The following sermon was preached at Christ Reformed Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If you are interested in our church or would like more information about us, you can visit us online at ChristReformedChurchTulsa.org. Let's begin reading here in verse 22. Paul says in verse 22, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its savior. Now, as a church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Let's pray. Father, as we come to you, I pray that, Lord, you would give us humble hearts. I pray that you would take your word and write it up on our hearts. I pray that we would be obedient to follow your pattern for marriage. We'd be obedient to all of your word. And Father, I pray for the women in this place, that they would be godly, that they would fear your great name, that they would be filled with your spirit. And the Lord, you would encourage them and edify them today through your word. Lord, if there's anybody here today without Christ, I pray today would be the day that they come to know you as Savior and Lord in Jesus's name that we pray. Amen. May be seated. As we come to verse 22, we come now to the section in Ephesians that deals with the family. In this section, Paul is going to address the family at every level. He is going to, as you can see in verse 22, deal with wives and their role in marriage. And then he's going to deal with the husbands next week in verse twenty five and their role in marriage. And then as we get to chapter six and the first part of that, we're going to see him deal with how children are to relate to their parents. And then as we go past that, we will see how bond servants or slaves are to obey their masters. And so we see that God deals with every person within the family structure. God is showing us here his ordained roles for marriage. Here we see the wives are to be submissive to their husbands. Next week, we're gonna see that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. And then we're gonna see that children are to obey their parents. And the ability to do this doesn't come from you and I pulling up our bootstraps and trying to do this on our own. But what Paul lays out here, these commands, he's giving them not only to all people, but especially the believer, because it's only the believer that can really do these things. And the reason why is because when we do these things and we obey what God's word says here, when it comes to God's roles within marriage, we do these things because our heart has been changed. This is a gospel issue. These things flow out of the gospel. As I stated before, Paul, in chapters one and three, he deals with the gospel. He lays out for us what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. In chapter one, we saw that God had chosen us to be holy and blameless. We find that God has forgiven us of our sins. We have been redeemed. We have an inheritance. We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, just to name a few things, and all of these things because of them, we now can walk and live differently than the world around us. And not only that, but because we have been born again, we will walk differently. As Ephesians 2 10 says, in light of being being born again, being created in the image of Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2 10 says we are now God's workmanship. Now that all of these things have happened to us in Christ, we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus for good works. And one of the avenues in which we display good works is in marriage, not just in the other areas of our life, but also in marriages. That is, if we are a true believer in Jesus Christ and we truly have been born again, then when we come to these things, it will be our delight to obey them. If you're a wife, it'll be your delight to submit to your husband. If you're a husband, it will be your delight to love your wife. Why? Because you love the Lord Jesus Christ, because your heart has been changed now. As we approach this subject regarding the roles of men and women in marriage, we need to step back and look at this divine institution in which God has ordained, and that is marriage. And we learn about the establishment of marriage in the book of Genesis. If we go back to the book of Genesis, we find that marriage is a wonderful thing. It is designed by God, and it is God's design. It comes before government, it comes before any other institution. Marriage is what God started in the beginning. After God had created all the animals, he brought them to Adam, but there was none that was suitable to be a helper for Adam. So what does God do? He takes the man and he causes him to fall into a deep sleep. And it is from the man that God creates the woman. He brings her to him and she is to be his helpmate. And not only that, but we find that when God created the woman and he brought her to Adam, these two were to become one flesh. They were to be fruitful and they were to multiply. That is, they were to have children. And so there it is. God ordained this family institution. We find in first Corinthians 11, 12 and speaking about the marriage institution, that woman was made from man. Then verse nine, man was not created for the woman, but woman with a man. That's what God's word tells us. But all of this, despite the fact that it was