And it talks about wives being
under submission to their husbands, and it has a lot to say about
it. But I've titled this message this evening, Woman's Adornment. The godly woman's adornment,
the believer's woman's adornment. The apostle says, likewise ye
wives. And that word subjection means
the same word as submission. to your own husbands, that if
any obey not the word, they also may, without the word, be warned
by the manner of life that the wise lives, the character, their
submission to Christ, while they behold your pure conversation,
your pure words, coupled with fear of God. And who's listening
to this now, who's adoring, Let it not be that outward adorning
of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting
on of apparel, but the hidden man of the heart, and that which
is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." Well, we have them in chapters,
but if you took out the chapters and read it without chapters
and verses and just read it as just a letter that a man wrote,
you'd get so much more out of it. But he says, likewise, your
wives will be under submission to your husbands. But likewise,
or in the same way he's talking about, He's pointing to the example
that our Lord Jesus Christ left us in His patient submission
to men in this world when He came, His patient submission
to His Father, and to the judgment of men and the judgments of God
Himself. And He submitted so patiently
in suffering. Look back up in verse 21, chapter
2. For even here unto where ye called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that ye should follow his steps. Live a life, let his life be
conformed in you. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Who when he was reviled, he reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, didn't threaten anybody. Not like us, when somebody says
something ill to us, we got to say something ill back. But committed
himself to him that judges righteously, who his own self barren sins
in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should
live under righteousness by whose stripes we are healed. Now it
talks about here women being in subjection, believing women
being in submission to their husbands. Now our Lord Jesus
Christ had all authority in heaven and earth. He could have prayed. He told him when he was there
before him, he said, I could pray if my kingdom was this world,
I could pray. And my father was in 12 legions
of angels. That's what he'd do. If I asked
him to, he'd say, 12 legions of angels, and they'd get me
out of this situation, and not only that, but they'd put you
in an awful situation. And yet he became, instead of
that, he became one with us. So identified with us. And not
only that, that he not only become a man, but he even humbled himself
and became a servant. A servant. Treated and acted
as a servant. He became the lowest among even
his own disciples when he took off his clothes and put a towel
around himself and bowed down and washed his disciples' feet. He submitted to the unjust judgment
of the Sanhedrin when they called him in, hired men to lie against
him, mistreated him so bad. Then sent him to Pilate, and
Pilate finally gave in. And even though he was the one
who gave the Sanhedrin, who gave every man their power
and their position that they had in this world, he gave them
the authority to do what they did to him. He gave them the
right, he gave them the power. They held their position and
their power by the very man. that they crucified and so mistreated. But the point is that our Lord
submitted to whatever our Father sent His way. That's what we're
talking about. And that's why He says, likewise,
likewise. And yet our Lord went to the
cross and submitted even to the cross, not for His own sins,
but for the just punishment of our sins, who His own self, by
our sins, in his own body on the tree. And I tell you Peter
told slaves here in chapter 2 that Jesus our Lord was willing to
submit to God, to man, to the law, to civil powers and authorities
that be. So he tells us our calling is
to follow our Lord Jesus Christ in his example. And we must learn,
God helping us, we must learn the hardest, hardest thing for
a rebellious heart to learn is patiently submit to all authority
for Christ's sake. Now that's hard for us to do.
We don't like authority. Especially if we don't like the
people who's in authority. We got to learn this, it's the
hardest thing for our rebellious hearts to master. But God helped
us to learn patiently to admit to authority for Christ's sake.
Ain't that what he said over here in verse 13 of chapter 2?
Submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. For
the Lord's sake. Whether it be to the king who
is supreme, governors, And that's the will of God, that we would
do this to put the silence of ignorance to an end. Now he didn't
say for us to patiently submit to just the wise authorities,
the good authorities, and the kind authorities, and the Christian
authorities. But he said authorities. Every
authority. Every one of us. I'm asked to
get it. So why is it so hard for us to do it? Why is it hard
for me to do it? And so Peter comes to say, since
likewise our Lord Jesus Christ patiently submitted. Why do you
need to follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ? He's telling
them to be willing to submit to your own husbands, not just
the wonderful good husbands, not just the kind husbands, not
the considered husbands, not the gentle husbands, and not
just believing husbands, but the kind of husbands you have,
the way they really are. The kind of husband you're married
to. Even unbelieving husbands. And we have several women that
have unbelieving husbands. And every place you go, you have
women who have unbelieving husbands. And then there's husbands who
have unbelieving wives. And at the time that the apostle
wrote this epistle, there would have been lots of unequally yoked
marriages at this particular time because the gospel began
to be spread about. and began to grow. And it's always
been, you correct me if you think I'm wrong, women are, more women
are converted than men. You just look at this congregation.
Just look at this congregation. There's more women that have
unbelieving husbands than there is wives who have unbelieving
husbands. Now that's right. You just think
about it for a minute. You just go over in your mind.
And that's always been that way. And that's why the apostles asked,
what shall a believing wife do? If she has an unbelieving husband,
should she divorce him? Paul asked this question by the
Corinthians. They said, you know, if a man
has an unbelieving, if a wife has an unbelieving husband, should
she depart from him? Should she leave him? Paul says
this, well then if she does, if he's willing to live with
her, and not mistreat her, then let her not depart. Or else their
children would not be sanctified by the marriage. You know, if
you have to have children that come out of marriage, you don't
want to leave your children as unholy children. That's what
the Apostle said. So as long as they're willing
to dwell with you in peace, you stay right there. You stay right
there. And that's what he was talking
about. But let me tell you what these words don't mean. When
he says, likewise you wives submit yourselves to your husbands.
Now let me say what this doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that wives
have to submit to their husbands because they're inferior to their
husbands. That's not what it means. It's
not what it means. Our master submitted, our model
of submitting was our master the Lord Jesus Christ and who
was he inferior to? But He submitted to everybody.
He submitted to men. He submitted to God. He submitted
to ridicule. He submitted to hatred. He submitted
to enmity. So it's not because they're told
to submit because they're inferior to Him. When God created Eve
out of the side of Adam, He put her beside Him. Right there to
walk with Him and talk with Him and be a helpmate to Him. To
be an encouragement to Him. And see, these wives, they're
the elect of God. They're His chosen. They're His
precious possessions. They're joined as with Christ,
just like anybody else is. They're not inferior in any way.
And submission is not a sign of weakness. That's what the
world thinks is a sign of weakness. But I tell you, submission is
a sign of maturity, a sign of spiritual strength to be able
to do it. Tell you something else it's
not. It's not that the wife is being called to submission without
any bounds whatsoever. Submit regardless of what happens. No, no, that's not true. A wife is not supposed to commit
to her husband in a sinful way. If he wants her to commit sinful
acts and go places he's not supposed to go. It's like in those days,
if a wife, if a husband is going to a pagan idolatrous temple,
and he's worshipping idols, and he's a pagan, You reckon his
wife, his wife said, now you got to go with me. You reckon
that she, being a believer, being a Christian, would have to go
with him and go bow down to idols and worship idols? So that's the thing there. That's
the thing there. And I tell you, you know, they're
not without bounds to it. They're not without bounds to
it. And I tell you what, this view
that men have, and I've seen this especially in fundamentalism.
I've seen it a couple of times. There's, you know, the wives
of Christians, the wives are just slaves. They're just supposed to be slaves.
They're supposed to keep their mouths shut and do what they're
told, and go where they're told, told how to act, and go with
their eyes down. Now that's the way Islam is. They're women as
slaves, they're nothing more than just, they're worthless
to them. Keep them covered up. Keep them
walking three feet behind them. That kind of thing. That's not
what we're going to do. That's not what the scriptures teach
you. You don't find anybody in the scriptures, any wife who
ever, ever, was any place beside her husband. Anyplace other than
being there. Not inferior, not behind him,
not in front of him. But with him. With him. And I
tell you, Christian marriage, a believing marriage is a wonderful,
wonderful institution that God created that two people that
could become one flesh. One flesh. Not two different
fleshes, one. To enjoy life together. And it's
a one flesh relationship. And a wife's submission is voluntary. It's not forced. It's not forced. Look over in Ephesians. You keep,
1 Peter, look in Ephesians with me just a minute. In Ephesians chapter 5. I know we have a lot of fun joking
about a lot of things. But look what it says here in
Ephesians 5 verse 28. So ought men to love their wives as their
own bodies. How well do you reckon I like
my body? I love my body. Take care of it. Bathe it. Clean
it up. Treat it good. Rest it. Dress it up. Make sure that it's, try to keep
eat right, try to get rest, try to, I love my body, I'm not going
to mistreat my body, not going to afflict my body. And that's
why he says, he that loveth his wife loves himself. Why? Because you've won. And that's
what he goes on to say here, for no man ever hated yet his
own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, even as the Lord
the Church. And look what it says here, for
we're members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
That's why we're as one in Christ. God's husbands and wives are
as one in Christ. And that's why he says a man
leave his father and his mother. And what is he going to do? Be
joined unto his wife. And they too. they too shall
be one flesh and verse 33 says nevertheless
let every one of you in particular every single one of you in particular
so love his wife even as yourself and listen to what the wife the
wife see that she reverence her husband don't ridicule him don't
make fun of him but let's go back over to our text now let's
go back over here start out in verse 1 He says, likewise you
wives be in subjection, be in submission to your husbands.
And it says here that if that husband does not obey the word,
he does not believe the gospel, does not obey the gospel, says
that wife by her manner of life by her submission by the fact
in verse 2 says this well they behold your chaste conversation
your chaste manner of life coupled with fear of God what he's saying
is that a man will understand the husband will see such a change
in his wife such a change of heart such a change of character
such a change of nature that she will so manifest the gospel
in her life That the husband will say, there's something to
this gospel business. There's something to this business
about a believing Christ. And they may come and hear the
gospel because of that woman's way she submitted to Him as she
would unto the Lord. She loved Him, she admired Him,
and she treated Him right. She prayed for Him faithfully.
Never missed a step and said, you need to go to church, you
need to go to church, you need to go to church. Go home and make sure that you
know and you just treat them. Treat them like they are somebody
that desperately needs Christ. And how do you treat somebody
that desperately needs Christ? Love, respect, don't harp on
them, don't beat on them. Do everything you possibly can
to let them understand that this business of being a believer,
being a Christian, is the greatest thing that anybody will ever
experience in this life. Do you not agree with that? And
that's why it goes on. You see, they'll see the visible
evidence in the change of heart. That's why they behold. They'll
look at it. They may not hear it, and then
they'll say, well, I'm going to go hear the gospel on account
of this. I'm going to go hear the gospel
on account of this. And look what he says in verse 3 and 4
here. He said, who's adorning? Now listen, who's adorning? Who's dressing up? Who's prettying
up? Let it not be something that's
just outward. Don't let it just be an outward
thing. You know, when you come to worship God, don't just come
and dress up the body, and plaiting the hair, and wearing the gold,
and putting on the apparel. And Peter's not here saying,
he's not telling women not to dress nice. Not to wear good
clothes. That's not what he said. But
he said, don't, that's not your life. That's not your life. He's saying here that the world
can't mimic this kind of submission and character. And he goes on
to say, but let it be. This is how you should be adorned.
Let it be the hidden man of the heart. That place that nobody
can see but God. And that which is not corruptible,
everything that you do for this body, and all the things that
you do for it, and all the gold, and all the makeup, and all the
pretty hairdos, and all that, it's just temporary. That's what he's saying here.
But though that meek and quiet incorruptible spirit, that incorruptible
seed that's in the heart, a meek and quiet spirit in the sight
of God, that's what he's talking about in the sight of God. And
that's what we said as believers. Why? God looks at you and He
says, oh look at that mean, quiet spirit. That's great. Oh that's such a great prize.
And that's what He's talking about. You can make the body
look great, wonderful. And you should. Dress modestly. Dress how God's blessed you to
do it. But don't come in all bobbled up, Peter is, because
God's not looking at him. You know what? When he went to
a northern king after Saul, he went to Jesse's house, David's
daddy, he went to Jesse's house, who was the son of Ruth and Boaz. Now Ruth, you talk about a wife
that was submissive, where did she find herself at? At the feet
of Boaz. But there he was. He said, bring
me this big old boy walked up. That's not him. Big old boy walked
up. That's not him. Another big old boy. Is there
anybody left? He said, is there anybody left? He said, because
I know this. God don't look at men like men
look at men. He says men look on the outward
appearance. But God looks on the heart. And
that's what he's saying here, God's looking on the heart. This spirit that he's talking
about, it comes from within. Only God gets the fruit of the
spirit. This is a Christian woman's true
beauty. It's not putting on makeup in
the morning and taking it off at night. That's not real beauty. It's the character. It's the
nature, it's that spirit that God puts in us that enables us
and puts in them, enables them to submit. And you know, this
character don't fade with age. Beauty fades with age. But this
character, this mean, quiet spirit, an ornament that's dressed up,
that don't fade away with age. In fact, it gets more beautiful
as they grow in grace. This spirit gets more beautiful
and more beautiful all the time. Oh my! And this kind of inner
beauty has always been the adornment of great women of the faith.
Ain't that what he says, like he said in verse 5? For after
this manner and old time, he's going back. Now this is old time
for us, but he's going back to the old time. He's going back
to the Old Testament. He's going back to people that
he knew in his own life. For after this manner, this is
the way the women in the old time, the holy women also, now
listen to this, who trusted in God, that's the key, trusted
in God. Likewise following the example
of Christ, who trusted in God, adored themselves, being in submission
unto their own husbands. Now you go through the scriptures,
we don't know what our saviors, Mother look like we have no idea
what she look like we have no idea what Elizabeth look like
here's her her cousin We have no idea what they look like But
we know what kind of character they had because of the way they
prayed in the songs They say you read Mary's song in Luke
chapter 2 you read Mary's song and She's astonished that God
would even consider her And she called herself the handmaid of
the Lord. That's all I am, just your handmaid.
I'll wait on you and you just move your hand and I'll wait
on you. I'll wait on you. I'll serve you. I'll serve you. And that's what he's talking
about. Like Ruth. Like Ruth. She found herself right at the
feet of Boaz. Do you reckon Boaz says, now
I want you to stay at my feet? No, no. He went and went right
out in the public and says, listen here, I want to buy this, I want
to redeem this woman and everything, he's God. And when Isaac jumped
off that, when Rebecca came and she saw Isaac, she says, oh,
is that my husband here? She lied off that camel, she
wouldn't run into him. And Isaac took her in at the
end. And what I'm telling you is that godly women, women who
know God, know Christ, it's the nature, God gives this to them
and makes them this way. And oh listen, that kind of beauty
has always been the adornment of great women of faith. And
then he goes on to mention Sarah. He said, even as Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him Lord, I tell you this is a true story,
I know I've told this before. I remember years and years ago,
Tim James used to have conferences every fall, oh that was the best
conference, we'd go over there. You had all day long to go and
fellowship and enjoy one another's company. We'd all sit around
and visit and then we'd go to a meeting at night. And one night
we always had a little something to eat before the service started.
Brother Henry said, Doris, would you give me a cup of coffee?
And Doris jumped up and said, yeah. She said, run and got Henry
a cup of coffee and brought it back. This woman who's a member
of that particular church, she just, oh, she got mad. She said,
why in the world can he get up and get his own party? Why's
his wife got to get up and get it? He's not crippled, he's not
able to do anything. And she got mad and she left
the room. She left, she got in her car and left. It really bothered her. I can
tell you her name. But that service had started. And preaching had already started,
the singing had been started. And a little while that woman
came back in, she'd come up about three or four seats and sit down. At the end of that service, she
stood up and she said, I found out I was a rebel tonight. I
found out that I wasn't a believer tonight and I believe now. She told that experience how
it upset her heart so bad and made her so angry. And she seemed
wrapped in and out. She didn't have anything about
some mis-experience. Just over a man asking his wife
for a cup of coffee. God, you think God don't use
mysterious, move mysterious ways. Just some of y'all remember that.
And I tell ya, the first one to hug her was Henry, Henry and
Doris. Oh my, I wouldn't have a bit
of trouble bringing you a cup of coffee. And I don't think
you'd have a bit of trouble with me. I don't think we would. And
oh, and he mentions Sarah, and look what he says. Even as Sarah
obeyed Abraham calling him Lord. Now how do you know? You know
how many times Abraham moved? Oh my Abraham wanted me. What are you doing? We're going
to move again? Pull up the tent stakes Sarah.
We fixed the move. Where are we going this time?
We're going that direction. It's going to go that direction.
So I said, OK. Let's get this thing put together
and let's go. And away they go. Do you know
how many times she followed him as a stranger in the pilgrim
all through this life? All through this life. All through
this life. And then look what he says. Whose
daughters ye are, as long as you do well, And they're
not afraid of any amazement. What that not afraid of any amazement
means is that you are afraid that if you follow and do these things
that you may be afraid of your husbands and afraid that you're not doing
what you should. And that's what it means. Don't
be afraid of any amazement. You do well. And all this, and
let me mention what Peter is to tell a woman to do. He's not
telling them that he don't want them to dress nice and that.
But what makes a woman beautiful in God's sight is what the world despises. It's
the last thing they want to hear. And what's the great surprise
in the sight of God is a heart submissive, the hidden man of
the heart. That which is not corruptible
is this body's corruptible. Clothes get old. Clothes get
old. And that, he says, in the sight
of God of great price. That meek has to be adorned with
this. That's the adorning that he's
talking about. Now let me ask you some questions and I'll be
done. Are you patiently submitting to your own husband? And if you
were married, would you? Do you have what would be called
a gentle, quiet spirit? Or are you so independent, fiercely
independent, and unwilling to submit? Well, if that's so, what difference
does your Christianity make? There's no evidence of it. And what are you teaching your
children when you act that way? What are you teaching your sons
and your daughters? By your unwillingness to submit. You see, it's hard
to teach your children, honor their parents, when you dishonor
your spouse. Can't teach your children one
thing, do another. Can't do that. Are you taking care of that hidden
person's heart? Are you seeking an incorruptible
beauty? Well, I'll say this in closing.
There's not a woman on the face of this earth that's ever submitted
as our Lord Jesus Christ did. And ain't you thankful that we
have Him to go to when we find ourselves having hard times submitting? struggling because he even atoned
for our lack of submission and everything. Ain't you grateful
for that? Ain't you thankful for that?
And I'll tell you something. I'll tell you something. Well, I ain't going to tell you
nothing. I haven't told you everything
I'm going to tell you. I'm just going to let him go.
I'm going to stop right now. I'll stop right now. Our Father, in the blessed name
of our Lord Jesus, thank you for this wonderful time this
evening. Wonderful Spirit of Grace among us, Spirit of the
Lord here, soft, quiet, gentle Spirit of Christ, to bless our
hearts, to strengthen us, encourage us, and O Lord Jesus, let us
all honor you by being submissive first of all to you, submit ourselves
to you, And oh, if we submit ourselves to you, we won't have
any problem submitting ourselves to one another, to being servants
to each other. And Lord, I pray that you would
bless these dear wives, God, as they love their husbands,
seek to honor their husbands, seek to meet the needs of their
husbands. We bless you in Christ our Lord's name. Amen. Amen. Let's turn to 51 in your book. Let's sing this. We ain't sung
this in forever. 51. Let's stand together and
at the end of this you'll be at liberty to sing. 51. Praise the Savior, ye who know
Him, who can tell how much we owe Him. Gladly let us surrender
to Him all we are. Jesus is the name that charms
us He for conflict fits and arms us Nothing moves or nothing harms
us While we trust in Him Trust in Him, ye saints, forever He
is faithful, changing never Neither force nor doubt can sever Those
he loves from him Keep us, Lord, oh, keep us believing To Thyself
and still believing Till the hour of our receiving Promise
joys with Thee Then we shall be Then we shall be what we should
be, Things that are not, never could be, Soon shall be our own.