Our scripture for today is Proverbs 31, verses 27 through 30. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord shall be praised. She shall be praised. Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we pray to you to give us open hearts as we hear your word. Father, we pray that as here today, whether we be unbelievers or believers here, that you will open the eyes of the blind and that you will set the captives free. Father, I pray for your word to be received here today. In Jesus' name, amen. If you would, turn with me to Proverbs 31. If you recall, back on Mother's Day, I preached to fathers in Proverbs 31 about being a Proverbs 31 husband. Today, on Father's Day, I'll preach to the moms about being a Proverbs 31 woman. Again, this is a message I brought over five years ago, and I think it's worth hearing again, but in my Years, 15 years or so of being a pastor, the one sermon that I kind of always approach with more fear than others is when I have to preach regarding women. So I preach this, ladies, with a great sense of caution and reverence because I know sometimes it's hard to hear when you're hearing a teaching about how you are to live and it's coming from a man. But for one thing, I'm not a mom, I'm not a woman or a wife, and yet here I am called to speak with authority about being a godly wife or mother. I don't speak from experience because I am not a woman but I can speak based on the authority of God's Word which I trust that I am doing today because my personal opinions are faulty and So it's great caution that I approach this topic today about being a virtuous wife and mother so I'm bringing the Proverbs 31 and I trust that all you ladies in here, regardless of whether you're a mom, a wife, a mother, even a young person in here, a young lady in here, I trust that it's your desire to do what God has called you to do. And if you are married, to serve your husband, and if you are a mom, to love your children. And so we're gonna look here at Proverbs 31. as we go to the scriptures there today. Now, I encourage all of you to listen carefully, even you men, and even you young men who aren't married. There's a good possibility that someday you will be. But before we examine these verses and look in here at Proverbs 31, there's a few things I want to just make sure we understand before we go any further. And first of all, is that these teachings are really the teachings of another woman. As a man speaking to women, I find this is a great relief, personally. In verse 1 of Proverbs 31, it says, the words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. So this is the king telling us what his mom said to him. So it's coming from a woman's perspective. So, From my standpoint, that should be an encouragement to you because you're hearing really what another mom told her son who was the king. So obviously, though, if the word of God teaches it, it doesn't matter where or whose voice it's coming from or whose pen has written it down, it should be adhered to because it is the truth of God's word. It is profitable. Whether we like it or not, whether it's well-received, whether it tastes good going down or not, because it's the scriptures we should obey and cling to the truth that we see here in the text. So for you women in here, I want you to remember that these are not your husband's standards. These that are being taught, these are not my standards, but this is from the profitable and perfect Word of God that he has chosen to communicate to us through King Lemuel's mom. So in that respect, I'm just a messenger here. Number two is that this passage shows the significance of women in scripture. This mom is showing her husband, I mean her son, what every husband desires from his wife. And I would say that would be true for many men that even are unsaved, that they would say, yes, I would like a woman like this. And so this passage shows the extreme value of godly women. Women are important to God. They have important roles of influence throughout scripture. And God honors and celebrates motherhood and womanhood. And number three, and this is where I really want some of you to be careful with, some of you moms, that this is not a to-do list that we get from Proverbs 31. Instead, it's a biblical model. for you to draw from. No woman in here will ever be perfect. You'll never be the perfect mother. But you should be striving to be a better mom and wife as you grow in the Lord. But we should also, as moms, you should rejoice that God has at least given us an example of what a godly woman looks like. Otherwise, you'd be left to your own opinions, or worse, maybe my opinion. of what a wife or mom should look like. But we have a model here given to us in Proverbs 31. And based on some of the verses here, some of you women will walk away going, well, now I need to go buy a spindle and learn how to plant a vineyard and go buy a field. And you'll just walk away with, in your mind, a to-do list based on Proverbs 31. But I encourage you not to miss the principles and the model that's given here instead of just the applications. Take away the principles of the teachings before you try to apply what you think is the right application. And so I hope as we go through these verses today that you'll see that. So, you don't leave here today saying, honey, we've got to go buy some wool tomorrow so that I can start making some clothing. That is not the goal. Nobody should be wearing wool in the heat anyway. So, you can just take that off your list. But, the fourth thing here is that fathers and mothers We should also be using Proverbs 31 as a model to