All right, reverend, let's turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I don't believe I've had more difficulty
preparing a message from a text as I've had over the past month,
month and a half with this passage. And the reason is, it's because
of so much strife and division that has been caused over this
passage. So it causes problems. But the
reason that there's been so much debate over it is the reason
why there is always usually confusion over a passage is when men start
focusing and making the major point to be the outward and to
be the way that It's applied outwardly to make that the focus
rather than what is truly the focus. Now, we must first be
given a heart. We must first be given a heart
to bow to God's order of headship inwardly. We have to be given
a heart inwardly, in spirit and in truth, to bow to God's order
of headship before we will ever remotely understand how this
spiritual principle is applied outwardly. So we're given a heart
inwardly that bows and understands headship. We cannot in any way
apply this outwardly. So the major thing to focus on
here is the teaching of spiritual headship. And I call it spiritual
headship because it has to be taught in spirit and in truth. We have to be taught this in
the heart. Let's focus on that. Maybe next time or some other
time I'll come back and I do believe there's some things that
need to be dealt with here. But tonight I want to focus on
the major thing Paul's teaching in this text. Verse 1. He says,
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now the Apostle Paul was a man
in submission to Christ, his head. That's what he's talking
about here. Him following Christ. He was
a believer in submission to Christ who was his head. And so he's
exhorting believers to follow him as in the same way that he
is following Christ. That is, he is saying, follow
Christ as your head, like I am following Christ as my head.
That is what he is commanding here. And then he praised them
that they did so. Verse 2, Now I praise you, brethren,
that you remember me in all things, and you keep the ordinances as
I deliver them to you. He is saying, I praise you, brethren,
that you do indeed follow me as I follow Christ. But you remember
at Corinth, earlier in the letter, we saw there was this problem
with exalting preachers too highly. Remember that? Some would say,
I'm of Paul, and I'm of Apollos, and I'm of Peter, and there was
this big division because they exalted preachers too highly.
And the other problem they had was they exalted self too highly. There are several times up to
this point where Paul talks about some in the Corinthian church
that were puffed up, being puffed up. Now those are two problems
we have. We have those problems. And so
Paul quickly reminds us of God's order of spiritual headship. Verse 3, "...but I would have
you know..." Now this comes after he said, follow me as I follow
Christ. Follow me as a man following
Christ my head. But now, before you start thinking
I'm saying follow me, he said, but I would have you to know.
Before you exalt me too highly, I'd have you to know. Before
you start making me your head, I'd have you to know. That the
head of every man is Christ. And the head of the woman is
the man. And the head of Christ is God. Now, I want to deal with this
last thing first. The first thing we see that I
want to deal with here is the head of Christ is God. Now, this
refers to Christ as the Mediator serving God. It refers to Christ
as the Mediator serving God. Now, if we're going to obey God
and be in submission to Christ, we're going to have to look to
Christ and learn from Christ how Christ was in submission
to God. We're going to learn everything
from Him. Now, Jesus is the Son of God. He is God in human flesh. He's God. And He's the Son of
Man. He's God and He's Man. Now in
His deity, as God, the Son is equal with the Father and with
the Holy Spirit. He's God. We worship one God
in three persons. We don't worship three gods,
we worship one God. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. As God, He's equal with the Father
and with the Spirit. But in His humanity, The son
became a man. He became one with his brethren. One with his people. And when
he did that, he took a subservient role to the father. He came down
to obey God in the place of his people. He came down to be the
last Adam. He came to be the head, the representative,
the faithful and holy and righteous man who obeyed God, representing
all God's elect." That's what he came to do. He came to make
all his people righteous and holy in him. Now, he's one with
God. A man and a woman are one. A
believing man and a woman are one in Christ. But there is a
position God's put us to in our In our humanity, He's given us
a role to where the man is the head and the woman's in submission. But the man's in submission to
Christ. He has a head. So now let's look
here at Christ. He came down. He put Himself
in a subservient role voluntarily, willingly, to serve God for His
people. You know Philippians 2.6. If
you want to turn there, but I think you know it, but it says Christ
was in the form of God. And he thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. You see, he's equal. He's God's
equal. He is God. But he made himself of no reputation,
and he took upon him the form of a servant. And he was made
in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, And He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He came down to serve God. Now that's what we're talking
about here. That's what Christ was referring to when He made
that statement. He said, My Father is greater
than I. Not as God. As God they're equal. But as the servant of God, serving
as the mediator for His people, He was obeying God. He was in
a subservient role to God. God was his head. Now, the Lord
Jesus highly exalted God and He saved His people. You know
how He did that? By being in submission to God. Don't ever get this idea. We
live in a society today where when you talk about submission
and people start acting like, you know, oh, how dare you think
I'm going to be in submission to anybody. That's the problem
with men in the law right now, men in police. Man don't want
to be in submission. You give him a leg up where he
thinks he all of a sudden can get the popular opinion on his
side, he don't have to be in submission to authority, and
he'll revel in that. But there's nothing wrong with
submission. That's how Christ highly exalted God and how he
saved his people, by being in submission to the Father, by
obeying God's will. He served God in place of his
people. He came to accomplish God's work.
