In the sermon 'The Power of the Weaker Vessel' by Peter Allison, the speaker draws upon Proverbs 14 to explore the metaphor of a wise woman building her house versus a foolish woman tearing it down. This metaphor encompasses the broader role of women in creating and nurturing a home environment filled with joy, contentment, and love. The sermon emphasizes that a wise woman actively seeks wisdom, supports her husband's vision for the family, and takes on her role with willingness and joy. In contrast, foolishness in women can manifest through neglect, discontent, and lack of support, which metaphorically erodes the household from within like termites. Biblical examples, such as Abigail from the Old Testament, illustrate the positive impact of wisdom and a supportive spirit. The sermon also highlights the importance of a woman’s faith in Christ as the foundation for wisdom, urging women to follow scriptural blueprints for their roles. It concludes with a call for both men and women to seek wisdom and live in accordance with God’s Word, fostering households that reflect the union and communion of Christ with the church.

Please turn in the Word of God to Proverbs 14. I'd like to read the first four verses. Our text this morning will be focused on verse 1. The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands. He who walks in his uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is perverse in his ways despises him.

In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise will preserve them. Where no oxen are, The trough is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of an ox. Thus far the reading of God's Word this morning, may He write its truth upon our hearts and be praised at its reading. Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your Holy Spirit as well, without whom we would be in darkness, unable to understand the Word that you have written to us.

But you are a mighty God. And you are able to reveal to us, reveal to babes the wonders and the truth of Your Word. We ask that You would do so this morning. You would open our eyes, that You would open the understanding of our heart, that You would open our ears by the powerful work of Your Holy Spirit. You have done all this through a vessel of clay, through a man of unclean lips.

Pray that You would sanctify those lips and that you might be glorified this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Our text this morning speaks of a woman, speaks of two women, a wise and a foolish woman. And if you're wondering where the message to men is, it's not here in this text this morning. It doesn't mean the Bible of course doesn't speak to men?

It does. If you want that message, that was in the message from Proverbs 11, 29, about the man who troubles his own home will inherit the wind. So if you want to know how men and husbands can trouble their own home in the same way, look back and listen to that message, Because that was a message to men. But this message this morning is to women. I looked for men in this verse, but it's not really here.

It's women that this is talking of. Now sometimes, many times the Bible does use men to refer to all people. And many of the things that it says of a woman might be true of men. And So this message is part of the Word of God and it has application to all of us. So just if you're not the female gender this morning, that doesn't mean that there's nothing here for you.

There is much here for all of us because certainly Men can pull down their own houses as well by their actions. But there is specifically in this text is a message for husbands and for men as to how they can be an encouragement to the women in their life. And also what to look for in a spouse, in a wife. When the Bible speaks to specific classes of people, it always does so in front of everybody else. In fact, Peter when he addresses the elders in his epistle in chapter 5, he actually addresses all of the people.

He says to the elders who are among you. Who's the you? He's talking to the church there, all the people. But he has a message for the elders specifically. But it's a message that he wants everybody to hear.

And there were reasons for that, just like there are reasons why God is giving this message to women, to all of us. It's a metaphor. The wise woman builds her house. That's not saying that, and I hope you understand this, That's not saying that if you're a wise woman that you need to pick up a hammer and you should be putting the nails into the boards that hold your house together. And that if you let your husband do that then you're not a wise woman.

Of course that's not what this passage is saying. This is a metaphor. Building a house here is a metaphor for all the aspects of creating a home. Presumably for one's own family, but it could also be for another family. It refers to all those organizational aspects, mechanics of cleaning, of cooking, of home organization, of decorating, of creating an atmosphere within that building, in the home, of joy, of contentment, of love, an atmosphere of acceptance, where growth happens of young seedlings, where healthy growth happens.