create an environment for our daughters to become godly wives and moms. So if you as a father desire to someday give your future son-in-law a highly desirable wife, and there's a lot of wisdom in these verses that can lead you down this path. So there are not many men, saved or unsaved, who would not want a woman like the Proverbs 31 woman. And so including your future son-in-law, amen. So moms and dads, you both should be guiding your daughters down the same path that we see here in Proverbs 31. And the last thing before we get into the actual text is this passage is a Hebrew poem. It is these 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and we're looking at the last 22 verses here of Proverbs 31. And they all begin with the next Hebrew letter. And so I'm not sure if this is a way that maybe moms help teach the Hebrew alphabet to their daughters, but either way, the text there in these last 22 verses, in verses 10 through 31, Each in the Hebrew they each begin with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet It was a poem that they would have and that they many would probably Memorize just like Psalms 119 is set up that way as well. And so I just wanted to make sure we kind of had some of those Introductory notes that before we proceed here and into a text that's going to cover 22 verses Now 22 verses is a big stretch for me. Most of you know, I don't preach When I preach, it's usually maybe five or six verses at the most, so we're going to look at 22 verses today. And some we'll move through a lot faster than others, but we're going to see a lot of character qualities here in this godly woman, as well as her secret to being so virtuous and desired by her own husband. And so if you have your outlines there, you can just fill in as we go. But I want to begin here in verse 10. First of all, we find out that a virtuous woman is rare. She is rare. Verse 10 says, who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies? Now, if you've ever read the entire book of Proverbs, it is filled with repeated warnings of two other kinds of women, the strange woman and the foolish wife. And so there are different names attributed there. But basically the Proverbs talks about the strange woman and also talks about the foolish wife. And on one hand we have a strange woman who is enticing men into sin and then we have the foolish wife who destroys her own home by her actions. And neither is godly, neither is honorable. And then we come to the last chapter here in Proverbs and we find that the strange woman that has been talked about and the foolish wife that has been talked about, those are the norm. But the virtuous wife is what is rare. And so when you read the first 30 chapters of Proverbs, it's really talking about this is normal. the foolish wife. That's normal. The strange woman, the harlot, that's normal. What is rare today is to find the virtuous woman. She is the exception. So much to say that it is better, the Scripture says, to have her than it is to have expensive and precious stones and metals. So in a more modern day sense, it is better to have a virtuous wife than to be a millionaire. She is more valuable than millions of dollars. And where does this wife come from? Well, she comes from the Lord. Proverbs 19.14 says, So this rare find, this virtuous woman who is rare, she comes from the Lord. Now look at verse 11. the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil." So verse 11 says, a virtuous woman is trusted by her husband. Now, a couple of points here about this virtuous woman being trusted by her husband. First of all, his trust is in her because her first love is the Lord. When a man is convinced that his wife loves the Lord first and foremost and desires to be the wife that God has called her to be, not only does he greatly benefit, but there is a trust that he has of her because she's answering to someone even higher than he is, which is the Lord. So he can really, fully, completely trust in her. And secondly, the reference here of verse 11 involves the husband's possessions, or even his money. It talks about the spoil. He shall have no need of spoil. Spoil is what really would often be gained in victory over an enemy that was just defeated. When an army would overtake an enemy, all the goods that that enemy had would now be given to them. It was like sort of the the bonus of defeating the enemy, they got to collect all the possessions of the enemy or the spoil of the enemy. So here Proverbs 31, the husband trusts his Proverbs 30 wife because she is wise in handling her husband's money and possessions and he's not worried that she's going to misuse it and that she'll run up debt and waste his hard earned money. He's not worried that she's going to buy a bunch of stuff she doesn't need. He's not worried that she's going to lose his assets that he has acquired. And so she's a content woman and he fully trusts in her. She's not the shopaholic spender who's trying to keep up with all of her neighbors. Her husband can really trust her and knows that he is better because of his wife, because she trusts and fears the Lord. In fact, the verse says that her husband doesn't even need the spoil from these other victories of war because of everything he already has in her. He really trusts his wife. Now, there is another possibility of interpreting this verse about the spoil. You see, in the Old Testament, one of the spoils of war was actually getting a wife. they could be taken in the victory. In Deuteronomy 21, let me read a couple of verses here. It says, When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord God has delivered them into thy hands, thou hast taken them captive, and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife, thou shalt bring her home to thine house. So one of the rules of battle here, if you take over and the spoil of the battle is if you see a beautiful woman and you want her to be your wife, you can take her and make her your wife. So after the enemy's been defeated, you could take one of those beautiful women, I'm not sure what they did with the ugly women, but they said you could take the beautiful women and you can find one and make that your wife. That was one of the teachings here in Deuteronomy. So it was possible here that the Proverbs 31 victory, I mean, the Proverbs 31 verse could be applying to the victory in that sense, where a man would have the permission to take a beautiful wife from the spoil of defeating the enemies. And so, but, What it's saying here, if you interpret it that way, we're looking at why would he need that wife when he already has the one that's so great, that's already in his possession. He has no need of the spoil of a beautiful wife from the enemy's hands. He has one already. He has everything he needs. And at that point in time, it was permissible even to take another wife, but the Proverbs 31 husband knew better because he already had a Proverbs 31 wife. Look at verse 12. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. So the virtuous woman always benefits her husband. In the Hebrew, one of the teachings of the word good is pleasure. Now there are many ways a wife can bring pleasure to her husband, but something unusual about this woman is that she is consistent in seeing that her husband is always benefited by her being in his life. She truly is a helpmate to him. He trusts her completely. Not just with his finances, but with his secrets, with his family, with their children, with their home, with his dreams, with his fears, with everything. He completely is benefited by her. And the second half of the verse gives us a little bit more insight here. She does not do evil to him, which really means grief or sorrow. The virtuous woman does not grieve her husband by her actions. He is never embarrassed to be with her. Listen to Proverbs 12, four. A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, and she that maketh ashamed is as rotten as to his bones. See, a virtuous woman does not bring her husband shame. She always benefits her husband. So he's not ashamed to be with her. And she doesn't shame him, and the result is he trusts her. Why? Because she fears the Lord, she takes care of him, brings pleasure to him, and that in his wife is his very best asset. And this is her consistent behavior. Not just when she feels like it, but all the days of her life. She does not grow weary in well-doing, even in her service to the Lord. Even in her service to the husband who she knows all his faults and he knows all her faults, she never belittles her husband either because her godliness is characterized by her consistency in desiring to be a blessing to her husband, to always benefit him. And here's the key, her desire to serve and benefit her husband is not based on her moods and it's not based on his behavior. but on her love for the Lord, and I think that's the key here. Her desire to always benefit her husband is not based on her moods or how he's feeling, or she's feeling, and it's not based on how well he behaves or not. See, if you wanna be a Proverbs 31 woman, and you're gonna wait until you're in the mood to be a Proverbs 31 woman, and you're gonna wait until your husband is doing everything right, then you're gonna be waiting a long time. And so the Proverbs 31 woman always benefits her husband because first and foremost in her life is the fear of the Lord. Look at Proverbs, look at verse 13 and 14. The virtuous woman is not lazy. She's not lazy. Verse 13, she seeks wool and flax and works willing with her hands. She is like the merchant ships. She bringeth her food from afar. So she's not lazy. She works because she wants to work and please her husband to be an asset and to be a helpmeet to him. Now notice it says works willingly. Not because she has to, not because her husband is demanding her to, Her husband's not making it work. She's driven to be a benefit to him and her family, so she willingly does this. It's her heart of love for God and for her husband that causes her to get up each morning and to work for the good of the family. She's fully committed to God and to her husband and to her family. Now I want you to realize that over half of the verses here in Proverbs 31 speak about the labor of this woman. This lady is a very hard worker. These two verses speak of her hard work here in verses 13 and 14, even in the most basic areas, like seeing to it that her family has food. And in those days, getting food was a lot more work than it is today. I mean, they just didn't drive down to Walmart and get food. It involved a lot more work. And so, now, here's the problem is often a lot of people think that the Bible says that women should not work. But that is not true. That is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible does not say women should not work. The virtuous woman of Proverbs works harder than some men I know. Now, the Bible does give parameters regarding women working, but never does it say that a woman should not work. The virtuous woman is working hard. She is under the blessing of her husband, obviously, as she benefits him and the entire family. She's managing her home, even making money for her husband, and she's doing it all without ever having to leave