God gave him a work to do. God gave him the work of establishing
God's law that had to be settled. God's law had to be upheld, had
to be honored, had to be satisfied. God won't clear the guilty. And
so he came to uphold that law, to die under it so that God would
be just. He came to die as a substitute
for his people so that God would be just. He poured out wrath
on him as that one man made to be his people, representing his
people. And at the same time, he came
to do the work of justifying his people, to declare God's
not only just, he is the justifier of his people. And this is the
work This work of declaring the righteousness of God. That's
what Christ was speaking about when He said, My meat is to do
the will of Him that sent Me and to finish His work. You see, He's serving God, His
head. That was His desire. That was
His earnest purpose in being in this earth. What's our purpose? It ought to be to serve Him.
If we're a believer, it is to serve Him and obey Him and do
His will. So he goes drunk to God, and
he highly exalted God this way. He spoke only that which the
Father taught him to speak. And he did only that the Father
told him to do. Look over at John 8. John 8,
26. He said, I have many things to
say and to judge of you, but He that sent me is true. And
I speak to the world those things which I have heard from Him."
Those things He spoke to me, I am speaking to you. They understood
not that He spoke to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto
them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you shall
know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself. But as my
Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent
me is with me, the Father hath not left me alone, for I do always
those things that please him." When Paul said, follow me as
I follow Christ, Paul was saying the exact same thing. I don't
speak anything but what Christ tells me to speak. And I'm not
doing anything but what Christ tells me to do. Now you follow
that example by being in submission to Christ the same way. That's
what he was saying. That's what he was teaching. Another way
Christ exalted God was by obeying God, not to just any death, but
to the death of the cross. Now, we're not talking about
submission in little ways and then stopping. We're talking
about all the way to death, even the death of the cross. The spotless
Lamb of God, this one who knew no sin, the spotless Lamb of
God, willingly, voluntarily, in obedience to the Father, submitted
Himself to be made sin. He submitted Himself to lay the
sins of His people on Him, and then to have the just punishment
for our sins poured out on Him, because God was righteous to
do it, because He laid the sins on Him. And He is the Wisdom
and Power who trusted God the Father, so that He did not expect,
and He fully trusted. that only when justice was satisfied,
only then, God would raise him from the dead. And he trusted
God. And he's the wisdom and power
by whom we're made to obey him. And then he's the righteousness
of God. He honored God's law. He finished the work. He honored
it. He satisfied justice. He upheld
righteousness. And He is that righteousness.
And everyone that trusts in Him, believes on Him, has totally
fulfilled God's law because He did it. And He is our righteousness.
He is the holiness of heart. He never wavered in His heart. He never wavered in faithfulness
and fidelity to God the Father. He obeyed Him. He submitted to
Him, even on the cross. When He was forsaken of God,
He never looked anywhere but to the Father. And He is the
holiness of that new man when He is formed in His child. He
is that holiness of the new man by which we are made holy and
sanctified. And He is the redemption of His
people. He redeemed us from the curse of the law. He redeemed
us from the bondage of our flesh. And He will one day redeem us
from the curse of this world. He is redemption. And right now,
He is continuing to obey the Father, continuing to work God's
will, by sending forth the gospel and gathering in all his elect
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
And when he's gathered all in, he's going to deliver them all
up to the Father as the kingdom of God, and then there will just
be the three persons of the Godhead who will be all and in all. But as Christ, as the Christ,
he served the Father. Now, those truly given faith
to rest in Christ, we're not trying to earn salvation. Now,
don't even think that's what I'm talking about tonight. We
rest in Christ for all. But if you and I are going to
know anything at all about headship and about submission, we're going
to have to look to Christ. We learn everything from Christ.