a beautiful thing that God had created, man messed it up. We find that sin entered into the world when Eve was deceived by the serpent and that she hands off the fruit to her husband, who was not leading the home. And so he fell in sin as well. And so sin marred marriage. Genesis three and verse 16, we see the curse that came as a result of this sin. We find that ever since that fall, the tendency of the woman has been to rule in the reign of her husband. And that is because of the curse that has come from sin. Genesis three and verse 16 says this. I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing and pain. You shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband. but he shall rule over you. And ever since this time, ever since that day, that Edenic day, when man sinned against God, marriage has been complicated. There has been bickering, there has been fighting, there has been all kinds of bad things that have come out of it, and even divorce in many marriages. And I would venture to say that all the problems that you face in marriage, all the problems that a person finds in the marriage relationship, they stem from what we're going to learn about today. And that is when any time a man or a woman fails to obey God's design for the marriage in that in carrying out their roles in marriage, you're going to have conflict. You're going to have problems within the home. Now, in light of all of this bad news regarding the natural tendency of how sinful men and women relate to each other because of sin. God has given us here in Ephesians a blueprint to how to return to the way he intended things to be. And that is a wife is to submit to her husband as to the Lord and a husband I'm sorry, a wife is to submit to her husband as to the Lord, and a husband is to love their wife as Christ loved the church. And this is only possible, as I said, when a person is born again. When these two things happen, when a man and a woman are fulfilling God's ordained role in the marriage, families are kept intact, marriages are strong, families stay together, and God is glorified, and we're going to see that in our study. Now, before we dive into this verse, verse 22, I think it's important that we understand the context in which Paul gives this command in verse 22 for wives to submit to their own husband. So let's look at that for just a second. Go back to verse 15. In verse 15, we were told that we are to walk not as unwise, but as wise. And Paul's concern in chapter four and five has been how the Christian conducts themselves now that they are a Christian. And that and that conduct is referred to as their walk. And so we are to walk wisely and not unwise. We're to make the best use of our time because the days of evil. And then he tells us how we are to walk wisely. He says, therefore, do not, verse 17, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. That is, discern what God's word says, discern how he has laid things out for for us and his word and how we are to live. And when we do that, when we follow God's design rather than our own, we are walking wisely. In verse 18, he says, Do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit. So do not get drunk with wine. Why does he say that? Because that is in line with a fool. A person who is drunk is a foolish person. They do stupid things. They do things that are contrary to God's Word. The person that we should be is a person that is filled with the Spirit. And what is the fruit of being filled with the Spirit? Well, Paul tells us here. He says in verse 19 that the fruit of the Spirit is basically or the results of being filled with the spirit is that we will address one another in Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. That is, we will have fellowship with one another. We will be worshiping God. We will be joyful because we will be making melody to the Lord with our hearts. Then verse 20, we will be giving thanks for God always in everything or for everything to God, the father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's another. fruits of being filled with the Spirit. Verse 21, submitting to one another out of the reverence for Christ. You see that if you are filled with the Spirit of God, one of the evidences of that is that you will submit to others. You will submit to the divine institution or the institutions that God has placed in our society called government. Romans chapter 13. You will submit to your parents, children, If you are filled with the spirit, not only that, but we see here in verse twenty two that if a woman is filled with the spirit, she will submit to her husband as to the Lord. Let's look at this verse in verse twenty three. I'm sorry. Verse twenty two. He says, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. When we come to this verse or this command from the Lord to wives, we find here a word that the world does not like. They do not like the word submit. In our day, when people hear the word submit, they they get agitated. They get angry. They'll throw things at you. They don't like you. They think that you're archaic. And why is that? Because it goes against the same nature. We see it everywhere. Children don't like to submit to parents. Citizens don't like to submit to government authorities. And most women really can't stand the idea of submitting to