This idea of a woman building a home is a metaphor that encompasses her entire life's work. Now tearing down a house then is a metaphor for the opposite kind of woman. It's the foolish woman, the foolish person who pulls it down with her own hands. That's things that the wife does, the housewife, and that's an honorable term. It's maybe fallen out of disfavor, but that's an honorable term to be called a housewife.

It should be seen as a term of esteem, a position of honor and responsibility, a A position of influence. A position of great importance. And yes, power. Power. It's no accident that that phrase that you all know, and we like to repeat that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.

Because this role of a woman, of being a housewife, it's a powerful role. She can tear that house down with her own hands by killing the joy and the contentment and the love and the acceptance in the home and making it instead a place where there isn't warmth, there isn't acceptance, there isn't contentment, there isn't joy. You can tear it down by destroying their organization and making it a messy, disorganized, chaotic place. Leaving the family unfed, neglected, and in spiritual ruin. A family that's broken and needy, kind of like a drowning person.

You know what a drowning person is like? They're reaching out, grabbing hold of anything that is around them, laying hold of, and sometimes if people around them aren't careful can be drowned by a drowning person. That's what a needy family is like who's been neglected by the housewife. Housewife. So this text says, God's Word says, that a wise woman builds her house.

But a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands. This isn't talking about what somebody else does. This isn't talking about what her husband does even. This isn't speaking about the circumstances of what the terrible pastor at the last church did or what the terrible father did or what some terrible interloper has done. This is speaking about what the housewife does with her own hands, tearing down her own house.

Let's look at the foolish woman who tears down her own house with her own hands. One of the very first complaints that I heard of as a young and new elder was from a wife who called me up, came to me ostensibly wanting counsel, because as it turned out, her husband just really wasn't a very good spiritual leader in the home. Some of you might be smiling, you've heard this story a thousand times. I've come to find out over the years that this is a very, very common complaint. It's probably the number one complaint that I hear from women, foolish women.

Because you know what I learned in that situation and generally in the others is that these women don't want a spiritual leader in their home. And that's probably one of the biggest reasons their husband isn't the spiritual leader in their home. They don't want that. That's not what they really want. They want to complain about it, about not having it.

But as I look into these families, I see that the main reason why husbands aren't spiritual leaders in those homes is because of them. It's because they don't want it. They've rejected it. And if you try and help such husbands naively, maybe even foolishly, you find that they don't like you either. See, a foolish woman who's tearing her house down with her own hands, it's not like a wrecking ball to the building leaving this obvious pile of dust and rubble.

It's a lot more like the destruction of termites. Eating out the very frame and substance of the home and leaving this shell standing that looks okay on the outside. Have you ever seen a termite eaten wall? It can look okay. You can put a coat of paint over the wood, it can look okay.

But if you happen to lean on it too hard, It just caves in. There's nothing there. The shell of the wood is there, but the substance, the strength is gone. The termites have just eaten it away little bit by little bit. And over time, there's nothing left but a shell.

How does that happen? How do foolish women Tear down their own house with their own hands. Well first, They can choose to be foolish simply by thinking to avoid making any choice at all. They can choose to be foolish by simply not striving to be wise. The Proverbs speaks in the passages, the chapters that we've looked at before in the last couple of years, of the necessity of striving for wisdom.

Seeking it with all you have. Pursuing it. Get wisdom, Proverbs 4 says. Get wisdom. Get understanding.

Love her. Wisdom is the principle thing, therefore get wisdom. In all of your getting, get understanding. There's a sense of urgency, a sense of deliberate choice here, A sense of purpose that wisdom has to be pursued, has to be sought after. Something that is studied, something that is prayed over, something that is pondered, something that we seek the Lord for.

Not just once, one time way back the day you got married, but often Seeking the Lord for wisdom. The Lord promises to give wisdom. But He commands us to seek it. It's like our daily bread. The Lord is the one who provides it to us.

That's why we thank Him every time we eat, because God provides our daily bread. But at the same time, He uses our labor to provide it. And so we go to work, trusting that through our work, the Lord will bless it and provide for us. And wisdom is the same way. The Lord provides it.

