A Wonderful Wife part 1 - The Proverbs 31 Woman

Take your Bible and turn to Proverbs 31. Sometimes I wanna say turn back to 'cause on Sunday mornings we always do a scripture reading. I don't do a scripture reading as much on Wednesday nights. I just kinda see how that works out. Sometimes I feel impressed to read one of these scriptures for our little ones, but not tonight. So turn to Proverbs chapter 31. And last week we started this chapter. This is the last chapter in the book of Proverbs. And I think every one of you realize that. Now I was honest last week. I shared with you my reservations. I have shared with you my reservations several times about teaching in Proverbs 31.

Even though King Lemuel wrote this, we believe King Lemuel was Solomon. I do believe the scholars that say that they think this was Solomon. And even though it was a man who wrote these verses, this teaching is still from a woman. This is from his mother to Solomon. And it's all about being a wife and a mother. And I as a man can never walk in your shoes. It doesn't matter what culture says. That's a whole nother subject, isn't it? Doesn't matter what culture says. I can't identify with much of what you do, what you face, who you are. I can't. And that's okay.

But even though I cannot understand what this thing called motherhood and being a wife is all about, there's still a lot here that I can gain. And I'm gonna be honest with you. Last week, it really lit my fire. This week too, as I was studying and getting ready, there's just a lot of good stuff here. So men, let's just all be in agreement here. We need to be willing to learn here as well. Now I thought about it like this. Us men, if we learn some things here, we go out and we start sharing that. Somebody might raise an eyebrow. Wait a minute, in Proverbs 31 about being a wife and a mother and a woman.

So we might have to kind of explain some things if we start sharing. And we should share. Now I said last week that we can make two mistakes here. I wanna repeat these mistakes because we really need to be on guard here. We need to be on guard against these two mistakes. And we may even need to repent. Now repent is a harsh word, but let's don't sugar coat things. Sometimes we must repent in certain areas of our life. So ladies, I want us to see our first mistake. We can't be intimidated. Don't look at what's being taught here and simply back away because you feel like you can never, ever measure up.

And listen, if you feel like you can't measure up, good, you never will. So just relax. We're never gonna reach this standard perfectly. None of us will. But we must strive to live this standard that we have here. Now the second mistake is this. Ladies, you can't hold on to, or we can't hold on to a standard that we are accustomed to if it's not biblical. We need to be honest here. Let's be honest with our spouse. If you don't have a spouse, maybe you're honest with one of the ladies in the life of the church, one of the men in the life of the church. See culture in your own family could have taught you all wrong. Let me say that again.

Culture and even your own family could have taught you all wrong. And you must be willing to die to what you have been taught if it contradicts God's word. Even if it came from your own mother or grandmother or family that you love. And that can be hard. We're not gonna disrespect family, but that can be hard. Now last week I said that Proverbs 31 is the Mount Rushmore of biblical teaching for women, the Mount Rushmore of biblical teaching for women. Now some of you might know what Mount Rushmore is. It's in South Dakota. It's a great monument in our American culture. We have Washington, George Washington. We have Thomas Jefferson.

We have Theodore Roosevelt, better known as Teddy Roosevelt, not Franklin. And then we have Lincoln. Now they're in that particular order for a reason. I read some different material on Mount Rushmore the last couple of weeks. And one bit of information stuck out to me. Mount Rushmore is called by many the shrine of democracy. Let me say that again. Mount Rushmore is called by many the shrine of democracy. And in many ways, and for many Americans, Mount Rushmore is a shrine. In many ways it's sacred. It's almost holy. We can almost say it's hallowed ground. I'll give you an example.

Several years ago I went to the World War II Museum in New Orleans. And it was very sobering. And we would be looking at pictures and displays and hearing audio recordings and watching video. And you would see individuals around veterans. And it was a quiet, serious hush. I've known soldiers, people in the military who have visited Civil War battlefields like Gettysburg. And they said the very same thing. And see, we can look at some of these situations and circumstances and places as being sacred, almost holy, almost what we would call hallowed ground. Well, that is what Proverbs 31 is. And it should be for us.

