes, you're faithful in the fact that you won't commit adultery. That is part of it. That's not all of it, though. Okay, go to 2 Corinthians 11. Let's look up all the references. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 1. Now, the symbolism here is God saying that basically, you know, when you get saved, you are married on to Christ. Obviously, this is speaking symbolically. And he's saying, you know, I expect you to be faithful in the fact, what have we been talking about on Wednesdays with Hosea? About how the nation of Israel basically hoard around on God and was going after other gods and breaking all God's rules. And they were doing the exact opposite of being a chaste virgin onto Christ. Okay, so there's the connotation of being chaste in terms of your relationship with God. But I want you to go to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3, and we'll see more about this. 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. And 1 Peter chapter 3, in verse 1. It says, likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. We'll talk about that later on in the sermon. That if any obey not the word, and not obeying the word would be people that basically are not applying what the Bible says. Okay, maybe there's other people. And in a church setting, there's going to be people from all backgrounds. You know, we're not a small church. We have plenty of people here. So some people are new. Some people might have just got saved. They just started going to this type of church. And so you're supposed to set a good example for people that are new. I mean, if you've been here for two years, since our church began, you should be setting a good example for people that would come into this church. Because you've heard the preaching, and you know what the Bible says. You've read the Bible. You've gone soul winning and everything. You should be setting a good example. Okay, and it says, likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. Now, you might think when you see conversation that it's only referring to the words, but it's not really referring to usappan. It's referring to, you know, pamumuhay, your lifestyle. Okay, so the words are part of that, but also your actions, right? So remember with discrete, we said, basically, be careful with your words and your actions. Well, when it comes to the conversation of the wives, it's your words and your actions, okay? And then it says, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear, they see your lifestyle and they see your chaste conversation coupled with fear, complete faithfulness to the husband. What does that mean? It means somebody who just got saved and is not necessarily applying a lot of these things in the Bible, they come in and they see wives that love their husbands and love their children. They see wives that are respectful to their husbands. They see wives that say, hey, honey, let me get the food for us and things such as that. And basically, she is happy to have the husband as the leader. She's happy to let him lead and she's supporting her husband. And here's the thing, God's methods work. And if people come in and they see that, they're going to be like, wow, it could win them over to what the Bible says. An example is, for example, Pastor Menes has six children. I think six children. I lose count. I think he has six children, but his children are very obedient. And so when they go out in public, you see all these children that are just sitting down and being respectful and people oftentimes come up and I've eaten with his family plenty of times. And they'll kind of come up and say, man, how are your kids? Just you have six kids. We stopped at two. And it's like because they're actually going through what the Bible says of training those children and look, yeah, it takes time. Yeah, it takes effort. But you know what? It works. And when people see that, they might be like, man, I was against this sort of system of the husband being the head of the home, but it actually works. And you know what? That can actually win people over when they see your chase conversation coupled with fear. Now, what are some applications of this? One application is your relationship with the opposite gender. If you're married, your relationship with someone of the opposite gender. So if you're a woman, your relationship with other guys and look, the same is going to apply to guys with other girls. Look, you might think this is extreme, but I don't believe as a married guy, I should be friends with women I'm not married to. Right. Other than my mom and my sister, those are two exceptions I make. Right. Other than that, you know, I don't believe I should be hanging out at a restaurant with a woman I'm not married to. Even if I'm not doing anything, it's not appropriate. It's not right. And look, when the Bible is saying that the wives should be chased, I mean, the assumption is obviously they're not going to commit adultery, but if you want to be fully chased, you're going to be completely faithful to your spouse. Look, it's not a good situation. It's not wise. It's not appropriate. I don't want my wife to be out with another guy. So why would I be out with another girl? Right. And look, anybody who's married in this room, don't tell me men in this room. Don't tell me that you want your wife out with another guy. If they're just friends. No, you don't. It's like you're lying. Okay. No guy wants that. And so, you know, no woman wants her husband to do that either. Okay. And so to apply this, it means that, you know, you don't have close friendships with the opposite gender. Now, that does not mean that if a woman at a church tries to shake your hand, you just turn your head and just... I'm not saying that. I'm not saying you can never say any words to any ladies at church. But if you've seen how I practice this, when I have to send messages to people, to ladies, what do I always do? I include my wife in that message, right? You say, why? It's appropriate to do that. Because for one, you don't want to put yourself in a compromising position. And for two, you want to apply this of being chased to the person that you're married to. Okay. And so that is one application of not having close friendship. Look, I want my wife to have close friendships with the ladies at this church. And I want to have close friendships with the men at this church. However, you know what? It's not appropriate for me to have close relationships with the women at this church and vice versa. Look, you could end up doing things