All wisdom comes from the Lord, but God commands us to seek it. He gives it to us as we are obedient in seeking it and striving for it. Another way that a foolish woman can tear down her own house with her own hands is a passive failure to support her husband's mission and vision in the home. See, it's not an outright war, or being unsupportive, it's a passivity in not supporting her husband's mission. A coolness to it.

An indifference to it. An unwilling spirit. Because it's not what you agree with. Or it's not what you think the family should be doing. It's not your cup of tea.

Being hard to lead is the opposite of a willing spirit. Exodus 35 speaks about this willing spirit, the opposite of being passively unsupportive. Relatively unsupportive. Exodus 35, Moses had come to the people with these directions. In the first...

In the wrong chat, I'm in 25. Moses had gathered all the congregation together and he'd come to them. He says this is the words that the Lord's commanding you and he gives them some directions. And then He says in verse 4, He spoke to all the children saying, This is the thing which the Lord is commanding. Take from among you an offering.

The Lord is going to raise up an offering for the temple. That is the vision that He has given to the children of Israel. Take an offering to the Lord, whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord. Well, he gives all the directions of what they were to do. He's laying out the plan here for how they're going to build the temple and what it's going to look like and so forth.

And we get down to verse 21. All the congregation had departed from Moses. Then in verse 21, Everyone came whose heart was stirred. And everyone whose spirit was willing. And they brought the Lord's offering for the work of the temple.

They came as men and women. Whoever had a willing heart and they brought the things that were needed, the things that Moses had said would be needed. And Moses didn't tell them to bring their earrings and necklaces and the jewelry. Moses didn't say, now I want all of you that have those earrings on, you need to take them off and bring them. He didn't say that.

He gave the vision of what the Lord wanted them to do, to build this tabernacle and to make it beautiful with gold and fine linens and skins dyed beautiful colors. And the people after they departed, their heart was stirred and they willingly said, well what does he need? What do we need for a tabernacle that's going to be beautiful with gold and silver? Well, we need gold and silver. And they of a willing heart gave of their jewelry to support the work, the building of the temple.

They came men and women. And all the women who were gifted artisans spun yarn with their hands and brought what they had spun of blue and purple and scarlet linen. And all the women in verse 26 whose hearts stirred with wisdom spun yarn of goats' hair and the rulers brought onyx stones and so forth. They brought the things that they knew would be needed for this great work, because their heart was stirred. You see, that is what we're talking about here, about a willing support that looks to what the vision of the husband is and supports it.

A foolish woman isn't willing, doesn't look at what that vision is, passively sits with an unstirred heart to the goals of her husband for the family. Now, another way, maybe a little bit more overt, that a foolish woman can tear down her own house is to be discontent with Him. Discontent with His work. Discontent with His provision. Discontent with the income, the money that's available.

Discontent with his skills, not good enough. Discontent with his person, he's this, he's that. Discontent with his leadership. Discontent with the children. Discontent with the house, It's not the right color.

It doesn't have the right kind of floor. It has this problem and that problem. Discontentment. There's no sure way to pour water on any zeal that a family may have, that a husband may have, than to douse it with a good volume of discontent water. Remember Tobiah tried to do this.

When he tried every other way and couldn't get the Israelites to stop rebuilding the wall, then he tried to belittle it. He said, well, if a fox jumped up on your wall, it would knock it down. Now a fox is a light little animal. It's a relatively weak animal. It's a clever animal.

It can kill your chickens for sure. But it's not a lion. It's not a bear. It's not an elephant. It's not a rhinoceros.

It's not a bull. It's a little fox. And he said, if a little fox jumps up on this wall, it's going to knock it down. He was belittling their work, seeking to discourage them by it. And a foolish woman can do the same thing with her tongue in expressing discontentment.

