You can turn with me in your Bibles to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2. We'll be focusing our attention on verses 4 and 5. But let's begin our reading in Titus 1, verse 5. Remind us of some of the things, again, that we have learned thus far in this letter. And we'll read down to verse 9 of chapter 2. And remember, these are in chapter two, an exhortation to the church. And one of the main reasons is so that the word of God may not be blasphemed, that the church can have a strong and powerful witness and testimony in the world. And that's one of the main reasons, the characteristics that we find given here for people in the church, for elders, and then various church members are given. Titus chapter one, let's begin at verse five. And we'll read down to verse 9 of chapter 2. And our focus will be on verses 4 and 5 of chapter 2. Here again, God's wholly inspired and inerrant word. For this reason, I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. If a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or insubordination, for a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word, as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict. For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain. One of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth. To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine, that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith and love and patience. The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things. that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well-pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. May God once again add his blessing to this reading of his word. If you take very much time to read about the women's liberation movement or the feminist movement or things of that nature, the kinds of things they say, the ideas that they have in their mind, you will find out that these women are very confused. Very confused. They don't know what they're talking about. They know not of what they speak. I tried to maybe share some quotes from some, but I couldn't find any that were really good and that made very much sense because they completely misunderstand what they're created for, who their creator is. They're confused, not only about themselves, but about men and children, about God, about creation, about his created order. And so many in this matter are utterly lost. And we have to be careful who we listen to and who we are exposed to and the kinds of things that we read and the things that we can see online or hear about. We are not influenced by this kind of thinking. because it's completely contrary to scripture. And at root, when you study the history of the feminist movement, and the roots go way back, it's rooted, and this is gonna seem strong, but it is rooted in Satanism. It is rooted in a complete opposition to God and the order that he has established in creation. It is demonic doctrine. The passage that we have before us this morning is, Very controversial. It's even seen as problematic in the church with regard to the place and position and calling of women in general. I can only imagine how many women, if I had a much bigger audience, would cringe at a passage like this. Just reading it, they would cringe at it, at a sermon like this. They would plug their ears, and if they could, throw their chairs at me. And yet in a sinful, fallen world, which is in rebellion against God, such a response is to be expected and only serves all the more to confirm the truthfulness and the veracity and the importance of a text like this one that we have before us this morning. But I wanna encourage us to take our religion, to take the Christian faith straight from the Bible, just as it stands right on the pages of scripture. Let's not dilute it, let's not soften it, let's not water it down, but let's give ourselves to the wisdom of God who has created us. And hear what he has to say. Let God be true and every man a liar who opposes him and who disagrees with him. God has created us. He's created men and women. He knows what they're like. He knows what we are like. He has created us each unique and distinct. He made us with each our own unique gifts and abilities. He knows what will make our lives more fulfilling and the most joyful and the most satisfying and the most rewarding and the most blessed. And for the godly woman whose heart has been subdued by the power of the Holy Spirit, who loves the Lord and wants to honor Him and please Him, these instructions, this counsel will be most welcome. And she will delight in her Maker and Redeemer and say, thank you, God, for giving me clear direction and counsel from your Word. so that I may know what I might do to please you." That's the heart cry of a godly woman. Now we continue to find ourselves in the midst of a passage that gives specific direction and counsel to every member of the Christian church. I do think that Paul intends here to address everyone in general. He wants to hit everybody in the congregation. We looked at the older men and women already, and the word used here for younger women, niases, clearly meant to embrace all of the younger ladies in the congregation of varying ages. even the really young girls, teenage girls, as well as women who are still relatively young but older in their 30s and 40s. So whatever the term for older women doesn't include, this term is meant to embrace. Now, you may say to me, well, there's a lot of instructions here, especially in this text, for younger women, and these instructions are clearly given to those who are married and who have children, which wouldn't include, you know, younger girls, teenage girls. But we have to remember that in that day in culture, in Paul's day, women often married very young. And it was very uncommon for a young girl not to, a young lady not to be married. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was probably 13 or 14 years old, some have said even 12, when she was engaged to Joseph and was pregnant with Jesus in her womb. And even though our culture is different, and women don't get usually married that young, and the average age that a woman marries changes, yet this is still obviously a very important text for the young ladies who are unmarried that they need to consider as they look forward to the prospect of marriage and of raising children. And indeed, as we will see, as we have always seen, there is much help and application for us all in this text, for we are all to encourage one another and hold one another accountable in the faith as to how God would have us to live. Now, let me begin by saying that there is a lot in our text today. I almost turned this into two or three sermons. There's so much that could be elaborated on here, more so than the others in the congregation. Now, the elder, there were 16 qualifications, if you remember in chapter one, that's a lot. The older men here, it's basically mainly four. You could divide it up a little bit more. The older women, also four. But with the younger women, we have seven characteristics listed here. Loving their husbands, loving their children, being discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, and obedient to husbands. There's a lot to unpack here, a lot to unfold and for us to consider. And I think we could say that there's a greater emphasis here on the younger women more so than the other members. And the younger men also don't get this much attention. But I think God knows what he's doing and he's giving wisdom here even in this. Because we can see how much a passage like this More than the other members of the congregation is attacked in our day. And we need to be fulsome. We don't want to leave things out. We need to make sure that the young women know what God has called them to do. And I would remind you that this is given in the context of what the older women are encouraged to teach the younger women. You remember that. One of the primary callings and functions of the older women in the church, as we see here, is to be an example in these things to the younger women and to show them in the way they should go. At the end of verse three, the older women are to be teachers of good things, and then it goes into what they are to teach the younger women. And so Paul kind of brings these together, that the older woman is to teach the woman certain things, and then these are the things that the younger women are to be and to pursue. And I think that the teaching by women in the church is strongly emphasized here and encouraged here because teaching in public, and especially teaching men, is forbidden in scripture, and it's squarely prohibited in so many other places in the New Testament. So Paul wants to make much of the importance of women teaching in the appropriate context, in the appropriate sphere that is teaching other women. And so Paul says, I want the older women to be involved in this. He says they are to admonish the young women. That's how he begins verse four. Now, what's remarkable about the beginning of this verse that you just can't at all see it in the English translation, is how the apostle begins here, because he uses a unique word that isn't used anywhere else in the New Testament. Admonish is really not the best translation. We see the word admonish used all over in Paul's writings, in his letters, and it's different than the word that's here. That's never this word. Other versions translate the word as train, and that's better. but still doesn't convey the fundamental meaning. The word sofronizo means literally to recall one to his or her senses, to recall one to their senses. It's almost kind of like a wake-up call. It's to bring someone to the reality of what is sensible in this life. I think the idea of this verb is really conveyed well in the parable of the prodigal son. You remember how the prodigal son left his family, he took his inheritance, he spent all of his money, and he's there in a pigsty, and he's wanting to eat the pig food. But the text says that he came to himself in Luke 15, 17, or he came to his senses. And that's kind of the idea here, that they would come to their senses. And I think, I think this is good, I think this is appropriate because young women and young men also can sometimes get their heads in the clouds, right? And they can have great aspirations and great dreams about their future that sometimes are not that realistic, that aren't rooted in the real world. And there can be this ideal of young women and being married, right, to Prince Charming. Do some of you girls think about that? Being married to, you know, this wonderful, handsome prince and you're gonna get married and you're gonna just ride off into the sunset and you're gonna live happily ever after. And everything's gonna be just wonderful in your marriage. Or there can be great spiritual aspirations as well. I was just reading a book recently by a godly woman. She's written a few books, especially for women. But she herself admitted that at one time she had great aspirations of being a missionary. And this was after she was already married. And she had everything all planned out in her mind. She and her husband could sell their house and they