In this sermon, the preacher discusses the judgment of God on the nation of Israel and how it manifests itself. He explains that God will remove the supply of bread and water from Jerusalem and Judah due to their rebellion against Him. The preacher also talks about the importance of following God's pattern in marriage and the responsibility of husbands to show tenderness and leadership. He emphasizes the need for husbands and wives to communicate and make decisions together, while also highlighting the importance of treating one's mother-in-law with tenderness and respect.

Well, it's a great privilege for me to be here with you this evening. And I pray that the Lord will speak through us and minister to you. Last night we started speaking about marriage. And we were speaking primarily about the husband. We will continue with that this evening. It is so very important. When we talk about the Church of Jesus Christ, we're talking about a body of people who have been transformed by the power of God. That transformation is not just in the individual. But it is collectively. Not only in the Church, but in all our relationships. Especially the family. And marriage. One of the greatest evidences of the power of God is a Biblical, Christ-centered family. And one essential aspect of that is the man. The husband. The father. The family is not going to climb higher than him. There is a real sense in which the godliness of your family depends upon you. Now, I understand that in many cultures, the woman takes first place. She carries the load in the family. And she carries the load in the Church. She has to do that many times. Because there are no men. God has called us to lead. Not for the benefit of ourselves. But for the benefit of the Church. And for the benefit of our wives. For the benefit of our children. Now, I want to show you something in the book of Isaiah that is very important. Go to chapter 3. We are going to see the judgment of God on the nation of Israel. And we are going to see how that judgment manifests itself. And we'll also see how the judgment of God manifests itself in our own culture. In chapter 3, verse 1. For behold, the Lord God of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support, the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water. Because of Israel's rebellion against God, God is going to remove His help from them. He's going to take away the bread. And the water. The very things that are required to sustain the life of a man, He's going to take it away. But look what else He's going to take away. Verse 2. The mighty man and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the honorable man, the counselor and the expert artisan, and the skillful enchanter. He's going to take them all away. Water and bread are absolutely essential for the survival of a society. But so is leadership. Godly men. Courageous men. Are absolutely essential. And in judgment, God says He's going to take them away. So that the society will be left without them. We see that today. We see that among us today. Where are the men? A handful of people come together and destroy countries. While the men hide. Where are the fathers in the families? We turn our children over to be raised by other people. Who don't even believe like we do. As a matter of fact, they believe the very opposite. Where are the men in the church? If I was not a believer. And I was looking at the church from the outside. I would think that it is a religion for women. Because the men are nowhere. And those that are there do not want to lead. What does this manifest? The judgment of God. Where are the men? Let's go on. Verse 4. And I will make mere lads their princes. And capricious children will rule over them. And look what it says in verse 12. O my people, their oppressors are children. And women rule over them. O my people, those who guide you, lead you astray. And confuse the direction of your paths. O my people, their oppressors are children. And women rule over them. O my people, those who guide you, lead you astray. And confuse the direction of your paths. Our society today is like this. Our church is like this. What do we need? Rich men. Courageous men. Who will go against culture. Go against the greater part of evangelical Christianity in North America. And take their place. To lead in the church. And to lead in the family. To lead their wives. To lead their children. So that God may raise up a godly heritage for Himself. Now, let's go back to Ephesians 5. Verse 21. And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord. There is a real sense in which a man must lead his home. Now, we talked a bit about this last night. Today, most people would say, this is denigrating women. This is putting women in a lower place than men. How can you say that a woman should submit to her husband? Doesn't that mean she's less than him? As I said last night, if we are Christian, we believe in the Trinity. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit And we believe that they are one. And we believe that they are equal. And the Son submitted to the Father. Did that make Him less? Is He less God because He submitted to the Father? He is fulfilling a role that was given Him. He is fulfilling a role that He took upon Himself. This is also manifested in marriage. I am one with my wife. I am to be closer to her than any other human being on this planet. But we have different roles. I lead my family. But now the question is, how do I lead my family? There are two models of authority in the Scriptures. One is the example of Caesar. He led for himself. He led for his own glory. And the other is the model of Christ. Knowing that he had all authority, he wrapped himself in a towel and washed the disciples' feet. When a man hears that he has authority to lead his family, so many men stick out their chest and think that's a wonderful thing. They think that it means that their family is supposed to wait on them. They are the king and everyone is under their feet. That's the way of Caesar, not the way of Christ. To have authority in the home is to use that authority in service to God for his glory. In service to our wives for their glory. In service to our children for their glory. We use our authority for the blessing of our family. Now before we get into this, I want us to go for just a second to the book of Romans. Go to chapter 8. I want us to read verse 28 and 29. Although this text is dealing with the providence of God and the golden chain of salvation, we also find in this text the purpose of marriage. And this is very important for the man to understand and for the woman to understand. Verse 28, And we know that God calls us all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. What is the great goal of the Christian life? Why is God working in us? You say, for His own glory. That's true. But we see the way in which He is to gain glory for Himself by conforming us to the image of His Son. Everything that God does, everything that has happened and will happen in your life, it has a specific purpose to conform you to the image of Christ. That's where all these prosperity preachers are so wrong. They say it's to prosper you. It's to give you an easy life. It's to meet all your sensual desires That's a lie. There's one great purpose to change you, to conform you into the image of Jesus Christ. And that should also be your desire as a Christian. And the Bible assures us that whatever we have to suffer, it is good because in it God is working to make us like Jesus. Now, what is the purpose of marriage? Well, at least one of them. A primary purpose is to conform you to the image of Christ. In most cases, the Lord will give a man a wife who is strong in the areas where she must be strong. But he will also give him a wife who is very weak in the very areas where the man wants her to be strong. And why does God do that? Because he hates you. No, that's not the reason. Why does he do that? To conform you to the image of Christ. Now, when you think about Jesus, what do you think about? I know what I think about. I know what is primary in the Scriptures. I think of this. Unconditional love. Grace. Mercy. When I think of being conformed to the image of Christ, that's what I think about. Well, let me ask you a question. How can you learn unconditional love? How can you learn to give unconditional love? If you're married to a woman who meets all the conditions, how can you learn mercy if your wife has no weaknesses? How can you learn grace if your wife always deserves the best from you? Now, we can say the same thing about the wife. My dear sister, listen to me. You are married to a man with many flaws. And sometimes the very thing you most want him to be, he is not. Why? The same reason. The purpose of your marriage is to conform you to the image of Christ. That's why your marriage has meaning. Even when things don't turn out exactly like you want them to. Even when you see many of the things you most want you're not getting. This is where you learn to be like Christ. To practice unconditional love. To practice mercy. To practice grace. But here's the wonderful thing. When a man begins to practice these things, it has a transforming power for his wife. And it transforms his family. There's no way I can emphasize this enough. Now, my wife, I love her very much. And she's a godly woman. But every time I'm out preaching, almost every time, and let's say I've been traveling overseas. I'm very tired. People are really mad at me. I've had a really rough month. I get off the plane. I get in my car and drive home. And this is what I think should happen. I think that my wife should open up the door of the house and throw flowers on me. And announce to all my children the great warrior has come home. And then they should take me to my favorite chair. And rub my feet. And everyone should be very quiet. Because I've had a really difficult month. I want to tell you something. That does not happen when I come home. My wife is Latin. There's something you need to know about a Latin woman. When she starts moving her head like this, you start wishing that you had been martyred in that foreign country. You start wishing that you had been martyred in that foreign country. My wife opens that door. And she says, your children. If you don't get in here right now, I'm going to shoot them all. Now you've been having a good time for a month. You get in here and be their dad. I'm going on a vacation. Now at that moment, I am faced with the reality that my wife is not meeting all the conditions. I would rather fight Godzilla than fight her. She's very angry. Yes. Now, why is this happening to me? This is God. My wife is a godly woman. God could have given her the grace she needed to answer that door in a way that would have really pleased me. But He did not. Why? You know those times when you pray, Lord, make me like Jesus? He's answering your prayers. Now the question is, will I die to self? Love my wife and go in there and deal with the problems? Will I be like Jesus? Here's another thing. Do you know what the Lord's doing here? Giving me the opportunity to show my wife how Jesus loves His bride. He's giving me the privilege to show my children the love of Christ. This is why a father is so important. Everybody's watching. What will dad do? What is God like? Show us, Father. Don't tell us. Show us. Do you see this? You know, people think