When Emmanuel Free Reform Church was established, there was a Scripture verse that was chosen as perhaps the theme of this ministry. It's printed there on the front of your bulletin. From Isaiah 58, verse 12, David shall be of thee, shall build the old waste places. Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach the restorer of paths to dwell in. As I think about the truth of that scripture and about the study, the message that we're going to be having this morning, I believe we've gone to an area that is the center of the battle in our culture today and also in the church itself. We have forgotten the old ways. We have departed from the paths. Our God has said, here is the way. Walk ye in it. But we are not doing that. The toll has been terrific. The weakening of the church has been, I think, astonishing. There are many areas in which we need to rebuild. But this is central. For the last thirty years, there has been an unceasing battle waged by the forces of unbelief that we call feminism, that have sought to destroy, to overturn, to break up the path that God has laid out for the woman. I feel today that as we are going into an area, as I said, which is at the heart of the battle and is central to reformation in our day, and it's a commitment of this ministry to rebuild this path. I dearly thank God for the fact that we share so much in the agreement of what we're going to be talking about. I know that because I know you. I know your commitments. However, it's so important that we always go back to these foundations. You'll recall last week we studied in Proverbs 29, verse 18, where there is no vision, the people perish. And we defined the word vision as it is used biblically to refer to a word from God. It was the prophetic vision where the people do not have the Word of God set before them. Where the Word of God is not preached in this regard, the people perish. They cast off restraint and they go from the paths of God's law. The antithesis of that is, but those who keep the law of God, happy are they. It's our desire today to give the vision from the Word of God concerning the role of a woman. I'd like you to turn to Titus chapter 2. I'd like to read these verses to set the context. Titus chapter 2, beginning at verse 1 to read the section here. I'll only be focusing on one verse, actually one phrase. I'd like to read these and make a few comments before we go there. But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given too much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the Word of God be not blasphemed. In this text, Paul gives some instructions to the aged men and the aged women concerning their conduct and character, and particularly it is of interest to note that he gives to the aged women a specific ministry of teaching. Now, we know Paul from 1 Timothy 3 says that the public ministry of the Word of God is not a ministry that's open to women. God has reserved that as a ministry to men. However, The women, particularly the older women, do have a very important teaching ministry to carry out in the church. And the church is dying today because this ministry is not being carried out. It is not being recognized. They are to teach and be teachers of good things. If you're an older woman, Here is a central aspect of your calling and ministry to the body of Christ today. You need to be teaching the younger women. And then he goes on to speak here about some of the things that they are to teach. But before I mention that, let me just give you a little bit of an insight into my approach and my understanding of ministry in this area, and I believe Myron shares this as well. One of the things that has wrought havoc in the church has been the fact that pastors and elders have felt that they are called to teach the younger women these things. And that women have problems in loving their husbands or training their children, they go to the elders for counsel. Now, I think there's a problem with that, and I think there's a price to pay whenever we go apart from God's Word. A dear friend of mine, for example, A dear brother who had a dynamic ministry for Jesus Christ is out of the ministry today. Why? There was a woman in his congregation that was having trouble loving her husband. And she went to him for counsel. And guess what happened? A romantic relationship developed. Ruined her family and ruined his ministry. of the husband to be a counselor to his wife. She should go there first. That is not able to bring about the thing. We need to have a ministry of the women in this church to counsel the women in this congregation. It says if you're having trouble obeying your husband, go to your elders. No, go to the older women who have walked the path that you're trying to walk. Who have fought the battles of life that you're trying to fight. And perhaps even those older women had a lot of defeats. But they're wise because of those defeats. That is if they responded to them properly. They have a wealth of wisdom to share. This passage says the aged women are to be godly women who are teachers of good things. And here's what they're to teach. That they may teach the young women to be sober. The idea here has that of a sober mind as opposed to one that is frivolous. They are to teach them to be wise. They are to teach them to be thoughtful women. They are to teach them as well to love their husbands. To love the man that God has given to them as a husband. To love him even as the Lord Jesus Christ teaches them to serve and to minister to their husband. To love their children. Here we see centered in these two exhortations and the things that the women are to be teaching the very center of the woman's calling in life. To love her husband and to love her children. To give herself for them. And to minister. Then he goes on. To be discreet. This has the idea of, again, thoughtfulness and wisdom. Chase, that is purity, moral purity. Keepers at home. And that's the term we're going to be looking at in depth. And I'm going to reserve comment on that. To be good, just a general character quality of goodness and righteousness and obedient to their own husbands. Notice that the word of God, be not blasphemed. The word of God, be not blasphemed. indicating that if we go astray in any of these areas, we open up for the attacks of the devil and the attacks of the enemies of the gospel to blaspheme the Word of God. In Titus chapter 2 and in verse 5, we have this phrase, keepers at home. Now, this has been generally understood by the church as teaching that the sphere of a married woman's work is her home. This understanding, for example, is reflected by the Puritan commentator Matthew Poole, when he says this phrase means housewives not spending their time getting abroad, but in looking to the affairs of their own families. So says Poole. Now, the Christian woman, as a housewife, as a keeper at home, as a homemaker who looks diligently to the affairs of her family, has been taught as a central aspect of the Christian faith up until recently. For example, I think one of the finest flowering of Christianity in the familial and in the cultural sense is that of the Puritans. In New England. It was said concerning the role of the woman, these things. In 17th century New England, no respectable person questioned that a woman's place was in the home. By the laws of Massachusetts, as by those of England, a married woman could hold no property of her own. When she became a wife, she gave up everything to her husband and devoted herself exclusively to the managing of his household. Henceforth, her duty was to keep at home, educating her children, keeping and improving what is got by the industry of the man. This view was just not one of the Puritans. And it was really a central aspect of the church's teaching and became that which dominated Western culture. As you know, culture has been well defined as religion externalized, living out your faith, living out your principles. And as the church understood the religion of Christianity, understood God's revelation in the Bible, it was externalized in this glorious and beautiful sense of the woman who was the keeper at home. However, in accord with the spirit of our age, which looks in disdain upon such a notion that the sphere of a married woman's work is limited to her home, many today, even in the Church of Jesus Christ, have rejected this understanding of the phrase keepers at home. Instead, for example, the New International Version, as it translates this particular phrase, says that a woman is to be busy at home. And the idea is this, she should not be idle or derelict in fulfilling home duties. In other words, keepers at home does not define the married woman's calling or the sphere of her work. All it's doing, they are saying, is that it is admonishing her not to neglect her home duties. Therefore, it's