you regret. You put yourself in a bad situation. Okay. Besides the fact, don't do anything that would look evil. Abstain from all appearance of evil, even if you don't plan to do anything. When I worked at my old job in Cumberland, Maryland, sometimes I'd be working late and people are clocking out at different times because my job was pretty much just you could kind of clock in and clock out whenever you have work to get done. And people would come early, stay late sometimes if they have projects. Sometimes I'm staying late and then all of a sudden everybody starts going home and then all of a sudden there's just like one other lady at the office. You know what that told me? It's time for me to clock out and head home and show up early tomorrow morning and get started with what I need to do. You say, why? It's just not a good situation. Did I plan on doing anything? No, but it's not a smart situation to be in and it looks bad. Okay. One thing is your relationship with the opposite gender. But ladies, another thing is the way you dress, right? You ought to dress in a way where you're not trying to attract other men to your body. Now, look, I don't preach some extreme view here. I'm not saying you ought to be like Muslims and cover up, you know, everything, including one of your eyeballs, right? Just have this little. I'm not saying that, okay? But I am saying that there is a way you can dress to not try to draw attention to other men, meaning the clothes not super tight, not revealing. Why? Because you care about your husband and your husband does not want other guys just lusting after you. And look, that is a sin that guys probably struggle with a lot more than ladies. And look, as wives, you should try to dress in a way where you're not drawing attention to yourself. I know this is extreme preaching in 2021. Well, that's Verity Baptist Church for you. We're always going to be extreme compared to what the world says. But also just speaking in a kind way, especially in front of other people. I mean, you should not be rude to your spouse at home, but much less in public, right? Ladies, don't embarrass your husbands in public, right? I mean, if you're going to be rude, at least wait till you go home. Don't be rude in public to your husband and embarrass him and make him look like a fool. Hold your tongue and control yourself, okay? And if you're going to be a discreet, chaste wife, you should be able to do that, not to do it in front of other people where you're embarrassing him. Now, yes, the same is true with husbands to wives. We talked about that last week. Wives, be very careful with what you say to be honoring your husbands. Now, turn back in your Bible to Titus 2. Titus 2. Titus 2. Titus 2. Point number one, to be discreet, meaning be very careful with the words and your actions. Point number two, to be chaste, which means completely faithful, not only not committing adultery, but don't do anything just even along those lines where your husband would look at his unfaithful. It would make him mad. It would make him jealous. Point number three, to be a keeper at home. Point number three, to be a keeper at home. Now, this one is really not popular in 2021, but this is what the Bible says. You say, what does it mean to be a keeper at home? It means to be a housekeeper. You keep the home, right? It kind of defines itself here. Okay, now go to Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31. Proverbs chapter 31. Proverbs chapter 31. Now, let me say this, that in an ideal, perfect situation, the husband would be the person who brings home the bacon, so to speak, right? He provides financially for that family, and then the wife stays home and raises those children, especially as they're young. Okay, now I understand not everyone's in that perfect, ideal situation. Now, let me say a couple of things about this, though, that a woman can be a keeper at home while actually working, as long as she's keeping the home. I was homeschooled starting in middle school, and my mom worked about 15 hours a week transcribing for doctors, and she provided supplemental income to the family. And we're actually going to see that in Proverbs 31. That's one of the great things about our modern day with modern technology and computers and the Internet is there's a lot of jobs where you can actually work at home and keep the home, and you're raising those children at a young age. Now, the most important time for those children is when they're very young. Okay, when they're one year old, two years old, three years old, there are jobs where you can actually do both things. Okay, but the ideal situation is the husband brings home the bacon, and the mom is the keeper at home, as the Bible says. Proverbs 31 talks about the virtuous woman, and let's see some examples of this. Verse 15, she riseth also while it is yet night. She riseth also while it is yet night. What does that mean? Well, basically, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. is night. It's evening. The evening and the morning were the first day, starting with 6 p.m. to 6 in the morning. Okay, basically, when it's dark outside, I understand at certain times of the year, like now, the days are shorter in terms of light, but the general principle is 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Realize that during this time period, most jobs were not computer based jobs. They were manual labor jobs, and what that meant is you worked while it was light outside. You took every second of when it was light, and once it got dark, you know what, you can't do a lot of those things that you'd be able to do outside. So basically, 6 p.m. is when the husband would be coming home, okay, and then 6 a.m. is kind of when you're starting the day, not when you're waking up, but when you're actually starting the work, because you've got to start working once it's light outside, okay? When it's saying she's rising while it's yet night, it's saying she's rising before 6 in the morning. She's waking up before the husband goes out to work in order to provide the food for the family. This was before microwaves, okay? She's actually waking up to provide a real meal for the husband, and look, she had to provide a real meal because the husband's out working hard where you need to have a big morning breakfast to get through the day, because oftentimes, you're going to work through lunch, right? So basically, you eat maybe two meals a day, morning and evening. He needs a big meal if he's going to be lifting haystacks or whatever, right? It's