This teaching of Proverbs 31 should be seen as sacred teaching. It should be seen as holy. That is set apart. And listen, this teaching should be adored. It should be looked up to. It should be sought after. It should be revered and long for. See? Well, tonight we're gonna transition. It's a lot in these verses, but we're gonna transition in the chapter. Remember the breakdown that I gave you? I challenge you to be good at remembering breakdowns. It helps us get our minds around what we're studying. So the first breakdown is verses one to nine. Now I'll call that section the marvelous mother. We were able to cover nine verses last week.

And when I announced nine verses, you probably thought he'll never get there. It's a challenge. But we looked at the first section, the marvelous mother verses one to nine. And then we saw that it was all about by Sheba instructing her young son Solomon, who was going to be the king. And then we know that God inspired Solomon to take down what she taught him. That's the way it worked out. Now think about what we saw. First, we saw her weighty exhortation verses one to two. Second, we saw her weighty warning. Remember, she's warning him against two things, immorality and drunkenness. And that was in verses three to seven.

And third, we saw her weighty reminder, not to be distracted or not to move away from the king's decrees and the word of God. That was in verse five and verse eight and nine. Well, now we're at the second division and that's verses 10 to 31. Now we're not gonna cover all those verses tonight. So take a deep breath. And this second division is what I'm calling the wonderful wife. And tonight we're gonna begin this section studying the wonderful wife. Look at verse 10 and 11. This is why the title wonderful wife is so accurate in where it comes from. An excellent wife who can find. She is far more precious than jewels.

The heart of her husband trusts her and he will have no lack of gain. Really all of that describes the marvelous mother. So starting in verse 10 and going all the way to the end of the chapter, verse 31, we have this beautiful portrait. That's good to get in your mind. A beautiful portrait of this wonderful wife. We have the Mona Lisa of biblical teaching for women. For a Christian wife, for a Christian mother, we have a Mona Lisa right before us. And ladies, as far as teaching on Christian motherhood and being a Christian wife, it doesn't get any better than this. It really doesn't get any better than this.

Now I've already told you the title of what we're gonna look at. This is still under the Proverbs 31 woman. I think I said this last week. If we don't call this the Proverbs 31 woman, we're probably gonna get in trouble 'cause that's really what it is. But the wonderful wife, this is a part one because we'll have two more messages to cover the rest of the chapter. Now like last week, I'm gonna give you the major truths and I'll give you the sub points. I'll give you more of the material because it's a lot. And I want you to be able to keep up with me well. And again, if you need help in taking notes, we're glad to help you be a good student.

Let's study all throughout the week. We're all in this together. So number one, I want us to look at her wonderful marriage. So truth number one, her wonderful marriage. I wanna read verses 10 to 12. Verses 10 to 12. An excellent wife who can find. Then he goes on to say, she is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her and he will have no lack of gain. Let me stop there in verse 11. Now, when we say wonderful, and I'm gonna use wonderful a lot, I am not implying perfection. I'm not implying perfection. Now, a spoiler alert here. Let me just go ahead and give you a spoiler alert. There are no perfect marriages.

Some of you might say, I've been married, I know. There are no perfect marriages. There are no perfect husbands. And listen, right now, wives, this is when you should say amen. There are no perfect husbands. But there are no perfect wives either. Man, I wouldn't say anything. Don't say anything. There are no perfect wives either. See, I don't know when to tell you to say something and when to tell you not to. But really, there are no perfect marriages. There are no perfect husbands. There are no perfect wives. I promise you. And that should relieve us because remember, we can't be intimidated with what is in front of us.