And it will tear down her house like termites eating it from the inside out. And a woman, a foolish woman who is discontent and who isn't afraid to tell everybody about her discontentment will wake up one day and wonder what happened to the house. There's no strength in it. The two by fours have been eaten through with termites. Disrespect does the Same thing.

Talk about your family's problems. Talk about your children's problems. Talk about your husband's faults, his errors, his follies. It's not hard to do for most of us. We have plenty of them.

Just talk about them. Talk about them to your friends. Talk about them to the pastor's wife and all the other wives in the church. Talk about them especially to the children. You know, tear down your house and you'll have nobody to blame for it by yourself.

Submit only when you agree with Him. Only when you see that it's in your best interest. A woman can work around the clock to provide for her family, to keep the house, decorate it, make a nice home. Make a nice home. But you can destroy that in a moment by a few words of disrespect.

One example that just comes to my mind is a story written in the last century by a popular writer. It's just a little work of fiction. It's really, it has nothing of Christ in it, so I'm not going to name it. But it's a wonderful example of a woman who had a lot to be discontent with. Who in this case, never once said anything disrespectful about her son's grandfather, her father-in-law.

Even though he had wronged her in every possible way at every moment that he could. And he was a dishonorable person in many ways. But she never once said anything disrespectful to her child. And so he grew up thinking highly of this unworthy grandfather who lived in another country. And he was a citizen of another land.

And it's a neat little story, and I'm not going to recount it here, but it's a wonderful example. Of of wisdom in this area. And the fruit that came from it, and I think in that sense, it's a very biblical story, a very helpful story. Helpful story. Now another way that a foolish woman can tear down her own house is to be a doormat.

It's to be a doormat. What is a wife who is a doormat? Well it's a foolish woman first of all. But it's somebody who does not offer their wisdom, who doesn't care when God's law is broken, who isn't industrious. Those are all three very different things.

But I think I lumped them all together under the rubric of being a doormat. Somebody who is walked on and doesn't respond. Somebody who is passive and uninvolved in the home, who just sits there, visible to everybody that walks in the front door. Used in one sense, but uninvolved. Not offering wisdom.

God made women with wisdom. He gave them minds. He gave you understanding and discernment. And He gave you strengths where your husband may not have strengths. And you're foolish if you keep all that to yourself.

You're foolish if you allow fornication and adultery to go on un-confronted. Or pornography. Go on un-confronted. Or pornography. These are things that do need to be confronted.

When you see your husband about to make a bad decision in something, don't just sit back and say, well, I'll let him learn the hard way. That's arrogance. That's being a doormat. That's being a foolish woman. When Abigail saw the wife of Nabal, saw that harm was determined for her husband because he scorned David's men.

When they had been very gracious to him and had protected his herds and flocks and had come to him in a time of rejoicing and feasting and asked for some food, asked to be able to participate in the surplus and joy of that occasion. He spurned them. He sent them away empty handed, disgraced. And Abigail saw that and she didn't just say, now my foolish husband is going to get his due. When she saw that harm had been determined against her husband for his folly, for his stupidity, She didn't just sit there and let it happen.

Because to do so would have been folly. And it would have resulted in the destruction of her home. Rather she sprang into action. She started commanding servants, you get this, you get that. You prepare the donkeys, you prepare the beasts of burden, you get these grapes, you get these clusters of dates, and you do it quickly.

And she got out to meet David before David got to her house. And she very respectfully entreated him. And what was the response? She saved her house. She saved her family.

She built her family. Because David was so impressed with her wisdom that when God took her foolish husband a few days later, David took her as his wife. Because He saw that she was a wise woman, a woman who feared the Lord. And Abigail, God provided a house for her. You see, very literally by her wisdom she built her house.

Because she didn't sit at home like a doormat and allowed David to destroy her foolish husband who deserved everything he had coming. And she also, David recognized, saved David from committing a sin himself and from responding sinfully to sin. This woman did a lot of good. She saved a lot of people that day by not being a doormat, by being industrious, by having wisdom. See the foolish woman ignores the home in idleness, in waste, in love of pleasure, in lack of foresight.

