Will you please turn over in your Bibles with me to 1 Peter chapter 3, 1 Peter chapter 3, and this morning we'll be looking at verses 1, we'll read verses 1 through 7, but the sermon will specifically come from verses 1 through 6. If you're using the New King James Pew Bibles, you'll find that on page 1077. 1 Peter 3, verses 1-7. Brothers and sisters, this is God's perfect word. Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. Husbands likewise deal with them with understanding. giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Please pray with me. Oh Lord, we thank you so much for your word. Lord, it is a word written thousands of years ago with very much application today. But Father, we need your Holy Spirit to make it alive in our hearts. Lord, we need to have your Spirit working in us that we may receive it by faith and practice it in our lives. So Father, we pray that your Spirit would do this work. Lord, we pray that you would please help us. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to believe, that we might follow in the footsteps of Jesus. In his name we pray, amen. We come to this portion of 1 Peter chapter 3, and I'm telling you, I need to start off saying this is a weighty passage. It's a passage that goes against everything, seemingly, in the culture that we live in today. But it's also a very dangerous passage. It's a dangerous passage because it has been misused before in the past. Sadly, in 1998, the Los Angeles Times ran a large story in which this passage featured a bold section. Actually, if you can imagine the New York Times actually printing a whole paragraph of the scriptures in the article, that's what they did here. Why? Because a woman had gone to her pastor, and she had told her pastor about how she was being physically abused, and the pastor said, you need to go home, be quiet more, listen to your husband more. She did that, went home, and he beat her to death. Because this passage can be abused. And so many people, even in our modern society, what the Los Angeles Times at that time was getting at, was that this is so antiquated, this is so wrong, this is so morally evil, that we need to reject even this part of the Bible. And it's here that I'm going to say, no, what that pastor did was sin. He gave for unbiblical counsel. Because abuse is sin. Abuse is a crime. Abuse must not be excused, minimized, or hidden. And this morning, as we go through this, I need to encourage you women, especially, that if you are being abused, you should not just submit under that abuse and be beaten down by your husbands and silently endure. That's not what this text is calling you to do. I'm going to tell you just out front, I need to give you these prefaces because there are cops for a reason. There are laws against domestic violence for a reason. Please get on the phone, call the police. If you need to get in your car and drive to an elder's house, you will find refuge. You can stay as long as you need until you're safe. Please, do not take this passage to be something that is just whitewashing, overlooking, or pushing to the side abuse. No. No, that's not what this passage is doing when it gives, in verse 1, the command, wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands. No, that's not what this is saying. This is not saying that you are to be abused. It's saying that you are to submit. And anytime someone is called to submit, there is a real possibility for abuse, not just in marriage, but in life period. Anytime that there's a power dynamic that one person with more power or strength or authority wants to lord it over the other, it can lead to abuse. It can happen in your jobs. It can happen in your families amongst siblings. It can happen in the government. It can happen in sports. It can happen anywhere where there is one person more powerful than the other and abuses that power or authority. And so the issue here isn't necessarily with abuse itself, or with submission itself, but it's with the abuse of power. And as we're going to see in verse 7, that is categorically rejected. This abuse of power for husbands is categorically rejected in verse 7. But see, Christianity is in the business of reforming and restoring human institutions. And there is hope. This passage is not about abuse. This passage is about hope. Hope, because some women in the early church found themselves believing in Jesus Christ, but their husbands didn't. And they needed to know, what am I supposed to do? How do I live? What should I do in front of my unbelieving husband? And the hope set before them by God in 1 Peter chapter 3 is that your husband can be saved by your witnessing to them. And so Christian women should be encouraged that God can do a great work through them. Because He can use you as a salt and light, even in a very dark and ugly world. This passage is Christ-centered. It's about a posture and humility and hope that starts with Jesus and flows out in life. It's a vision for marriage to display the transforming power of the Gospel. And so women, when you are tempted to just say, well, here comes another misogynist passage again, I'd encourage you, this is not anti-women. That's not what this passage is about. It's