We have to look to Him. Now, that comes to this second
point. Look at verse 3. The head of every man is Christ.
Now, because Christ highly exalted God as his head by his obedience,
wherefore God also highly exalted Christ. Now, the rest of Philippians
2 says this, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. That means when he came down
and God was his head and he served God and obeyed God to the death
of the cross, he highly exalted God. Wherefore, God also has
highly exalted him. and giving him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus, we are talking
about the God-man. He didn't need to be exalted
as God. We are talking about being exalted and made the head
as the man who is God. At the name of Jesus, every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. That word is head. It's a different
word, but it has the same meaning as head. He's the Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. The Lord, it means He's the one
to whom every man belongs. He's the possessor of every man,
and He's the disposer of every man. Your ultimate end depends
on what Christ does with you and with me. Did you know that?
That's what it is to be the Lord, to be the head. Our ultimate
end depends on what He does with us. That's different from what
this world is preaching, isn't it? That's so. He's the sovereign. He's the prince. He's the chief.
He's the president. He's the emperor. Or as our text
says, He's the head of every man. That means whether men believe
Him or they don't, He's the head of every man. There will come
a day when all humanity will bow the knee to Jesus Christ
and confess with their tongue that He is indeed your Head. He is your Lord. Now what I pray
is that God will make you to hear this message in your heart
and make you bow to Him now by His grace that you might be saved. Kiss the Son lest He be angry
and you perish forever. The only hope we have is Christ. kiss him, bow to him. This is
so. He's the Lord. He's the head
of every man. But especially Christ is the
head of His church. He's the head of every elect
child of God. Ephesians 1.22 says, God had
put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over
all things to the church, which is His body. You've got a head. You've got a body. He's the head. The church is His body. So we're
in submission to our head. The church is His body, the fullness
of Him that fills all in all. We're going to come to that in
just a minute. You just remember that. But He's the head. When
you come up out of the water, what comes up out of the water
first? Your head. You come up out of the water
on your feet, your head comes up first. The pharisee used to
say, as long as my head's in heaven, I can't ever be drowned
in sin. because my head is above the
sea. We preach Christ our head because
as our head, He is preeminent. He is the first above all. Colossians 1.18 says, He is the
head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence,
that in all things He might be first. That's what it means.
And you're completing him which is the head of all principality
and power. He's the firstborn son of God.
He's the firstborn from the dead. He's the author and the finisher
of our faith. He's the forerunner who's entered
in first into glory on behalf of his people and is the way
by which we're going to enter. He's the head who rules all His
people in spirit and in truth and makes us to grow. And so
for that reason, we preach the truth in love that we might grow
up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. I thought about this as I was
working on this. Why do men take a text like this? And they major
on the minor. They major on Paul's illustration
that he gave to illustrate headship. And so they end up striving and
debating and dividing. And that's happened for generations.
For generations. Over a piece of cloth. That happened amongst the Jews.
It's happened amongst the Muslims. You ought to read the history
about it. Men will divide over anything
carnal. Why does that happen? Because
they're majoring on the minor rather than looking at what the
major focus is of the passage. That's Christ our Head. Why would
a man do that? Paul gives you the simple reason. "...intruding into those things
which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
and not holding the head, from which all the body by joints
and bands, have nourishment ministered, and knit together and increase
with the increase of God." Just think about it. What part is
it that is the wisdom of your body? What part receives and
disperses food to your members? What part governs every member
of your body? It's your head. Why would we
preach anything else but Christ? He is our head who is our wisdom
with God and with men. You want to know how to approach
God? Learn Christ. You want to know how to deal
with men? Learn Christ. He is our head from which all
the body, by joints and bands, have all nourishment ministered
to us, just like your head takes the food and delivers it to your
body. Christ is the one who takes the
things God has given to him as he's the mediator, and he ministers
unto his body, his people. And he makes it to nourish you
spiritually, and knit you together spiritually. So why would we
preach anything else but Christ, when he's the only one that can
do this? The only one that can do this. Let's talk about irresistible
effectual grace. And that is a doctrine, that's
a teaching. But it's much more than a teaching. Christ is irresistible
effectual grace. Where do you get that? It's from
Him that all the body, by joints and bands, have nourishment ministered
to us. It's from Him that we're knit together. It's from Him
that we increase with the increase of God. That's what our head
does. He is the One who does all these
things in His people. Now then, let's get to this last
thing. The head of the woman is the
man. The head of the woman is the
man. Now, some translations use the word husband instead of man. They put husband instead of man.