could go be missionaries. I think it was in Africa. But then she went to her husband and she told him this great plan because she wants to be this godly woman. And she has all of these wonderful ideas. And he was not on board. And he said to her, no, we're not going to be missionaries. We're not gonna sell our house and we're not gonna be moving anywhere. This is where God has planted me. This is where God has called me to be. And her spiritual aspirations were completely deflated. Now that is not to say that some women and single women aren't called to the mission field and to labor in some way because some women are and many married couples do that. They do ministerial work and they travel abroad and they can still raise a family while they do that in foreign fields. But we can get it into our heads as this lady had, that somehow that is a more noble calling or a higher calling or a more spiritual work, that that is somehow real ministry there, while staying at home and doing the dishes and washing the clothes and caring for a bunch of children is not. Which to believe that way and to think that way is to believe a lie from the very pit of hell. It's demonic doctrine to oppose that. But all that to say that sometimes younger Christian people, and in this case, he singles out the young women, need a little bit of a reality check. They need to come to their senses. They need to be grounded in the simple, basic fundamentals of the Christian life, in the ordinary Christian life. And that is what God has called Christians to. There's actually a recent book that has come out about the ordinary Christian life and the whole purpose is to show that this is what God has called his people to. Not something extraordinary, but ordinary. And the young women need to know what God has ordinarily called young women to do and to be in the kingdom of God. That's what Paul emphasizes here. And so the older women are to help the younger women to come to their senses, to give them direction and with regard to their calling and their duties in this life. which is the idea behind this word. Young's literal translation of the Bible, he comes the closest that I could find of all the translations, and he translates it this way, that they, that is the older women, that they make the young women sober-minded, that they help them become sensible, that's the idea. And then the apostle Paul goes into what that looks like, and he gives us a list of these wonderful qualities, wonderful characteristics of a godly woman. And he begins by saying that a godly woman, first and foremost, must love her husband and her children. Now, believe it or not, this is a very significant passage because this is the only place in the entire New Testament where women are told to love their husbands. It's the only place. I actually heard a sermon once and the preacher said that nowhere in the New Testament is the wife explicitly told to love her husband. She is only told to respect him. But apparently he forgot Titus chapter two. But this is the only one. He was undoubtedly thinking of passages like Ephesians chapter five, where the husband is told to love the wife three different times. That's the emphasis. And the wife is told to submit and to respect her husband. The focus overall in general in scripture is on the husband loving the wife and the focus of the wife is on respecting her husband. In Ephesians, in Colossians, in 1 Peter, the emphasis is on the role of the wife in submitting to her husband and the love of the wife is not mentioned. But here it is, and of course, this is of the utmost importance. And interestingly, the phrase to love their husbands and to love their children, each one of those phrases are a one Greek word. And the word basically means husband lovers or husband loving, or children lovers or children loving, philandros and philotechnos, just one word. Now, some might respond that this is, we need to, you know, it's good to have a token mention of this, but this is fairly obvious, right? I mean, of course, women are to love their husbands. Isn't that why the woman married the husband in the first place? Because she loves him. Well, one thing we have to remember that in first century culture, this way of speaking and this way of thinking of marriage wasn't common or it didn't exist hardly at all. People didn't marry because they fell in love, as the saying goes today. And this idea is even foreign in other cultures of the world today. In the words of one historian, before the modern era in the West, love was not the primary motivating factor for marriage. Economic needs, preservation of one's social status, and a host of other reasons drove marriage long before love did, if it ever became a factor at all. He goes on, people married for reasons other than love back then, and women often had no say in who their husbands would be. That is why Paul's teaching is profoundly counter-cultural. It was by no means certain in his setting that young wives would have any affection for their husbands at all. Now we automatically think of love as being of primary importance in a marriage, and that's good. That's partly due to the influence of Christianity and the Bible. The sad reality is, though, that many people get married and stay married to people they do not love, don't they? And this happens to Christians as well. But I think that in any marriage, Even where love is known to be a requisite, a married couple soon realizes that marriage is hard work, and that loving a spouse is hard work. It doesn't come naturally. If we truly understand biblical love, Love is not so much a feeling