not doing violence to you, to your dignity, to your worth, to your value, to your standing before the sight of God as people made in His image. No, you are valued. This is God's Word. It may not be popular today. but it is God's will for our lives. And I'm gonna encourage some of you husbands as we go through this and you hear about your wife submitting in your heart, you may be tempted to be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, submit, you better submit, right? No, husbands, I'm gonna encourage you that as we get to next week, we might need to do a lot of repenting to make sure that we have households where our wives are able to willingly submit. This is God's plan for husbands and wives. And so first I want to look with you at verse one, The second word of the New King James version here is likewise. Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands. What is that likewise pointing to? Is it pointing to the slaves right above it? I mean, if we look to chapter 2, verse 18, servants, be submissive to your masters. Is this saying that wives, like slaves, are to be submissive? No, I think we're not looking far enough up. Pick up your eyes to verse 13. Therefore, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake." The word submit there is the same word, submissive, submitting yourself to every ordinance of man. All these different sections that we're going to be looking at, first it was submitting to governors and kings, then it's submitting to slave masters, then it's submitting to husbands, and then husbands submitting to the Lord. Right? It's this whole, everyone has some type of authority above them. So how do you treat that authority? It's with submission. But it's a submission based off of verse 11 and 12. We are sojourners and pilgrims. And there are lusts that wage war against our souls. And yet we are to have our conduct honorable among the Gentiles. That's what verse 12 of chapter 2 told us. And when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation." See, what's likewise in chapter 3, verse 1, is pointing us back to what he said before. Wives, by your good conduct, even your husbands, who are Gentiles, may, at the day of visitation, have confessed faith in Jesus Christ because of your good works. So that's what the likewise is talking about. It's not saying that your submission is like that of slaves above in this passage. No, it's submitting to Jesus Christ. Because Christian wives, you are chosen, beloved, and precious in God's sight. You're submitting to your husbands as a demonstration of your faith grounded in his steadfast love. So with those caveats that I'd like to outline the passage with you and start with verses one and two. with submission being a testimony. Look with me, if you would, at verses one and two. Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. See, what's going on in this passage is that this is the first century church. There are real ladies who are being converted to Christianity. And this was unusual in the Roman world, right? If your husband was of a certain religion, if he had a certain chosen God that he was going to follow, you also were just follow that chosen God. And here, Peter is saying, no. No, your husbands may remain pagans. You've been converted, but you're not to be pagans. No, your husband may be disobedient to the word, right? That's what verse one said, that even if some do not obey the word, that's the idea of the gospel, they won't listen to Christ, they won't listen to the good news. So what do you do if you're in a situation like that? You have an unbelieving husband, but you are a follower of Christ. What do you do? Well, you still submit to your husband. But that draws out the question, well, what is submission? What is submission? And just like we had to qualify this in the previous two, submitting to kings and to governing authorities, as well as submitting to masters, we need to qualify and explain, what is submission in this scenario? Well, submission is an act of faith in God. Submission is an act of faith in God. Submission here is rooted in hope and trust in God. It's not in human perfection. The wives are not being commanded to submit to their own husbands because their husbands are perfect. No, it's a demonstration of confidence in God's providence and sovereignty that God is the one who ordained for them to become Christians. Their husbands are not yet Christians, and as an act of faith, they're going to submit to their husbands. But also, their submission is a witness to the gospel. It's a witness to the gospel. It reflects Christ-like humility and purity, serving as a powerful testimony to unbelieving husbands. The goal of this type of submission is to glorify God and eventually win over even their own husbands to faith. But thirdly, the submission is voluntary and personal. Submission is directed specifically to one's own husband. Did you notice that? Verse one, wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands. And again, in verse five, for in this manner, in the former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves being submissive to their own husbands. The text goes out of its way twice. Peter goes out of