his headship. And I believe that's the key here. She works, but she still remains under his headship. This woman is not idle. She's not a busybody. She's skilled. She not only has ability, but more importantly, she has initiative. She does not want to waste her time and her energy to things that aren't going to be profitable for her family. Instead, she wants to use it to bless her husband and her home. So the virtuous woman is not lazy. Let's look at verses 15 and 27, because I've kept these together. She rises also while it is yet night and gives meat to her household and a portion to her maidens. Verse 27, she looks well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness. So the virtuous woman here manages her time and her resources. She manages her time and her resources. Now many things require a woman's attention. especially a mother's attention. The virtuous woman gets up ahead of time here to take care of her family, and notice that she's not careless with what she has been given. She is very careful. She has mouths to feed. But because of her resourcefulness, because of the fact that she's being frugal, she sees to it that not only her children have enough, but also her handmaidens, those who are there to serve her, to even help out. She has enough food to go around. She's been that wise with her husband's money to be able to even feed others that are outside of her family. Now, do you notice what she's not done? One would think that this virtuous woman would command the female servants to get up early and do that for her while she sleeps in. But she's actually taking the opportunity to serve those who are under her, which really speaks highly of her kindness and tenderness that she has for those who are under her authority. She's not demanding of others what she obviously wouldn't do herself. No chore or task is beneath her because she does not know slothfulness and laziness or idleness. And in the managing of her time and resources, she still sees to it that she serves others. Look at verse 16 and 24. Here we're going to see that a virtuous woman invests wisely. Verse 16, she considers a field and buys it. With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard. Verse 24, she makes fine linen and sells it and delivers girdles unto the merchant. So once again, here is a virtuous woman who's investing wisely. She's not gonna be careless with money and resources. She's gonna buy something that is needed for the family with the blessing of her husband, something that will benefit the family. And in this case, that is a field. It appears that she bought it so the family could have a vineyard. perhaps not only for themselves, but also to turn and make a profit with what she's able to grow in that vineyard. So this woman is a wise investor. She's not a credit card happy kind of woman. In verse 24, it says she's selling her goods. But get this, she's also not this impulse buyer. It says she's taken into consideration. She considers a field. There's purpose and intent when she is buying. It means that word consider means to plan. And so you have to back up again and go this woman really is intentional and cautious with with money. She's very purposeful with what she's doing. She considers and plans carefully the use of her family's money. And the result, the virtuous woman provides even extra income for her family. In fact, when other women are draining their husbands financially and buying all the time, this woman is blessing her family by investing wisely, buying and selling to where it will profit the family and even bring in additional income and even meet their needs. She is enriching her family by being a blessing to her husband and investing wisely. Look at verse 17. The virtuous woman is strong. She girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms. Now, this is one of the meanings and definitions of virtuous. This is a strong woman. There's only one other woman mentioned in scripture that was given that qualification. In Ruth chapter three, and now my daughter, fear not. I will do to thee all that thou requires for all the city of my people doth know that thou are a virtuous or strong woman. So Boaz told Ruth, you know, the whole town knows that you're a strong, virtuous woman. Now obviously this is not referring to her physique, that she likes to work out a lot and that she's physically strong. That's not the meaning here. However, she is strong in spirit, in initiative, in purpose. She's strong in her character. She benefits her entire family. There is an inner strength found in this woman that is rare. And as in the case of Ruth, and most likely the same woman here, the whole town notices. Wow. Boaz said to Ruth, you're a strong woman and everybody knows it. I imagine the Proverbs 31 husband was told many times how strong his Proverbs 31 woman was. So the virtuous woman, not only is she rare, but she is strong. Look at verses 18 and 19. The virtuous woman does not love sleep. Verse 18, she perceives that her merchandise is good and her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle and her hands hold the distaff. Now, please hear me ladies on this. I did not say that she doesn't sleep. I just said she doesn't love it, in a sense. It doesn't take up all of her day. She doesn't lay around the house. Now, a couple of things about this verse. First of all, the woman's hard work is profitable because whatever she produces, whether it's grapes or grain or fine linens or whatever, they are good. And therefore, she experiences the fruit of her labor, the rewards of her labor. Her clients know that she, her