perfectly acceptable for a wife and mother to pursue callings outside of the home as long as she fulfills her responsibilities at home. Now, the church and those who have an idea of the authority of Scripture do have to deal with this phrase in some way, don't they? Look at what Paul says here in the passage we're looking at in Titus chapter 2. I don't think there's any of the subjects in there that we're about ready to jettison These are all important, basic issues about a woman's life. Loving her husband, loving her children. Certainly that's not a cultural idea or cultural aspect. Being discreet, chaste, good, obedient to their husbands, and so forth. These things are very clearly duties that God places upon the woman. Therefore, we cannot simply jettison. Christians cannot simply say, keepers at home does not apply today. And so we must come up with an alternative understanding for what we might call the traditional understanding of the phrase. And the idea that all this means is a woman is to be faithful in carrying out her duties and that it is not defining the sphere of her calling and work really leads to a radical difference between how we approach the woman's calling in life The purpose of this message today is to seek to define for you and to defend biblically the view that when Paul speaks here of the ministry of the older women, of teaching the younger women to be keepers at home, he is giving instruction that clearly delineates the sphere of the woman's work and her calling from God, the married woman's work and the wife and the mother. And the way that we're going to seek to defend that thesis, that it's not simply saying, be sure you do, you know, you can pursue other callings and and so forth, but just be sure you keep up with the housework. Just be sure that you keep up with your responsibilities to your husband. Just be sure you continue to love your children. But it's OK. This passage does not restrict you. To a calling or to a sphere, it only is giving you certain duties that you are to continue to perform, regardless of where you give you the bulk of your time or your focus. But that that is false, we are going to seek to discern and seek to prove by looking at the meaning of the word itself. The Greek term, as the New Testament was originally inspired and given to us in Greek, we have to deal with it. We have an English translation, keepers at home. We have to seek to understand what the word is that underlies that translation. But then we want to move on to look at the broader teaching of scripture on this subject. In other words, if we understand God's will for the woman, the married woman, the wife and the mother, and we begin to see all that it entails, we will see it's a full-time calling that cannot be fulfilled in any other way but by being a keeper at home. So we look at the Word, and then we look at other scriptures that teach what the woman's role is, and it all comes together to show us that the woman's calling, the married woman's calling, the wife and the mother, here's where it is, there to be a keeper at home. First of all, let's consider the word that's translated here, keepers at home. The word itself is a compound word that is derived from two words that are fused together to indicate a concept that has two poles to it. The first part of the word comes from the Greek term that means a house. A dwelling place. Or, as you would extend that, it refers to a family. To a household. That's the first part of the word. The second part of the word refers to someone who was a keeper or a watcher. Literally, a guardian. One who had oversight and responsibility for something. It does not simply mean someone who works at home, but someone who was the guardian of the home. Someone who has been charged with the responsibility of dwelling in the home so they might keep it, that is, protect it, watch over it, know exactly what's going on. Somebody must be there as a keeper of the home. We look at today's society and it's interesting, so many of us talk here and I've talked with other Christians that during the day we're homeschooled families. We sort of have the communities to ourselves. Everybody's gone. The homes are empty. Mom and dad are off to work. The children are off to school, whatever. And the home is just simply empty. And then everybody comes back in the evening for a little while, puts down their meal, goes to bed, and they go through the cycle. And the home has no keeper. The home has no watcher. This is the idea of the word. It is that of someone who dwells in the home so that they might Be its guardian. Now, we're not talking here about guardian in the sense that we have discussed before. Myron's done some very good work with this about the man's responsible to actually provide physical defense and be the guardian of his home in that sense of rising up, even giving his life if necessary to physically protect his family. That's not what we mean by guardian here. We mean one who is watching over its affairs and one who knows what's happening so that the husband will be fully informed and know what's going on. Someone has to be there who knows all about what's happening with the children, who knows all about what's happening with every aspect of the home, that this door needs fixed, that this, you know, just everything. Someone needs to be there. And this is the idea of the word. Someone who watches over a household or a family, seeing to it that all the members are cared for, that all things are maintained in good order. Now, one of the problems we have in fully understanding this word is this particular term is only used here in the New Testament, just right here. Remember last week when we studied the Proverbs passage, I could take you to other parallel passages in scripture where the same Hebrew term was used and we could sort of frame the idea and how the word is used in other parts of scripture and come to its meaning. We cannot do that with this passage. This appears only here in the New Testament. However, we're not at a complete loss. Because there's a wide body of Greek literature from the first century era, where and when this term was used. And therefore, we are able to go to that literature and we are able to see how it was used in the wider sense in the culture. And that's what I just want to mention here now, but how this word was used in the Greek writings and literature of the New Testament era. There, the word meant watching or keeping the house. Now, this is sort of a humorous one, but it was even employed in reference to a watchdog or to a rooster. You know, a watchdog, someone watching, protecting, that's why people have a dog. So we're not suggesting that Paul is using in that way. But the idea was they have a dog there and it's. Sole business is to alert the, what, homeowners to problems, to intruders, and to people who are unknown and strangers who are coming to the house. So it's there all the time and it's got this job of watching over the house. But more germane to our context here, it also meant keeping the home in the general literature of the day. And it was actually employed as a noun to refer to someone who was a house keeper. That is, the mistress of the home, the mistress of the house. It was also used in that time in passages that praised a good wife. The same term was also used in this interesting way in a derogatory sense of a man who failed to do his duty and go to war when it was necessary. Instead, he shirked his duty and stayed at home. That's an important concept here. In other words, this word meant a man who stays at home instead of going out to war. Stay at home. He was a stay-at-homer. And that was used in the negative sense. But it was used in the positive praise of a woman who was a stay-at-homer. It was also a verb, a Greek verb, that was the cognate of this noun that was used of the action of watching or keeping the house. And it was used widely of women in that day to refer to those who were at home to watch over the affairs of a household. But again, it was used in the negative sense, the verb itself, of men who stayed at home to avoid military service. There were some related terms as well that meant to keep the house, to stay at home. In fact, it referred to women who were stay at homes. Those who were employed in the work of housekeeping. It was a term that referred to a monetary payment that was given to those who. Kept the house. And here's another interesting one. And this is not the same word as keepers at home. It is a related term. It meant to keep children within the doors of a house. To keep children at home. So on the basis of this survey of the use of this word, we can conclude The term that is here translated in our English Bibles as keepers at home was primarily used in a positive sense to indicate both the nature and the sphere