his way to say, you are to submit to your own husbands. I have no right to walk into any of your house and to start bossing around your wife and expecting her to listen to me. No, no, wives, you submit to who? Your own husbands. This is not a subjugation of all women to every man to their whims and to some type of just, oh, men are this much higher than all women and thus all women must submit to all men. That's not what this is saying. It's a voluntary and personal submission to their own husbands. But this submission is also an expression of inner beauty. Wives submitting to their own husband is an expression of inner beauty. True submission arises from imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, and God values this highly. And it reflects not weakness, but an inward strength and peace, not passivity. This is about having strong women in Christ who are able to, by their own volition, submit to God, and out of a fear and reverence, out of a love for God, then, from that position of knowing who they are, to submit to their own husbands. It's not a passive thing, it's very much an active work. But submission here is also bounded by God's commands. Submission is never a call to sin. or disobedience of God. No husband can command their wife to sin. No, at that point, every wife must say with Peter himself in Acts chapter 5, it's better to obey God than men. So being submissive does not mean you're just a doormat, you just have to submit to every single thing, no matter whether it's good or bad. No, no, no. That's not what this is saying. If the Lord has said otherwise, you must fear the Lord, not just your own husband. The submission grows up out of a heart of reverence for God. So that's what submission is. Submission is not unthinking obedience. It doesn't mean blind or unquestioning your husband's demands. I know Christian wives, you're called to exercise wisdom and discernment. It doesn't mean that you are inferior. Submission doesn't imply that you are less valuable to God, that you're somehow less intelligent or any less capable. No, both husbands and wives are heirs of the grace of life. This is what he's going to tell husbands in verse seven. You both have dignity and standing before God. Submission, as I said before, is not a call to just endure abuse. It's not a justification for enduring physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. Abuse is a distortion of God's design for marriage and must be confronted with the support of both the church and legal authorities. As I've said before, submission is not a universal subjugation to all men. This is within the context of a marriage. This is why, again, it goes out of its way. Peter says, twice, your own husbands. And those ladies who walked in former times were submissive to their own husbands. It's not a strategy for somehow gaining approval before God. No, it's because you've been approved by God, because you've been loved by God, you submit. Nor is it a loss of your identity or voice. Submission does not negate a wife's personal identity, her agency, or spiritual gifts. Biblical submission allows Christian wives to reflect Christ while remaining unique in her calling and personality. So what's the purpose of all this submission? What's the purpose of all of this? Look with me again at verse one. That even if some do not obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives. What a wonderful picture this would be. At the last great judgment day, when Jesus Christ comes again, and a wife was to stand there beside her husband, and his testimony is that she brought me to you, Jesus, because of her conduct. You know, it's interesting, as you read church history, we often think of Augustine's confessions. And Augustine was a bishop, a pastor in Carthage in the 400s and early 500s. And in his confessions, he writes a lot about his mama. Her name was Monica. And as he writes about Monica, there's a paragraph or two in there where he talks about his mom's relationship with her husband, Augustine's father. And I wanna read this passage to you, because I think it's a model and illustrative for us. Here's what Augustine said about his mother, Monica. So she was brought up in modesty and sobriety. She was made by you, obedient to her parents rather than by them to you. When she reached marriageable age, she was given to a man and received him as her Lord. She tried to win him for you, speaking to him of you by her virtues through which you made her beautiful. so that her husband loved, respected, and admired her. At the end, when her husband had reached the end of his life and time, she succeeded in gaining him for you. After he was baptized a believer, she had no cause to complain of behavior in which she had tolerated and won, not yet a believer. Do you see? Augustine wrote of his own mom and he said, she didn't just pray for me that I'd become a Christian, but even for my dad, Patrick, she prayed for him. She witnessed to him in her modesty, in her submissiveness, in her willingness to put up with him, speaking to him of you by her virtues. She spoke in the way she conducted herself and how she carried herself before her unbelieving husband. And Augustine says about this, he says, that these virtues of her, which you made her very beautiful, right? Endured her husband's heart to her, so that before he died, he professed faith in Christ. Monica was chosen, beloved, and precious in God's sight. Her submitting was a demonstration of her faith, and was grounded in God's steadfast love. Christian wives, you have so many historic past models to walk and see this through their eyes. Because see, there's true beauty that God says in verses 3-4. Please look with me at 1 Peter 3 verses 3-4. Do not let your adornment be merely outward arranging, some of your translations may say braiding of the hair, wearing gold or putting on fine apparel. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart. with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. The Lord had told them in verse 2 that they were to have chaste conduct, holy and pure conduct, and now it shows both in negative and positive examples in verses 3 and 4. There's an inner character and values that are more important to Christian women than just external beauty. A desire to seek God's approval rather than men's. And this starts in the heart. You cannot just rip verses 3 and 4 out of their context of the rest of 1 Peter. These Christian women are indeed faithful and trusting in Christ. And from that work of the Holy Spirit in their heart, they are able to do the things mentioned here as examples. That's why this isn't legalism. There are many traditions and many parts of the corners of Christendom that will take passages like this and will essentially create almost like modesty codes within the church. Right? You must follow exactly these things while ignoring the heart. Right? No, no, no. It's from the heart that this behavior starts changing. There's fruits flowing from these Christians from their union with Jesus. It shows in how they behave with the things they wear, and how they carry themselves, and how they behave before their husbands. They put away the arranging, the braiding of the hair, the wearing of gold, the putting on fine apparel. Why? Because they want to love their husbands. Because they realize the external isn't what's giving them value, but it's what God has done internally in them. And so instead of trying to get their own way and trying to get their own attention by their doing, God redirects them. I'd like to look with you at the two things that are positively marked. Rather let it be, verse 4, rather let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. New King James translates as gentle. It's actually the word that Jesus uses that he is meek. Jesus is meek. See, meekness is an internal attitude that shows Externally, in two different ways, meekness plays out in life in gentleness and humility. One author said, meekness refers to a gentle and humble disposition that reflects strength under control. It involves a deliberate choice to submit one's own will to God's guidance. Meekness demonstrates patience and restraint, even in challenging situations. Meekness is a virtue exemplified by Christ Jesus Himself, who described Himself as gentle and humble of heart. Meekness is not a sign of weakness. Meekness is a manifestation of inner strength and trust in God's sovereignty. This is highlighted in the Beatitudes when Jesus says Himself, Matthew 5, verse 5, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. If we were to look at this and say, maybe it's easier to define meekness by what it's not. Meekness is not being overly impressed by a sense of one's own self-importance. The opposite of meekness is thinking, I'm this important, I'm this necessary to have all of my own rights. The opposite of being meek is to be pushy or selfishly assertive. It's to demand one's own way. That's what meekness is not, but meekness is a willingness to yield one's own rights for the benefit of others. It's willing to approach another with gentleness and consideration. Meekness is selflessly prioritizing one's own needs above themselves. Meekness is embracing flexibility by accommodating to another person's preferences. Those who are meek are modeling Christ, who described himself as humble and meek. But there's a second quality here, not just this gentle, but it's also a quiet spirit. Spurgeon wrote on this passage specifically, Charles Spurgeon, the late English preacher, amazing preacher. He wrote on quiet, and I just wanted to say his words, because they're way better than what I could say. A gentle and quiet spirit, there is no ornament like that. No taste can ever conceive anything so lovely as a holy character. No expensive materials and no ingenious fashion of them can ever produce such true beauty as a gentle and quiet spirit. You must have known some godly matrons, venerable Christian women, whose gentle piety has blessed the whole household of which they formed a part. They attained supreme authority over all simply by yielding. They gained a queenly position in their house by gentleness and quietness. Nobody dared to offend them, not because they would have been in passion, but because they were themselves of inoffensive, so kind and so gentle. Those who labor to make themselves admirable in appearance, by meritorious ornaments