going to take a lot of energy. So she rises also while it's yet night. Think of before 6 a.m. and giveth meat to her household and a portion to her maidens. So if he's leaving at 6 a.m. to get started, she's probably going to have to wake up at 5 a.m. at least to get the food ready, right? To get everything going before he goes off. So what it's saying is she wakes up early in order to feed her household. Verse 16, she considerth a field and buyeth it. We talked about that last week, and that applies towards, you know, a woman helping financially and with big decisions in that household, obviously underneath the husband, because as we'll see in a few points, they are to be obedient to the husbands, but being a financial blessing to that household. She considerth a field and buyeth it. With the fruit of her hands, she planteth a vineyard. So this godly, virtuous woman, even on some of the outdoor work, her husband's working very hard, she's willing to do some of the outdoor work for the household, okay? Verse 17, she girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms. You say, Brother Sucky, does that mean she had a gym membership in verse 17? She's strengthening her arms? No, but here's what you have to understand. You know, if you work hard and you're not lazy, you're going to get exercise throughout the day, especially during this time period. I mean, if you're cleaning and, you know, properly, you know, taking care of the children and things such as that, you're going to be strengthening your arms throughout the day just by the way you're living your lifestyle, right? I mean, it's honestly not necessarily good for us with all this modern technology, because a lot of the exercise you would have normally gotten, like getting, you know, water from the well or something like that, hey, that's going to strengthen your arms, right? Nowadays, things might be too easy for us, okay? But it says she girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good. Her candle goeth not out by night. What does verse 18 mean, her candle goeth not out by night? What it's saying is that at 6 p.m., when her husband comes home, she doesn't just decide I'm done, my husband's home, now he does everything because I've been working all day. Your husband's been working all day, right? I mean, if he's gone from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., he's been working all day, so that does not mean that when he comes home, hey, I'm done, he does all the diapers, he cooks the food, he does everything, my candle's done, I'm going to sleep. That's not how it works. That's not the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31, because guess what? Yes, it's tough to be a keeper at home. It's also tough to work a secular job. Both are tough. And instead of fighting against what God says, you know what, you should try to just be the best wife that you can be. And here's the thing, you know what? If you would properly do your role, it's going to help him properly do his role, and maybe then you'd find some time to spend together if both people are not lazy, right? And so basically, when he comes home at 6 p.m., you don't just decide, hey, I'm done for the day. My job was just from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., I'm done, I'm relaxing, I'm going to be on the computer and just text messaging all day on Facebook, on YouTube. That's not the way it works, because the virtuous woman, her candle goeth not out by night, meaning when it's dark outside, there's still stuff that she's doing for the family. Say, Brother Stuckey, preach against the men. I did that last week. If you weren't here, then, you know, tune into YouTube. Check it out. It's up there, right? It's like, I preached against the men last week. I'm preaching about the wives here today, okay? Verse 19, she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretches out her hand to the poor, yea, she reaches forth her hands to the needy. She's not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She puts in great effort for the clothing of the household. Now, in today's world, you can just go to the stores and buy clothes for a very cheap price. You couldn't do that 3,000 years ago. Actually, the clothes were very valuable. I mean, remember the story of Naaman, and he just provides a couple of raiments of clothing? It's like, man, you got clothing. I mean, and nowadays, clothing is just not that expensive. So I'm not saying, hey, I'm going to be the virtuous woman. I'm just going to be making all the clothes from scratch. Well, I mean, you don't have to do that because in today's world, you can get clothes for a very inexpensive, cheap price. But that's the context of Proverbs 31. What I will say is this. It was a lot harder to live 3,000 years ago than today. So don't say it's so tough being a stay at home mom. Well, you would have never survived thousands of years ago when you couldn't go to the store and just get all the food and all the clothes from scratch. I mean, if you had to make everything from scratch, I don't know how you'd survive. No, we are lazy in this generation, both husbands and wives, men and women. We are lazy in this generation, and we don't know what it means to actually work hard. 40 hours a week is so much work. No, it's not. Not biblically, you're expected to work by the sweat of your brow. Meaning, you know what? You go to bed tired, you wake up tired. Life is tiring, it's exhausting, it's hard, it's difficult. Here's the thing. If life is so easy, you're not doing it right. Life is meant to be difficult, right? And look, if life was too easy, you say, what would happen if life was too easy? The Garden of Eden. What did Adam and Eve do? Because life was so easy. You want so much free time, what ends up happening? They destroy their lives. Life is not meant to be that easy. You say, Brother Stuckey, man, I'm tired, I'm exhausted. I travel hours to church. Look, you know what? I used to travel almost two hours to church every single week when I lived in West Virginia. Look, and you say, why did you travel two hours? Because here's the thing. There are Baptist churches that are not that bad in the US. And there were decent churches nearby, but you know what? I said, you know what? I would rather travel two hours to the best church where the soul winning is going on rather than a decent church. And look, those churches are probably better than your old Baptist churches. But to me, two hours was not that big of a deal. And here's the thing. I was the backup worker on the