We must strive and work hard to do our best. And we may even have to repent along the way. And that's okay, that's good. That's what we should do. We could have areas of our life that this really corrects us and repentance is good. Now, there are four things about the wonderful wife that I want us to see. This is lengthy, but it's really good. And I think you'll follow me very well. First of all, I want us to see her rarity. This is what I'm calling her rarity. An excellent wife who can find the question at the beginning of verse 10. And then the answer, she is far more precious than jewels.

Now, it seems that this question at the beginning of the verse implies rarity. It seems that it implies it. If the question does not imply rarity, the answer to the question certainly does. So what's the question? Who can find an excellent wife? And then we see the answer. She is as precious as fine jewels. And listen, they are rare. We know fine jewels are rare. But that doesn't mean that she doesn't exist. It does not mean that she doesn't exist. Now, compared to the women of the world, she is very rare. But in the population, think about that.

In the population of God's people, or more specifically in the body of Christ, she shouldn't be rare. She should not be rare. And that is why we need this teaching so as to form these kind of women, these kind of mothers, these kind of wives in the life of this local church. This shouldn't be rare in our church. So we have what I call the rare, this rare, wonderful wife. Second, I want us to see her excellency. Her excellency. Now, in the verse, we do see her rarity, but it does not imply that she doesn't exist. I've already covered that. She does. But we also see her immense worth, her excellency.

She is, and I read it out of the English Standard Version, far more precious than jewels, see, in that day, just like in our day, jewels and the such are very, very rare and very expensive and very sought after. Diamonds, rubies, they were very, very valuable. Now, I don't know what kind of Bible translations you study. Occasionally, I will mention the Amplified. The Amplified is a paraphrase. It is not a translation. And it can be a good study help. And I love what the Amplified did here. The Amplified takes this verse, and it combines it with other verses in Proverbs. Maybe write these down.

Proverbs 12.4, Proverbs 18.22, and Proverbs 19.14. See, the paraphrase combines the teaching in all of these verses. And notice what it reads. And I'm quoting the Amplified. She is far more precious than jewels, and her value is far above rubies and pearls. Let me read that again. Combining these verses. She is far more precious than jewels, and her value is far above rubies and pearls. And if you read those verses, you'll see how all of that comes together. So we see the value. We see the preciousness, the excellency of this wonderful wife. One writer I ran across this week said it like this.

Her worth cannot be measured in terms of costly jewels. I like that. So we've seen this excellent, the excellency of this wife. Third, we see her loyalty. Here's where we get into verse 11 and 12. We see her loyalty. Verse 11, the heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm all of the days of her life. Here we see how the wonderful wife relates to her husband, and there is a lot here. Here we see the heart of her husband, and in that heart we see trust. See, this husband, he trusts his wife. Now, occasionally I'll get you to use your imagination. Let's put this in modern terms, okay?

Imagine with me. When this wonderful wife goes on a shopping spree to the shopping mall with his credit card, he doesn't worry. He just doesn't worry. And when she is around other men, maybe at Walmart or at the local gym or at the bank, he isn't worried at all. Why? Because he trusts her. You see his heart? But there is more to this loyalty than just loyalty with morality and money. There's more to this loyalty. This loyalty runs deeper and broader than morality and money. First, the depth we see in verse 11, or the second part of verse 11. And he will have no lack of gain. Here we see that he has no loss because of her.

No loss in morality, money, but also in his reputation and in his character. The husband suffers no loss from his wife in any area of his life. But then second in breath, look at verse 12. She does him good, not harm all of the days of her life. She does him good all of the days of their marriage. Not just in the first five years of the marriage. Not just when they are young and when things are easy. She does him good in all of those matters concerning reputation and character, yes. But she does him good spiritually. She does him good emotionally. She does him good physically. She meets all of the needs of her husband in every way.

She truly understands that she is his helpmate. She is what we see in Proverbs chapter 12, the beginning of the verse, verse four. Not in what we see at the second part of the verse. Listen to the verse. An excellent wife is the crown of her husband. See how we've studied that she's the crown? But she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones. See the difference? So we see this wonderful wife, her great loyalty to her husband, and that is a lot there. And then fourth, her identity. Now, going back to verse 10, and I'm doing that on purpose. We see her identity with this one word. The English standard says excellence.