The children's wills are passively permitted and their souls passively neglected. That's a doormat. Don't be a doormat. Lastly, a foolish woman can tear down her own house by responding sinfully to sin. Responding sinfully to sin.

A wife once said, a wife who before her days of salvation, she divorced her chronically unemployed drunk husband. And over a decade later, almost a decade and a half later, she came to saving faith in Jesus Christ. And she began praying for the salvation of her former husband and his current wife. But she could look back on that decade or she could look back on those two decades and say you know I didn't improve anything by divorcing my husband Except by responding sinfully to his sin, I added my sin to his sin. Wisdom that will build a house must defeat foolishness in God's way.

That's the first mark I want to talk about with a wise woman. Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight and understanding. The only way to, the only foundation on which to build a house is on the rock that is Jesus Christ. And so the wise woman who would build her house is first a disciple of Christ Herself. The wise woman is somebody who says with Paul, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life that I live now I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

A wise woman knows that her only source of strength, her only source of wisdom is in Christ, not herself. And the life that she now lives, she lives, The life she now lives in the flesh, she lives by faith in the Son of God. See all these things that we'll look at, that the wise woman does, That's not what makes her wise. She does these things because by faith she's looking to Christ. By faith she's trusting in Him for her strength.

And He in His grace has made her wise. The wise heart is teachable, especially wanting to be taught by her husband. The wise heart loves instruction. They value it, especially when it comes from her husband. They value that above money.

They would rather be taught and instructed by their husband than given money for their body. To spend on their body. They listen to instruction. They accept instruction. They don't let go of it.

Those are all things right out of the Proverbs. Proverbs that we've looked at. Proverbs 10, 8, 4, 8, 1, 8, 1, 3, 19, 20, 19 verse 20 and so forth. They don't let go of wisdom and thus they grow in wisdom. They grow in knowledge and in understanding.

So foolishness must be defeated God's way. Secondly, a wise woman follows the blueprints that are laid out in Scripture. The Word of God is for instruction in righteousness. Now how do we do that? What are the blueprints in Scripture?

Well those blueprints are laid out in Proverbs 31, in Titus 2, and in Genesis 2. Those are the blueprints. Now they're foolishness to the world today. They're hated because Folly hates wisdom. But you know if the world hates something, the more it hates it, the more you ought to ask, why is it hating that?

Is that biblical wisdom? And so one of the greatest applications of wisdom for a woman is to exercise the role that God has given to her in Scripture. God made women to be a suitable helper to a husband. That's the purpose. God says in Genesis 2, 18 that it was not good for man to be alone.

And so he fashioned out of Adam's rib a woman for the express purpose that she would be a helper suited to him. The King James calls that a help-meet. That's not a help-mate. It's a help-meet. It means a helper who is uniquely, because she is a woman, who is uniquely qualified and suited, created to be a helper ideally suited to her husband.

Only she can fill that role. That's why it's a folly to think that two men or two women could be married if they even could be. You see, Eve was a match for Adam, who would assist Adam in carrying out the cultural mandate that God gave him to be fruitful and to multiply to replenish the earth and to exercise dominion over the creation. To be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth and exercise dominion over creation. That is the job that God has given to mankind.

And the wise woman recognizes that her role is to be this uniquely suited person, helping her husband to do that. Together they replenish the earth. Can't do it individually, together. Two men can't do it, two women can't do it. It takes a man and a woman to replenish the earth.

It takes a man and a woman working together side by side, shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, to properly subdue the earth and to rule over it and to exercise dominion in it. God has uniquely gifted men and women differently. And a wise woman will recognize that and she will take that role on willingly and joyfully. Paul gives further instruction in Ephesians 5, explaining how God established the husband to be the head of the wife and he is to love her as Christ loved the church. That means sacrificially.