as it is action, although it certainly involves feeling. In the words of one famous Christian band whose, I used to listen to years ago, they're not, they actually went on a tour in 2019, DC Talk. But they have a song, or a rap song, whatever it was, that love is a verb. And that's actually a wonderful statement. And that's stuck with me through life, because that's very important. Love is a verb. Love is a verb. Love is something we do regardless of how we feel. We are to love in spite of how we feel. And I want to give you an example of how we do this kind of a thing. And this can seem fake to people, but hear me out. So let's say that you and your spouse are at home and you're fighting and you're arguing and you guys are just in really bad moods, you know, and it's tense in there. And somebody comes to the door. a neighbor, or maybe it's your pastor, I don't know. They knock on the door, and all of a sudden, the wife is like, oh hey, how are you doing? I'm having a great day. You know, you see, you changed your attitude. But the thing is, that's not being fake. You're trying to do what you're called to do in spite of how you feel what you wanna do. Do you see what I'm saying? And that is what scripture, that is what God wants us to strive for. And a lot of times, the feelings and the emotions follow the right action. When we are being obedient to the Lord, This is what Gerard Berghoff said in a book where he talks about marriage. This is what he says. Married couples must realize that romantic love is not sufficient to make marriage successful. There must be from the beginning the self-sacrificial love displayed by Christ for his church and the self-denying love required of the church for her Lord. True marriage sustains true love by practicing it. The home grows on love. Often it must be by act of the will, running counter to emotion, that marriages move ahead. And the person and persons involved must learn to distinguish between love as a feeling and love as a commitment. And then I want you to think about this profound statement he said. Christ did not enjoy his incarnation. He did it out of his deep will to love. I don't know if I've heard anybody say something like that before. He didn't enjoy his incarnation. He did it out of his deep will to love. Love must be practiced. Love must be learned. Love must be put on, as it were. Married couples, I don't think, hardly ever love one another when they first get married the way they love or can love years later. When they are first married, they don't even hardly know one another very well. They may be infatuated with one another. But real love takes time. Did I love my wife when I first married her? I need to be careful, yes, but not like I do now. Not after years of marriage with her. By God's grace, that love has grown. Now, love, of course, does involve our feelings, our emotions, our affections, our whole being. And scripture bears this out. Interestingly, the root word here for love in these two Greek words for husband-loving and children-loving is the word philo. Philandros and philotechnos is a part of both of these words. And that word for love, philo, does denote an experience-based love. It denotes love that is affectionate, a love that is familial, a love that is personal and intimate. Philo bears this idea out. Agape love is based on a decision of the will, primarily. But this is the love of personal experience and affection. And agape love and philo love are not mutually exclusive, but they are meant to complement one another. But I do think this helps us to see that it is also good for the wife to have a personal, experiential, affectionate, intimate love for her husband and children. She is to cultivate this. She is to grow in this. This is a good thing. This is natural for the Christian woman. This is how God has designed it. And the apostle puts this obligation to love first because it is the primary calling of the wife and mother. Most all that the apostle lists after this will naturally come, it will naturally flow out of a heart of love and devotion to her husband and her children. It's as if he says, this is how you are to love them. And so I would, I have to ask you married women, do you love your husbands? Are you growing? and your love for your husband? Do you love them more than you love your children? That's a hard thing at times, but that is what God calls us to. Notice that philandros is mentioned before philotechnos, a lover of a husband first, then a lover of children. After loving her husband and children, the first virtue mentioned in regard to a young woman's character is discretion. Sophron can be translated as sensible, prudent, thoughtful, discreet. The word implies an inner outlook in the way that she thinks about the life and the world that regulates outward behavior. This word really pertains largely to wisdom, wisdom in how the woman carries herself as a person, wisdom in the way she talks and acts. Girls need to learn how to become mature in their thinking, to put away childish things and to become a woman of God, a woman of discretion. She is to put a lot of care and thought into how she can be a help to her husband. How she can best care for her children and raise them. A woman of discretion comes alongside to assist her husband, to help her husband, to protect her husband, to protect her husband's reputation. As it says in Proverbs 31 11, the heart of her husband can safely trust in her. And even when her husband is being foolish, she can be a help to him, and giving him wise counsel. There's a wonderful example of this, a story I'm sure you're