of the married woman's work. This would have been understood instantly by those who read Paul. They knew what he was talking about. The nature of her work was to manage the affairs of her household and the sphere of her work was in her home. She was one who kept at home. She stayed at home to do the work that was necessary there. Now, we know that the man goes out of the home. Now, some men have employment within their home. They work at home. But even there, they might be there physically, but not mentally. They've left the home for a while. They've got to devote themselves to other things, other aspects of their callings, other aspects of their dominion work. And the dominion work assigned to men is very broad. My point is, it's not very broad as it's applied to women. Paul's admonition is definite. He says, let the older women teach the younger women to remain within the sphere of their own households so that they might properly attend to the duties of caring for their family and managing its everyday affairs. But again, it's not just doing work. The woman is to see herself as a guardian of her home. When you get up in the morning, ladies, I am the guardian of my home. I am responsible to watch over everything that happens this day. In God's design and according to my husband's understanding, he has gone forth to do his work, his duty, his responsibility, but I am here. I have been left with this most significant, most awesome task of watching the house today. For the glory of my God, for the good of my husband, and the blessing of my children. This is my domain. This is my territory. This is my kingdom. This is my house. And I will watch over it. And I will keep it. Really, frankly, no one else besides my husband really cares. Now, of course, I'm not saying that we brothers and sisters don't care about each other in that sense, but I think we all have so many of our own cares, it's hard to watch over each other's families. You must do that. I'd like to read you a quotation from William Barclay and his summary of the teaching of this passage. and the meaning of this term and this idea before we go on to look at some of the wider biblical teaching on the role of the woman. But I really like what he says here. He says, it is the simple fact that there is no greater task and responsibility and privilege in this world than to make a home. I really like that. Let me say it again. It is the simple fact that there is no greater task and responsibility and privilege in this world than to make a home. It may well be that when people, especially women, are involved in 101 wearing duties which children in home bring with them, they may say, if only I could be done with all this so that I could live truly a religious life. There is, in fact, nowhere where a true religious life can be better lived than within the home. As John Kemble had it, We need not bid for a cloistered cell our neighbor and our work farewell, nor strive to wind ourselves too high for sinful man beneath the sky. The trivial round, the common task, will furnish all we need to ask. Room to deny ourselves a road to bring us daily nearer to God. Barclay goes on to say, in the last analysis, there can be no greater career than the career of homemaking. How many a man who has set his mark upon the world has been enabled to do so simply because there was someone at home who cared for him and loved him and tended him. It is infinitely more important that a mother should be at home to put her children to bed and to hear them say their prayers than she should attend all the public and church meetings in the world. It has been said that consecration is that which makes drudgery divine. And there's no place where consecration can be more necessarily and beautifully shown than within the four walls of the place which we call home. The world can do without its committee meetings. It cannot do without its homes. And a home is not a home. When the mistress of the home is absent from it. really focuses our minds on proper things here. We need to hear them. Today, what we've developed in our culture is the idea that a woman is asked what she does, and she's, well, I'm only a homemaker. I was thinking about this, and this is what it really should be. A couple of women that have been in the news lately, and this is nothing to, I'm not speaking against the person's character, and this is my point, it's illustrative. For example, Harriet Myers. She was nominated for the Supreme Court. Prior to that, however, she was at the pinnacle. She was the personal lawyer, White House lawyer, of the President of the United States. Here's how it really should be. Harriet asked, what do you do? Well, I'm only the Chief Counsel of the President of the United States. That's what it should be. Because the epitome, it's a homemaker. I remember one time a preacher exhorting preachers to be, he says, if you have been called to preach the word of God, you're not stooped to be a king. That really struck me. And I say, if you've been called to be a homemaker, and he has if you've given your husband, You can call it to be a homemaker. Don't stoop to be the President of the United States. Well, Bill, this is an interesting word study you've given us, but you really can't build too much on word studies. OK, for a moment, I'll grant that. And I want to show you that what I've defined is that a married woman is called to stay at home, to manage the affairs of her home, is proved by the calling that God gives to her as to what she's supposed to do when she's at home. There was no virtue in staying at home. And one of the problems that led to the feminism is that women stayed at home, but they had no biblical idea of what they were supposed to be doing. They had sent their children off to the public schools, and so the house was empty for the day. They became busybodies. They became bored. I don't know of a single woman in this church whose homeschooling is bored. There may be other things, but none of them are bored. And they don't have time to get into trouble. But that's what was happening. If we see what God has called a woman to do, we will see she has no time to do anything else. And her role is so critically important that she dare not do anything else. Because it's going to stand or fall, in a large degree, according to her. By the way, we Christians really think low of women, don't we? Did you hear what I said? It's going to largely stand or fall, ladies, because of you. See, to prove that now. Turn to Genesis 2, 18. Very foundational. But when you when you when you seek to rebuild, you've got to clear away the rubble. The house has fallen down. What do you do? You've got to clear away all the rubble and get back to the foundation. Then you can build. And this is what we want to do. Genesis, chapter two. Genesis is the book of beginnings. It lays our understanding through which we are to comprehend the rest of scripture. It's so foundational. And when we look at the account of the woman's creation in Genesis chapter 2, we are given to us the very essence of her purpose for being. And what is that purpose? According to the Word of God. According to the vision. The prophetic Word. According to the law. That if we keep, happy are we. Ladies, here's why you are here. The Lord God said it's not good that man should be alone. Not a good situation. It's an amazing statement in view of what we've just seen in Genesis 1. said, and it was good, and it was good, and it was good, and it was good. This is not good. It's not good in the sense that it's incomplete. Man in and of himself is not good. Men, you're not good in yourselves. That means you're incomplete. You're incomplete. And so God has an answer to our problems, men. And the answer is not to give us problems. to solve it. Here's what it is. It's not good that man should be alone. I will make him a help. And there's a space between the word your wife, not your help, meet a help, meet for him, meet meaning fit. I will make him a helper fit for him. Now, this word that is used here, help of the Hebrew term It's a very dynamic term and then to rescue or save. It's pretty strong meaning. It's used of God as the subject throughout the Old Testament as one who rescues and saves sinners and the lost and comes to them. It has the idea of one who is strong and one who is able to come to the aid of someone who's in need. Therefore, what this passage is saying is God created the woman so that she would come to the aid of man to be his support and to be his help. And she will be meet or fit. That is, she will correspond to Him. She will be perfectly suitable for Him and comparable to Him in every way. Though she will be female, He will be male. This indicates to us the woman will be man's counterpart equal to Him mentally, spiritually, and physically. Note here this distinction as