And the wife is to be in willing, notice that willingness, That's so important. It makes all the difference in the world whether submission is willing or not. The wife is to be in willing submission to the husband just as the church is in willing submission to Christ. This is important Because this union is a picture of Christ and the church. It's important because Paul told the Corinthians, the angels are watching.

The angels are watching to see how you are the glory of your husband. And so for a wife to fail to submit, to fail here, to fail to submit to her husband, or actually this is true of any authority, we're all under authority. We're all under elders. We all are under civil magistrates. We all are under masters in our work.

If you own your own business, then you have a lot of masters. And if you don't make them happy, you won't be in business. If you're employed, you maybe have one or two masters. We all have those that we are all under authority. And so to not be under authority, For a woman to not submit to her husband is to not be in submission to God Himself, to Christ.

Even Christ was made under the law. When He took upon Himself a human nature, He's made under the law in order that He might be our righteousness. So a wise woman will take this role of being a suitable helper to her husband on with willingness, with some zeal, and be the nurturer and the trainer of the children and the keeper of the home. Titus 2 talks about the older women are to teach the younger women to love their husbands and to be keepers at home. And Proverbs 31 explains, and we'll get there eventually, I don't have time today, but Proverbs 31 speaks in more detail about what it means to be a keeper of the home.

It doesn't mean that you stay in the home all the time. Just read Proverbs 31. That woman is a keeper of the home and her labor is focused around the home. The purpose of her labor, the goal of what she's doing is to better the home, but it's obvious from that that she is not a weak woman and she's not a woman who is stuck at home. Thirdly, a wise woman is going to count the cost of the building.

Wise woman will count the cost. Jesus said that those who are wise will count the cost of discipleship before they start. Getting halfway through, He said, you run out of money and then you become the laughing stock of the town with this big unfinished building. Wise woman will count the cost. She'll recognize that not everything is going to go smoothly.

It's easy to point fingers. It's easy when things don't work right. It's easy to be discontent at The messes that get created at the unfinished stuff around But look in verse 4 of our of the passage we read this morning where no oxen are the trough is clean You know The absolutely clean kitchen without anything out of place is probably not a kitchen that is seeing much use. But much increase only comes by strength of the ox. In other words, the barn that has no oxen in it is very clean.

There's nothing on the floor, no manure, no flies. It's clean. It looks nice. But there's nothing going on there. There's no strength.

Nobody can plow the fields. You can't get any work done without ox. But a barn of an active farm where there's planting going on, where there's crops being made, where there's work being done, that kind of barn is kind of dirty and it might be a little messy from time to time. A wise woman will understand that and recognize that. That's part of the cost of the building that you're putting up.

But here's an even higher cost. What if your husband isn't fulfilling his role? What if he has no vision? Or worse, what if he is that unemployed, underemployed drunken bum? This is one of the hardest situations.

One of the most tragic things you can face. It's one of the most difficult principles to practice. And in a sense we can all practice it because we all to some extent are under authority. But what does the Bible say about this situation? When I was a young lad, I remember a slightly older young man visiting our church that Lord's Day and standing up to announce that they he and his wife were expecting their very first child.

I remember it because he had made the announcement in a sort of memorable way. Well, fast forward 25 years in another church, in another totally different part of the country, this man is visiting our church again except this time he's preaching. He's bringing the message. And part of his message that day was relating how God used his wife's wisdom to build their family. Because as he explained to us that day, he said way back when I first got married, I wasn't very mature.

I wasn't very knowledgeable in the Scriptures. Family devotions was a terror to me because it revealed my, maybe revealed his ignorance, his lack of understanding. But as he relates this story, his wife received some very good counsel from her pastor back then as a young 20-something bride. And he advised her that she had a ministry of silence in her family. A ministry of silence with respect to the area of family devotions.