very familiar with, in 1 Samuel 25, when Abigail was a very prudent and wise woman, in the midst of the conflict between David and his army of men, and Nabal, that foolish man. And both of those men were being foolish, and David admitted it. And it says in the text there that she was a woman of good understanding. And David said, thank you so much for your advice. She intervened. She was a woman of discretion. And she stopped the slaughter of many young innocent people. She was the prudent person in the story. And I know that I've had to admit to my wife on a number of occasions You were right, honey, and I was wrong. Several occasions. And men, just do it. Don't be prideful. Come out and acknowledge when you are wrong and your wife is right. Honey, you were right. I was dead wrong in this. And I'm so thankful for your wisdom and for your counsel. Proverbs 19.4, excuse me, Proverbs 19.14 says, houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. I wanna encourage the young men and the boys in our congregation, when you pray for a wife, pray for a prudent wife. Pray for a wise woman who can give you good counsel. How important is a woman's discretion in the home? It's needed almost daily. There are so many decisions a wife needs to make or participates in, financial decisions, educational decisions, home management decisions, perhaps church-related decisions. Ladies, pray for discretion. Pray that you would grow in wisdom and prudence. Long for it. Above all things, get wisdom. The next virtue that is mentioned is related to a woman's purity or chastity. Young women especially are not only to be discreet but also chaste. The word hognos in this context means to be ethically pure or chaste. The same word is used in 2 Corinthians 11, 12 where Paul writes, for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. The same word is used in 2 Corinthians 7.11, and it's translated there as innocence. A young woman is to strive to be pure, chaste, innocent. And this is something that a young Christian woman should desire and pursue all her life long, from her youth to her old age, to keep herself pure before and after marriage. What a wonderful gift. that a Christian young woman can give to a future husband, her virginity, when she has not known a man before. Not that this is the all-important thing, not that this is always a make-or-break deal, but God's Word says it is a great blessing. And this whole matter of chastity, of course, is intimately tied to the Seventh Commandment. The Westminster Shorter Catechism reminds us that the Seventh Commandment requires the preservation of our own and our neighbor's chastity in heart, speech, and behavior. And it forbids all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions. So chastity pertains to the whole way that one lives. In this case, how a woman thinks, how a woman carries herself, how a woman dresses, how she interacts with others. John Calvin writes this, the word in this passage signifies all forms of purity. It is not enough for a woman to refrain from immorality. She must be pure and honorable, for if she pretties herself up In order to draw men after her, even though nothing immoral occurs, her reputation is already marred. To not be pursuing and longing for and praying and working towards chastity is to set yourself up for a great fall. Many Christian women have committed adultery and they thought it was something they could never do. They didn't think it was even possible for them to do it. And yet they did. Younger women in the house of the Lord must be chased. The next characteristic mentioned is that a young Christian woman is to be a home maker. And this is where things get a little bit more controversial. The word is ikourgos. I was teaching the younger children in the Sunday school class this morning, repeating after me, ikourgos. They had a fun time doing that. It's derived really from three words. Ikos, which is the word for house or household or home. ergon, which is the Greek verb for to work, and uros, which means to keep or guard. So you've got all of these things at play here. You've got house or household, you've got work involved in there, and then you've got to keep or to guard. And so the word means a housekeeper or a worker at home. The NIV translates the word in this verse as busy at home. And this is something that is to define the young Christian woman, especially who is married. And I would add that it is something that in general should define all Christian women. Just as we cannot argue with the fact that a Christian woman should love her husband and children, and should be prudent and chaste and good, remember what Paul says, be a teacher of good things, good things that are inherently good, that are in the sight of God good, teach her these things. And in that list is Ikurgos, a homemaker, a housekeeper, a worker at home. Now, this is not at all to say that women cannot or should never have occupations outside the home. I don't believe the Apostle Paul is arguing for that. All you have to do is read the New Testament, read some of Paul's letters and see how some of the various women helped the Apostle Paul. And in order to do that, they had to leave their home. There is a place for women outside the home and in the workplace, especially when women are single or are single mothers or older and they are no longer raising children and they have more time on their hands to be diligent and work outside the home in various ways. But, but, at the same time, we do want to maintain that the primary place of the woman is in the home. The home is to be their domain, the