And indeed, the husband has headship over his wife. But the word means
man. The word from which it is translated
means man rather than husband. Go to 1 Timothy 2.9. 1 Timothy
2.9. The head of the woman is the
man. The head of the woman is the
man. 1 Timothy 2.9. He says here, for women to adorn
themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety. You know what that means? It
means with reference and respect toward man. With reference and
respect toward man. Not with broidered hair or braided
hair and gold or pearls or costly but with good works, which becometh
women professing godliness. Let the woman learn in silence
with all subjection, but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to
usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. Why? For Adam was first formed, then
Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but
the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding,
she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and
charity and holiness with sobriety." What does that mean? You see,
this whole thing has much more to do with Christ and God than
just a man and a woman. In the garden, in the garden,
We're going to look at this some more next time, I think. But
in the garden, subjection to Christ. Subjection to Christ
is what Christ himself commanded. Now get what I said. Christ has always been the mediator
from eternity. That was Christ in the garden
speaking to Adam and to Eve. And subjection to Christ is what
Christ commanded when he told Eve to be in subjection to her
husband. And what he was telling her is
what Paul is stating right here. That's how she'll be saved. In
childbearing. In being subject to her husband.
Staying with him. Being submissive to him. Bearing
children. That's how she'll be saved. How
so? Well, Eve submitted to her husband. She submitted to Christ by submitting
to Adam. Because Christ spoke it affectionately
in her heart. And she did it. She obeyed. She
submitted to Adam. She submitted to Christ first,
but she did it by submitting to Adam, her husband. And so
they bore children. They bore children. And then
those children were born. And of some of those children
were Christ's own, those He was going to save. And so Christ
commanded them like He commanded Eve. He told those women, be
in subjection to your husband. You're going to be saved in childbearing.
And by His effectual command, they obeyed. They subjected to
their husband. They bore children. And to those,
some of those, He commanded the same, on down the line, until
one day, through the church, through the woman, Christ was
born. And He saved everyone He said
He'd save. And that's what he was saying
all along. This is why you're going to be in subjection to
your husband. This is how you're going to be saved. Christ came
through that church. And so by continuing in faith
and subjection to Christ through the church, Christ was born and
he saved all his people. Our salvation was accomplished
because Christ our head commanded the woman to believe him and
be in subjection to her husband. Now go back to our text. Paul
tells the same thing in our text. 1 Corinthians 11, 7. When I find something stated
in Scripture once, I don't build my doctrine on it. But when I
find something stated in Scripture multiple times, I know this is
something to pay attention to. And this is something stated
multiple times. Now look here in verse 7. He says there, beginning
with the word, He. He is talking about man. Man
is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of
the man. For the man is not of the woman,
but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for
the woman, but the woman for the man. Now, man is the image
and glory of God. Adam was the man. Adam was the
man. He was created in the image of
God, and he was the glory of God. That means he was God's
delight. God looked at Adam and saw his
image in Adam, and he was delighted with it. He gloried in what he
had created, what God created. Adam didn't contribute a thing
to that creation. Adam was formed out of the dust,
his body was, and God breathed life into him, and he became
a living soul. Adam didn't do a thing in it.
And God made him in his image, and God looked at him and said,
He's good. He's good. He gloried in it.
But Adam sinned and failed, and he lost that image. He lost that
image. But then, the man came, the God-man. Christ came, who is the express
image of God. That's what Hebrews says. Hebrews
1-3. He's the express image of God. He came. He came. And God took great delight in
him. He's the fullness of God's glory. And by Christ, all God's elect
are recreated in His image. They're going to be recreated
in His image. They've been made righteous in
Him. They've been made holy in Him. And He's going to be formed
in each one so that they're going to have a new man which can't
be corrupted, born of incorruptible seed, born, created after the
image of God. And Christ takes great delight
in them. And God takes great delight in
them. They're His glory. Man, we didn't contribute a thing
to it, just like Adam didn't. He did it all. He did every bit
of it. And so He glories in what He did. God only glories in what
He built and what He created, what He accomplished. And He
glories in those He's recreated after His image. And Eve, you
remember in the garden it says there, look there, it says that
the woman, but the woman is the glory of the man. Well, now think about Adam and
Eve. Eve was the glory of Adam. She
was created from his wounded side. She was his bride. She
was the one in whom Adam delighted. God brought Eve to him. God put
him in a deep sleep, formed her out of his side. He brought Eve
to Adam, and Adam looked at her and just thought, oh, what if
she's something else? And he delighted in her. He gloried
in her. She was formed from him. She's called Woman. Because she
came from the man. That's where woman comes from. And so He gloried in her. Well,
the church is the woman who was formed out of Christ's wounded
side. And she's His bride. And she's the one in whom Christ
glories. Because He created her. So then,
the man is first for this reason. Because God first chose Christ. Because Christ is first. That's
why he says, now, I'm making it after this pattern, Christ
is first, so man is going to be first. And the woman was formed
out of the man. Why? Because the church, God's
elect, was formed out of Christ. This was all determined by God.
All things are of God. This was all determined by God.
The woman is going to be formed out of the man because the church
was formed out of Christ. And the woman was made for the
man. Why? Why was the woman made for
the man? Because the church was made for
Christ, not Christ for the church. Christ wasn't made for the church.
The church was made for Christ. And the wife is her husband's
delight in His glory. Why? Because the church is Christ's
delight and is His glory. And the husband is her head and
her Savior. Why? because Christ is our Head
and our Savior. You see, that's what Paul said
in Ephesians 5.23, the husband is the head of the wife, even
as Christ is the head of the church, and He is the Savior
of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything.
You see the church in Eve? Look there at Eve. You see the
church? in submission to her husband and bearing children
through her husband? Well, the only way you and I
as a church are going to bear children is in submission to
Christ. Speak what Christ tells us to
speak. Do what Christ tells us to do. And this is so. And the way that the church is
going to be continued like this is He is going to have husbands
and wives together, working together to obey Christ and submit to
Christ to produce children, and some of those he's going to save.
You see all this wisdom of God in all this? Now I want you to
catch this amazing word. This right here is going to dissuade
you like this. Look here, verse 11. Verse 11. He says, Nevertheless, neither is the man without the
woman, Neither the woman without the man in the Lord." Now, we're
talking about in the Lord. We're talking about believers
here. Believers. The only ones that get this is
believers. We're talking about those God sanctified and given
a heart, taught this spiritual headship in the heart. In the
Lord, the believing husband and the believing wife are not complete
without each other. Now, hear what I'm saying. God make us hear this. In Christ,
the believing husband and the believing wife are not complete
without the other. But with each other, they're
one. That's what completion means.
You know that, don't you? If you're not complete, you're
in half. But if you're complete, you're
one. You're a whole. And that's what it is. The believing
husband and the believing wife, they're not without each other.
They can't be without each other. They're not complete without
each other. So the man can't say, well, I'm the head, and
the woman, well, I'm not going to submit. No, we've got to have
each other, or we're not complete. We're only complete in one another.
He said in Galatians 3, in Christ there's neither male nor female.
You're one. And that's what he's saying here. You're one. You're
not complete without each other. Now, how so? Look at the next
verse. Because as the woman is of the
man, Even so is the man also by the woman. But all things,
all these things we're talking about, so God, He designed all
this. You know why He did it? To glorify His holy name in the
person of His Son, in the salvation of His bride, His woman. That's why He did it. So what's
He saying here? The man's not complete without
the woman, and the woman's not complete without the man. Because
as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman. Now you think about that. We
just saw the woman is of Christ. The bride is of Christ. She was
formed out of Christ. But how did Christ get here?