Some of you might be familiar with the King James. It says virtuous, virtuous. A virtuous wife, who can find? Now this word speaks of strength in the original language. It speaks of force. This word speaks of a strong forceful woman, and that might surprise you. This word speaks of a strong forceful woman, but she is submissive to her husband. She is under his authority and under his headship. Her strength is given to her husband first and then her children second. Her strength and her force is used within and for the family.

As one writer put it, and I'm quoting, "Her finest efforts are put forth for him." And I would add to the family as well. So we see the identity of this wonderful mother. Her identity, she is strong, she is forceful. She has this personality, this character, which is all bound up in her home and in her husband. This is her identity, so we see her identity. Now, a question. Why did I speak about her identity after I went through all of the other teaching? Why did I do that? We need to see that her identity is bound up in all of those other qualities. You see, all of those other qualities are what forms this forceful, strong woman.

This is her identity. Her identity is bound up in all of those other character traits. Her identity is in her loyalty. Her identity is in her excellency, even in her rarity. So in summary, notice what we have. Truthfully, this is a lot. For all of you ladies, I know, we see a wonderful wife. We see that the wonderful Christian wife is more precious and more valuable than any worldly wealth, and she is strong. And when you even say forceful, that could surprise some people, but that's what the scripture teaches. She's no pushover, she's no wallflower, and she uses her strength in her home, first for her husband, and her husband trusts her.

He believes in her. This husband is only blessed by this wonderful wife. No shame, just gain. No shame, just gain. There's a lot in application we need to look at here for both men and women, so listen with me. Men, I'm gonna start off with you. Men, if we make minimum wage, and if we live from paycheck to paycheck, and if we possess a wife like this, then oh, we are rich. Let me say that again. If we make minimum wage, and if we live from paycheck to paycheck, but we possess a wife like this, then we are very, very rich.

But ladies, if your husband makes tons of money and has all of the toys a fella could want, but he does not have a wife like this in you, he is poor, he is destitute, he is bad off. He has more worries and more heartache than the Donald Trump reelection team. Think about that. Ladies, a few more questions here. Is your strength given first and foremost towards your husband? Think about that. This is a forceful, strong woman, right? No pushovers, she's not a daisy. But is your strength given first and foremost for your husband, for your children, for your home? Your physical strength, your spiritual strength, your emotional strength?

Still with you ladies, does your husband trust you? Does he see you as loyal? Not just in the area of morality and money, no. He may trust you with the credit card at the mall, but he might not trust you to always do good by him, spiritually, emotionally, and physically, you see? Ladies, the valuable wife is all of this, not just part of it. Don't be a diamond with a flaw in it. Don't be a ruby that's cracked. Don't be a second class pearl. Last week we did a little imagination with Bathsheba. Remember, she taught this to Solomon. So this is all her heart. Remember this Oracle of God, a message from God, but the woman is in the message.

We know that. We can feel her and sense her and see her, even hear her. But just imagine Bathsheba at the dinner table. We imagine Bathsheba on a car ride with us. So ladies, imagine what Bathsheba would say if she sat down with you. She might ask you if your marriage is worth it. She could ask you if your husband is worth it. And she could ask you definitely if the Lord Jesus Christ is worth all of this. And for some of you, you might need to study a lot here. There's a lot here. There is a lot here, I know, with this wonderful, wonderful marriage. So let's move on. I want us to see number two.

We're only gonna cover two major truths tonight. That one got rather lengthy, I know. But number two, I want us to look at her wonderful work ethic. Her wonderful work ethic. This comes out of verses 13 to 19. I'll read them along the way. Now, when I say wonderful work ethic, I do not mean that we're gonna have a pattern here. Lots of people want a pattern. They want a list. Check off this box, this box, this box. Do number one, number two, number three. Do ABC. That is not what we have here. This is not a set pattern, and we can't make it a set pattern. Let me give you an example.

When we get into the details, we're gonna see about sewing clothes and making clothes for children. Now, we live in a different day, in a different culture. And we relate to these things different. And then we're all so different. Give you an example. My wife can't sew anything. If a button comes off, she can't sew it back on. Guess who sews the buttons on in my house? Me. I've done that since I was a kid. I just do things with my hands. I remember when I was a teenager, if a button came off my pants, I dug through my mother's sewing stuff, and I sewed it back on. I've just always been like that. This isn't a rigid pattern.

And I'm gonna share with you a little more as we go how we take what we learn here in their examples in this, not necessarily this rigid pattern. So ladies, we're gonna relate to this different. You're gonna relate to it different. But that does not excuse us from any part of the teaching. Now, I'm gonna address this more, but it needs to be said at the beginning. We're not looking for a hard and fast pattern, okay? I think you get what I mean. Now, I ran across an introduction to this portion of scripture in one of my resources. It's very, very, very modern day, but I like it and I think it will help you.

The writer, or the writers of the commentary that I was looking at, they compared this situation to a football team, a football game. And it might strike you funny at first, but I think you'll like it. I'm gonna make a few changes to what I read. Here in the verses, we see this wonderful wife, marvelous mother. She's strong, remember? Oh, she's a force to be reckoned with. Her husband is the spiritual leader of the home. She is under his headship and under his authority. Oh, but she is the quarterback of the home. She calls the place, she sets the players in their proper place, and she executes the game plan for the home.

She is the quarterback of the home while her husband is, and I use this term loosely, he's the owner of the team, 'cause he's the head of the home. Now we know that Christ is the owner of the team. Now, I'm going to introduce what we're gonna have here in these verses. But for the sake of time, after our Thanksgiving break, when we come back, we're gonna look at some more details. So we're gonna revisit these verses. But I wanna make two broad observations here. And again, I'll build on it next time. First, she works with her hands, and this might surprise you. She works with her hands. Look at verses 13 to 15.

She seeks woolen flags and works with willing hands. See the hands? She's like this merchant ship, or the ships of the merchant. She brings food from afar. And then verse 15, she arises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. That would be the young women who would work for her. Now, I wanna save some of the details for next time, but notice what we see here in her wonderful work ethic. In verse 13, she takes care of her family's clothing. In verse 14, she takes care of the family's food. In verse 15, she takes care of the family's schedule. See all that? She takes care of the family's food.

She takes care of the family's clothing. And then she takes care of the family's schedule. Now, this all relates to her working with her hands, but notice how, and remember the illustration, notice how she is the quarterback. She is taking charge of a lot of responsibilities. She is determining some of the most important priorities of the family. Couple of questions. How important is good food and clothing? How important is good food and clothing? Now, preparing food's a little different now than it was then, I know. A little quicker, a little faster. Let me show you how important food is.

I was talking with a couple one time about parenting, a little older, children a little older than me. And I listened to them talk about how the dinner table was so important. They went on to talk about how, as the children got older, it was harder to keep them at the dinner table. But they talked about the breakfast table and then the supper table. They talked about the lunch table. And they talked about how they used that as a great time to slow down and to stop and to make sure they were connected with their children to discuss spiritual matters, physical matters, whatever.

See, this was the marvelous mother using the dinner table and the breakfast table and the lunch table, what, to stay connected with her children. But then I thought about it like this, this matter of clothing. Ladies, how hard is it to find modest clothing for our girls? I don't shop for our girls, but I see what's brought home. I mean, it's hard. Sometimes I'll just have to pull out the dad trump card and say, no, we're not gonna wear that. My wife will say, I'm trying, I'm really working hard and this is a gift or something like that. It's hard. So how important is good food and good clothing? Now I'm speaking about things in our times.