place they watch over and keep and work in and manage and guard. If the wife is working outside the home so much that she has no time for domestic duties, then her priorities have been skewed. Paul repeats the importance of this in 1 Timothy 5.14, therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, and give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully. And if you remember from our reading of Proverbs 31, how much of what was spoken of there is in relation to the woman's calling in the home. She fixes food for the family, verse 15. She makes sure her children are clothed, verses 19 through 22. Verse 27, she watches over the ways of her household and she does not eat the bread of idleness. And you know, there's something wonderful about this clear direction. You know, for men, sometimes figuring out their calling and their vocation is so hard, and I'm not saying there's not an element of that for women as well, but you gotta figure out, what am I gonna do? What is God calling me to? And you know, it's laid out for you. God's given you this wonderful gift. You're to take care of your home. If you don't know about anything else, you know that. The home is your place. God's given it to you. This is not degrading to women. This doesn't make women inferior. It's a high and noble and glorious calling that God has given you. A most fulfilling and rewarding calling. The house is the woman's castle and she's the queen of it. And she has the great honor and privilege of bringing into this world and raising and training souls in that house that will last forever. What greater responsibility is that to bring children into this world and knowing they will spend eternity either in heaven or hell? And I've got to do all that I can to make sure they go to heaven. What an awesome responsibility. To shape the character of human beings for future generations. And this is hard work. It's arduous work to keep a house and children. It's a full-time job. And if you add to that homeschooling, it makes it doubly arduous, so that one wonders how a woman can do it. As I was reading from someone recently, he said, only by the power of the Holy Spirit can a woman be a homemaker. And some women can become so overwhelmed and crushed by the pressure of it all. And you know, one of the things that's especially challenging, with being a keeper of the home and of raising children is you have to wait so long to see the fruit of your labors. That's such a hard thing. You work and you work for years and years and you're like, how is this kid gonna turn out? You know, when I did plumbing, you know, I would go to a person's house and I would, you know, fix a pipe or I'd clean a drain and I got to see the fruit of my labors right away. Oh yes, thank you for coming. And I got to see, I was rewarded immediately. But that's not how it happens at the home. You have to have your eyes on that long-term goal. You can't think about today. I mean, you do. But you ultimately have to think about the future and what the children will be like when they're no longer with you. You only have a handful of years. But then after that, they're going to be on their own. And whatever you poured into them is what you're going to get. Being a homemaker is one of the most selfless, thankless, and taxing jobs in the world. But what can be more rewarding than bringing into this world and seeing raised up children who know and love the Lord, who will be with you in eternity? One has well said that the Christian faith of a woman does not flourish when domestic duties are neglected. And whatever may be done abroad, religion has gained nothing. If in order to secure these things, the duties of a wife and mother at home have been disregarded. Another has said, it is infinitely more important to be at home to put the children to bed. to hear them say their prayers than to attend all the public meetings of the world. Now, one of the things that's obviously needed in this calling of a homemaker is kindness. And that's why the Apostle Paul mentions next, good and that's the word agathos and it can also be translated as generous and kind. Generosity or kindness is most likely what is in mind here and it's most likely what he has in mind is her kindness and generosity in the home although not solely but primarily. It doesn't do any good for a wife and mother to be diligent in the home, cleaning house, preparing food, raising children, if her good works are not adorned with kindness and generosity and the fruit of the Spirit. The children will learn to obey out of fear rather than out of love, and they will eventually disrespect their mother rather than honor her. The husband will become avoidant and grow to disdain her. There is something about kindness, isn't there, in a woman that just adorns the household. It's so becoming of a Christian woman. One of the greatest factors that can lead to a lack of kindness and gentleness in the home is stress. and therefore it is incumbent upon us who are husbands to help in the home as much as we can to alleviate that stress that they feel, to make the home as unstressful as possible. William Hendrickson said, while performing their tasks in the family. Young women must take care that the constant strain of domestic duties does not make them irritable or cruel. They must pray for grace to remain kind. Wives and mothers may find that all their hard work and labor was not as rewarding as they wanted it to be because of a discontented and contentious spirit. The last virtue mentioned, which is to characterize Christian women, and then we'll be done, is that they