Still looking in the book of
1 Peter. And Peter, of course, has laid
out a very strong foundation for the people of God. The reason
why we must follow him and a glorious privilege that's given to us.
reminded us who we are, that we're a people who were not a
people, but are now the people of God. And what a glorious blessing
that is. And so, as he lays this foundation,
and he brings us to a place of applying those things that he
has told us. You know, men like to say that they believe the things
of God and that they are followers of Christ, but they're not always
happy and excited to hear everything that the Lord says. And so we all rejoice in being
called the sons of God. Great privilege, a great joyous
thing. But then there's a lot of practical
teaching, what you might call meat and potatoes stuff that's
not, really ethereal in the sense that it's not just ideas, but
it's actual practical teaching that's given to us in the word
of God. And that practical teaching must
never be disregarded. Now what happens too many times
is that men take the practical teaching and they try to make
that into the gospel. That is, they try to teach men
what they ought to do, but they don't really give them the basis
upon why they ought to do that. And so, that's what Peter has
done. He has set forth who we are,
why we are, and the one that made us those things. And when
we consider the great privilege we have as the sons of God, then
we ought also to consider what a great privilege it is to be
instructed and then to follow those instructions. And so we
do not believe that the gospel lays a law or burdens upon the
people of God that they cannot bear. That's what the law of
Moses did. But the Lord does indeed provide
for His children, and He works in us both to will and to do
of His good pleasure. And the work of the Spirit of
God in us is not always to make us glad that He has taught us
certain things or told us certain things to do, but is to remind
us why we ought to do them, and how we ought to do them, that
is relying on Him, knowing that we don't have it within our power
to do it. In other words, we can't instruct
one another and say, now y'all go do this, and expect that it
will be done, but when the Spirit of God teaches a man, of these
things, then those things become part and parcel of his being,
of what he desires, and he doesn't desire to walk contrary to those
things. Now, we're gonna read a passage
of scripture that I would venture to say is not very well received
in our modern culture. In fact, it goes kind of against
the grain of what our modern culture says. And we don't really
care what modern culture says, or at least we should not. I
mean, that shouldn't have any bearing at all on how we view
the Word of God. In other words, we don't take
the culture and then try to make the Word of God fit it. But we
look at the Word of God and say, how is our culture supposed to
be? And so, you know, these are things that we must come to grips
with and to be blessed as we read them, because they are a
blessing if we understand that all of these things are given
to us for one reason, and that is to exalt Jesus Christ. You see, that's the whole purpose
of the earth. is to exalt Jesus Christ. Everything
that the Lord calls us to do is to exalt Jesus Christ. And
whatever behavior he would have us to walk in is for the purpose
of exalting Jesus Christ. And when we get, if we really
understand that and we really desire to exalt Christ, then
to follow in the path that he's given us is a delightful thing
and a glorious thing. And so we begin here in chapter
three of 1 Peter. It says, likewise, ye wives,
be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not
the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation
of the wives. While they behold your chaste
conversation coupled with fear. whose adorning let it not be
that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold,
or of putting on of apparel. But let it be the hidden man
of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament
of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great
price. For after this manner, in the
old time, the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves,
being in subjection unto their own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters ye are, as long as
ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement or terror. Likewise, ye husbands dwell with
them, according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as
unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace
of life, that your prayers be not hindered. Finally, be ye
all of one mind, having compassion one of another, Love his brethren,
be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing
for railing, but contrary wise blessing, knowing that ye are
there unto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that
will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue
from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him
eschew evil, and do good. Let him seek peace, and ensue
it, or pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers.
But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is
he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good?
But, and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye. And be not
afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. But sanctify the
Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is
in you, with meekness and fear. having a good conscience, that
whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be
ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better if the will
of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil
doing. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit,
by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. which
sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God
waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a-preparing, wherein
few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure
whereinto even baptism doth also now save us. Not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone
into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities
and powers being made subject unto him. Now that covers a lot
of ground, but it always comes back to Christ. I mean, that's
the purpose, that's the reason, that's the goal that we have
in our lives by the work of the Spirit of God is that we might
bring glory to Christ through the testimony of a good conscience
towards Him. and a good conscience towards
him is a good conscience, meaning that we desire to walk in his
way. We're not in any way threatened
by those things that he tells us, nor are we disappointed that
he should tell us to do certain things or to be faithful, to
walk in the light that he's given us. And so he begins here. Likewise, he says, even as he
had just said that the Lord gave us an example that we should
follow in his steps, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. He buried in his own body our
sins. Likewise, he says, ye wives,
be in subjection to your own husbands. that if any obey not
the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation
or the way, the conduct, the manner of life of the wives while
they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. And so he,
sets forth a theme that is found throughout the Word of God, is
that wives are to be subject to their husbands. Now this has
caused a lot of consternation down through the ages, most especially,
like I said, in our culture, I mean, just to say those words,
would be to invite great scorn and heaps of people's ire upon
you, to come out and publicly say that that is the way it ought
to be. But if we understand the reason
for that, then it becomes a glorious thing. It is that Christ would
be the head of the body. Christ would set forth the man
as typical of that head. Now, having said that, Christ
is the head. Men are not the head. But in
order to illustrate, just like in marriage, marriage is given
surely for the benefit of mankind, but the primary reason that the
Lord gave marriage as he did was in order to magnify the one
who is the bridegroom. Because he's the bridegroom.
Now that doesn't make a man, per se, special. But it does,
in the purpose of God, in order to exalt Christ, gives him a
position that is very much, he's very much given a command to
be as Christ. So you know, a man can't say,
well, I'm the head. If he's not humbled before Almighty
God, even as Jesus Christ said, he came not to do his own will,
but he came to do the will of him that sent him. And so it
is. That's how we look at this. But
the wives are to be in subjection to their husbands. Now that word
subjection doesn't mean they lay down as a doormat and he
walks over them going into the house every day. It doesn't mean
that his wish is their command. It doesn't mean any of that.
But what it does mean is that they do give deference to him,
not as he is a man, but as he is representative of Christ. That's why there is a distinction
made about the hair as Paul gives it. that, you know, it says it's
a shame for a man to have long hair, but that a woman's hair
is her glory. Now why is that? It's given so
that the head is magnified. Now, you know, we're not in the
business of telling people how long their hair should be. And
neither are we in the business of prescribing exactly what men
and women, how they operate in their marriage as far as, well,
you gotta do this and you gotta do that and that sort of thing.
But it is in a consideration of Christ as the head that all
of these things have their explanation and see what the purpose of this
is. Now he says, wives, be in subjection to your husbands as
you should be, in order that if your husband, now this is
speaking to a wife who has an unbelieving husband, and it says,
be in subjection to him for this reason, that he might see you
as an example of Christ. So you see, both the husband
and the wife are representative of Christ in the particular situation. And so he says to the man who
is without faith, he's outside of the faith, then be in subjection
to him in order that you might show him the the beauties of Christ and the
salvation that is in Christ. He might see by your conduct
that you are following Christ. So that by the conduct of the
wife, the husband might be won. While they behold your chaste
conversation, that is your pure manner of life, that you are
not one thing on the outside and another thing on the inside,
that you are demonstrating to him that if you say you are a
follower of Christ, that you demonstrate what a follower of
Christ is. Whose adorning, let it not be
that of outward adorning, plaiting in the hair, wearing of gold,
putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart.
Now, some have used this verse to say to women, it is a sinful
thing for you to braid your hair or put on a necklace or wear
earrings or put on some makeup or something like that. The scripture
never condemns such, except, well, I take that back, it does
condemn such in those that would flaunt themselves. There is a
scripture in the Proverbs that speaks about those, a painted
woman and that sort of thing. Jezebel in the scripture, she's
an example of one who is the exact opposite of what the Lord
is telling Christian women to be. And so he says, don't let
your adorning. In other words, that's not the
thing that you are seeking to make yourself beautiful for your
husband. Don't make yourself beautiful
for your husband by putting on these things and making yourself
outwardly beautiful. Now, I'm not saying that you
shouldn't do that, but I'm saying that's not the main thing that
you're trying to do. You're not trying to win him
over by your outward appearance. You're seeking to win him over
by your inward appearance. And that's what he's saying here.
Don't let it be. Don't let that be the thing that
you're overly concerned about. Doesn't mean that there's not
some consideration given to it, but the thing that you are to
be pursuing is the hidden man of the heart. that which is not
corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which
is in God a great prize. Now, only the Lord can give a
woman or a man a meek and a quiet spirit. Only way it can be. Now I do, of course as he goes
on, And says, for after this manner, giving this same example,
the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves. How did they adorn themselves?
With a meek and quiet spirit. That was the thing that was important
to them. Being in subjection to their
own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose
daughters you are as long as you do well. and are not afraid
with any amazement." Now that's kind of a strange phrase there. I think the gist of what's being
said there is he says, don't be fearful to follow the way
of the Lord. Don't be overcome with the society's
mannerisms and they say, well, this is what you ought to do.
You shouldn't ever let a man rule over you. You know, you
gotta be your own woman and all this stuff that we hear today.
So he says, don't let that happen. And then he says something, likewise
ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto
the wife. as unto the weaker vessel, and
as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers
be not hindered. Now I read something some time
ago, I believe Joseph Hart had written this, and he said that
the Lord took a rib from Adam's side, when he made the woman. He said he didn't take a part
of his head so that the woman would be the head over the man. He didn't take a bone out of
his foot so that the man would walk upon the woman. But he took
the rib from his side because that's where the wife is to be
in the consideration of the man, by his side. He doesn't look
at her as a servant, doesn't look at her as one who's less
than him, but he understands that she is a weaker vessel.
Now, you know, I know that a lot of women in this day and time
would get mad about somebody saying that they're a weaker
vessel, but that's what the scripture says, and we know that it's true,
even though these crazy woke people want to try to make it,
that's not true, but it is true. And men are stronger than women
physically. Men are stronger than women emotionally. Now, having said that, again,
that doesn't mean that man has a leg up on the woman. It just
means that's the way God made us. And it is a good thing that
women are more in touch with their emotional side than men. It'd be a poor world to live
in if it was just men. Because we are not geared up
that way. But women are, and that is a
good thing because it ministers to us and to society. It's a good thing that women
are mothers. Now, I believe children need
a strong father, but I believe it's more important that they
have a godly mother than it is to have a strong father. But
I think both of these things are needful, and one doesn't
have to rule out the other. In fact, I believe they work
together. So likewise, ye husbands, dwell
with them according to knowledge, understanding, And this, you
know, we're, when I'm standing here talking about this, I'm
not talking to you like one that's, I got, I'm a good example of
any of this. I'm just telling you this is
what the scripture's telling us. That's how we ought to be.
And it pains us when we're not. So we are to, as unto the weaker
vessel, as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your
prayers be not hindered. Because you know, when husbands
and wives are not acting towards one another, as the Lord has
laid out that we should, there's going to be strife. And when
there's strife, then Our prayers, our worship of God is hindered by it. We're not
as strong, but he says together, your being together airs together
of the grace of life. Finally, be all of one mind,
having compassion one of another, love his brethren, be pitiful,
be courteous. Now he's not speaking here just
specifically to husbands and wives, though there's certainly
an application of it, but he's speaking about as brethren, we
are to be all of one mind, that is, we're seeking to come together
in unity in Christ. I don't think it means that we'll
necessarily always agree on everything. because we might have differences
of opinion about one thing or another. Our understandings are
not always going to always be the same, but we can always be
of the same mind, even when we don't necessarily agree with
one another on various points of doctrine, because our one
mind is in Christ. There's one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one hope, We have not multiples of these things. We're all seeking to follow Christ. And that is the one mind that
we are to desire, having compassion one of another. That is knowing
that we're not all of the same mind. amount of understanding. We have different gifts, we have
different abilities, we have different understandings. And
so we're to be compassionate towards one another, realizing
that because somebody doesn't see something the same way we
do, doesn't necessarily mean we're gonna put them out to pasture
somewhere. But we are to have compassion
upon our brethren, loving one another. Love his brethren, be
pitiful, that is, kinder hearted. Be courteous, not rendering evil
for evil or railing for railing. Now that's just natural, isn't
it? You don't ever have to teach
anybody if somebody says something against them. It's an amazing
thing. recently watched some reruns
of Judge Judy. Now, this is kind of a foolish
thing, but one thing I've learned from this and looking at this
is how petty people are and how much it is that if one man says
one thing, You know, that stirs up this one over here to bring
back the same thing. And it's like most of these cases
that come up, they're our neighbors, that one of them's cat crossed
over the fence and ran their cat through the yard or something,
and they get all in a big tizzy about this, and one thing was
this woman had this dog, and these two dogs got in a fight,
and she felt like that the other man's dog caused the fight, and
he thought so too, and he paid the vet bill. Well then she decided
later on that one of her dog's teeth was broken, so she took
this dog to a dentist, to a dog dentist, I didn't know there
was such a thing. But anyway, they decided that the tooth had
to have a root canal. And so this cost like $4,000
or something because they had to put a crown on the tooth.
And so then she would come to court because she wanted him
to pay for that. Such things as that's natural.
If you want to see how natural men act, that's how natural people
act. We're not called to be like that.
Railing for railing. Contrary-wise blessing. I mean,
Paul said to the Corinthians, he said, why are you going to
courts of law against one another? He said, you know, this ought
not to be. God's people are not to be against one another in
anything. Look, just suffer yourself to
be defrauded, he said. I mean, you may have a case.
You might be right. It don't make a difference. It
don't make a difference if you're right or not. You know, that's
not what we're called to do. And so, our calling, they says,
knowing therefore that ye are there unto call, to what? to give blessings. That's what
we're called to do, is bless men in the earth. That's what
women are called to do, to bless their husbands. That's what men
are called to do, bless their wives. That's what brethren are
called to do, is bless one another. I mean, we're not called to be
in contrary to one another. That's not our calling. We're
called to love one another in Christ. And that's the most difficult
thing that will ever be done, you know, among men, because
the natural tendency of men is to war against one another. I
mean, you know, we want justice to be done. The Lord said, vengeance
is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. May the Lord teach
us such things. May the Lord teach me. I mean,
we all need the same thing. See, there's none of us that's
arrived yet. Nobody has filled out the form
and said, well, we've met all these conditions, because we're
constantly in battle against this, because that's the way
we are by nature. And this flesh will always seek
to go the way of the flesh, except the Spirit subdue that. May the
Lord give us grace.