bus route, which meant that the buses left at around seven in the morning, which meant I was leaving when it was still dark outside. You say, why? That was my church. Brother Stuckey, I'm volunteering so much. Yeah, you know what? I did that too, because if this is your church home, you should have the attitude. I love this church, right? And so, look, life is not meant to be easy. People have this attitude. Life is supposed to be so easy and just like you get married and you're always happy. It's so easy. Raising kids is so easy. Look, it's not easy if you're doing it right. And if you try to make it too easy, you will destroy the lives of those around you. Yeah, it's a lot easier to just shove your kids in front of a television all day. That's pretty easy. You're going to destroy the lives of those children, though. If you're doing life correctly, it's going to be hard. It's going to be difficult. It's going to be time consuming. That's what the Bible teaches. It's not meant to be super easy. Verse 22, she maketh herself coverings of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. Now, notice she's making clothing such as scarlet and silk and purple. And those were colors of kind of royalty during that time period. Those were not colors that everybody necessarily had. So the indication from this woman, if you're looking at a specific marriage, this is actually a marriage where they might have some money, or she's putting in effort to find clothing to give her family nice clothing. I'm not saying you have to wear terrible clothing. They're wearing nice clothing here in Proverbs 31. Okay. And it says silk and... What verse am I in? Verse 23. Her husband is known in the gates when he sitteth among the elders of the land. Why is her husband known in the gates? Because he looks nice. He looks professional. Because she's made nice clothing. He looks, you know, people are like, wow, you know, this person, he looks very good because of the clothing that she actually made. Okay. Verse 24. She maketh fine linen and selleth it and delivereth girdles onto the merchant. Verse 24 is also indicating, you know what? She's helping provide financially for that family while keeping the home. Sounds like this woman's pretty busy. Waking up before six in the morning to cook the food, maybe five in the morning. And then when it's six PM, she's still busy. When her husband comes home, it looks like she's pretty busy. And you know what? If you're doing life correctly, it's going to be tough. It's going to be hard work. That is how success is made by working hard. So when it comes to keeping the home, what's the big idea? Here's the big idea that when the husband gets off work, he wants to come home. Right? He wants to come home because, man, everything's nice. It's clean. We got a meal and everything like that. Don't make the home an atmosphere where he gets off work and he's like, oh, no. Oh, no, I got to come home. It's like, all right, time to climb that ladder, right? Don't make it an atmosphere where your husband dreads coming home. Make it an atmosphere where he's excited. He gets off work, gets to spend time with you, spend time with the kids and just have dinner together as a family. Make it an atmosphere where your husband wants to come home. Now, look, I understand people's work schedules can be different, and not everybody's in this specific situation the Bible is talking about, but apply it as much as you can apply it in your situation. To be a keeper at home as the Bible teaches. Now turn in your Bible to Titus 2. Titus 2. You say, Brother Stuckey, why do I have to be the keeper at home as a woman? Number one, because that's what the Bible said. Number two, because you will do a better job than your husband at being a keeper at home. You'll do a better job. You're going to do a better job of taking care of those children than the husband will take care of those children. Now, husbands need to spend time with their kids and their family and love them, but the reality is this. If the roles are 100% reversed and you got a stay-at-home dad and then the wife is out making all the money, here's the reality. The husband will not do as good of a job of being a keeper at home. And you say, why? Because God designed it this way. I mean, there's a reason why God designed it this way. And instead of fighting against it, it's like, oh man, I don't get to be the president. I want to be so powerful. I want to be the CEO of a company. Instead of fighting against what the Bible says, embrace what the Bible says, okay? Point number one was to be discreet. Point number two, to be chaste. Point three, a keeper at home. Point four, to be good. Point four, to be good. Titus 2 verse five, it says keepers at home, good. Now go back to Proverbs 31. I should have asked you to keep your place in there, but go back to Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31. Say, what does it mean to be good? What I mean, it just means to be good to your husband, just in all areas. It's sort of restating some of the things that have already said, but just in your actions, your attitude and everything, you want to be a blessing and a help. You want to be good to your husband, okay? Proverbs 31 verse 12, she will do him good. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. That means with your lifestyle, the words you say, your actions, keeping the home, you will do good and not evil to your husband. You will do the best you can to be a good wife. Look, everybody should have the attitude, no matter what your role is in life, to be as good as you can at the role you're in. If you're a husband, be as good of a husband as you can. If you're a father, be as good of a father as you can. If you're a mom, be as good of a mom as you can. If you're a wife, be as good of a wife as you can. If you're single, hey, be as godly as you can as a single person, right? We did the soul-winning marathon this week, and a large reason why we had almost 100 salvations in a day is because there's a lot of zealous, young, single people. Now, I understand what it's like to be single and to love the Lord and to want to get married, but I'll say this, you can serve God and do great things for God while you're single. And before you're married, do the best job you can to be zealous and serve God. And I believe that is the best secret to where God would bless you with a spouse. Now, here's the thing, once you get married, those roles can be a little bit reversed of how you're supposed to serve God. We do a lot of soul-winning marathons