well. The word meat is a word of essence or nature. Men and women are of the same essence and of the same nature. Made in the image of God, not a whit of difference between them. But, the word help is a word of function. This means that the woman is called according to her function to be subordinate to man as the one who will come alongside of him to assist and support him in his calling. The calling that defines the home in terms of the work that is to be specifically done for the kingdom of God by that household and family is defined by the man's calling. But the woman comes alongside to make that man successful in his calling. It's not good. He can't do it alone. God designed, perfectly designed, that the woman would be that one who would stand beside her man, and she would make her man successful. Calvin says this concerning this passage. Now, since God assigns the woman as a help to the man, He not only prescribes to wives the rule of their vocation. In my ears, Martin has taught us so well, what does vocation mean? It's a particular calling you are to carry out. Back to Calvin. To instruct them in their duty. But he also pronounces that marriage will really prove to men the best support of life. We may therefore conclude that the order of nature implies that the woman should be the helper of man." End of quote from Calvin. Now, there are other important scriptures that build on this idea that the man needs help. The man needs help. He needs a helper. And that helper is not another man, not a friend, not a parent, not a sibling, but a woman. God's design. And he created her to be his helper. And his success is in due measure because he has his own responsibilities. And our purpose is not to explore them today, but they are heavy men. Heavy responsibilities are on us. But our focus today is to see that our success, and ladies, for you to see that the success of your husband is in due measure dependent on your love and your support. Look at Proverbs 12 and verse 4. Proverbs chapter 12 and verse 4. A virtuous woman. is a crown to her husband. But she that maketh ashamed is rottenness, as rottenness in his bones. Here we have a man, a husband. He has a wife. An antithesis is here again, like we saw in our Proverbs passage last week. The one is the virtuous woman. And the idea of virtue is a woman of power, morally and wisdomly speaking. She's a powerful woman. She knows her God. She knows his will. She's committed to living according to it. That's the idea of a virtuous woman. The Hebrew term behind virtue here is one of power and capacity. It's used even of men in the Old Testament to express a man's vigor or prowess as a warrior. Here it is used of a woman of her vigor and her prowess as a wife alongside of a man. We have this man as a virtuous woman. She is a crown to her husband. The crown is symbolic of a man who conquers. The victor's crown is on his head because he has a virtuous woman beside him. Now, same man. Gives him a crown on his head. He's got cancer in his bones. Because he has a wife and the antithesis of the first one is a woman that makes ashamed. A woman who makes ashamed. She shames him because she will not be the helper God called her to be. He's alone in certain respects. She does not respect his authority. She does not listen to His Word. She's not concerned about Him primarily. She's not concerned about God's calling in His life, but she's wrapped up in herself. She's a cancer that will go to the very frame of the man's being, his bones, and will eat them out. And what happens when the frame collapses? Everything else goes. It's a very dramatic picture here. a man with a victor's crown, conquering in the world. Why, according to the proverb, virtuous woman at his side. Another man, crumbling, defeated, depressed, discouraged, failing. Why? A woman who makes him ashamed. Ladies, if there's one thing There's many things. But let me just say this one thing I want to emphasize. Never, never, never shame your husband. If you have problems with your husband, deal with it some other way. Don't spread it abroad. Don't attack him. You have got to see that you're called to build this man up. And to build him up in the eyes of others. This will make him strong. You see, he will know you know his faults, which are many. Yet you love this man and you're committed to him and to his integrity and his name. And when a man has that kind of woman on his side, God willing, he'll have a crown. Again, figuratively speaking, it's a victor's crown. Let me read you a couple of comments. First from a man named Toy, interesting name, commentator in the book of Proverbs. Speaking of a woman whose virtue, he says, such a woman is said to be your husband's crown, his glory and joy, bringing him happiness at home and honor abroad by the excellence of her household arrangements and the respect which her character commands. The crown signifies royal honor. In contrast with her is the wife who acts badly. Bad is here to be taken as the opposite of the good above. Such a woman destroys her husband's happiness and power as rottenness destroys his bones. Well, that was challenging, ladies. Wait for Mr. Bridges. This is good. And yet it is very challenging. But here's where we're at. He speaks of the virtuous woman who was a crowned her husband. And he says this faithful, chaste, reverently obedient, immovable in affection, delighting to see her husband honored, respected and loved, covering as may be his failings. A prudent woman in the management of the family. Conscientious in the discharge of her domestic duties. Kind and considerate to all around her. And as the root of all, fearing the Lord. Such is the virtuous woman. Indeed, called the weaker vessel, but a woman of strength. with all her graces and godly energy. She is not the ring on her husband's finger or the chain of gold around his neck. That were far too low. She is his crown, his brightest ornament, drawing the eyes of all upon him as eminently honored and blessed. Truly affecting is the contrast of a contentious, imperious, extravagant, perhaps unfaithful wife in the levity of her conduct, forgetting her proper place and subjection, seeking the admiration of others instead of being satisfied with her husband's regard. This indeed is a living disease, rottenness in his bones, marring his usefulness, undermining his happiness. perhaps driving him into temptation and a snare of the devil. Let a young woman, in contemplating this holy union, ponder well and in deep prayer its weighty responsibility. Will she be a crown to her husband or one that make it ashamed? Will she be what God made the woman and help meet? Or what Satan made her, a tempter to her husband? If she be not a crown to him, she will be a shame to herself. If she be rottenness to his bones, she will be a plague to her own. For what is the woman's happiness but to be the helper of her husband's joy? Oh, let their mutual comfort be sought where alone it can be solidly found in dwelling together as the heirs of life. Better never to have seen each other than to live together forgetful of this great end of improving their union as an indulgent gift of God and an important talent for his service and their own eternal happiness. In the point of our argument, we're saying the word keepers at home means the woman's to stay at home to devote herself to its affairs. And what we're saying here from this aspect of the woman's calling is her calling in life is to make her husband successful. You know what the calling is of a working woman? To make her boss or her business successful. That's her calling. And she can't do both well. Ladies, if your husband is failing, a lot of it's at your feet. We're not taking away his responsibilities. But he needs you. He really needs you. He needs to know that you are committed to his success. He wants to be a good father, but he can't do it alone. He wants to be a leader in in business, in his work. He wants to be a leader in the church. He wants to be a leader. All men have a desire to lead. It's put in them by God. Sin sometimes suppresses that. But every one of us men sitting here wants to lead. Lead out. But he can't do it unless you're behind him. There's so many things we could say here. One of the things that a woman does watch over the household over is another tendency. A problem of us men is to get imbalanced. As we go out there and we're leading in the world and we're doing this and that, we begin to forget sometimes our domestic duties. You're the watcher. And if your husband has confidence in you and he knows that you are committed to his success, he will understand and receive when you come and beg dear. You're neglecting some things here. I want to, in love, point these out to you. So thank you. So thankful you're a watcher at home, a keeper at home. And I get distracted sometimes, and