And he begins verse 3 with the
word, likewise, or verse 1, rather. Chapter 3 begins with the word,
likewise. Why did, why is he beginning
likewise, ye wives, likewise? Well, back in chapter 2, he's
been talking about giving honor and respect and obedience to
those to whom it's due. Look back at the preceding verses
in chapter 2, beginning with verse 13. Submit yourselves to
every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to
the king as supreme, the king is an authority, or under governors,
another authority. as unto them that are sent by
him for the punishment of evildoers, for the praise of them that do
well. For so is the will of God that with well-doing, with obedience
to authority, submission to those in places of leadership, you
may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free men,
God's free men, but not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness,
but as the servants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood, fear God,
honor the king, honor to whom honors do, tribute to whom tributes
do, respect to whom respect is due. Servants, be subject to
your masters with all fear, not only to the good and the gentle,
but to those who don't treat you very well. You're still a
servant and he's still your master. That's what Peter's talking about
here is submission to authority, respect honor and obedience,
tribute where it's due. And here in verse 1, chapter
3, he says, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. Respect
your husband. Honor your husband. Speak respectfully
of him and to him. Be in subjection and obedience
to your own husband. And that Throughout the Bible,
beginning with Genesis 3, if you'll turn there with me, verse
16, the husband, the Lord said, is the leader
of the home. He's the authority. He's the
head of the home. That's what the Scripture said.
In Genesis 3, verse 16, God said to the woman, Eve, unto the woman
He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception.
In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall
be to thy husband, and he shall rule over them. And then turn to Ephesians 5. This is the word of the Lord,
Ephesians 5, to all believing women, all daughters of the king. Ephesians 5, verse 22. Submit yourselves unto your own
husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of
the wife. It's not a partnership that he's the head of the wife.
Even as Christ is the head of the church, and he's the savior
of the body, therefore the church is subject to Christ. So let
the wives be subject to their own husbands in everything. And
that's not only true in the home, that's true in the church. We'll look at 1 Corinthians 14.
The husband is the head in the home. He's the leader. He's due
respect and obedience. And in the church, in the body
of Christ, in the family of God, the man is the head of that family. Christ is the head of the church,
but he's put us, the men, in authority under him. He's the
good shepherd, the great shepherd, the chief shepherd, but we're
the under-shepherds. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 34. 1 Corinthians 14, 34. Let the
women keep silence in the churches. Not permitted for them to speak,
to preach, to teach, to usurp authority, to lead. It's a shame for a woman. They're
commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if
they will learn anything, don't cause confusion in the church.
Let them ask their husbands at home. It's a shame for a woman
to teach or preach or speak out or deal with business in a church. That's not the place of the man. In 1 Timothy, turn to 1 Timothy
2, 1 Timothy 2, verse 11. Verse 11
of 1 Timothy 2. Let the women learn in silence
with all subjection. I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
You say, can a woman not teach at all? Oh yes, Just hold that
right there and turn to Titus, Titus chapter 2. The women have
a responsibility to teach their children, to teach other women,
young women, the older women to teach young women. In Titus
chapter 2, verse 3, the aged women, the older women, likewise
that they be in behaviors becoming holiness, becometh holiness,
not false accusers, not giving them much wine, Teachers of good
things. Teachers. Not to teach men, or
preach from the pulpit, or instruct the men, or usurp authority,
but to teach the young women. Teach them to be sober. Teach
them to love their husband. Teach them to love their children.
Teach them to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good women,
obedient to their husbands, that the Word of God be not blasphemed.
Yes, women teach. They teach the little children,
and their children are the greatest teachers in the world in the
places where they are to teach. What's going on today is an abomination
to God in the churches where the women are controlling and
ruling and directing and preaching. Go back to 1 Timothy 2. Let's
continue there. Verse 12 in 1 Timothy 2 says,
I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the
man, but to be in silence. There's the reason. Adam was
first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived. The
woman was deceived in the transgression. There was a time she led the
man. She led him into sin. That's what he's saying there.
Adam wasn't deceived. She was. Notwithstanding, she
shall be saved in chow bearing if they continue in faith and
love and holiness with sobriety. A woman who desires to be in
the will of God and blessed of God will follow these words and
be in subjection to her husband and be in subjection to the authority
of scriptures and the word of God and in subjection to pastors
and elders and those who direct the church. And look at the next
line in verse 1 of 1 Peter 3. Wives, be in subjection to your
own husbands, that if any obey not the word. In other words,
a woman is married to a man, she's a believer, and her husband's
not a believer. And though he's not heard the
gospel in his heart, though he's not impressed to hear the gospel,
seeking to hear the gospel. He may, listen, he also may,
without the preaching of the gospel, be impressed, be impressed,
be won over is the word, won over to listen, impressed to
listen, impressed to inquire. Man's not converted by the behavior
of his wife, he's converted by God and the scriptures. But his
wife in the home by her love for Christ and her conduct and
her spirit and her attitude and her gentleness and her obedience
and her being a good wife will impress him. He'll be impressed. This woman has something. She's
genuine. She's real. I'm going to see
what this is she has. That's what he's talking about.
He said, you may have a husband that is not saved, doesn't believe
the gospel, doesn't know your Lord, but he's won over. He's not converted. He'll have
to hear the word of God. Spirit of God will have to regenerate
him, bring him to Christ. But he may, by your behavior,
be willing to listen. He may be willing to listen.
He may be won over, may be impressed. He may just come with you. to
see where you got what you have. That's what he's saying. Verse
2, while they behold your chaste behavior, conversation coupled
with reverence and fear, there may be one over. That's what
he's saying. And then verse 3, still talking
to the women, who's adorning. What is adorning? Adorning is
usually used as decoration. I think another word that I found
under adorning is to make attractive, to make charming. Well, he's
saying that which makes you beautiful and attractive and charming is
not the outward adorning of plaiting the hair
and wearing of gold and jewelry. and putting on expensive and
provocative apparel. Now, Peter is not forbidding
neat, attractive, modest clothing and the moderate use of jewelry.
Abraham's daughters, Bible talks about their jewelry or not the
daughters of Abraham in Israel. And he's not condemning neat,
attractive, modest clothing and the moderate use of jewelry,
which is suitable to age and character and station in life.
But here's what he's saying. Women who are believers should
be more concerned about the beauty of their character and conversation
and attitude and personality than their outward appearance.
True beauty. is inward beauty. And he says
in verse 4, this is to men and women both, let that which makes
you attractive not be the outward, because outward beauty impresses
for a little while and then it fades. It finally results in
ugliness. But to men and women both, he's
saying this, let it be the hidden man of the heart. Let our care
and concern be towards making that inward person honoring to
God. That inward person, the work
of the heart. And this is, look at verse four,
this is not corruptible. This doesn't fade away. This
gets more beautiful as years go by. I've known some of you for 45,
46, 47 years. And you're much older now, but
to me, more beautiful now than you were then. Really, more beautiful. And that's not because of what
we see outwardly. It's because of what you are
and who you are and how you act and how you behave and how you
treat others. That's the hidden man of the
heart. That's incorruptible. That gets sweeter as the years
go by. More attractive, much more attractive. It's the ornament of a meek and
quiet spirit. It's not believing doctrines
of grace, it's living out principles of grace. That's beauty. That's
real beauty. And that in the sight of God
is of great price. And in the sight of men, it's
of great price too. A quiet spirit, a godly walk,
a good attitude, And the sight of God is of great price. For after this manner, this is
the example that the holy women of old set for us. Abraham gave
us the example of faith, and Sarah gave us the example of
obedience. I want you to watch this here.
For after this manner, in old time, the holy women also who
trusted in God, They adorned themselves. It was an inward
adorning. The hidden man of the heart,
meek and quiet spirit, being in subjection to their own husbands.
Even a Savior obeyed Abraham. Now let me ask you something.
But while I'm asking, let's turn to a scripture. Turn to a scripture. Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. Now you turn there with me, I'm
going to show you something that I've read over and over and over
again, and today in preparing this message, I saw something. Something dawned on me. In Hebrews 11 verse 8, By faith
Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he
should have to receive for an inheritance, obeyed. He went
out, not knowing where he went. You know who went with him? Sarah. When Brigham Abraham, his faith,
his love for Christ, his willingness to leave his home, she left her
home too. She left her family and home
obeying her husband. Doesn't that strike you? By faith he sojourned in the
land of promise in a strange country, dwelling in tents. She
did too. She did too, because she was
the husband of this man. She loved her husband. She said,
where you go, I go. Your God's my God. Oh, I love
that. Dwelling in tents with Isaac
and Jacob. Yeah, but Sarah was there too,
feeding that bunch. Isn't that beautiful? Working, laboring. And it wasn't easy. She had it
a lot better back there where everybody was she knew. But nobody
knew her here. She went with him. She went with
him. And when he took that boy to
sacrifice him, That's her boy. Wasn't it? Abraham offered Isaac, so did
Salem. He looked for a city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God. God bless women that love their husbands and
respect them and believe in them. and believe God to the point
where they'll go with him and not drag him back, hold him down. I've had so many men say, well,
I'd like to do this with my wife, but never hold still for that. I'd like to move where the Gospels
preach, but I've got a wife. You got a woman, you ain't got
a wife. That's different. A wife is submissive to her husband. Even a saver, verse 6, obeyed
Abraham, she called him Lord, whose daughters you are as long
as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement. What's that
not afraid? Not afraid. Sarah wasn't concerned about
her rights, her pride, her station in life. She was concerned about
the will of God. And women who are seeking the
praise of the people, they're always standing up for their
rights and their pride and their station in life. But a good wife,
a good mother, a faithful believer who is obedient and a homemaker
is the most attractive woman in the world, and the most successful
woman in the world. All right, verse 7, you husbands,
likewise, hear that word again, likewise. We're talking about
honor to whom honors do, respect to whom respect, tribute to whom
tribute. You husbands, in the same manner,
you honor, honor, respect, recognition, and praise the husband gives to his beloved
wife. Likewise, you husbands, your wife is deserving of the
greatest respect and honor and tribute that you can possibly
give her. And here's some instructions for us. It tells us first dwell
with them according to knowledge. What is this knowledge? Who she
is. Whose daughter she is. A preacher,
whose daughter is she? She's God's daughter. God's daughter. The Lord God is her father. She's God's gift to you. God
made Eve and brought her to Adam. What brought her to Adam? Here's
a gift for you, Adam. Not a servant or a slave, this
is a gift, God's gift. She's one with you in Christ. You are heirs together of the
grace of life. Dwell with her according to that
understanding. Somebody said she took He took
that rib out from under Adam's arm and made a woman under his
arm to protect him, near his heart to protect her and near
his heart to love her. Then he says, give honor to your
wife, give her honor, honor to the wife. I just jotted down several honors
that crowned the head of a godly woman. Honors that only a woman
can experience. Honors a man knows nothing about. We spend a lot of time honoring
great men, and so forth. I tell you, every mother and
wife has honors that a man knows nothing about. Only a woman can
experience. I was listening to a television
program one time, and there's some women in a contest or something,
ask one woman what she was. She was a lawyer, and ask another,
well, what do you do? I'm an interior decorator. And ask one little lady what
she did. She said, well, I'm only a housewife. I thought,
you're the most important of all of them. You have the greatest
honor of all of them, number one. God created a woman to bring
joy, companionship, and comfort to her husband and to her family.
A helpmate, he called her. A helpmate. She's your greatest
joy and pleasure and companionship and comfort. She's the most important
figure in the home, is the mom. She's a homemaker. Man just can't
handle that. Secondly, God gave her to her
husband to be closer to him than any other person because he said
the two shall be one flesh. She and you are one. And that's
the reason he said, husbands love your wives as you love your
own bodies. No man ever yet hated his own
body. Companion made encourager, help
me. And then God made her a mother.
That's breathtaking. That's breathtaking. What in
the world could carry more honor? I know we brag on doctors who
heal, who help heal, and people die anyway, and all that. We
brag on people that do all, build houses and they fall down. What could carry more honor,
respect, and recognition than to bring forth a human life into
this world? A man can't do that. No way in
this world can he in his body, by God's grace, form a person. Somebody said concerning our
Lord, blessed is the womb that bear you and the paps that gave
you son. Blessed. There's no greater honor
in this world than for some boy or girl to come up to you and
say, I'll call you mom. There's no greater honor. That's
just honestly. And fourthly, a woman has more
influence over the people of this world than any other single
person. They have that child. God brought
that child into the world by her instrumentality and put that
child in her hands and fed that child from her body. And she
taught that child to speak. She influenced that child more
than any other human being. Maybe that's what's happening
today to our children. Maybe it is. Neglect. Those boys, those four boys killed
up in Pipeville, Prestonsburg, what did it say about them? from
a broken home, everyone. Husbands, dwell with them according to
knowledge. Know who you are dwelling with. Honor them. Honor that wife. As a weaker
vessel, she is weaker. I know women out yonder, you
know that, and you want to be. considered the weaker vessel
because you want to be treated tenderly and kindly and generously. The man who does not love his
wife does not love God. Write that down now. It's an
impossibility. It's an impossibility to love
God and not love your wife. You can't do it. To abuse her
or mistreat her, to break her heart is to incur the wrath of
Almighty God. because he says a wrong relationship
in marriage will hinder your prayers. See that? Verse 7, "...Ye
husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge. Give honor to the
wife, as unto the weaker vessel, as being heirs together of the
grace of life." You can't leave her. You can't cast her aside
like an old worn-out pair of shoes. I don't want you anymore. I don't need you anymore. You
don't know God when you do that. God wouldn't do that to you,
his bride. Would he? Thank God he won't. And I'm tired of it. We've got a responsibility to
our wives and to our children to be men. We've made some vows before God,
before an open book, before heaven. I'll be a true and devoted husband
till death do us part. And that's what I'm counting
on, every man here. I know that's not the modern
way, but that's God's way, and this is the happy way. And I'm
old enough to know it now, and some of you here have made that
voyage, the wrong voyage, and you know I'm telling the truth,
don't you? If you had it to do over again,
you'd follow this way, wouldn't you? This is the way. Well, here's the good life. Let
me just give you, that's the good life. But a good marriage
leads to a good life. But what he's saying here in
verse 8, I'll give you just a few things. Finally, be all of you
of one mind. This is the way to live. This
is the way to live at home. This is the way to live in the
world. This is the way to live in the church. Love in one another. Be of the
same mind. Unity. Don't be divided. Don't
quarrel and argue and fall out. Unforgiving spirit. Have compassion
one on another. Sympathize. Don't criticize.
Love as brethren. Be pitiful. Be tender. Be courteous. Courteous. Just courteous, just
courteous. Isn't that plain old country,
everyday word? Just be courteous. That's a good life. Don't render
evil for evil. Don't get even. Forget the old,
old offenses. The good life is to forgive as
you have been forgiven. Don't render evil for evil, don't
get even, don't render railing for railing, but contrary wise
blessing. Bless them that curse you, forget
the past. Don't even remember it. God said
He didn't remember our sins, then let's don't remember those
who sinned against us. Knowing that you are therefore
called that you should inherit a blessing. For listen, he that
will love life, And this is from Psalm 34. Let's turn over there
to Psalm 34. He that would love life, the
good life. Let's turn over to Psalm 34.
This is what this is taken from. The good life. Verses 12 through 16. What man is he that desireth
life, and loveth many days, that he may see good, the good life? Here's the way, keep your tongue
from evil, your lips from speaking deceitfully, hypocritically. Depart from evil. Do good. Don't just love peace, seek it. Seek peace. Pursue it. Make it
your business. Make it my business to be at
peace. The eyes of the Lord are upon
the righteous. His ears are open to their cry. That's the good
life. the face of the Lord is against
them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from
the earth. That's where that's taken from. Back to our text, 1 Peter 3. And verse 13 says, Who's going
to harm you if you be followers of that which is good? If you
follow this, what God set out for you here, you follow this.
Who's going to do you harm? He'll protect you. What harm
can come to you for walking with God, fulfilling His will for
you and for yours? Verse 14 says, But if you suffer
for righteousness' sake, happy are you. Be not afraid of their
terror, neither be troubled. Now, here's a good conscience
toward God. And let me see if I can give
you this just briefly here, but sanctify the Lord God in your
heart. We don't sanctify God. God is
sanctified. He's holy, perfect. We regard
him as holy. We can't exalt God. He's high
as he can get, but we can regard him as being high. That's what
he's talking about here. So have the right attitude toward
God in our hearts. Regard him as holy. Regard him
as sovereign. Regard him as almighty. Believe
him to be who he is. And give him the credit and the
praise and the glory for all things. That's what he said to
Moses, you didn't give me the credit, you didn't sanctify me
in the eyes of the people. So whatever answer you give to
those that ask you for a reason for your hope, you sanctify God
in it. Honor God, glorify God. Be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asks you for a reason of the hope that's in
you. Our reason is Christ, isn't it?
He loved me and gave himself for me. He's my righteousness. He's my sin offering. He's my
justifier. He's my redeemer. He's my foundation. He's my rock. He's my hiding
place. He's my high priest. He's my
mercy seat. He's my atonement. He's my intercessor. He's my all in all. That's my
answer. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ our light. That's the answer. And we do it with humility and
meekness. It's not what I did, it's what
He did. It's not what I am, it's what He is and what I am in Him. We don't brag on what we are
or who we are or what we've done or what we know. We glory in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ with meekness, humility and reverence,
reverence before God. And having a good conscience.
Now if we're going to profess, here's what he's saying, if we're
going to profess before men that we're sons of God, let's be sure
that such claims are true. If we're going to profess that
we're children of God, then let's be sure that that's true. And if it is, we'll be vindicated.
Now listen to verse 16. Having a good conscience. as
they speak evil of you, as of evildoers. They don't like the
gospel you preach, the message you preach, the word you preach,
but they'll be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation
in Christ. You'll be vindicated. As your
Lord was, the Lord Jesus Christ came down here and made these
claims, preached this gospel, and they hung him on a cross,
and God raised him from the dead. and exalted Him to His right
hand. And if we're truly in here, lovers
of Christ, believers in Christ, with a clear conscience before
God, the world may not know it, most of them don't, or appreciate
it, but you'll be vindicated. Because when He comes, He'll
take you with Him. That's so. You'll be vindicated.
Stay with the Word, with the truth. You'll be vindicated. Well, it's better if the will
of God be so you suffer for well-doing than evil-doing. And here's our
example. For even Christ our Lord also
hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that he
might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit. You know, whatever suffering
we're called upon to bear, and generally it's so minimum, minimal,
insignificant. None of us have resisted the
blood. He did. He's our example. Let come what
may. Be true to him, his words. Billy
says in verse 19, by which he went, the spirit, quickened by
the spirit, it is by this spirit that he went and preached to
the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient when
once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah while
the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were
saved by water. Let me explain that to you. I'm
preaching the Gospel here by the Spirit of God, the same Spirit
of God by which Charles Spurgeon preached the gospel, the same
spirit of God by which the apostles preached the gospel, the same
spirit of God, there's just one spirit, who raised Christ from
the dead, the same spirit of God by whom Isaiah wrote and
preached, the same spirit of God that was in Noah when he
was preparing the ark and by which he preached the gospel
to the people of his day. They said, why are you building
an art, old man? God's going to destroy the wicked.
Oh, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. God's going to send a flood.
Oh, surely not. But he did preach. He was a preacher
of righteousness. I know he told them to flee the
wrath to come, but they laughed at him. But it was by the Spirit
of Christ that he preached. The same Spirit by whom we preach,
by whom which raised Christ from the dead. And verse 21 says,
the like figures, talking about the ark, the like figure where
unto even baptism doth also now save us. Not the putting away
of the flesh, the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good
conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It's not baptism that saves us, but it's the one who baptism
represents. And we go back to this ark. Here's
the ark, prepared, built, pitched within, without, one door. God sent them in, shut the door. They're in the ark. The ark was submerged in water,
water underneath, water all around, water from above, completely
submerged. And these people were in the
ark. They were delivered. from death
and from judgment that destroy everybody else. And that's why
baptism is a picture of Christ. We're baptized picturing the
death of Christ, the burial of Christ, and the resurrection
of Christ in whom we're saved. He's our ark. He's our deliverer. He's our redeemer. And that's
what it means here. It's a picture of Him who saved
us. The ark is a picture of Christ.
The brazen serpent is a picture of Christ. The Passover lamb.
Baptism is a picture of death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
And he's gone into heaven. He's at the right hand of God.
Angels, authorities, and powers being made subject to him. Here's the way to good marriage. Here's the way to a good life,
peaceful, peace with God, peace in your heart, peace with one
another. And the way to have a good conscience
toward God is to look to Christ, to believe in Christ, rest in
Him who is our Ark, who is our Savior. With a clear conscience,
we believe God. We're not playing games. This
is not In other words, we're not trying
to impress people with our righteousness and holiness, and we're better
than not. We're the chief of centers. But
we have a clear conscience in this matter. Our confidence is
in Christ. Our hope is in Christ. Our faith
is in Him. We love Him, don't we? We believe
Him. God being... Paul used this all
the time. God is my witness, didn't he?
I believe.