and we have two young children. I did the soul-winning marathon this week and my wife wasn't able to come to it because, quite honestly, it's tough to get kids to go soul-winning for five hours in a day and not have any problems, right? And instead of fighting against that, though, ladies, you say, man, I loved it when I was single and I went soul-winning all the time. Instead of fighting against it, embrace your new role of life and say, I'm going to be a good wife and a good mom and do the best I can in this new role. Obviously, it's great for ladies to keep going soul-winning, and we preach that and we teach that, but at the same time, your role is a little bit reversed, right? It's a little bit changed from before you're married. There's different things that are more important and what God would have you to do. Now go back to Titus 2, Titus 2, Titus chapter 2. Look, being a wife is not an obligation. It's a privilege. It's not an obligation. It is a privilege. I mean, if you're a godly person and God has blessed you with a spouse, blessed you with a husband where you can basically share together as being heirs together of the grace of life, that's a blessing. It's not an obligation. Oh, I'm married now. My life's miserable. It's like, and so many people, like they're wanting this new stage in life. When they're single, they're miserable. Oh, but once they get married, they're always going to be happy and they're never going to complain. That's not the way it works, my friends. It's like, once you get married, you're going to complain as well. Then you're like, oh, I wish I was single. Yeah, the problem's you, right? The problem is you, because Paul said, I've learned in whatsoever state I am there with to be content. Now, the direct application is in regards to money, but the same applies. Just whatever stage of life you're in to embrace that stage and not fight against it, okay? It is a privilege if God has blessed you with a husband that loves God and wants the family in church and you're serving God. That is a blessing. Don't fight against it. Embrace it. Point number one, to be discreet. Point two, to be chaste. Point three, to be a keeper at home. Point four, to be good. Now, look, this sermon is not politically correct in 2021, at least. Point number five is probably the least politically correct part of the sermon. Obedient, right? Obedient to their own husbands that the word of God be not blasphemed, okay? Now, let me say this before I get into point number five. The end of this verse says that the word of God be not blasphemed. Did you know that there's people out there that blaspheme the word of God? They mock the things of God. Well, in today's world, I mean, Hillary Clinton, her famous phrase, it takes a village to raise a child. And what she was saying is it takes the entire country and the city coming together, right? To raise a child. You as mom and dad are not able to raise a child on their own. That's what she said. That's what she said 25 years ago. It was like a very, I think they made a book out of it. It's like really famous and everything. Takes a village to raise a child, right? The world is attacking the family unit. They are blaspheming and mocking it in today's world. They criticize every bit about this. All the TV shows, they mock this, right? The most famous comedy show of the last 20 years in the US, A Modern Family, I think is the name of the show. They're just mocking the family unit as God is prescribed. There are people that want to blaspheme the word of God. Look, you as a Bible believing Christian, you should not give the world a reason to mock what the Bible says. You should do a good job at the role God has provided you and what the Bible says. And in the world, they can't criticize it. But look, if you're not doing a good job at your role, you're giving all your friends on Facebook and your family that disagrees with what you're doing. You got your Catholic relatives that disagree with everything about this church, everything with how you raise your family, and you are giving them ammunition. If you're not embracing the role that you have, don't allow the word of God to be blasphemed. Because look, God's methods work if we work. If we work, then God's methods will work, meaning men and women. And I talked about the husbands last week, right? We need to apply that to our lives. We're talking about the wives here today. Both need to apply what the Bible says, and then the word of God will not be blasphemed. Now it says be obedient to their own husbands. Now, one thing that needs to be mentioned, especially in today's world, because there are some guys that get super overly zealous, that are into all these conspiracy theories, and they have this idea, why get to boss around other women? No, it says be obedient to their own husbands. To their own husbands. Did you realize that I am the authority of my household, but I am not the authority of anybody's household except my household? I don't get to tell your wife what to do, nor would I want to. I think that's kind of weird, right? It's like I have my own household, okay? But I want you to realize this, that you know what? I preach a lot of things, but nobody ever sees me leave the pulpit. Brother Sucky's always ordering around my family and making me do this. Look, you can do whatever you want. Go home and listen to rock music if you want. I'll preach against it, and you're welcome to come, and I'll still preach against it. I'm not going to order you around in your own household. You make your own choices. It says be obedient to their own husbands. So this is not saying men are the head of every woman out there. But husbands are the head of their own household, though, okay? Be obedient to their own husbands that the word of God be not blasphemed. Turn to Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians five. Brother Sucky, how dare you say that I should obey my husband? It's not fair. I got to stay home and raise the kids. I got to be obedient to him. Okay, go work your secular job, and you'll have a man as a boss. That orders you around, and you got to obey him. You're okay with obeying a boss at work, but not your own husband, right? Because these people that are just like, they hate the family unit. I mean, it's fine in the secular world, but it's just like at home. How dare? What's funny about this is that the Bible lifts up women. The world brings them down. All you got to do is drive around and see women dressed as whores in harlots everywhere and all these billboards