He got here through the woman. Right? He came here through through
that lineage. When you read about the son,
he's the son of David. He's the son of Judah. The son
of Jesse. The son of David. He came through
that lineage. So, the woman, as the woman,
as the bride of Christ is of Christ, even so, is Christ also
by the woman. You know what he's saying here?
The church is of Christ. And even so, Christ came into
this world through the church. And this is all of God to teach
His people something very amazing and something very true. Go to
Ephesians 1. And if you get this and can apply
this to your relationship between you husbands and wives, oh, it
will make it good, I'm telling you. Look here, Ephesians 1,
and look at verse 23. Now, we're talking about Christ
and His bride. We say, I saw there that The
man is not complete without the woman, and the woman is not complete
without the man, because just as the woman is of the man, so
the man is of the woman. Now what does all that mean?
Look here, Ephesians 1.23. Look at that last part right
there now. His body is the church. Now what is that? What is every
elect child that makes up his body? The fullness of him. The fullness of Christ. When
we're all completed and called together and made one and made
one body, we're going to be the fullness of Christ. The fullness
of Christ. But look at this. We're the fullness
of Him that fills us all full in all things. He's saying the
same thing our text says. The Church is the fullness of
Christ, just as Christ is the fullness of His Church. We're
one. Christ our Husband is not complete
without Christ His Bride, and Christ His Bride is sure not
complete without Christ our Husband. We've got to have each other.
That is inseparable union. That's been so from eternity.
That's that marriage God made in heaven before the world was
made. Saying, this man right here is
betrothed This woman is betrothed to this man right here in righteousness
and holiness and faithfulness and judgment. And he won't lose
her. None of his are left. He won't lose one. If he does,
he's not complete. And he won't be complete until
that whole body is together, called. Every single solitary
elect child of God is regenerated and called to faith in him. And
then his body will be full and we'll be full from him. Do you
get that? Now, that's why he's telling
you this about a husband and a wife. Now, that's the beautiful
spiritual headship of which God made this beautiful headship
between a faithful husband and submission to him from a faithful
bride. Now, let me just give you a few
practical words here. Now, as Christ did toward God,
when he voluntarily submitted, And as the regenerated church,
each individual believer does when we are born of him and made
willing in his power, in marriage, in marriage, now listen carefully
ladies, in marriage, the believing woman by her marriage to a man
is voluntarily submitting to her husband to be her head and
to be her provider. She's willingly following her
husband as her husband willingly follows Christ. Now, she's not to follow him
if it's something that's going to take her away from Christ.
But as he's following Christ and is faithful to Christ, she's
to follow him. She's to mold her life around his life. He's
not to mold his life around her life. He's not to go after her
and chase after her ambitions and everything she wants to do
in the world. She's to mold her ambitions to Him. Now that's
so. Why? Because that's what you're
to do as a believer to Christ. You mold all your ambitions in
this world to Christ. And so the woman is to do so
to the man. She becomes like the body to
the head. She's guided and directed by her husband as her husband
is guided and directed by Christ. And so, Like Christ and His bride,
the husband and the wife are only complete with each other. They are only complete when this
is the order. Now go to 1 Peter 3. What I am
telling you is why it is so important for a believing man and a believing
woman to marry. A believing man does not want
to marry an unbelieving woman and an unbelieving woman believing
woman don't want to marry an unbelieving man. You only want
to marry a believer. Because if that man is not following
Christ, his head, how are you going to follow that man as your
head? You see what I'm saying? Well,
that's why it's so important. Now, this is what the Scripture
says to the woman, and then we're going to see what the Scripture
says to the man. Now, Paul gave an illustration And I will deal
with that next time. But this is the illustration
that applies to our day, right here, brethren. Okay, this is
for the woman and the man, right here. This is how spiritual headship
applies to us. To every believing husband, every
believing wife, right here. Verse 3. 1 Peter 3, verse 3. He says of the woman, Who is
adorning? Now that's outward. Adorning is usually outward,
right? Now look what he said. Who is adorning? Let it not be
that outward adorning of braided hair and wearing of gold or putting
on of apparel." Now, he's not forbidding you to braid your
hair, but he's just saying, don't let that be what you think is
your beauty. Don't make that to be your beauty.
Because that's not, in the sight of God, that's not your beauty.