my mind goes over this project and that project, and I forget. But I thank God I've got a wife who is keeping the home and keeping us balanced, man, keeping us focused, keeping us on the road. Pretty large responsibility, isn't it, ladies? And one that no one else can do. If you don't do it in your home, it will not be done. Others will come along and try to make up the vacuum, but it will only be partial. The second thing, and time is slipping away here, the second thing that the wife is called to do is she is called by God to be a mother. That's in the hands of God. Sometimes women are not granted fruitfulness. Sometimes they are actually even barren. And that is something that is a very difficult thing. And our hearts go out to the ladies who would be in that kind of a circumstance. However praised be to God, there is always the wonderful ministry that is set forth of adoption. And God certainly put a seal on that when he used that very term to speak of what he did to us. And so even a woman who is in that condition can yet be the joyful mother of children. Though our ungodly, self-seeking, grasping world wants to empty your pockets before you can do that. We need to work in that area, by the way. There's an area of reform that needs to be taken care of in this culture. And the whole adoption thing has gotten out of control by a humanistic state. But the woman is called to bear and nurture children. One of the very central aspects of marriage, as Genesis 128 teaches us, is the idea of fruitfulness. Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And here's the glory. By God's creative design, the woman is the primary caregiver for a child. She is called and equipped physically, in a way the man is not equipped, to nurture life. Oh, what an amazing gift God has given to you, that life grows within your body. Incredible. I'll never know what that's like, except second hand through the experience of my wife. Glory. And then when the child is brought into the world, he doesn't want dad. Give me mom. Dad, you're not equipped. He wants mom. God has blessed you, ladies. There's hardships that go with being a woman in that area. The blessings are far, far greater. And God did it. He designed you in this way. And it was that you might nurture. You might be the one wherein life is conceived and life is carried and life is birthed and then nurtured. You're the nurse of your child. The one who provides that tender love and affection that is so important to a child's life and development. You see, the husband is called to do other things, but your high calling is to nurture the children of the marriage. Certainly, the husband has his own responsibilities with those children. We're not in any way setting that aside. He is to be a man who is with his children, training his children, disciplining children, loving his children, spending his time with his children. But he was not called to be the watcher and the keeper and the stay at homer. And therefore, the primary The care of children is given by God's sovereignty to you. How important are children? You know, I get sick of our society that talks about how important children are, how important children are, and then do everything they can to undermine the importance. Women, what a gift God has given to you. And I pray that even now, you ladies who are going through the pregnancy, I know some of you are, and all the things that are attending, say, thank God that he gave me this gift. And I can give this gift to my husband. The scripture is very clear in the motherly responsibilities of a woman. In the epistles to Timothy, in 1 Timothy, Paul is talking about the needs of widows. And interestingly, there he lists a fact there are some good works that should be present in her life or the report concerning her before she is considered for being one who comes under the care of the church as a widow. Charity with standards, very unloving, Paul. In other words, the elders say, what's the report concerning this lady who's seeking the response and care of the church? Oh, she's a gadabout. Sorry. Paul says, here's what you need to look for. Look at 1 Timothy 5.10. 1 Timothy 5.10. Verse 9, let not a widow be taken into number under three score years old, having been the wife of one man. well reported of for good works. Look at the first one. If she has brought up children. Then it says, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. It doesn't say if she's preached a lot of good sermons. Look where she's working. Children, lodging strangers, that is, in her home, homemaking, hospitality, washing the saints' feet, ministries of service, that only a woman can often perform where it's not even proper for a man to be, relieving the afflicted, following every good work. But the younger widow refused, and so forth. But she's brought up children, and the word bring up children here is an extremely important term. It meant not only to raise the child, but carried the idea of personal attendance in the act. She was with her children, bringing them up. In other words, it doesn't just mean that you somehow provided for them enough that they made it through childhood and they have become an adult. You brought up the children. You were with your she was with her children, bringing them up. Personal attendance. Now, it's pretty hard to do that. If you're not with them now, let's look at another one, First Timothy 514. I just gave that one. No, I didn't. First 14. Here it is. I will therefore that the younger women marry." This would be the younger widows. Marry. Bear children. Guide the house. Give none occasion to the adversary to speak. In speaking to the younger widows, of course, I think he's speaking to all, by extension, all young ladies. What is your goal in life? To marry. To bear children. To guide your home. and to give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. But what is, again, up there in the top? Marriage, commitment to her husband, ministering to her husband, but after that is bearing children. Again, this term is very expressive. It refers not only just to bring them into the world, but to nurture and to train them. In 1 Timothy 2.15, dealing with the role of the woman in the church and how she is to learn in silence. She's not been called to be an elder, to be a preacher, to teach her. Because of various reasons, then verse 15, notwithstanding, she shall be saved in childbearing. Not saved in the sense of her soul finding forgiveness of sins and justification, but delivered. Her sense of purpose will be found. Her mind and her sense of self-worth and direction in life will be saved to her when she understands and sees and grasps the vision of childbearing. The motherly nurture of children and their physical and spiritual development is of utmost importance to the Kingdom of God. Now listen, the next generation, ladies, is largely in your hands. The servants of God who will go forth for the Kingdom of God, to glorify Him and to fight the good fight of faith in the next generation, God has committed to you. Again, to your husband as well, to join the thing. But you're the keeper at home. You're there. And the woman who is faithful in fulfilling that calling, God will highly honor. She will be counted as one of the true heroes of the faith. And I would like today to publicly honor you. Every one of you ladies who have taken upon yourselves the yoke of biblical motherhood are heroes. You're champions. And we praise you and pray God will encourage you in your work. The third thing that we see in the woman's calling, we need to bring this to a close, is that she's to manage her house. First Timothy 5, 14, where we saw that charge, exhorts the younger woman to marry bare children and guide the house. It's a very expressive term, guide the house. It means to be the mistress in the home, to rule the household in the sense of managing its family and everyday affairs. Here we have, again, a clear indication of the sphere of the woman's authority. It's her home, as opposed to the spheres of church and state. She is given her authority. She rules in her home, under her husband, of course. But the husband's a wise man who allows his wife to manage the home in this biblical sense. And probably the house would be run a lot better. It's funny how throughout our marriage, I always thought I could do a little bit better from time to time. And usually made a mess of things. Derailed the good management of my wife. And it was a shame to me. And the older I get, the more I learn, let Linda manage the home. Let me give it its overall direction, its leadership, by God's grace, its vision, its teaching, provide for it, but let her manage it, Bill. Let her flower and just become all she can be because you let her do that. Don't suppress your wife. Don't suppress her womanliness. Don't suppress her calling, men, by