and see that the world is saying the only value in a woman is her body. That's never what I preach, right? I don't have this attitude. Well, men are better than women. Men are smarter. I've never preached that, but that is what the world teaches. Charles Darwin, that's what he taught in his evolution book, The Origin of Species. He taught men are better than women. White people are better than everybody else, and men are better than women, right? That's what he taught. I mean, there's a reason why Hitler loved Charles Darwin. Okay, the white man is the greatest thing in the world. That's what he taught. That's not what I teach, though. That's not what the Bible teaches either. The Bible lifts up women. Why? Because that's the role that God has provided. I've said this before. My sister is probably the smartest person I've ever met. Super intelligent. She skipped three grades growing up. I think second, seventh and eighth grade, genius level and everything like that. And my sister, when she was in college, when she was graduating, she got married when she was 17 years old, about to graduate college, and she got married and she became a stay at home mom, right? And she stays home. She raises the kids. She has 10 kids. They have a lot of children. And you know what? People from the community that knew our family, because my sister was like the genius of Bridgeport, West Virginia, like the smartest person. Literally, my sister is you say, Brother Stuckey, what's wrong with you then? Right? I don't know. My sister is this is why I preach about my sister, because it makes me look smart. I got a really smart sister. Makes people think I'm smart right now. But my sister is just genius level and everything. You know what? People criticize what she did. People would make rude comments to my parents about how, Oh, I thought she was going to become a doctor. What's she doing with her life? I thought she was going to become a lawyer. What's she doing with her life? I thought she was gonna become an engineer. What's she doing? I mean, they criticized being a stay at home mom. Look, there's nothing that uplifts a woman more than being able to raise those children for the glory of God. And look, those children, if you do it right, they're going to grow up and they're going to serve God and they're going to love God. And there's nothing. And I'll tell you what, I don't care what the world says. Wait till those children grow up, and there's nothing the parents care about more than those kids love them as they grow up. Here's the thing. If you go by the world's methods, your kids are going to grow up. And you know what? They're just not going to love you. I mean, you have to understand something that if you're raising your kids and you spend time with them and you care about them, what's the result? Well, if you're pouring out your love to them, they're going to love you, right? I mean, if you spend time with your kids growing up, they're going to respect you. They're going to love you. They're going to care about you. But if you don't spend any time and just their entire lives, it's just daycare 24-7, school 24-7. You come home, just throw them in front of a television. And then all of a sudden you wonder why when you retire, why don't my kids want to spend time with me? You didn't have any time for them. Why are they going to have any time for you? That's reality. And that's a sad reality because you see people that are older and they've destroyed their lives and they're so sad that the kids just don't want to spend a lot of time. It's just like you didn't have any time for them, right? It's just common logical sense when you think about it. And look, my kids are young. I'm going by faith on this. I've seen the result in other families, but I'm also going by faith that what the Bible says is right, that if I train my children correctly, my children are going to grow up. They're going to love us. They're going to respect us. They're going to care about us. And they're going to be godly people that love the Lord. And they are the next generation. And the kids at our church, they're the next generation. And why it's important to be a godly husband and a godly wife is because we want the next generation to serve God and to go soul winning. We're at the start of this system here in Metro Manila. We're at the start of this church. I'm excited for 20 years down the road when some of these kids grow up and then they tell their father, you know, I want to be a preacher. I want to be a pastor. I want to put in the work. I'm going to start reading my Bible. I'm 14 years old. I'm going to start reading my Bible three times a year so I can know the word of God because I want to be a pastor one day and do a big work for God. That is going to be exciting. And we're at the beginning stages of that. But it doesn't happen accidentally. You say, Brother Saki, my kids are in this church. They're automatically going to love God when they grow up. Really? What verse shows you that? When have I ever taught that? And look, I want you to realize I was not raised an independent fundamental Baptist, but my parents did a really great job with what they knew of raising us. When my sister was born, my mom decided to stay home and raise us. And my parents have told me the story. Because here's the thing. Homeschooling was very weird 35 years ago, right? 30 years ago, 35. It was very strange. It was very uncommon. And it was very difficult because they didn't have these online resources and all these books and things like that. It was very uncommon 30 years ago. When my parents did it, they took a leap of faith. And I remember them saying, you know what? We're probably not going to have everything that we wanted in life. All the nice things that other people have. But the reason why they did it is they said, you know what? We're going to raise our kids. And they said the world was getting crazy 30 years ago. I was raised a Protestant, right? They didn't know all the things that we know. But they said the world is just getting crazy with the stuff they're teaching. And they're like, there's a lack of actually good education in school. They're just like, you know what? We need to raise these kids at home. And when I was in middle school, I started to get homeschooled, just as my sister had a few years before. My parents made sacrifices. But you know, I grew up and I'm an independent fundamental Baptist. I remember one time in grade school, in fifth grade, the year before I was homeschooled, to watch a PG 13 movie, your