It's just not. Okay? Let it be the hidden man
of the heart. In that which is not corruptible,
that's that which is born of Christ. That's Christ in you.
That's Christ your head in you. Even the ornament of a meek and
a quiet spirit. First of all, meek to Christ,
obeying Christ, doing what Christ says. That's what a meek man
is. Meek is to follow Christ, obey Christ. Of a meek and a
quiet spirit, as opposed to a, you know, a boisterous spirit
is usually a spirit of, I'm not getting my way, so I'm going
to get louder until I get my way. A quiet spirit is usually
one that's saying, I'm going to wait and see what God does.
I trust He's ruling this. Now, this meek and quiet spirit
in that new man, that incorruptible man, is in the sight of God of
great price. Let folks want to split and divide
over the outward adorning that Paul was talking about in our
text. We'll deal with that later. If you want to do that at home,
do it at home. But in the sight of God, do this right here. See
what I'm saying? Do this right here. For after this manner, in the
old time, the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves
by being in subjection to their own husbands. Even as Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him Lord, calling him her head, whose daughters
you are. You are daughters of Sarah, you
that believe, as long as you do well and are not afraid with
any amazement. Believing wives, do not let this
world make you afraid to obey God's order. That's what he's
saying. Don't look at the world and say, well, I can't obey God
because that's not fashionable. Obey God. That's always fashionable.
in submission in the heart and in submission to your husband.
Now, he says to the husbands, likewise you husbands, dwell
with them according to knowledge. Knowledge of what? Knowledge
that Christ is your head. You've got a head. You've got
a head. And knowing that that's why and
that's how you're to be the head of your wife, just like Christ
is your head. That's how you're to be the head
of your wife. How's that? giving honor unto the wife as
unto the weaker vessel. You glory in her. You lift her
up. You glory in her. You delight
in her. You love her. You cherish her.
You provide for her. And you think about what Christ
does to you, man. How has he loved you? He's been
long-suffering with you. He's been patient with you. Because
you fall and stumble and act stupid all the time. We do it. But he's long-suffering and he's
patient. He says there, you give her honor. You give her honor
as unto the weaker vessel. And as being heirs together of
the grace of life. That's what he said in our text.
Remembering you're both one in Christ and you're not complete
without the other. You're not complete without Christ.
And you're not complete without that one he's put you with. And
he says, and do this, fulfilling your place toward one another
as you would to Christ. You see, that's what he's saying.
Men, you be the head of your wife just like you would as if
you're doing it in honor to the Lord. And women, you subject
to your husband just like you are subjecting unto Christ. Here's
why. And this is what Paul's whole
meaning is in our text. This is what the whole meaning
of the first Corinthian letter is, that your prayer, your communion
and your worship of Christ be not hindered. Let me ask you
this, men and women, when you are having a knock-down
drag-out with your wife and are bickering and carrying on with
one another, do you find it easy to pray and worship and have
communion with God? It's hindered, isn't it? So he
says, in the house and in the church and in your life, everywhere,
Women, subject yourself to your husband. Men, give them honor. Remember how Christ has dealt
with you. Deal with them in knowledge of God, how He's dealt with you,
how He's your head. Love them that way. Give yourself
for them that way. Protect them that way. And that way, you both
remember you're heirs of God, heirs of the grace of life together.
And so you won't be hindered and you'll be able to worship
God together. That's exactly what Paul is saying in the text.
He talks about prayer, prophecy. He's talking about worshiping
God. And he says, now this is, we'll deal with that next time.
Alright, Eric. Thank you for your Word. Thank you for always leading
us to Christ and making your Son to be the preeminent focus
in every Scripture. Lord, apply this to our hearts.
Give us true submission to Christ and to one another as we should
to one another. And make us truly understand
that the spiritual application of this and the outward application
of this is not to draw attention to ourselves, to anything that
is unpracticed and odd, but to do
things that is always fashionable, which is to have a meek and quiet
spirit, to give honor to whom honors due, to love and to cherish
and to look over one another's sins, to truly be in subjection
to you. That's what we do. Teach us that,
Lord. Teach us in our heart. Forgive
us for our errors and forgive us for wanting to make the focus
to be the outward. And yet don't let us go without
this outward application. We ask it for it in Christ's
name. Amen.