customers know that she produces a good product. This comes from all of her hard work. And it says that her candle does not go out by night. And this is not an early to bed, early to rise woman. This looks like she is a late to bed, early to rise woman. She's kind of burning the midnight oil. Her time is not consumed with things that aren't profitable for the family. I mean, she's not spending hours reading romance novels. watching TV all day, she is a working woman. She is diligent day and night. She is not a lover of sleep, although she gets her sleep because she takes care of herself. But she uses her time wisely knowing that someday she's going to have to give an account for any idleness. Again, that doesn't mean that she never rests or relaxes. But when it comes to her daily routines, she's known for being diligent. She is not a lover of sleep. Look at verse 20. The virtuous woman ministers to the poor. She stretches out her hand to the poor, yea, she reaches forth her hands to the needy. What's so amazing here is that as busy as this woman is in taking care of her husband, her children, even her maidens, she still ministers to those who are poor. She's not neglected the needs of others in her compassion. She continues to reach out to the needy. And if there was ever a woman who had an excuse for not being able to spend time ministering to the poor, it would be her. But she did not let her schedule run her. She made time to minister to the poor. And right before this whole teaching begins in verse 10 of Proverbs 31, look at verses 8 and 9 of Proverbs 31, which is King Lemuel's mom's telling him, Open thy mouth for the dumb, and the calls of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the calls of the poor and needy. You see, God's people are to have a heart of compassion for the poor. And this godly woman in Proverbs 31 proved it. She believed it. She practiced it. She ministered to the poor. She was definitely a woman who had a full schedule. She was diligent with her daily routines. She made investments. She's a hard worker. And many things on her plate, but somehow she still managed her time wisely enough to be able to minister to the poor. And today, and we, both men and women, just don't seem to have time for things like that, it seems. Now, we may be faithful in not missing a certain TV show, or a movie, or sporting event, or never miss a day without checking our email, and we'll sleep in whenever we can. And yet this woman here made sure she had time to minister to the poor. Even as she was busy planting vineyards and making clothes and going to bed late and getting up early, she still has time to reach out to the poor. Proverbs 14 says, he that despises neighbor's sins, but he that has mercy on the poor, happy is he. And this is also one of the secrets to the Proverbs 31 woman's happiness. Her heart is delightful because she has compassion and gives to the poor. Look at verse 21. The virtuous woman makes preparations for the future. She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet. Now we could focus on the clothing aspect here of verse 21, and just the fact that she's saying that her children are protected from the cold, and the word scarlet here actually means double garments. which means she dressed them in layers when it was snow outside, which is also even taught today. They always tell you if it's cold outside, dress in layers. That's what the word scarlet here means. It means to double garments. But I don't think the focus here is The teaching here is to not dress your kid in layers. That's not the teaching. The principle here is that she is making preparations for the future. Because when it is snowing outside is not when you sit down to make a scarf. You do that ahead of time so that when it's snowing you have a scarf ready. When it's snowing is not when you start making your winter clothes. But this woman, because she has been proactive in her preparations, she's not a wife who is worried or stressed out about the future because she has planned and prepared, which is an additional benefit to her husband. She makes preparations for the future, even something as simple as clothing for when it's gonna be cold later. Look at verse 22. The virtuous woman also prepares and anticipates the marriage bed. Verse 22, she makes herself coverings of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. Now often the focus of this verse is about how skillful she is in making clothing and linens for herself. I realize that some of you women do not have that skill. But this woman here in Proverbs 31 is great at making sheets and curtains and drapes. I mean, she's skillful in this. But I don't think that's so much the main point here. In the Hebrew, this phrase makes herself coverings of tapestry. That actually is a reference to her bed that she and her husband share. Because this woman, the marriage bed, is a priority for her. In fact, I want you to see something. Turn to Proverbs chapter 7 for just a minute. Flip back a few chapters to Proverbs 7. I want you to see something. Again, as you're turning there, listen to verse 22 again. She makes herself coverings of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. Now, Proverbs 7. And we see the same language used, but I want you to notice the whole completely different scenario. Look at verse 10. And behold, there was a man, I'm sorry, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and the subtle of heart. She is loud and stubborn and her feet abide not in her house. Now she is without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner. So she caught him and kissed him. And with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings with me, this day I have paid my vows. Therefore, came I forth to meet thee diligently to seek thy face and I have found thee. So this harlot has pursued this man. Verse 16, I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works and fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh and aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning. Let us solace ourselves with love. Now, do you see what the harlot did in Proverbs 7? She prepared her bedroom to entice men. She says, I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry." She has prepared her bedroom to entice men in a sinful way. But the Proverbs 31 woman, she maketh herself coverings of tapestry, using the same Hebrew word. The Proverbs 31 woman with her bedding and clothing, has prepared and even anticipated the mystery and blessing of the undefiled marriage bed." I want to make sure you get this. The Proverbs 31 woman is doing the same thing in preparing her bedroom that the harlot does to prepare her bedroom. But the Proverbs 31 woman is doing it in celebration of her marriage, not to ruin it. The Proverbs 31 woman is not a prude. She's creative and thoughtful lover to her husband. She's setting the mood for the bedroom. And she looks forward to being with her husband in the blessing of the marriage bed. She has taken the same desire and intent that the harlot is using for evil. This woman has said, I'm going to do this for the blessing of my marriage. She's made sure that her bedroom is prepared in such a way that it'll be a wonderful, pleasurable experience for she and her husband. The Proverbs 31 woman understands that a godly marriage does not equal boring, monotonous, or predictable. It should be creative and exciting, serving one another with the anticipation of loving one another in all aspects of marriage, including the marriage bed. See, the Proverbs 31 woman saw to it that her husband has no excuse to even look for the woman we read about in Proverbs 7. Because there's a lot of men who will say, well, look at all the work the harlot did to try to entice me. And the Proverbs 31 woman is saying, look what all I'm gonna do to entice my own husband. Do you see the difference here? Both made coverings of tapestry, which is referring to the marriage bed, doing the work to prepare the marriage bed. The Proverbs 31 woman worked just as hard to entice her own husband in what is a righteous relationship that the harlot did to produce sin. because the Proverbs 31 woman takes serious the marriage bed. Look at verses 23 and 31. Here we're going to see the virtuous woman is an asset to her husband's reputation and service. Verse 23, her husband is known in the gates when he sitteth among the elders of the land. And verse 31, give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. See, the Proverbs 31 husband is not embarrassed that the others will discover what kind of wife he really has. Instead, she's an asset to his reputation, even as a leader in the community. A man sought out for wisdom, and one who is giving out wisdom in the city, is a man whose reputation cannot be put into jeopardy by a wife with no character. So the opposite is true here. She is his best asset. And not only is her husband known in the gates, but she is too. It says, let her own works praise her in the gates. Her hard work and godly character and her example to other daughters and mothers and wives has not gone unnoticed. People in the community know. She's not sold out the attention, but the fruit of her hands is so evident to all, and she is known also in the gates as well. Look at verse 25. The virtuous woman looks forward to the future with joy. Verse 25 says, strength and honor are her clothing and she shall rejoice in time to come. Now more accurate reading here of this text means that she really laughs at the future. It literally means that she's gonna laugh in time to come. Now how can a woman like this look forward to the future with joy and laughter? Well, she's not caught up in the frivolous things of this world. She loves God, she loves her husband, she loves her family. She is a woman of character and strength and honor. These are qualities that clothe this woman. She is adorned with beauty that you don't buy at the mall or see in a magazine. Her character is what clothes her and makes her beautiful. And because of that, she knows that her best days are ahead of her. And because she has invested wisely and has prepared and anticipates the future, she looks forward to it even with laughter and with joy. She is looking forward to growing old with her husband and to being a grandmother and to serving in her church, even as her responsibilities lessen at home as she gets older. She is joyful about the future. She laughs and rejoiced in anticipation of it. She looks forward to the future. Look at verse 26. The virtuous woman speaks wisdom and kindness. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness." You know, in a day when many women are stereotyped as gossips, this virtuous woman is not even going to be close to that. She will be the exact opposite. Out of her mouth is wisdom and kindness. And the reality here of a Proverbs 31 woman is that she's a teacher. She teaches not only verbally, but she teaches by her deeds. She's an example. And where does she get this wisdom and kindness? She has a walk with God from her relationship with God in her kindness. She reaches out to others who aren't like her. She even reaches out to her maidens who are under her authority. She reaches out to the poor. She's a godly resource for younger women. She's an example to her peers. She is a godly woman and the words that come from her mouth exemplify her love for the Lord. And when she opens her mouth, truth wrapped up in love and kindness and wisdom is what comes from her lips. Look at verses 28 and 29. Here we see the virtuous woman is honored by her family. Her children arise up and call her blessed, her husband also, he praises her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Now do you get this one here? The Proverbs 31 woman is praised by the people who know her the best, those who are closest to her. And it seems that those who know her the best praise her the most. Men and children, listen to this. It seems that those who know her the best, those who are the closest to her, praise her the most. Her character and her diligent work has not gone unnoticed. And this is so important for us as men and for our children, for us to bless and to praise our wives and for our children to praise their mothers. I believe that one reason so many women are drawn away to going outside of the home is there's a lot more praise and recognition out there than there is in their own homes. But the Proverbs 31 woman was saturated. with the praise of her husband and her children. Now think about it, they've cooked many meals for you over the years and decades and done the dishes and washed your clothes and seldom is there recognition or thank yous. But not this woman. So many times men will read Proverbs 31 and they'll think, wow, I wish I had a woman like that. You know what? You know one of the one things that propelled this woman into being a Proverbs 31 woman? Look how well her husband praised her and blessed her. What greater happiness on earth could a godly woman experience than that of being revered by her children and praised by her husband? The virtuous woman is honored by her family. Look at verse 30. The virtuous woman fears the Lord. Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Well, this is it, ladies. This is the overriding theme of Proverbs 31. She fears the Lord. And we looked at the fear of the Lord last week in depth with Psalms 128. This woman fears the Lord. She rises early because she fears the Lord. She takes great care of her husband's money because she fears the Lord. She helps the poor because she fears the Lord. She prepares her marriage bed for intimacy because she fears the Lord. Everything she does, this is her driving motivation. She fears the Lord. And what does she understand about superficial things? Well, she's not She's not captivated by favor or outward beauty. Doesn't mean that she's lacking in these. Doesn't mean that she doesn't make herself attractive, but that's not the driving force in her life. Favor here, whether referring to the positioning she has in life or her charm, that's not her focus either. She does not find her security in her beauty. Now do I think she made herself beautiful for her husband and took care of herself? I would think so. She's a woman of character and she loves her husband and she wants to be a great benefit to him. But her goal in life is to not spend a lot of time focusing on outward beauty. She knows that that is vain and fleeting. And it's not an excuse to let ourselves go, but to have the right priorities in place because for her, it was the fear of God. That was first and foremost in her life. And I said when I began today, ladies, do not leave here thinking you have to go buy a vineyard and make your own clothes and start working in a soup kitchen. Instead, we all should do this, and that is examine our hearts, ask the Holy Spirit, do I really fear the Lord? Because to outwardly attempt to model the Proverbs 31 woman, or us men to model the Proverbs 31 husband, And to do so without the fear of the Lord would be such a waste of our life. It would be vanity. So if there's an application to take home, that is to examine everything you do in light of fearing the Lord. What you read, how you raise your children, what you watch, how you speak to your spouse, how you honor one another in the marriage bed, how you manage your home, how you work, how you spend your leisure time, everything in light of how do you fear the Lord. So ladies, don't try to become the Proverbs 31 woman, or men, the Proverbs 31 man, without the fear of the Lord. First of all, it won't happen. Secondly, it's gonna frustrate you. Because God wants you to first seek his kingdom, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you as you walk in the fear of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for not just teaching us, but giving us a model, for giving us the model of the Proverbs 31 husband and the model of the Proverbs 31 wife. Father, I thank you that you have been gracious to us. You have been our example. Through the life of Christ, Father, we saw how we are to love people, to care for people, to care for one another. Lord, I just ask that you would with us today is we hear teachings like this that are hard and we look at our lives and go, wow, we really fall short. Father, I pray that we do not walk away with a to-do list, but that we would really examine our hearts regarding the fear of the Lord. Do we live in the fear of the Lord or do we rationalize our actions? Are we people who wait for our spouses to be living right before we do what's right? Do we sacrifice ourselves for one another? Do we truly love each other? Are we truly kind to one another? Father, I pray that you would work in all of our homes, work in all of our hearts, may we be more and more like Jesus. It's in his name I pray, amen.