parents had to sign off that it was okay because the kids are not 13 years old. And so, look, I didn't really care about watching the movie. But what I cared about was not being embarrassed because every other parent said it was okay. And my parents were the really my heat beat strict parents, right? And I remember I went to school and then people were asking the teachers like, unfortunately, not all the parents allowed their children to watch a PG 13 movie. And I was like, so embarrassed and everything. What's funny is there was one other kid in the class in the whole grade, there's like 100 people in the grade, one other kid whose parents wouldn't let them do it. And he was not raised an independent fundamental Baptist. And yet he's an independent fundamental Baptist today as well. Maybe the way those parents raised their children was correct. Oh, if you're so strict, your kids are going to grow up and they're going to commit these wicked sins. Really, because when I grew up, I've never smoked a cigarette before, right? I grew up and I didn't commit the sins that the world does, because to me, I was just like, that's not how I was raised. If you raise your children correctly, according to the Bible, they will grow up and they will love God. But I have seen people in independent fundamental Baptist churches that didn't really apply this stuff and they might have had a good church, but their kids grew up and you know what? Didn't work out for them. Your kids are not going to automatically love God because they're at this church. It is more important you spend your personal time and teach and train. Absolutely, you need church and I'll preach the word of God, but you need to put in the time at home to teach those kids and train those kids. Go to Ephesians 5, obedient to their own husbands. All right, what are we talking about? Obedient to their own husbands. Ephesians 5 verse 21, submitting yourselves one to another. Ephesians 5 verse 21, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Now this is a very misunderstood verse and I understand it, why it's misunderstood, but to understand this verse, you need to understand that at the end of Ephesians chapter 5, the context is not broken. Sometimes in the Bible, we think that the end of the chapter means we're at a brand new story. No, that's the book of Psalms or the book of Proverbs. Oftentimes these, I mean, sometimes the first word in a new chapter is therefore, meaning, hey, everything I just said, we're still applying it, right? I mean, that doesn't mean in a new chapter you got a brand new thought. And so I want you to realize when it's saying submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God, what it's talking about is if you are in a position of a God-given biblical authority, you are to submit to that authority. The first example is wives with husbands to the end of the chapter. But then how does chapter 6 start off? Children obey your parents, right? Starts with children and parents in chapter 6. And then after that, servants and masters, which is a position of God-given authority that you are supposed to obey and submit to. So what it's saying in verse 21 is submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. If you are in a position where you need to submit because you have a God-given authority, you need to submit in the fear of God. It's not saying, hey, both husbands and wives to submit to one another. That's not what it's saying in verse 21, okay? Because what it says in verse 22 is wives submit yourselves onto your own husbands as unto the Lord. You are to submit to your own husband, and it's as unto the Lord. Since this is a God-given authority, this is what God is asking you to do. Now, obviously, if your husband comes home and says, hey, I killed someone. I need help to cover it up. Okay, well, that's different because he's asking you to sin. Okay, I would say, well, why did you marry that guy? If he's coming home, I murdered someone. It's like in the book of Genesis, right? Early in the book of Genesis, you see that story, right? If he's asking you to sin, you disobey. It's the same thing with anything. If you have a boss at work, you are to submit. But what if he asks you to lie? You're not supposed to obey that. Why? Because God's word is above that boss, right? We are to submit to the... My son is supposed to obey me. My daughter's supposed to obey me. But what if they're 10 years old and I tell them, hey, I want you to lie because it costs less at this restaurant if we say you're this age instead of this age. Well, that would be something where they should disobey because I'm asking them to sin. But if I'm not asking my children to sin, they're supposed to obey me. With any authority, this is how it works. And so, look, if you have a husband, then he is your authority, okay? You are supposed to obey him when he asks you to do something. Now, here's the thing. Number one, you say, brother, suck you. But my husband, he's so terrible and he asked me to do all these things. Well, you need to be very careful with who you marry, number one, because we talked about last week, husbands are supposed to lay down their lives for their wives. Hopefully, you take that very seriously who you marry. Marry somebody who's godly, because if you're doing marriage right, then you're going to have a marriage that's going to be very great. Husbands and lives are really going to love one another because husbands are to lay down their lives for their wives. Well, my husband doesn't do that. Well, I mean, you need to make a wise choice when you get married. That's advice for young ladies here that are not married yet. Find a guy that you respect and you want to follow. And look, you know, hopefully you don't have a husband that just orders you around with everything 24 seven. Well, then, you know, obviously, as guys, look, that's not wise to just every single thing, just always complain like, I want this and want this. Look, when it comes to a job, people want to work hard if they like their boss, right? People want to obey their boss if the boss is nice. Look, husbands, if you want your wives to obey you, be nice. Be kind. Lay down your lives as the Bible says, right? We talked about that last week. But submitting yourselves or wives, submit yourselves on your own husbands as in the Lord. What does that mean? Here's what it means. The determinant. You say, Brother, I'm a submissive wife because I came to church today with my husband. Well, here's a question. Did you want to come to church? Well, yeah, I