But how important is the family's schedule? In our day, the family is stretched, the family is scattered all over, especially as the children get older. We have ball games and ball practice. We have piano lessons. The husband has to work late and the kids have school work to do. It doesn't matter if we public school, private school, or homeschool, we should all school and we have school work to do, isn't that right? You know, there are all kind of jobs to do around the house and look, sometimes the family never sits still and listen, the family schedule can get hectic.

But the marvelous mother, the wonderful wife made sure that the family had a good schedule. This is very important. I never forget years ago, there was a man in the church where I was serving. He came up to me and he was aggravated that his work and then some family plans and then some other vacations and times off, all of that stuff had come together at one time and he was mad that he was out of town here too much and there too much and he was gonna miss church too much and I let him just unload and you know what I did? I didn't look at him and say, oh, it'll be all right. I looked at him and I said, no, you gotta do better.

A family schedule. Now I know we've not really gotten into the details here but I want us to take note of these broader observation concerning the wonderful wife. She makes sure that her family is clothed and fed properly. She makes sure that her family has a good healthy schedule and a healthy schedule that's guided. Look, we gotta make sure, let me just stop here. We gotta make sure our schedule doesn't keep us away from God's house. We just gotta be here. We gotta be here. Second, she works with her head. Now we see the transition. She goes from working with her hands to working with her head, verses 16 to 19.

She rises while it is still night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. She considers a field and she buys it with the fruit of her hands. She plants a vineyard. There's working with her hands again. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. She puts her hand to the distaff and her hands hold the spindle. Again, we're gonna cover some of the details the next time we meet, but notice a different part of the wonderful wife's work ethic.

In verse 16, we see that she is a sharp businesswoman, considers a field, she buys it. Then in verse 18, we see that she understands money and profits. In verse 18 and 19, we see that she works even long hours into the night. Now this shows us how she works with her hands and her head, but it definitely shows us that she is what? The quarterback of her home? I like that term. She is ambitious and she uses her head wisely in what seems to be several business adventures outside of the home, but always to benefit the home. That question here. Can a wife and mother be involved in work and business outside of the home?

That's a big question in the life of many Christians, big question in the life of churches. Can a wife and a mother be involved in work and business outside of the home? Yes, the Proverbs 31 woman was. She considered a field and bought it and then planted it. This wonderful wife does this, but she is always home centered. Get that folks. She's always home centered in her work, in her business adventures. Her husband does not take a backseat to her work. Her children either. Her home never suffers from her work or from her business ventures. Her husband and home are made better because of her business and business adventures.

Her family life is made more fruitful because of her work. Now I know that we have not touched on any of the details. These are broad observations. This wonderful wife uses her mind. She is a sharp business woman who understands how to make a dollar even if it requires late hours. So in summary, notice what we have. The wonderful wife is up to a lot. You might've thought, man, this is a busy lady. She is working with her hands and her head, but it's all home centered. Her business adventures are helpful to the home, not hurtful to the home.

From food to clothes, even from her own business adventures, she helps her home with her wonderful work ethic. Her husband and home are blessed. No shame, just gain. Remember that term? No shame, just gain. Now an application, I'm gonna start with you ladies here. If you work outside the home, when your work and business hurt the home, you're not the wonderful wife you should be. Notice what I said again. If you work outside of a home and you're working your business hurt the home, you are not the wonderful wife you should be. I'm not talking about a one-time instance. I'm talking about a pattern.

And notice who would be the first to notice the husband. The husband would, the husband should. But also ladies, if you're a stay-at-home wife, if you're a stay-at-home mother, that's good. But if you're a stay-at-home wife, a stay-at-home mother, but you are lazy, you're not a wonderful wife either. Listen, sometimes people will use that as this great spiritual cover over what? Laziness. I've known women, I've known ladies who were stay-at-home mothers, and their home life and their homes were a mess. They were lazy.