their husband. Why is that? As I said, the sin nature wants to do what it wants to do. It doesn't want to submit to God's law and it does not want to submit to to any institution or any man. Second of all, the idea of submitting to someone sounds oppressive. We all know people and in our, maybe our families, relationships, our friends, who have been under a very oppressive environment where the man maybe was, he would come in and he would just, you know, he would beat on his wife or beat the children. And so the idea of smitting is misunderstood because of that situation. Third, it is rejected because people misunderstand the need for submission and who commands us to submit to one another. And fourth, the idea that a woman should submit goes against the public opinion among most men and even women in our day and age. In our culture, women in our society and even in our churches for the last hundred years have been influenced by a demonic system known as the Feminist Movement or the Women's Liberation Movement. Now, this isn't really a new movement. It's not a new idea. It goes back as far as the Garden of Eden. But in the last hundred years, this has been a very powerful force in our society that has muddied the waters of how the family unit should function and operate. In many ways, it has been a direct attack upon the family and marriage. God's design for marriage. Let me give to you a few quotes from those who are radical feminists and their agenda. And I think you will see where the idea of feminism comes from. It doesn't come from God's word, but it comes straight out of the pit of hell. Radical feminist leader Sheila Croneman or Cronin if I pronounce her last name, right? It was often quoted by by saying this since marriage constitutes slavery for women It is clear that women the women's movement must concentrate on attacking this institution I mean they they don't hide their agenda freedom for women cannot be one without the abolition of marriage and Annie Gaylor, writing an article called Feminist Salvation in the Humanist in 1988, says, quote, let's forget about the mythical Jesus and look for encouragement, solace, and inspiration for real women. 2,000 years of patriarchal rule under the shadow of the cross ought to be enough to turn women towards the feminist salvation of the world, end quote. Then there is the Declaration of Feminism, which was written in November of 1971, and it states this, quote, marriage has existed for the benefit of men and has been a legally sanctioned method of control over women. We must work to destroy it. The end of the institution of marriage is a necessary condition for the liberation of women. Therefore, it is important for us to encourage women to leave their husbands and not to live individually with men. All of history must be rewritten in terms of oppression of women. We must go back to the ancient female religions like witchcraft." So as you can see, this movement called feminism, or the women's liberation movement, it's not of God. It's anti-God, it's anti-men, anti-submission, and anti-family. It goes against everything that God has laid out in his word regarding marriage and the relationships within marriage. Not only that, but it goes against God's ordained roles for wives in the marriage relationship, and it is fueled by Satan. And the worst part about it is that many women in our society have fallen under the influence of this satanic way of thinking, this feminist agenda. Not only that, but worse, many women in churches who don't even realize it have fallen prey to the feminist agenda. Let me give you a real example that hits real hits at home. And I know some of you guys have heard Sarah's testimony and and even after she became a Christian and about how God brought her to the place she is today. But both of us, when we got married, We got married, we were glad to be married, and we wanted to be married. And when we got married, though, we had a lot of issues at first, for the first few years of marriage. I mean, we were like a machine that was all rusty, and we were like the metal in that machine, and we were really rubbing each other the wrong way. And one of the problems that we found in our marriage was that we both had been influenced in an indirect way by this idea that women are to take the lead and men are just kind of to set back. I didn't really lead the family like I should, and she didn't submit like she should have. And she will tell you that. I'm not telling anything that she wouldn't say. But we both had come out of a background where we grew up in church. And you would think that this wouldn't be the case with us, that this wouldn't be a problem. But this was ingrained in not only our culture, but in our our sin natures. And so we didn't really know how to operate, as the Bible said, until God opened our eyes and Sarah was influenced by some godly women in our church. and I too begin to see in the scriptures as well, that I needed to step up to the plate and I needed to do what other men that I've known in life didn't do. And that is to lead my home in regards to the things of God. Not only that, but when we, after we had had children and we decided to homeschool and Sarah started staying at home, I remember even a professor of hers from OBU, when Sarah was going to get her teaching degree, This