Yes, she could have far more capably and skillfully read the Bible and led the family in devotions. She could have far more effectively answered the children's questions, but she didn't. She gave the Bible to her husband and sat down Quietly. And when he stumbled around and didn't know the answer, she didn't pipe up with the answer. And when she could have given a much better answer than what He was able to give to the children, she didn't supply the deficiency.

She was respectfully silent. Her silence, her ministry of silence, demonstrated great wisdom. It demonstrated submission to his poor leadership skills, respect for his office as a father and her husband. And you know what? You know what his story is?

Well obviously he was preaching that day. His story was that you know what? That respect, that ministry of silence motivated him to study. It motivated him to grow. It motivated him to become wise himself.

And you know what? He did. He did. So that 25 years later, her husband was an elder in the church. Her husband could get up and preach a sermon that was edifying to the congregation at our church that day.

That was a wise woman who built her house with the wisdom of the Word of God. She listened to wise counsel. And that is the power of the weaker vessel. Peter says, what do you do if your husband doesn't obey the Word? What do you do if your father doesn't obey the Word, if you're a daughter in the home.

Don't respond sinfully to sin in other people. Peter says that you are to be silent in order that your husband might be one without a word." I'm sure you know that passage, it's a very well known passage. Wives are to submit to their own husbands that even if some do not obey the word, they without a word. Silence. They're silence.

They're respectful silence. You may be won by the conduct of your wives when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Now there's a lot of discernment that's needed between not being a doormat and being wisely silent. And that's what counsel is for. But a wise woman knows how to be silent.

And two, the Bible says she may win her husband without a word. Without having to say anything. Without having to teach and instruct. That is a wife, that is a woman whose husband can safely trust in her. You know, God builds families for wise women.

And God destroys the families of the foolish, men and women. Families that are reformed and Calvinistic in doctrine, Presbyterian in government, Presuppositional in their apologetics, Homeschooling with respect to education, Theonomic with respect to the law, but aren't godly families, won't last. They'll blow up. They'll fall down. They will be troubled by the husband and torn down by the wife and destroyed by God.

And destroyed by God. Christ is the only foundation upon which a home can be built. And this life that we now live in the flesh as wives, as husbands, in these different roles that God has created and ordained for men and women, we live by faith in Jesus Christ. He's our strength. He's our only strength.

You can see though the importance of this with respect to marriage. If you're not married, this decision is critical, who you marry. Good breeding, great birth, fortune, wonderful, amazing talents and accomplishments, They count for little compared to godly wisdom. It's very easy to be swayed by great beauty and great accomplishment. It can be very attractive.

But a wise man will look for a godly woman. Work for a godly woman. And husbands, do you encourage your wives and daughters in the way of wisdom? Or do you make it hard for them to be a wise wife? A wise husband will be somebody who encourages, who supports, who nurtures the wisdom in his wife, who helps her to be this wise woman that is spoken about and described in the Scriptures.

But that was the sermon from Proverbs 11 and 29. This is the message from Proverbs 14, 1. The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her very own hands. May God be gracious to us as husbands and wives, to give us wisdom, to walk in the light of His Word, to walk in vital fellowship with Jesus Christ in His Word and prayer. Almighty Heavenly Father, we thank You for the grace to us in Jesus Christ, for there is not one of us who is wise, except You Give that wisdom to us.

There is not one of us here who has any understanding, except You. Teach us. And there is not one of us here who can respond to sin without sinning, Except You preserve us and in Your grace quicken us and give to us that supernatural forgiveness. Father, we ask that our homes that are represented here may have the beautiful aroma of a home that is filled with Your Word. Wherein You dwell, wherein there is light, wherein there is grace, wherein You, is our beautiful Savior, is the one to whom we are following, the one to whom we are looking, the one for whom we are working, the one in whom we are submitting.

May our homes be a beautiful picture of your union and your communion and your fellowship with your bride, the church, of which we are a part. We ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen.