Wives, your desire is to be to your husband.  Somebody mentioned something to me yesterday, I think it was about that word “desire” in Genesis.  They said, “Well, the ESV says this...”  It doesn’t matter what King James says or what the ESV says, or the New American Standard Bible says.  It’s what the Hebrews said.  Amen?  So, the different interpretations are going to differ.  They’re all going to be basically stating the same thing.  But the way we get the true definition of the words is to take what was said in Genesis, to go back to Ephesians 5 and see what it says, and to go back to 1 Corinthians 7 and see what it says.  This is how we begin to really understand the applications of these biblical truths.

But here in Ephesians, we see that the commandments are being given, and He’s commanding the wives.  “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife.”  Now we’ll just stop there for just a moment.  We’re all very well taught in this.  We probably won’t need to take as long on this teaching as the men, because you ladies are all doing better than your husbands.  Somebody said, “You going to teach the women, huh?”  And I said, “Yep, and I know on which side the bread is buttered!”  So, as we’ve said for many years, we’re on your side, ladies.  Thank God for godly women.  Thank God for godly wives and mothers that are fulfilling that great responsibility of subordinating, that the house of God could be edified.  Putting yourselves, ladies, under, that Jesus might be lifted up.  It’s a high calling.  Tough job.  But your mother blew it—talking about Eve.  You know, we see the rise of women and the usurping of authority and the perversion in society today.  Women getting very bold.  One woman said, “Where would the world be today without women?”  And a guy spoke up and said, “In the garden!”  So much truth there.

So, here we’re walking out God’s will under this curse, under this judgment.  We, the church, are still living under that curse of sin, though we’re redeemed.  The sin nature still resides in each and every one of us.  The same tendencies are in man and woman.  Men still look for every possible way to abdicate their responsibilities, and women are more than ready to assume that role.  Many boldly and others in a more subtle way.  We’ve heard it expressed in the past by some ladies saying, “Yes, my husband is the head, but I’m the neck and I’ll turn the head whichever way.”  Some are very subtle, manipulative.  Others demanding.  Others crying and throwing tantrums.  Others giving the silent treatment.  There is no place for any of that in a Christian home.  Amen?  We do not let the sun go down on our wrath (Ephesians 4:26), praise God!  There is communication and reconciliation of heart and mind before the sun goes down, before we go to sleep.  We give no place for Satan to work in the darkness of imagination while we’re sleeping.  Building our case.  Listening to Satan talk about the other partner and believing what the accuser of the brethren is saying against them.