And listen, sometimes the lazy stay-at-home wife and mother is just as bad as the mother and wife who works outside of the home at the expense of the whole family, you see? A few more questions. Ladies, is your work and business helpful for the family? Can you still see that food and clothing is all there for the family? Can you still keep the family schedule as you should be? If you're too busy, you might need to check that. Does your family suffer from your lack of discipline, lack of work, does your family suffer maybe from laziness? Are you trying to be the quarterback, the team captain, and the team owner? Remember our illustration?

Are you trying to be the quarterback, the team captain, and the team owner? Ladies, you're not the leader of your home, no matter what, you're not. Men, if you're not leading, something's wrong. Now, I do know we have circumstances where women don't have a man to lead them. I understand that. And you can step up, ladies. But just remember, God's not designed it to be that way. Now, remember our imagination? We're imagining if Bathsheba can come with us. I wish she could.

If Bathsheba spent the week with you ladies, if she observed your duties, if she observed your motherly duties, if she observed how you relate to your husband, how you manage the home, how you work, maybe you don't work, if she were to come and stay with you for a week, maybe two, and get a full understanding of what your home life is like, what would she tell you? What would she say? How would she correct you? Now, as I close, I call your attention back to the title. You probably should have it in your head by now. The Proverbs 31 Woman, a wonderful wife. We've just gotten started. A wonderful wife. There's a lot more to go.

Now, tonight, as we close, I want you to listen up, okay? Last week I gave you three Gs, remember? I'm ending these things very practically. But tonight, I want you to listen up. Tonight, I want you to give me your ear. Can you remember that word, ear? First, the E, evaluate. Evaluate, be honest. Listen to what we've studied. Go back and study. Be honest with your spouse. Maybe if you can't be honest with your spouse, you can be honest with another lady in the life of the church. Evaluate with what we've looked at. Evaluate, and then A, authority. This is God's word. Yes, Solomon's written this. Yes, it came from Bathsheba to Solomon.

But this is God's word. And we should submit to the authority of God's word. We must always submit to the authority of God's word. If we have God's word in front of us and we push it away, it is rebellion. So E, evaluate, A, authority, R, repentance. Listen, folks. When we come to a crossroads with God's word, and we're going the wrong way, it's called repentance. I'm sorry it's not found in the Bible. I'll do better it's not found in the Bible. It's called repentance. And oh, we might not know we're wrong.

We might come to a crossroads and say, "I didn't know, I didn't know." Well, the very moment you know better, that's when you should repent. And go the right direction. Go the direction of God's word. Again, now this is not what we're never gonna reach, the standard if we're on the road of working hard to live this standard. Well, that's repentance. So what have we looked at? Evaluate, submit to the authority of the scripture, and be willing to repent. Now, as I was finishing up today, I couldn't help but go back to my imagination again. If Bathsheba was here, what would she say? Well, her experience.

Remember last, I said it last week, she gave even her failures to the Lord. They were consecrated. Remember, she taught us about staying away from immorality. Bathsheba, staying away from immorality, she fell into it. But remember Bathsheba, think about all of her experience. Think about her forceful arguments with her son. If Bathsheba was here, what would she say? Well, what about Solomon? Wiseest man that ever lived, ultimately became the wisest fool because he rejected some of this very teaching. Rejected God's word. So if Solomon was here, what would he say? Well, both of them have spoken tonight. Both of them were speaking last week.

Both of them will continue to speak. But more importantly, God has spoken. You know these people who are always wanting something experiential, they're always wanting God in a rainbow or a butterfly or a pretty flower, they're always wanting to hear God's voice. I know people like that. We have to be real careful with that. There is this experiential side to the Christian life. But listen folks, if you wanna, and I'm not being facetious, if we wanna know what God says, if we want God to speak to us, if we wanna hear God's voice, just read what his word says. Read this. Ladies, we must work hard to have these kinds of homes.

Now the wonderful wife is rare. May she not be rare in these walls, in these halls, in this church. I know it's been a lie. It's gonna be a lie, but it's gonna be good.