professor made a statement to Sarah one day, and this was after we had come to these biblical conclusions about what the role is for each of us in the marriage. And here's what her professor said. I can't believe that you would stay home and you would waste your talents and your gifts and not go out and influence all these other kids. She had no regard for her own children that Sarah had, that professor did. I mean, Sarah wasn't wasting it. She was spending it on her own children. But nevertheless, that's the kind of mentality that our world has when it comes to the roles in marriage. I know when I was fresh out of seminary and I went to a church up in northeast Oklahoma, and I remember sitting there one day and I had learned that there was a woman in the church who was teaching a Sunday school class, and it was full of men. This was an older lady. She was probably in her late 70s, and the men are about the same age. And about 90% of the people that attended that class were all men, but there was a woman teaching the class. And I remember sitting down in a conversation in a committee meeting, and one person asked me, what's your view on women teaching men? And so I turned to 1 Timothy chapter 2 and I said, well, it's not really my opinion, but I believe this. And this is what God's word said. And what God's word says is that a woman should not teach or exercise authority over a man. And needless to say, that pretty much ended my pastor there. It was from that point forward, it was like the The gates of hell had been unloosed or opened upon me. They were coming at me with pitchforks and everything else, all because I quoted what God's word said about the roles of men and women. And it was at that point I realized that this idea, this sinful idea, this feminist idea had crept not only into the church, but it influenced so many people who claim to be Christians. So as you can see, it is a real problem in our churches, and I'm sure that you have faced it yourself in your homes and society. But what we need to do as a church and as individuals who are Christians, we must return to God's ordained roles for marriage. And that is what this verse here is calling us to do in verse 22. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Now, let me clear some clear up some misconceptions about what it means to submit what it doesn't mean. Let me say it that way. What it doesn't mean to submit. First of all, submission doesn't mean that you have to go and get your husband a glass of tea every time he hollers from his recliner. In other words, God isn't calling you to be a slave or a servant who just is at the beck and call of your husband. It doesn't mean that your husband is now free to treat you however he wants. In fact, we will see how the husband is to treat his wife next week. It doesn't mean that you have to stay in a situation where your life is in danger. If your husband is beating you, you need to flee to safety and go to the proper authorities. Submission doesn't mean that what your husband says trumps the word of God. You must first and foremost follow the word of God and not your husband. If your husband is leading you into a sinful situation, you follow God's word and not your husband's. Submission doesn't mean that a wife has no input on decisions or no influence on her husband. She's his helpmate. And last submission doesn't mean that you are a second class citizen. It does not mean that at all. In fact, Galatians 328 says there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free. There is no male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. All of us, whether we are a woman or a man, We all, if we are a Christian, we have the same access to God, we have the same eternal inheritance, and we've all been made in the image and likeness of God. So having said that, we have to ask, what does it mean to submit? Well, we get a better grasp of what it means if we look at the word submit, and then we look at the example that Paul gives to us. First of all, the word that in regards to submit or to be subject, as some translations say, It is a compound word, and together, the first part of the word means under, and the second part of the word means to arrange or to place in order. This was a military term. It was a term that was used to describe a soldier who would place himself under the rank of someone who had an authority. And that is the idea here. It is to rank yourself under someone who has authority over you, under someone who has responsibility for you. It is to be under someone. Only in this verse, we're not talking about in military terms, we are talking in terms of marriage. Women who are married are to willingly submit to the authority of their husbands. Not under the authority of all men, but under the authority of their husband alone, who has the responsibility to love and to care for their wife. What does it look like for a wife to submit? Well, I think that's a good question. We need to ask, what does it look like for a wife to submit to her husband? Well, we have ruled out what submission doesn't look like or what it doesn't mean, but here in this passage of Scripture, we get an example of what it looks like for a wife to submit to her husband. Look again at verse 22. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Then look down at verse 24. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. There it is. There is the example that Paul gives us to show us how a wife is to submit to her husband. The example is how you submit to Christ, how the church submits to Christ. That is your example. And what does that look like? Well, when we see the church submitting to Christ or a Christian, we see that the Christian submits him or herself to Christ's leadership. We look to him, to Christ for guidance. We ask him what he would have us to do. We look to him for protection. We look to him to give us wise counsel. We go along with what he asked us to do. We show honor to him. We don't show him disrespect. We don't say things that would undermine his authority or words, but we submit to him in all of these ways through his leadership. And here it is the same. These same principles of submission are to be applied to the wife's relationship to her husband. Now, some may still not like this idea because it goes along or it goes against I'm sorry, against the sinful nature. It goes against what society has taught you or what you learned in your family growing up. Maybe your mom took the lead and your dad just didn't really do anything. But think for a minute about why you as a woman should obey this commandment. Now, this isn't if this was just coming from me, you shouldn't have to obey it. You shouldn't have to do what this verse says. But why should you ladies who are married and who are going to be married obey this commandment? Well, here's why. First of all, this is God's word. If you don't like this commandment, then you're not rejecting me or some other man, but you are rejecting God. Second, this is what the spirit filled life looks like. If you are a Christian and you wish to be led by the spirit and are under the spirit's control, then this will be the fruit of being spirit filled. Third, You should obey this because if you have any reverence for Christ, you will submit to your husband, not because he deserves it. He may be just a clown that doesn't know anything, but doesn't negate the role that God has given you in marriage. You do it because you love and you revere Christ. Isn't that what Paul said in verse 21, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ for Think about the Lord's kindness towards you as a woman and calling you to do this and calling you to submission. God is showing kindness to you. Why? Because he's taking away from you the burden of leading your family. The decisions and the responsibilities that come with caring for a family, the accountability that is going to occur before you and God, it doesn't rest on your shoulders, but it rests upon your husband's shoulders. So God is doing this out of kindness. When you submit to your husband, you're ultimately doing it as to the Lord, as verse 22 says. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Now, some of you might be saying, well, my husband, he doesn't deserve. You don't know him. You don't know what kind of man he is. He's he's a clown. He doesn't understand anything. I'm the brains of the operation. I'm the one that has to rule the roost. Otherwise, our family is going to be in chaos. If you only knew my my husband, you would know that it's impossible for me to do. Verse 22, it's it's impossible for me to obey this. Well, as valid as those arguments may seem, they still don't take away the commandment that God has given to you. You obey it not because he deserves to be submitted to, but you do it because you love the Lord and you do it because you want to obey God. That should be your motive, your primary motive. And even if he's an unbeliever, because there's some might say, well, you don't know my husband. He's an unbeliever. Why should I submit to him? Well, Peter answers that. First Peter chapter three in verse one says likewise. Likewise, wives be subject to your own husbands so that even if some do not obey the word, that is, if they're not a Christian, they don't obey God's word. They may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of the hair, the putting on the gold and the jewelry or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be with hidden be the hidden person of the heart and with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's side is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by submitting to their own husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. Why should you do it? because out of your reverence for Christ. But not only that, by doing that, if he's not a believer, he might be one to Christ. Now, I want to say something to the ladies who are not married here. Make sure that the man you marry is a believer. Don't be unequally yoked. Don't marry some guy just because you like the way he looks or you like the size of his pocketbook. But marry a man who knows the Lord, a man who knows the Lord, because only then will you be treated how you ought to be treated. to marry a man who is in the Lord. That way, you don't have to go into this stuff that Peter talks about here. You still submit to your husband and all of that, but you don't have to have this burden of your husband being lost. Marry a man who is saved. Now, as we go on here, we see in verse 23 the reason why wives are to submit to their husbands. Now, going back to why a woman should submit to her husband, Paul gives us here another reason. The first reason is, this is what God has commanded. If you love Him, this is what you will do. But second, the second reason why a wife should submit to her husband is right here in verse 23. Let's begin reading, though, in verse 22. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord, for, this is the answer to it, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself It's Savior. Here, Paul gives the wife another reason why she should submit to her husband. And it's because God has made that man that she is married to the head of her. He's the one who's put in charge. He is the one who is the authority in the home. Does it mean that he now has the right to be some tyrant or bully? No, not at all. Look at the analogy. She is to submit to her husband Because the husband is the head of the wife. And just as Christ is the head of the church, he is to not think about this. Let's back up for just a second. He is the head. What does that mean? Well, it doesn't mean he can just go and do anything he wants as the head. He is a head, just like Christ is the head of the church. Well, look, let's look at this standard that God has set for your husband. He is to operate in the family just as Christ operates within the church. And how is that? Well, think about what Christ does for the church. He lays down his life for the church. He serves the church. He provides for the church. He looks out for the welfare and well-being of the church. And all of these things are bound up in the idea of headship. That's what a husband should do. And we're gonna get into this more next week about the husband's role. So ladies, don't think that you're just getting it, your husband's gonna get it next week. But nevertheless, this is what is bound up in the idea of headship. And God has given your husband that responsibility. And because he is the head, just as the church responds to Christ as its head, so you, are to respond to your husband as the head, because that's the role that God has given to him. Now, this tells us something about marriage, doesn't it? Marriage is bigger than just you and I, or you and your spouse. Marriage is there to put on display before an unbelieving world a picture of the gospel. A picture between the relationship between Christ and his church, when a believing spouse and a believing husband operate the way God has designed here. What you are showing the world is the picture of how Christ and his church operates. So in that way, it brings glory to God. So, ladies. The command here in verse 22 is simple. Wives submit to your husbands. As to the Lord, when a wife submits to her husband, she doesn't try to take leadership from him. From the beginning of time, as we as we saw in Genesis three, women have been trying to take the leadership role in the marriage and often and too often. The man gladly gives it away, and the result every time is nothing but chaos and disaster. Look at Adam. When she took that fruit, the text says that he was right there with her. Why wasn't he leading his home? And because he wasn't leading his home, look what happened to the entire human race. The race was plunged into sin. Look at Abraham and Sarah. When she would begin to take the lead at times, It was nothing but chaos. When he listened to her and she said, go get my servant Hagar, go into her and I'll get a child from her. What happened? It was nothing but chaos and confusion and disaster. And that's what happens when a marriage doesn't operate according to God's design. When a woman doesn't submit and when a husband doesn't love his wife the way Christ loves the church, what you're going to have Even if it's only one partner or the other not fulfilling their role, what you're going to have is problems in your marriage. Every problem goes back to this very issue. I mean, think about it. If a woman was submitting to her husband and letting him lead, and he was doing what he's supposed to do and lead the family, where would the problems arise in that? There would be no problems. But many times women are not satisfied with this. They want to be in charge. They want to rule the roost, if you will. They want to lead the family. They want to do this and to do this. Many times what you see women do is they manipulate, they nag, they deceive, they raise Cain. And as a result, the husband and the whole household are miserable. In fact, God even speaks of this. This isn't just my opinion. This is God's word. In fact, in several places of Scripture, we see this. Proverbs 25 and verse 24 describes a woman who is like this. It is better to live on a corner of a housetop than a house shared with a quarrelsome wife. Proverbs 21 19 better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and nagging wife. On the other hand, though, the Bible praises a woman who will live biblically, a woman who will walk wisely, a woman who is filled with a spirit. In fact, We see this in several places in Scripture. Proverbs 31, as we read earlier, verse 10. An excellent wife. Who can find? Men who are single here, there is a shallow pool. There is not many women like that out there. An excellent wife. Women who fear the Lord, but they are out there and pursuing. An excellent wife, who can find? If you find one, she is more precious than jewels, and her life is contrasted As we see here with the ungodly, Proverbs 14, one, the wisest of women builds her house. But what is an unwise woman do? A woman, a woman that's not filled with the spirit, it does not submit. A wise woman builds her house, but folly with her tears down, but folly with her own hands tears it down. That's what happens when a woman doesn't walk wisely and be filled with the Spirit. She tears down her house. She's looked upon in a bad light in Scripture. But a woman who does these things, she's a wise woman. She's a Proverbs 31 woman, an excellent woman. And she is a woman that her household, her children and her husband rise up and call blessed. There's no question, though, that men and women, when we look at this, they are equal. They're equally intelligent. There's women that are intelligent as men. They can perform many times the same skills. They can equally excel in schoolwork and so forth. But that does not mean that the woman or men have the right to violate God's role in marriage. It doesn't give them any right. Wives are to submit to their husbands as they would Christ. And we've seen this time and time again. This isn't a manmade rule. It is God's rule. It is God's blueprint for marriage. It's not an outdated idea. It is a an idea. It's a word of God that stands the test of time. The fire fades, but the word of God never will. And neither will this commandment. If you're a woman here today, I want to ask you this, and I close with this. Do you submit to your husband? Do you make his role as a leader of the home easy? Or do you make his role as a leader and his life miserable? Do you obey this command? Do you willfully submit to him in everything, even when he's wrong in decisions? Do you nag him or constantly gripe at him or kick against everything that he suggests? If that's you, you need to ask yourself this. Why do I do this? Why do I not want to submit to my husband? Am I really a Christian? Because that is what a Christian woman will do. She will obey verse 22. And if you're not a Christian and you are just rebelling against God's word and you want to be autonomous, you want to do your own thing, then what you need to do is you need to repent. You need to turn from your sins and you need to turn to Christ. And when you revere Christ and you love him, you'll want to obey his commandments. And one of the commandments that he gives to you is that you submit to your husband. You see, you can't do this on your own. Your heart has to be changed. You have to be born again to want to do this. Only then will you obey God's word. Wives, we as husbands, we will make mistakes. Sarah can tell you that. And that's the hard thing about obeying this command is because your husband will make mistakes, but you must still follow this. Be gracious, forgiving as Paul has already laid out here. But there's one who doesn't make mistakes. His name is Jesus. Jesus makes no mistakes and he knows your husband's going to make mistakes. But guess what? He still gives you this command to obey your husband, obey or submit to your husband, follow his lead in your life. If you're a husband here today, don't just look at your wife, but look at yourself. Don't forget your role. You are the head of the house. This is a huge responsibility. It means that God has given you a tremendous responsibility greater than that of your wife. And he's going to hold you accountable. You must be the leader in your home. You must lead your home, your wife, like Christ does the church. And if you don't do that, then you too need to repent and do what God's word says. And last, Notice here how important these marriage roles are. They are here not just for our benefits. They are for that. They make the marriage go smoother and to have a blessed marriage and all of that. But these things are here to put on display before the world, the glory of God, to display the relationship between Christ and his church. So may we be obedient to these things and follow what God has laid out in his word. Let's pray. Father, as we come to you. Lord, we look at all of these commandments, whether it be wives submit to their husbands or husbands love their wives or the commands to forgive and not to be angry and all of these things. Lord, we know that many times they are they seem difficult. They are also convicting because, Lord, we have stumbled in many ways. Lord, I pray for the women here. I thank you for the godly women that are in this church. I pray that, Lord, you will continue to bless them and bless their their lives for being obedient to you. And, Lord, I just pray and ask that, Lord, each and every woman in this place would take what your word says to heart and they would be out of love for Christ, one to obey this, and they would not look at it as something they have to do in their own strength, but they can do it as they yield to Your Spirit. And Lord, I pray that by Your Spirit, You would encourage them and strengthen them, strengthen their inner man, that they might walk in the ways that You have set before us. Lord, I pray and ask that if there's anybody here today without Christ, I pray today would be the day that they come to know You as Lord and Savior of their life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Who has no heart, who is blinded, who can see what I see? Where is my hope, my right?