Singing that hymn, Ring the Bells
of Heaven, reminded me of something that I read years ago in a message
by Charles Spurgeon. You know, in England, just about
every temple or worship center was built with a tower for bells. People didn't have watches or
clocks or anything like that, and so they used the bells to
ring people to church, to tell them it's time to to meet the
Lord, time to come and worship the Lord. Charles Spurgeon said,
when God saves a sinner, he puts a bell in your heart to ring
you to come and worship the Lord. And I believe that. God's people
love to meet and worship the Lord God. Tonight, if you will,
let's open our Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 3. I've been looking in 1 Peter
for several weeks now, and we've come to chapter 3. We'll look
at the first seven verses in this chapter. 1 Peter chapter
3, beginning with verse 1. 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 putting on of apparel, but let it be 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. But 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 you are, as long as
you do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. Likewise,
you 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. One of the many, many contributions
that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has done for this world
is raising the status of women. When Peter wrote these words
and Even till today, in many parts of the world where the
gospel has not really permeated society, women were looked upon
more like slaves, more like chattel, more like cattle or something
like that. The gospel Where the gospel has
come and where the gospel has been preached and received, the
gospel has raised the status or the standard of women to the
equality of man. The gospel is very clear in teaching
that in respect to everlasting happiness, a woman is equal to
the man. A woman is redeemed with the
same blood, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The woman
is made an heir of all things, even as men are. When the Apostle
Paul, inspired by God the Holy Spirit, wrote, all things are
yours, talking to believers, writing to believers, all things
are yours, he didn't limit that to only male believers. But all believers, all things
are yours. You are Christ, and Christ is
God's. Now the verses that we're looking
at this evening, you may not have noticed this, but we see
the word likewise two times. If you look back, the chapter
begins, verse one begins with the word likewise. And then verse
seven, also, we see the word likewise. Peter, rather, had
been dealing with being in subjection. If you look back into chapter
two, in verse 13, he's speaking to all believers to be subject. Submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man for the Lord's sake. And then in verse 18, servants
or employees, maybe we would make that speak to us tonight,
be subject to your masters with all fear. Now, likewise, the
subject, submission, likewise, ye wives, likewise, you husbands. I want you to look, keep your
places here, but turn back to Ephesians 5 and see that the
apostle Paul, when he begins his writing instructions concerning
husband and wife, he does the same thing. In chapter 5 of Ephesians
and verse 21, he says, submitting yourselves one to another in
the fear of God. He begins with the same term,
submission, submitting. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands. Husbands, love your wives in
the Lord, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it. So let's look tonight at these
verses, two parts to the message. First, Peter's inspired. Now, these are not just Peter's
thoughts, the apostle Peter. These are not just his thoughts,
but these are words he was inspired by God, the Holy Spirit to write. And first of all, likewise, ye
wives. First, I want you to notice first,
he begins by addressing wives who had unbelieving husbands.
wives who had unbelieving husbands. Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection
to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word. In other
words, he began speaking or writing to women who were married to
unbelievers. Now, the scripture is very clear
that a believer should marry a believer. That's the word from
the apostle Paul. that marriage, a believing husband
or a believing wife, a believing woman or a believing man should
marry someone in the Lord. But that's not always the case.
Sometimes a person marries someone who claims to be or professes
to be a believer but turns out not to be a believer. Sometimes
the Lord saves someone and he or she is already married their
husband or wife is not a believer. So Peter begins his instructions
here to wives who had unbelieving husbands, husbands who obey not
the word. How does a man, how does a woman
obey the word, believe the word, believe the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ? But here, the Christian woman
is married to a man who has no love for the gospel, has no no
concern for the things of God, he may despise the gospel. He may despise the word of God. He may reject the word of God
outrightly. What is a believing woman to
do? What is a believing wife to do? Well, some would teach that she
should just leave him, separate herself from him. He's an unbeliever,
she's a believer. Separate from him. But that's
not what Paul enjoined, and that, according to Peter's instructions
here, is not what a believing wife should do. In 1 Corinthians
7 and verse 10, Paul dealt with this same subject. And he said,
and unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let
not the wife depart from her husband. And then a little bit
later he said, if any brother hath a wife that believeth not,
and now notice, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not
put her away. In other words, if you're married
to an unbeliever, husband or wife, And the unbeliever is willing
to remain married to you, then you should remain married unto
that person. But Peter here gives a word of
encouragement. And all believers, we need encouragement,
don't we? And a wife, a woman who's married
to an unbeliever, she certainly needs encouragement. Because
life can be very difficult. being married to someone who
doesn't believe the gospel. And Peter gives her a word of
encouragement here in verse one when he says, he may, that is
your husband, he doesn't believe the gospel. He hates the gospel
maybe. No way he will ever go with you
to hear the gospel preached. He may, Peter says, He may without
the word be won by your conversation. Now, you might say, well, is
Peter saying that a person might be saved apart from the truth?