trying to manage your home. Let her do it. You could even turn this verse around and say, I say to all the young men, I say to all the men, let your wife guide the house. And that's one of the ways in which she'll make you successful. Because you can set aside the myriad of details. And the details that you need to know about, she'll bring to your attention. She's watching. She's the keeper. She's the guardian of the everyday affairs of the family. And when she brings you those details, by the way, men, be responsive. Don't let your to-do list, you know, get this long. That discourages a woman because it tells her you don't really care about her management. She doesn't care that she has to face that dripping faucet every day. She has to face that broken step every day. That's not good because it just tells her, you know, he doesn't really care about what's happening. Here I am trying to manage and guide this man's home and I bring areas where he needs to step in and take responsibility. He doesn't do anything. Be careful we don't fall into that, men. So the woman is to help her husband. She's the basis of success or failure. Ladies, your calling in life is to make the man God gave you successful. His success, please, please see this. His success is your success. His defeat is your defeat. You are one. You are there. And those who are in the know will understand why a man is successful. Let's get personal. You know why our brother Myron is successful? Because of his wife, to a large degree, and he'll be the first one to say it. We could just go through without the congregation, but I knew I could pick on him because he's a fellow elder. If you would just catch this vision and cast off the feminist lies and mindset, be yourself, make your way in life, get some meaning and purpose, set aside the home, the drudgery thereof, I mean, serving this man, that's all nonsense. Let's be all that we can be, you know, that kind of worldly nonsense. Forever banish it from your minds, dear ladies, in Christ, and be the women God has called you to be and equipped you to be. You know what? You'll find joy. You will find joy. If you're unhappy, it's because you're not on the track. You're thinking of yourself. This is not to berate you. This is to liberate you. I want women's liberation. Liberation from themselves to do God's call in life. That's our desire. There's one common objection. Oh, I only got the first one. The second one, she's to raise children. And the third one, she's to manage the home. She can't do those incredibly all-demanding tasks if she's not a keeper at home, one who stays at home to do that. That's the wife and mother's calling. Now, some might say, and this is a common objection we need to just briefly look at is, well, this keepers at home that requires and calls, I should say, a woman to confine her work, her career to that of her home, is contrary to the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31. After all, she was a businesswoman engaged in pursuits beyond the sphere of her own household. For example, she was a real estate agent considering fields and buying them and that type of a thing. But if anyone looks closely at the picture of Proverbs 31, He will see that what we have laid forth here is exactly what this woman is doing. What we see in Proverbs 31 is a woman devoted to the management of her own household, not of a woman leaving the household to come under another man's business or so forth and to make another man successful. She is the woman who has her own household, large or small, and she is doing her duty within that sphere. You manage the household, by the way, ladies, that God has given to you in your husband, and you don't manage somebody else's. I'm talking about envy or whatever. If God is committed to your man, and you're making him successful the best you can, and you have a little bungalow, you'd be thankful to God and manage it well. And maybe that bungalow with a successful man will actually change. The woman here we see in Proverbs 31, to me, gives the exact support of that interpretation that we have of the keepers at home. We see her as a wise manager of the resources that her husband commits to her care. Verses 14, 16, and 24. You can look these up later. She's a true helper to her husband, enabling him to rise to prominence. He is known in the gates. Her husband is known in the gates, not her. But what is he doing in the gates and publicly? He's standing up and saying, I praise this woman that God has given me. I could never be here tonight, man, if it wasn't for the woman of strength and character and purposes behind me. We're a team, by the way, and I want you to know that, that everything I achieve is a joint venture. And my wife is right there, and she should receive that praise. And men, when you do succeed, when you are praised, be sure that you understand how you got there. and be thankful to God for your wife. Furthermore, we see in Proverbs she's caring for the needs of her children. Proverbs 31. She assures that they're all well fed and well clothed. She sees that all their property is put to good use. This is a particularly interesting one. It says she sees a field and buys it. The Hebrew term for buy there is literally takes. And it does not imply necessarily an economic transaction where she's going out and buying land. It could possibly. But here's how I like and I believe this should be taken. It says she sees a field and takes hold of it. It's like she is the keeper at home. There's something in the home that's not being utilized the way it should. In this picture, it's a field that's sort of sitting there fallow. She sees that and she takes hold of the situation and she makes it productive. That's what I think that means when she sees a field and buys it. The word that's translated by there, I'm not pleased with. She puts it to good use. What does she do? She plants a vineyard there. So the ladies are always looking at all the resources and making sure all the resources of the home, every square inch of the household, every muscle, children included, are all being put to good use. Don't let the children sit around. Get them to work. Hey, here's a child that could be doing something. Here's a field. Take a hold of that child and get him busy. That type of a thing. And don't wait for your husband to do that. You're the keeper at home. Now, he should support you in that, and you should be in counsel daily and prayer together as you do this work. It's a joint enterprise. And then finally, it tells us here that The woman is able to engage in some sort of cottage industry in the Proverbs name. But it's not, again, going out of the home to work. She makes, in any available time she has and strength that she has left, fine linens and sashes that she sells to the merchants. But she's doing all that under her husband's guidance and direction. In conclusion, may God be pleased to restore to the Church of Jesus Christ the proper understanding of keepers at home. so that the Christian family and the Christian church might once again benefit from having the wife and mother in the home fulfilling it, or filling it I should say, with her presence, her love, her care, her management, and its wisdom. You know, we often speak of the family being foundational to society, to both church and state. We often say, as goes the family, so goes everything else. If that's what we believe, let us give the household, the home, the priority it deserves. And brothers and sisters, I commend you for doing this, but I also challenge you, don't be tempted to abandon it. I also challenge you to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ in both your testimony and your words to our dear brothers and sisters out there who don't quite see it this way. They're not our enemies. There are brothers and sisters in Christ that we must take the word of God to and lovingly point them to the direction that they should go. And one of the best ways to do that is the living testimony of your own family. A well-ordered home is one of life's greatest treasures. But if we're going to have a well-ordered home, we have to have the jewel that makes it the treasure. And that is the virtuous woman, the keeper at home, who devotes herself to her womanly callings for the glory of God. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, we pray this day that good will come from this exhortation from the word of God. And we thank you for the godly women in our midst today. I pray you'll just rekindle their vision this morning. You'll clarify it. You'll purify it. That each married woman and wife will now say, by the grace of God, I will be a keeper at home. Lord, we pray for those ladies in difficult situations and circumstances. Perhaps they have unsaved husbands. Perhaps they are in situations of being a widow or through death or divorce. And we just, we do ache for them. We pray for wisdom for us all and for themselves and for their children on how to work in these very difficult circumstances. And we hold these ladies up to you as well and pray you will encourage them, enable them in their difficulties to be faithful to you and to be the women of God you have called them to be. I pray for the men of this church, the husbands and the fathers. Oh Lord, how dare we ever think negatively of our wives. How dare we ever omit to give them praise and encouragement and strength from our own godly character and our own commitment to them. Help us, Lord, to be wise men who lead our homes. Lord, I pray for our young men and women here today who are looking to the future. I pray that you will give them that prophetic word vision for the future. I pray that you will bring godly young ladies in the lives of our young men and godly men in the lives of our young ladies. And that, Lord, we will really see a generational thing here, that they will not turn from what they've seen in our families as we have sought to walk this path, but they will catch that prophetic vision as well. Lord, bless your word today for the glory of Christ and the strength of the Christian home. Amen. Now we'll turn to a time of interaction with our covenanting men for questions and comments. The microphone, and who will be first here this morning? Bob Hildebeitel. You touched on it a little bit there at the end, but one of the most tremendous evidences of God's blessing to faithful women who are keepers at home is their trained daughters and sons. You touched a little bit on that. I'm not speaking just of my own family, but I've seen this in all of our homes. When I come home from work, weary and tired and hungry, And my wife is preparing dinner. She doesn't turn to me and say, honey, where's that cooking oil? She calls on my daughter or my sons to immediately assist her. And this is something that women need to remember that because of their faithfulness and their husbands, these children, not only are they assisting them for the immediate blessing, but they're going to be able, as you said, to be sent out to be a blessing to another man or woman and the furtherance of God's kingdom. Amen. As we go forward, Bob and others is in the calling of raising up a large family, a lot of work to be done. And you illustrated about when there was a need there, it's just not for mom and dad to do the work. The mother must catch the vision that these children are not given just to sit there and be served. They're there to serve and to learn to work. And from the earliest age, the smallest skill that a child has, the mother needs to discern that and put them to work fulfilling that skill. It will not work unless you teach your children to work and to honor that and to be hard workers. Children, be ready. Work hard. Mom and dad, Need you. You are a resource for your family. You're not just a little piece that's out there. You are so important to your home. Do your work well. Support mom and dad. And learn the path of blessing. And I'm saying to you, ladies and men, every available resource in the home, and now we're talking about the resource of children doing their chores, doing their work, whatever you want to call it, train them. Do it. It's the only way it will work. If you try to do it yourself and you think you're there to serve your children, you'll probably be needing some counseling because you won't be able to handle it. If you teach them to work from the earliest days, you'll be amazed what can be done. Thank you, Bob. Another, yes, Matthew. Thank you very much for this word, which is Highly necessary to be heard around the country and from people who have largely rejected this model of a family. We hear such comments as I hear almost daily at work. So, Matt, how do you like married life? And after my expression that I love married life, it's wonderful. They say, well, I'll just ask again in 10 years. That'll change. What was that last phrase? I'll just ask you again in 10 years. OK. And find out if you still like married life as much as you do now. And they've grown embittered in some senses to their own lives at home. And as someone whose bachelorhood is not that far in the past, I haven't forgotten how much different it is pursuing my calling apart from my helper. It is extremely different. The support I have from knowing my wife is at my home. And the love I feel every time I open my lunchbox that she has prepared for me is worlds different. Testimony is not authoritative. I would pray that it would affirm this truth very, very much. It is so different. Remember your bachelorhood. And in addition to that, I'm reminded by a small passage in a book by Rush Dooney. It's called Flight from Humanity, but there's a portion in it which describes this woman who had really forgotten, essentially, that the everyday duties of her task as a wife and mother is distinctly spiritual. And it is instruction from heaven which tells her to do these earthly, day-by-day common duties. And his point throughout the book is it is a neo-Platonism that causes them to forget these things and instead exalt higher callings as being truly spiritual when the daily duties of motherhood and being a wife is very, very spiritual. The late late in this saw the physical world as being something that was secondary, if not downright something to be avoided. And that true life was in contemplation of virtue and ideas. And then, of course, you get the cloisters. where real spirituality is worked out in the cloister, where you can spend all day in prayer and meditation and that type of a thing. And this Barclay's quote was a little bit directed time that night. I really can't be a good Christian. I have all these physical things to deal with all the time. I need to have time for meditation and prayer and that type of thing. Now, those things are important, but the Neoplatonic idea was that's where spirituality is. You know, Rush Dooney's call that this is a spiritual work gives us the opportunity to emphasize something. This is why I like interaction so much, because I didn't really bring this out in the message. Spiritual work must be done with spiritual strength. And none of the ladies can fulfill this calling in their own strength. Absolutely impossible. Because it's the antithesis of the self-centeredness that's in all of us by sin. And to die to self and to Serve God in this way is a work that only the Spirit of God can bring about in a woman's life. Which also means, men, we need to, on the balance against Neoplatonic emphasis on that, there's also yet the balance, she needs time to do that. And you need to figure out how you can give your wife the time she needs for a season of prayer and meditation. And sometimes that's easily worked out in other ways, but perhaps with all young children, it's not. And the demand needs to be cognizant of that fact. And be an encouragement to her for prayer together, but also she does need time alone with her God. Spiritual work only done through spiritual power. This can't be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we were counseling, remember what we said? God is the plan and the power. It's not enough to know the plan. for marriage, for family. You need the power to carry it out. And sometimes knowing the plan actually is worse for us, because now we feel guilty, now we feel defeated, because we're not carrying it out. So you've got to put the two together. The plan with the power. And you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And you shall be God in your homes, but only through His power. Yes, Jean. Or was there one right here? the efficient use of our time. Thank you for that message. I just wanted to come at the one thing in reading some biographies of some great Christian men recently, who's really seen the role their wives had. Like William Carey, he doubted the number of wives. His third wife, people were cautioning him not to marry her. She was an invalid, and she would be a real detriment to his work. But she knew several languages. And when she was reading through the scriptures, whenever she came upon a path that she'd understand, she would consult all the translations in all the different languages and not much or possibly even the Greek and Hebrew to, you know, to try and come to the understanding of it. And she was a tremendous help to him in the translation that he did. I recently read about Charles Spurgeon's wife and he had written this one book and she read it, which in itself is a great help. Just got a comment and she said, you know, this is really great. I'll need to get this in the hands of pastors in some geographic area. And so he challenged her, you know, well, you know, what can you do to bring that about? And she had some coins she had saved up, so you know, they were valuable coins. She used those to, I think it was a hundred copies, and then eventually she ended up, I think she some more money and was financing 200 copies of this book, but then donations started coming in. They were unsolicited, and that became a real ministry for her, managing this book fund. Donations came from all over the United Kingdom, not just for his books, but for other books, to Panthers, and it was really a tremendous blessing. A it was under as a part of his ministry in getting good Christian literature out to people. And they really were. You know, you really saw it in both those couples, the real partnership and how their husband's ministry was really enhanced by the way. Spurgeon was a man under tremendous pressures on so many ways we can't even imagine. You read his biography and he's the thing that kept the man going by God's instrument, you know, was his wife. Her love and commitment. He loved her dearly. I mean, everybody else in the world might be against Spurgeon and he's being trashed in the papers and everything else. But she was there and he just gives her tremendous praise throughout his time. I also like to think of what God was doing at the time of the Reformation. God raised up a man named Martin Luther. He launched the Reformation. He was going along and the Reformation was in danger. And then God gave him Katie. You read Luther's biography and his Katie was the most beloved won in this world to him, and she was his support and strength. In other words, the Lord knew the Reformation couldn't go forward until Martin had Katie. OK, thank you. Yes, brother. Yeah, one aspect that you brought up that I think is ever so important in a wife seeking a career. Obviously, there's problems with her absence in the home and so forth, but something that is so far reaching is the fact that in doing a career, she is in a role of supporting another man. She is in a role of building up his household and his life and so forth. And we've seen this in old movies where secretaries will remind their bosses of their daughter's birthday coming up and do their shopping for them and just things that are so offensive. And it is just the implications that would lead into a whole nother sermon. I think this is very important. And two other objections that we often encounter from folks in addition to the Proverbs 31 reference. One would be Deborah, whose calling was one of leadership outside of the home. And I was wondering if you could comment on that. And the other non-biblical one is Just the financial restraints in today's society. We're aware of one couple where the husband hurt his back and could no longer work in construction, make a reasonable salary. And so he had to go to a much lesser paying job where they couldn't keep up with their mortgage and so forth. So I wondered if you could comment on that. Yeah, I'll start with the second one. We must understand that the tax structure and all of these things are set against the family. There's a conspiracy out there, and I'm not talking about the Bilderbergers or whatever. I'm talking about Satan and his lies and his teachers and stuff that he has in the world. And he's got a long term view of things, and he understands that you implement these things generationally and generationally. Our dollar and our money has been so devalued. So the civil government has seized so many of the functions of the family bit by bit, and so the family has to pay for those functions. And we pay for excessive taxation, far and above the taxation of tyrants in the past, that we need to give over to the civil government because we abandon our families. And so the situation we're in today is a tough one economically. It really is. And because of the tax burden that we're all under, we find ourselves very tempted to seek that our wives would become those who also are income producers. Now, there's some ways in which that can be dealt with. There are ways in which Today, a woman can be a source of some income, like the Proverbs 31 woman, yet out of her household and under her husband's authority. She's not serving someone else. So we pray and ask God for creativity as men and with our wife, how we might be able to do that, if that's possible. Now, if you're a young mother with five little children around, it's just not going to make it. But then again, you can't go out to work anyway, because by the time you pay child care for that, you're going to be a negative red ground as well. But I do believe that Matthew 6.33 is a verse of Scripture that God gave to Linda and I years ago when facing many challenges like all of you are facing. And that is, seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. We have staked our marriage and our lives on that, and I say to God's glory, He never failed us. He won't. But it's like the priest and the imagery of the priest that Jordan doesn't part until you put your feet in it. And by the way, every commitment like that will be tested. Are you getting on to a fad or is this the conviction of your life to glorify God? Furthermore, we are far too materialistic in this country. We think that living the good American life means so many cars, so many cell phones, so many this and that. You've got to cut it down. You've got to get your priorities straight. And so there are economic ways that this can be dealt with. And but your point is so well, people come to us for that. But it's an opportunity for witness and certain one of those. Let's talk about Deborah. First of all, Deborah is an illustration to me of what happens when men abandon their responsibility in the sense that sometimes God does got to raise up godly women to stand in the gap. It does not mean he has overturned his order. It is a rebuke to men themselves. The men in Israel should have been shamefaced that they were having to go to Deborah to hear the word of the Lord. She was a great and godly woman. One of the judgments of God, according to Isaiah, is that when women and children and I think children there is the reference to immature, childlike men who are ruling over a people. And God does raise up women to rule over men at times. And it's a sign of judgment, not a sign of blessing. But furthermore, in the actual carrying forth of actual leadership in Israel, we know that when the battle needed to be fought, Deborah refused to be the leader, actually be the magistrate, actually be the judge, which is a term for a civil magistrate military leader in that book. She said, I won't go. Baruch's got to do it. And so she would not step in, even though she had an informal influence and the word of the Lord was coming, she would not take upon herself the office of magistrate and she would not seek to subvert God's order in that way. And that even though things were bad, she said, I'm not going to lead you. Barak, you've got to do it. OK, I'll do it if you come with me. So, you know, thank God for Deborah. And God does raise up Deborah from time to time, but let's not applaud that we're in that position, we can be thankful for the godly woman, but let's men be shamefaced and do our duty. Any other comments? Michael? Just real briefly, this idea of marriage and faithfulness and protection and support and help is one way in which mankind differs from the animals. And I think one of the should have been expected consequences of the acceptance of the theory of evolution is that many of the characteristics which we see in the animal kingdom are becoming common among men. It's not too common among the animal kingdom for the format of family life. to be lived out and we often see matriarchal species where the woman is very much in charge. We see men who are unfaithful and we see abuse, we see lazy men in the animal kingdom. Very odd things that Those from our culture try to make hay out of it and say, well, you know, the animals do it. Why shouldn't we? What's wrong with people doing it? I admit, I'm not entirely sure why God gave us such a variety and such oddnesses in the animal kingdoms he did, but we aren't animals. If you submit to natural law theory of ethics, you're in trouble with those arguments because what is natural? is right. But we are not natural law ethicists. We do not believe that nature gives to us our marching orders. We believe the revealed, and I know you agree with me, we believe in the revealed written word of God is where we find our understanding. And if anything, when we see the animal world and what's happening there and us beginning to parallel that, what it tells us is we're becoming brute beasts. And we're not living as God would have us as those in the image of God. OK, I think at this time we'll conclude the discussion. Thank you, men, for these insights and comments. And we appreciate it very, very much. We'll have our concluding hymn and our offering at this time.