they're radical because they go out on the street corner and preach about Jesus. I do that. It's not radical. The most radical thing I can do is love my wife as Christ loved the church. Now let's look at Ephesians. Verse 22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord. My wife knows this verse is here. And she seeks to obey it. And she does a better job at her part than I think I do at mine. But now let me explain to you what this means. I'm afraid to teach on this verse because there's always these little tiny men who have no authority anywhere who say, aha, my one chance to be king. And they use this verse to oppress their wives and their children. That's not what this means. First of all, you need to understand something. My wife and I are one. If you go quickly to the book of Genesis, chapter 2, verse 23, the man said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. The Bible never says I'm one flesh with my children. The Bible says I'm one flesh with my wife. The Bible never says I'm one flesh with my mom and dad. I'm one flesh with my wife. As a matter of fact, when I find my wife, I am to leave my father and mother. And she becomes, at that moment, the most important person in my life. And she stays that way forever. The most important person in my life. Now, a lot of guys will get married and they still want to hang around with all their friends. They need to grow up. And stop doing it. You can do something with your friends every once in a while. But if your life revolves around your friends, you have a poor understanding of what it means to be a man. Your best friend, the person with whom you are one flesh is your wife. She takes precedence over your mother. Now, I love my mother. My mother went to be with the Lord a few years ago. But my mother understood that when I took on a wife, she became the number one woman in my life. Now, I have three children. I love them very much. As a matter of fact, I have to be very, very careful of not having idols in my life. To me, being a father is just the greatest thing in the world. But those children cannot take priority over my wife. As a matter of fact, the best thing I can do for my children is to love their mother more than any other human being on the face of the earth. When a father gives more affection towards his children, he is sinning against his wife, and he is sinning against his children. He is going to create all sorts of problems within his family. He is going to create division. He is going to put everything out of order. Now, let me say something very important to the women here. It is going to make you angry. But just listen. Many mothers have almost a parasitic relationship with their children. This is the reason why. They are not receiving the affection and the tenderness that they should be receiving from their husbands. And so they seek to get that tenderness and affection from their children. The mother's woman's children become her great love. But children were not made to be your great love. Children were not made so that you could get all your affection and tenderness from them. You are a woman. You are one flesh with a man. The tenderness and compassion should come from him. For this reason, a woman has a young son. He grows up to be a young man. And he finds a young girl with whom he wants to marry. And the mother hates her. The mother looks at her like she's committing adultery. You've taken my son. You've taken my source. Do you see what happens when we do not follow God's pattern? When the man does not give that tenderness to his wife, when the wife puts the children over the husband, and starts feeding off the children, I know this is very hard language. But it's true. Another thing that we need to understand when we talk about subjection is that I am one with my wife. She is my best friend. And she is my closest counselor. It is my responsibility to lead the family spiritually and in every other way. But when it is time to make a decision, I don't just make a decision. I talk to my closest counselor. I talk to my wife. What do you think we ought to do? If she's in agreement with me, I make the decision. If she's not, it doesn't mean I do what she says. But this is what it means. I'm going to wait. I'm going to ask her to pray more. I am going to pray more until we come to a united decision. But let's say that we're not at a united decision. But the decision has to be made. This is where my leadership comes in. I must make the decision. And if we discover that I'm right, I don't boast in front of her. And if I've chosen wrong, she does not disrespect me or nag me because she has come to learn how hard it is to be a leader. She knows that I will stand before God and I will be judged. So she doesn't sit there and go, if you'd only listen to me. Because then she is also in sin. Do you see? It is a joint effort. But I must lead. And I must lead even when it makes her mad. I must seek to do what's right. Now remember what I shared with you yesterday? A woman finds it very easy to follow her husband. When she sees a man who is dedicated to Christ and is not living for himself, but living for the advancement of the kingdom, living for the benefit of his wife, and living for the benefit of his children. Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord. Verse 23 For the husband is head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church, he himself being the Savior of the body. Now here's something very important. Christ is the head, but he's also the Savior. If a man is to be the head of his family, there is a sense in which he ought to be his family's Savior. Now, he does not take the place of Christ. This is not with regard to redemption, but with something else. Because he is there, the wife and the children, they prosper spiritually. The salvation of God is noticeable in their lives because he is there working and laboring for their benefit, for their conformity to Christ. There is a sense in which my wife's life should be better simply because she's married to me. That the work of God and my children is helped along because I am there. As Christ gave his life to save his bride, so we give our lives to save our bride. So we give our lives to save our bride. And to save our children. To be a godly example. To teach them the words. To show them the love of God. To set before them the commandments of God. This is our task. It's for this reason if a man does not do this, he cannot be an elder. He cannot be a minister because he is in horrible sin against his God. Gentlemen, I'm not giving you suggestions tonight. I'm telling you commands that you will be responsible for. We're going to see these more and more as we go on. Now it says in verse 24, but as the church is subject to Christ, so the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Now we need to talk about this for a moment. What if the husband is physically abusive? Should the wife just stay there and be beaten? Absolutely not. If the man asks her to do something immoral, should she do it? Absolutely not. We're talking about within the parameters of a normal marriage, a marriage that isn't filled with such vile things. You know, it's really funny though. Every time I teach on this, or when I teach young people that they're commanded by Scripture to obey their parents, they always ask me questions like this. Well, what if my dad wants me to make an atomic bomb and blow up the world? Am I supposed to obey him then? And I always ask them, when was the last time your dad asked you to do that? They say, never. And I say, that's really not your problem, is it? Your problem is your dad tells you to take out the trash and you don't want to do it. Or your dad tells you don't dress like that. And you don't want to obey. See, we're always looking for a way out, aren't we? We're always looking for an excuse not to obey authority. And that just proves what kind of rebels we are. Now, let's go on. Here's verse 25. Whenever the feminist gets mad, and she says, I don't want to submit to a man. Let me take the man's role. I just want to go, go ahead. But before you take it, do you want to know what it is? See, the woman needs to honor her husband and submit to his leadership. The husband's job's a little tougher. Well, what is it? He has to die. He has to die. Now, which one do you want to do? The harder task lays upon the husband. Look at verse 24. Husbands love your wives. And so you look at that, you start thinking, yeah, I'll buy her flowers. I'll write her poetry. No, there's a certain way in which you've got to love her. Just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her. Marriage and children have provided for me the greatest opportunities to die to self. You know, when I was a single missionary, like I said last night, I was so spiritual. I thought I was the Apostle Paul. And then I got married. And after two weeks, I was wondering whether I was even saved or not. But you know what marriage did? It brought out all my self-centeredness. All my selfishness. And it gave me an opportunity to see what was always there. And to repent of it. To actually lay down your life. I mean, how many opportunities do you have to do that? But in marriage, you have that opportunity. To lay down your life. For the daughter that God has given you. And to serve your family. And through that, to be conformed to the image of Christ. To fulfill your calling as a husband. And that's what marriage is. It's a calling. Now, I think my wife is beautiful. Mine too. But here's what I want to show you. Let me explain it this way. A young guy walks into my office. And he's got that deer in a headlight look. He looks like a zombie. And I know what's going on. He's in love. Pastor, I gotta talk to you. Okay. Have a seat before you fall down. What's going on? He says, I'm in love. And I said, really? He says, yeah, but there's never been a love like this in the whole world. Yeah, this is something supernatural, Pastor. I go, okay. Can I record this? And I said, tell me about it. Oh, Pastor, I want to be with her. Why? She's just beautiful. And when I'm with her, I just feel so good. And we can talk and we share the same ideas. And then I look at him and I say, let me see if I'm understanding you. You want to marry this girl because she meets all your selfish, self-centered desires. Do you know what you're talking about? And he says, no, that's not what I mean. I said, son, that's what you're saying. You want to marry her because she's beautiful. So what's going to happen when she's not beautiful anymore? Or what's going to happen when someone else comes along that is more beautiful than she is? Are you going to do what 70% of all the other men do? Are you going to leave her? Oh, and you can talk to her. What's going to happen when you can't talk to her? What's going to happen when someone comes along that you can talk to better than you can her? Are you going to leave her like most of the other so-called men in this world? See, marriage is a calling. I am married to my wife. I am married to her because God has called me to it. It is an irrevocable calling. If she's beautiful, glory to God. If she's in an accident and terribly deformed, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving her. She now needs more love than she even needed before. It's calling to lay down your life to die so that another person might prosper. And when children come along to die again, but unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. You know, Christians talk about dying to self. About dying for some foreign country. Oh, that's easy. Die to self for the sake of the person closest to you. Now, that's Christianity. Now, the wife right now is you're probably feeling pretty good, aren't you? I see you smiling like a cat. Elbowing your husband. Standing like this. Maybe you've got this all wrong. Maybe you think I'm saying this. Your husband just ought to be your slave. And before you get out to the car, you'll be saying, give me the credit card. I want to go be happy. He lays down his life for you. But not just to make you happy. To make you holy. Look what verse 26 says. Christ laid down His life for the church, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the Word. I'm not called to lead my family, to give my wife everything she may desire. Because she's like me. Not all her desires are right. I'm called to lead my wife so that she might be holy. I'm not called to lead my family so that she might grow in the things of Christ. So that she might become pure. So that she might stand before God without spot or wrinkle. It says that I am supposed to work for her sanctification. Now how do I do that? It says here, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. Now many men take this verse to mean this. For an hour a day they sit their wife down in a chair. And they preach at them. They preach the Word to them. I'm going to wash you in the Word. That's not what this means. I believe that the inference here is to the Gospel. It's the Gospel that cleanses us. So how am I washing my wife? By teaching her all the magnificent things about the Gospel of Jesus. The forgiveness that is there. The love that is there. The patience that is there. The holiness and purity that is there. Not only to teach her the Gospel with the Word. But to show her the Gospel with my life. And she does the same to me. But I should be the one leading. Who's the spiritual leader of your home? Who's the spiritual leader of your children? If it is not you, sir, you are in sin. This is your responsibility to wash them in the Word. To lead them in the Gospel. They might know Christ. He says in verse 27 that he might present to himself the church in all her glory having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she would be holy and blameless. A man comes to me and says, I've been married ten years and I don't like my wife. And I say, well, you need to repent. What do you mean I need to repent? Well, let me ask you a question. You don't like your wife. For the past ten years have you been washing her in the Word? No. Have you been interceding for her daily? No. Have you been seeking to be an example before her of what Christ looks like? No. Then it's your own fault. Isn't that amazing, men? You complain about your wife? How much time have you invested in her? You complain about your children? But you turned your children over to godless people to be taught. Why should you complain? How much time did you invest in your children? We feel like we have the right to complain but we don't have the responsibility to invest? This is very wrong, men. A man who will dedicate himself to teaching his wife the Scriptures to teach his children the Scriptures to model Christ before them to intercede for them he's going to see some transformations going on. But men don't do that. They don't. I mean, we could stop right now. And all the men could just repent because you're not doing that. You see how our people perish? God's people perish for a lack of knowledge? Men, this is what we do. This is what it means to be a man. You work hard all day to provide for your family then you come home and you work harder and then you go to bed very tired and you get up the next morning and you do it all over again and you do it for him and for her and for those children. You lead your family. When I'm working at the HeartCry office I don't go to lunch with the guys. I don't have time. I got to get home to a woman. I got to get home to some children. I get my work done. I've got responsibility. And the pastor is supposed to lead in this. Most of the time they're the worst examples in the church. They'll even boast about the fact of how they've neglected their family. God is not impressed. It says in verse 28 Husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. Verse 29 says For no one ever hated his own flesh. There are people who bite themselves trying to eat themselves. It's a sickness. It's a disease. It's a mental illness. No one should do that. But when you fight your wife and try to tear her down you're eating yourself. You're destroying yourself. This is not the way of Christ. But you're to nourish her and cherish her as Christ does the church. How are you to nourish her? Well, Paul commands Timothy to be nourished in sound doctrine. In order to nourish your family you must be nourished. It doesn't matter whether you're a minister or not. You should be saturating your life in the Word of God. You must be the one who knows the Scripture. You must be the one who knows the Scripture in your family so that you can pour into your family so that they can be nourished by you. This is so important. Men, you cannot put this burden on your wife. To be the spiritual leader of the home. To be the spiritual leader of the church. What would we think of you? If there was a horrible criminal knocking on the front door of your house wanting to come in and do damage to your family and you sent your wife to answer the door but that's what you're doing. The devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and you're sending your wife out to fight him. No. This is wrong. It is our responsibility. It is our responsibility to lead our family. To nourish them in the Word. Men, most men are not influencing their children at all. When your child is little he goes to preschool. Then he goes to kindergarten. Then he goes to grade school. Then he goes to middle school. Then he goes to high school. And all that entire system just believes nothing of what you believe. You have taken your child and sent them to study in secular humanism for twelve years of their life. And then you take them to Sunday school once a week where they paint pictures of Noah's Ark. And you think you're raising up your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord? And you think you're raising up your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord? No. You've turned them over to wolves. And you give them nothing to defend themselves. And the destruction of your family is laying at the door. This is wrong. We're to nourish our wives. We're to nourish our children. We're to cherish our wives. Some men think that just because they provide food and they don't hit their wives, they're a good husband. Your wife is to be precious to you. Do you remember before you were married? You opened the door for her. Now if it's raining outside, you run to the car and you get in. Leave her standing in the rain. And then you look at her and go, what's wrong with you? Get in the car. This is... God's watching you. And he's not happy because the kids are looking. So is this how Jesus loves his bride? Absolutely not. Men, understand this. My boys are going to learn how to love a woman by looking at me. And my daughter is going to learn how a man ought to love her by looking at me. And she won't rise above the standard of her father. If she sees her father neglecting her mom, she'll just think, well, that's just marriage. I won't be able to expect any more from my husband. She's watching. I was putting my little girl to bed the other night. She's four years old. I sometimes treat her like she's made out of glass. If any little boy at church gets near her, I spook him. I scare him. I go like this. She's precious to me. I put her in bed. Cover her up. Sit there and stare at her. And I was doing that the other night. And no, the Lord did not speak to me in a vision. But all of a sudden in my heart, I realized something. This tenderness, this preciousness is what I should be giving to her mother. Her mother should be more precious to me. I should treat her like she's made out of glass. I should show tenderness to her. Do you see how twisted things can get? You see, man, you need to understand something. I remember when my mother was growing old. I asked her this question. I said, Mom, you're 81 years old. But how do you feel inside? She said, nothing ever changed. I said, what do you mean? She said, I feel just like I did when I was 16. She said, my body hurts. And I'm old. But inside, I feel the same way. And I said, Mom, do you kind of feel like you're still that 12-year-old girl running down the hill with pigtails flapping in the wind? I'm just going to have to trust the Lord that he's really saying what I'm saying. By faith. Here's the point, gentlemen. After a few years, you look at your wife differently. Like, you know, she doesn't feel like she used to. She does. The tenderness she wanted when you first met her, she still longs for that. The way she wanted to be, you know, feel special, she still wants that. Even if 50 years have passed, nothing's changed inside. She doesn't want to feel like property. Look in verse 33. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. Now, I don't need my wife to call me three times a day saying, I love you. I just don't. I mean, it's just, I don't. I'm a man. I'm an animal. I don't need those things. But she does. And look, we can see it here in this passage. It doesn't say that men should respect their wives. And it doesn't say here that wives should love their husbands. Now, husbands need love and wives need respect. But look at the emphasis here. Men, if you start assuming your wife is like you, you're in a whole lot of trouble. You sit there and go, I don't need my wife to call me. I don't need her to send me flowers at the office. Yeah, but she does. Love your wives. Show them that you love them. Tell them that you love them. You say, well, I'm just not like that. Then repent and get like that. Now, wives, listen to this. I don't need my wife to call me three times a day telling me she loves me. But I need her respect. That's what I desire as a man. You want your husband to love you. Do you respect your husband? Are you constantly tearing him down? Are you constantly being very, very rebellious? Do you give him no honor? Do you not acknowledge his authority? You're killing him. In the same way that you need love, he needs respect. If I wake up one morning and half the world is in my front yard saying, we hate you and want you to die, that really doesn't bother me as long as I know my wife respects me. I need her respect. She needs my love. It's hard to be a man. I've really gotten on the men. It's hard to be a man. And the Bible says to be with a quarrelsome wife, it's better to be out in a desert somewhere. A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping. I want you to know that's true. Let's see, it's nine o'clock. If you can bear with it, I'd be willing to take a five-minute break and then talk about women for a while. All the men are saying yes, yes. Amen, yes. Okay, let's pray. Father, I pray that you would use your word to help your people. Lord, that you would be glorified among us. And that the enemy would have no cause to reproach us. In Jesus' name. Amen.