love this church. I wanted to come to church. That doesn't prove your submissive wife. Then what submission is and the proof of submission is when you don't agree with your husband and you do it anyway. For example, you didn't want to come to church this morning, but your husband said, Well, you know what? We're coming to church. And if you came, that's proof of submission because you didn't want to be here and you came when your husband asked you to be here. Right? That's proof of submission. When your husband asked you to do something and you disagree with him. Well, I think he's wrong. I don't think it makes any sense. But you know what? Here's the thing. If you're submissive, you know what you're going to do? You're going to listen and be kind and respectful and not rude, which means that if in a couple days later it turns out he was wrong, I told you so. Yeah, you're not really a submissive wife. You're the same woman whose husband is climbing in through a ladder on the second floor. Right? It's like, no, you know, instead, look, I want you to realize if you took that attitude to work right to a job and you acted that way, I told you, boss, this was the wrong idea. Yeah, you're going to get fired, my friend. Right? I mean, you're supposed to submit to that authority. That's what the Bible teaches. It doesn't mean that the husband is always right. Look, many times I make wrong decisions and I'm wrong and my wife was correct. But that doesn't change the fact that the Bible says wives are supposed to submit to their own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Turn to one last place. First Peter three, first Peter three, first Peter three, first Peter chapter three. Look, this sermon you say, Well, I'm a woman out here, and some of this offends me or I disagree. Look, if you're married, this is for your benefit. You want to have a good marriage? I mean, if you apply this sermon series to your life, it will help you have a good marriage. Right? We're covering everything. We talked about spouses, a whole sermon where things apply to both, then husbands, then wives. Look, if you apply these things, if both husband and wife apply these things, you're going to have a good marriage. The next three weeks, we're going to talk about parents, then fathers, then mothers. Look, if you apply those three sermons to your life, guess what? You're going to do a good job of raising those kids. This sermon series is helpful for you. It's beneficial for you if you apply it. The Bible says the word of God does good to him that walketh uprightly. I mean, the word of God is good for you if you apply it. If you don't apply it, then, well, you know, I don't know why you're here, then. I mean, there's victory somewhere. I don't know where victory is. CCF or whatever. I mean, you can go to those churches. They won't teach you anything, right? But here we teach you the word of God. We give you the chance in your own free will to make your decisions. First Peter three, verse one. We'll close up here. Likewise, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. While they behold your chaste conversation, coupled with fear. Who's adorning? Let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Verse four talks about the hidden man of the heart. It's referring to on the inside. You need to have this attitude. See, some of you, you're having so much trouble applying this of being obedient to your husbands because you're just trying to do the motions on the outside. But on the inside, you don't really desire or want to actually be in subjection to your husbands. You have to actually want to do it. And you know what? If you wanted to do it, it would be very easy to do, right? You have to learn to love God on the inside, not just go through the motions because people can go through the motions of stuff, but they don't actually apply it on the inside in their hearts. Okay, verse five. For after this manner in the old time, the holy women also who trusted in God adorn themselves, being in subjection onto their own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. Now, what's interesting here about Sarah calling Abraham Lord realized number one, she's not calling him Lord Jehovah God, right? It's basically just saying he's the master. He's the leader. It's kind of a makalumong word that you would use to say, like the leader or the head of the home is really what she's saying. And inside of herself, this is not something you ever see her say on the outside. And the context is inside the heart. On the inside, she looked at her husband as the leader of the home. That's how Sarah felt on the inside, according to the Bible. And you know what? That is the goal as a wife, that on the inside that you trust your husband, you respect him, and you want to follow him. And you want to apply what the Bible actually says. Look, if we do God's methods, they work. It doesn't matter how much the world tries to give us their mantra about everything. The world's crazy on everything. They don't know what they're talking about. They're going to criticize. And look, I get it. You got your Catholic relatives that criticize all your decisions. You have ideas and they criticize you. They criticize how you raise your children. They criticize everything you do. I mean, you might want to spend less time talking to them if they try to just fight against every single thing you do. I get it. You got those Catholic relatives that disagree with everything. Look, we've got those Catholic relatives as well. Don't allow unsaved people to just make you because you're so embarrassed. Do the peer pressure that you just change the way you're going to go about your life. No, as a husband and wife, God has given you the authority to as heirs together of the grace of life. This is a household where you make your decisions in life. Look, God's methods work, and if we would apply them, it would give us great marriages. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see your word on this topic of being godly wives. And I ask you to help all the ladies apply this to their lives, whether they're already married or whether or not that's something they're preparing for in the future. Help all the men at our church to seek for godly wives and help all of us husbands to appreciate and love our wives and realize they have a very difficult job, a very important job, but a very difficult job that can be stressful at times and help us to be a partner with them and help them. And we just pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.