Of course not. Of course not. A person has to
hear the gospel to believe the gospel, to be won, as this verse
is speaking about, to be won, to be a believer, a child of
God. A person has to hear the truth,
to believe the truth. No one is saved apart from the
gospel. No one. That's not what Peter
is saying, that by her conversation, her husband may be one apart
from the word, but apart from the word preached. God has chosen
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And I think all of us recognize
that most people who are saved are saved by hearing the gospel
preached by a man. How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without
a preacher? Most people who are saved are
saved by hearing the preaching of the gospel. But in this case,
it s not by not hearing the truth that this man, this husband,
this unbelieving husband is one, but he's not heard by preaching
the truth, but by rather the woman witnessing the truth to
him, speaking the truth and living the truth, living the truth to
him. And I know you've all heard that
old saying, I'd rather see a sermon any day than hear a sermon. Well,
that sounds good, but that ain't true. That isn't the way that
God saves sinners. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. We know that. Of his own will. Peter's not
saying that a man could be saved apart from the gospel, apart
from the truth. Of his own will. The Apostle
James wrote, begat he us of his will, God's will. Begat he us. Who is the author of the new
birth, of salvation? God is. Of His own will beget
He us with. Right? With the Word of Truth. Most, as I said, most people
are saved under the preaching of the Gospel. And like was brought
out so well this morning in the Bible class, the person from
which you heard the gospel. That didn't happen by accident.
Just like the Lord needs go through Samaria, he had an appointment
there with that Samaritan woman. And from her, many others of
the Samaritans came to know the Lord. And the same is true today. The person that God used in your
life to bring the gospel to you is always special. Always special,
right? The person from whom you first
heard the gospel. I know that's true in my case,
and I know it's true in the case of all believers. So that's the first thing. He
begins by addressing wives who had unbelieving husbands, but
now from there on, from verse three on, he's dealing with wives
in general, not just wives who had unbelieving husbands, but
all wives. He addresses the conduct of all
believing wives, whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning
of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or putting on of apparel,
but let it be 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 great price." Well, you
know, people misuse the scripture in many different ways, but one
of the ways that this scripture has been misused is to teach
that men and women should not use any adornment. They should
not wear any gold. I remember speaking with some
people when I was in language school, There was people from
all different beliefs were in language school together. And
one man told me, I was talking to him about God's grace, Romans
chapter eight. And he came back to me and he
said, well, you shouldn't be wearing that gold wedding ring.
In other words, he had no answer for the truth that God chooses
his people and saves them, but he did have an answer and that
was, well, you're wrong. You're wrong. First of all, because
you have a gold wedding ring on. But as I said, people misuse
the scripture. Peter's not saying that. And
I thought this was very interesting. This commentator, Albert Barnes,
he had this comment on the wearing of gold, the wearing of gold. He said, if it should be said,
that this expression teaches that it is wrong to wear gold
at all, it may be replied that on the same principle it would
follow that the next clause teaches that it is wrong to put on apparel
at all. Let's read that verse again. Whose adorning let it not be
that be that outward adorning of plaiting of the hair and of
wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel." He said, if you
use this verse to teach it's wrong, to use any kind of jewelry
or anything like that, well then, follow through with it, putting
on of apparel, that that too would be wrong. People misuse
the scriptures many ways. The point that the Apostle Peter
is making here, it seems to me to be very clear. It's not the
outward appearance that is all important. It is important, and
there's no question about that. We want to look as nice as we
can, don't we? We should. I know this is not
scripture, but I've heard it all my life. Cleanliness is next
to godliness. It's not scripture, but it is
good advice, isn't it? Cleanliness. And the way we dress
and the way we present ourselves, it is important. And wives have
every right, and husbands certainly appreciate their wives' apparel
and the way they present themselves to them. But the thing that is
all important is the inner man. It's not the outward man. It's
the inner man that Peter is emphasizing. This is where the emphasis for
every woman, this is where her emphasis must be placed, not
upon her apparel. Yes, take care of that, but the
inner man, the inner man, let it be the hidden man. I'm saying
inner man, but Peter uses the term, the hidden man of the heart. It is what the Apostle Paul calls
in Ephesians 4, the new man, the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness. It's that new
nature. When a person is saved, we spoke
this morning about imputed righteousness, which we do quite often because
that's the way a person is saved and justified, but there's also
imparted righteousness. Imputed righteousness, yes, but
imparted righteousness. We become partakers, Peter says,
of the divine nature. We receive a new man. We still have the old man, yes,
but we have a new man, a new creature in Christ Jesus, and
that is what Peter is saying here, that the emphasis for every
believing wife and every believing man, The emphasis should be not
on the outward, but on the new man, the inward man. It's a new nature or new creation
received in the new birth. And John Gill brought out some
very interesting truths about this hidden man of the heart.
You know, we have five senses, don't we? Physically, we have
five senses. Well, this hidden man of the
heart, he has these same five senses, spiritually speaking. The first, sight. That's one
of our five senses, isn't it? Sight. And this inner man, this
new man that's created in righteousness and true holiness, he has sight. She has sight. We see the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We never could see that before,
but now we see. And we love to see. We would
love to have our focus, our spiritual sight upon Christ. And then another
sense, of course, is hearing. He said, my sheep, hear my voice. This inner man hears the voice
of Christ. How does he hear? Where does
he hear the voice of Christ? From his word. From his word. And then smell. Smell. You say, how in the world can
that pertain to the inner man? Well, look with me in Ephesians
5 just a moment. You know the Lord God uses this
word smell several times in a way that probably we would never
use it. I mean, we might. I don't know
if I've ever told anyone, you smell so good. You really smell good. But you
know, God says that about the sacrifice of his son? He does. Look here in Ephesians chapter
6. I believe it's chapter 6. Five, okay, yeah, thank you.
Chapter five, be you therefore followers of God as dear children
and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given
himself for us. He's given, Christ gave himself
on the cross for us and as an offering and a sacrifice to God. And what is it? For a sweet smelling
savor. And this inner man smells. He
smells, that is, that sacrifice of Christ is sweet smelling to
him. There's no incense like this
truth to the inner man, the new man that is born of God. He loves to think about the sacrifice
of Christ because that's where all of his hope lies. and the
blood of Jesus Christ, that sacrifice. And then, of course, he feels,
or he tastes, rather. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. That's what the psalmist said.
Don't be negative or have any negative things to say about
the gospel, about Christ, until you've tasted. until you've tasted
the gospel. And then you will not have any
negative things to say about it. Why? Because it tastes so
good. It just meets our need to the
T. I mean, exactly what we need,
we find in Christ. And then the last, of course,
feel, and by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we feel the
weight of sin. We feel sin. And how is that
sin removed? By the blood of Christ. He went on to say that like a
man, like a man, this inner man, it has eyes to see with, ears
to hear with, hands to receive Christ and serve him and feet
to walk in the ways of the Lord. So Peter writes unto believing
wives, Don't let your emphasis be on the outward. Put your emphasis
on the inner man of the heart. And notice, in that which is
not corruptible, this new man is not corruptible, is it? The
old man is corruptible. The old man's going to be buried
in a grave when our life is ended in this world. It is corruptible,
but this inner man is incorruptible, been created in righteousness
and true holiness. And then he says that, study
to adorn the hidden man with a meek and quiet spirit. Study, study to adorn that new
man, that inner man with a meek and quiet, study how that's possible. study it so as to promote that. And notice he says that in the
sight of God, this is of great value. In opposition to the outward,
to God, he looks at the heart. He looks at the heart. You know,
if we would spend half as much time on Sundays getting our hearts
ready to worship God as we do on our bodies, getting them presentable,
we might really worship the Lord. We might. The third thing he says, he gives
examples of women in earlier times who manifested this inward
adorning by being in subjection to their husbands, and he even
gives Sarah, As an example, when you think about Sarah, she's
listed, isn't she, in Hebrews chapter 11. We talk a lot about
Abraham, but you know, Sarah, when you think about it, her
husband put her in some bad situations. He really did. He really did. Asked her to lie, didn't he?
Say, you're my sister. Well, technically, she was his
sister. But that wasn't his intention.
His intention was to deceive Pharaoh, and later Abimelech,
I believe it was, because she was such an attractive woman,
Abraham was fearful for his life. He was afraid they would take
his wife, and to get his wife, they would kill him. He put her
in some bad situations, and yet she called him Lord. She called
him Lord. Does that mean that you ladies
here tonight should address your husband as Lord? That you should
call your husband Lord? No, not at all. But what Lord
represents, what is signified by calling him Lord, she showed
a respect to her husband, her respect. Someone said Christian
wives should think well of their husbands,
speak becomingly to them, and respectfully of them. Amen. Now, Peter's inspired words to
husbands, likewise you husbands. The first thing he says is to
dwell with them according to knowledge. What does that mean? Dwell with them according to
knowledge. You should obtain, husband, you
should obtain the knowledge that is given to us in the word of
God as to how you should treat your wife and how you should
dwell with her. Dwell with her according to knowledge. Let's go back to Ephesians 5.
Now let's see, this is the knowledge he's talking about. Knowledge
that is written in the word of God. Let's just read a few of these
verses. Verse 25. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. That's
the knowledge. Dwell with your wives in knowledge.
This knowledge that you should love your wife even as Christ
loved the church and gave himself for it. Verse 27. I believe it's verse 28. So ought
men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. And notice what he says in verse
29. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh. If you love your
wife as you love your body, you'll love her right. You'll dwell
with her in knowledge. Why? Because no one ever hated
their own flesh. We do what we can to Protect,
preserve, to heal our bodies when sick and when in need. No one ever hated his own flesh,
but nourisheth it. Nourishes it and cherisheth it,
even as the Lord the church. And then verse 32, and I think
this is so important here. This is a great mystery. But
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Dwell with your wife
in knowledge, in knowledge that your marriage is a representation
of the relationship between Christ and His bride, Christ and His
church. That's to dwell with them in
that knowledge. Dwell with your wife, loving
her even as Christ loved the church. Dwell with your wife
knowing that your relationship is to picture the relationship
between Christ and the church. All right, the second thing he
says, dwell with them in knowledge, giving honor unto the wife. Give
honor unto your wife as being the weaker vessel. Read that
again, likewise you husbands dwell with them according to
knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel. As the weaker vessel and as the
equal heir of the grace of life. John Gill, you know he was such
a good commentator, but one reason he was so good is because he
knew the history of the Jews so well. And he gave what was
part of the Jewish wedding ceremony. This is what a man would say
when he stood to marry his wife. Be thou unto me for a wife, according
to the law of Moses and Israel. And I, by the word of heaven,
or God, will worship and nourish and take care of thee according
to the custom of the Jews who worship and nourish and take
care of their wives. You say, well, what does that
word worship mean? It means honor, honor. Be thou
unto me for a wife according to the law of Moses and Israel.
And I, by the word of heaven or God, will honor and nourish
and take care of thee according to the custom of the Jews who
honor and nourish and take care of their wives. And the word
honor means I'll provide for her. I'll provide food for her. I'll provide clothes. I'll provide
the things that alights. of life unto her, those things
which are laudable and those things which are proper. And
I will honor her as the weaker vessel. Now that doesn't mean,
you know this, that doesn't mean she's weaker in intelligence.
Because many men know that their wives in many ways are much more
intelligent have much more wisdom than they have. Doesn't necessarily
mean that she's weaker in strength, bodily strength even. Well, you
say, what does it mean? I believe it means she's weaker
in the sense, by nature, a woman is more tender and more delicate
than man. And her feelings can be hurt
easier than those of the man. Honor her. for she is an equal
heir of eternal life. Women, as well as men, share
in the same electing, redeeming, justifying, pardoning, and adopting
grace. And then, in closing, notice
what is assumed, what is assumed here. Peter says, at the end
of that verse, that your prayers be not hindered. it is assumed
that husbands and wives will pray together. Something I mentioned
recently in a message, used to be called family altar, when
husbands and wives, when they worship the Lord in their homes. Yes, we worship here publicly,
we worship privately, and we should worship in our homes,
husbands and wives. and a husband and wife are bickering
and fighting or not following this example here, husband loving
his wife like Christ loved the church, the wife being obedient
unto her husband as unto the Lord, then our prayers are certainly
going to be hindered. We know that. But when we fulfill
our rightful roles, then we have every reason to believe that
God hears our prayers and answers our prayers. Well, I pray the
Lord would bless this word to all of us here.