are to be obedient to their husbands. Thankfully, the Apostle Paul left the least controversial characteristic for last. I'm kidding. Note that the verse does not say that women are to obey every man, but their own husbands. And we know from other scripture passages that this is only in the Lord. The word for obey, hupotasso, means to put oneself into subjection or to submit to or to be obedient to. The same word is used of Jesus when he submitted to his parents in Luke chapter two. And you remember in Luke chapter two that Jesus went when he was 12 years old for the first time and he was talking with the teachers to Jerusalem for preparation for the Passover meal. And the parents, you remember, were frantic. They were looking for him and they finally found him on the third day. And the parents were upset and, you know, why are you here? And he said he needed to be about his father's business. But Luke 2.51 says, when he went down with them and came to Nazareth, he was subject to them. The same word is used in Luke 10, 17, when the disciples are all excited that they have the ability to cast out demons in Jesus's name. And they said to Jesus, the demons are subject to us in your name. There, that word is used. The same word is used in Colossians 3.18, where Paul writes, wives be subject or be submissive to your husbands. Now, I'm gonna take you in the kitchen just a little bit, but the word in our text is in the middle voice, and that means that it's more proper to translate it as obedient rather than just submissive in our text. Wives are to be obedient. Now, women are not to obey their husbands in the same way that children obey their parents. The wife is to be at the husband's side, to be his covenant companion. But someone has to lead when there is disagreement. Someone has to have the final say, and someone will. And someone has to be held ultimately responsible. And God has determined that that is the man. It doesn't make women inferior. It doesn't make men and women unequal. It means that God has given a particular office, a particular stewardship, a particular role to a man, and has created him and formed him in such a way that he is more apt to lead than to follow. And he has created the woman in a particular way, and she is meant to follow that lead. And this is not man's idea, but God's. It's not a matter that's up for debate. And we are never told in scripture that the man is called to make his wife submit or obey, to coerce his wife or to manipulate his wife or to oppress his wife into submission. You'll never find anything in scripture that says the man is to do that. And do you know why? Well, not only because it would be cruel and ungodly, but also because in the final analysis, he can't make his wife have that kind of heart. Only God can do that. True submission is a matter of a heart. And so the imperative comes to the woman always. You can't say, well, if my husband was a little bit more like this or that, or if he was more of a leader, or if he'd be more decisive, you can't say that. The command comes to you women. And he says, you must be submissive. You must obey your husband. You must follow his lead. And it can be hard at times to submit to a man's leadership to be sure. Sometimes men can be insensitive, they can be stubborn, or just plain idiots at times. And the woman can have a strong desire to want to take over that position. That's what it says in Genesis 3, 16, right after the promise to the woman. He said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. That word for desire means desire to dominate. That means the woman is going to have to wrestle with this desire to want to dominate the relationship, to want to lead the relationship, you see. And that's gonna be a battle that the woman is gonna have to face and only by the grace of God and the help of God's spirit can that desire for domination be subdued so that you have a gentle and quiet spirit who is willing to follow your husband's lead. You have to realize when you submit to your husband, you're submitting to Christ. And that's what you have to ultimately have in mind because Christ has given you your husband. Even if your husband is being foolish, even if your husband is an unbeliever, it is ultimately Christ you serve. And it's ultimately Christ the one you are submitting to and you are obeying when you submit yourself to your husband. And it is Christ who will hold your husband far more responsible than you. Only Christ, by the power of His Spirit, can help any woman to fill out these virtues, these characteristics which we have listed here. And may God, by His grace, grant each one of you women the strength to do it by His grace. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we're thankful for the word that you have given to us this morning, especially to the younger women who are married. Lord, we pray that you would help us to take these words to heart. We pray that you would also work in each one of us to know what it is that you've called us to do, to hold one another accountable, but also to encourage one another. And we pray, Father, that you would help us to adorn the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, please help the women of this congregation. Help them to love their husbands and their children. Help them, Lord, to be kind, to be chaste, to be homemakers, to be obedient, all of these things we've mentioned. And Lord, may you be glorified and honored, and may their testimony bring glory and honor to you and win others to Christ when they see their life. Do this, we pray, for Jesus' sake, in whose name we pray, amen.