miss the road. Beauty is not its own ornament, and she is most adorned when unadorned the most. The Christian man ought ever to be simple in all respects. I think whenever you find him, you ought not to want a key to him. He should not be like certain books that you cannot make out without having somebody to tell you the hard words. What's he getting at here? What was Spurgeon trying to get at with quiet, spirit? Quietness is desiring peace instead of war. Dignity, even without words. A calming presence when war could break out. Those who are meek and quiet pursue peace rather than fighting. This doesn't mean a woman can't be extroverted, humorous, or even one of the people who is able to speak well. But a quiet and meek spirit shows their inner strength. But what happens when a wife isn't quiet or meek? What happens when a wife isn't quiet and meek in the home? Proverbs 21.9 will get to this, but I'd like to put it for you in a situation that you can imagine. Imagine living with a wife who is constantly pushing her own way. A wife who is regularly ready to fight. A wife who will not follow her husband's lead. A wife who has no problem gossiping to her friends about her husband's faults. A wife who is inflexible and unyielding. A wife who is more selfishly concerned about prioritizing her own desires and her own needs over her family's. What does that type of attitude do in the home? The writer of Proverbs says, it's better to go live on the corner of your roof. than to dwell in a house with a wife like that. It makes husbands want to just go hide, just get away from the situation. They might not leave physically, but they'll want to leave emotionally. They'll create discord and disconnect, rip apart the family. Because you see, this is not just virtues that are for Christian women, no, these are virtues for all Christians. Being meek and quiet is what God commands the church in 1 Timothy 2.2 when they're to pray for kings and all who are in authority that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and reverence. Husbands want you to be meek and quiet because they want to live meek and quiet lives as well. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4.11 that you also aspire to a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you, right? This is a call for all Christians to live a quiet and productive life, minding our own business. Paul again in 2 Thessalonians 3.12 says, now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. Christians are commanded to live quiet lives. And so, Christian wife, do not feel that somehow when the scriptures are telling you here, when God himself is saying for you to be meek and quiet, he's not telling you to do something your husbands aren't told to do as well. No, Christian wife, you are chosen, beloved, and precious in God's sight. And your meek and quiet spirit is a demonstration of your faith, grounded in his steadfast love. Because you are indeed precious in God's life. You see, there's a crisis right now, especially for young women. There's a crisis right now going on in our American society, especially for girls. Where they are trying to find value and trying to find any sense of I belong and I'm worth something. They try to find it especially in social media and in their appearance and in looking at the rest of the world and what is pumping to them as this is what is pleasing and acceptable. This is what will make you valuable. But Christian girl, Christian young woman, Christian wife, your value is defined by your relationship with God. You have God's eternal approval. And so at this point I'm going to ask you, maybe if your spouse is sitting next to you, or if you have somebody else who's got a Bible next to you, one person open up to 1 Peter, and the other person, 1 Peter chapter 1, and one person have 1 Peter chapter 3. Because in this section of 1 Peter chapter 3, there is a ton, I mean across all the other chapters of 1 Peter, chapter 2 verses 1 through 6, has so many overlapping phrases and vocabulary with chapter 1, They're tied together on purpose. And so I need you to see that these are tied together. First, women, you need to understand that when you have this imperishable beauty, it's because you have an imperishable inheritance. 1 Peter 1.4 said that you have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that by no means fades away and is reserved for you in heaven. And so what do you do in your Christian marriage? You show the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. This is a thematic link between chapter one and chapter three. Vow you your imperishable beauty that comes from your inheritance, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Find your identity and your worth, not in your clothes or your looks, but in how much God vows you, you. Secondly, the second tie here between these two chapters is chapter 1 verses 18 and 19 to chapter 3 verse 3. Chapter 1, 18 and 19 says, knowing that you are not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by the tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. No wonder why Christian wives are told not to worry themselves about adorning with gold. What do you value more, Christian wife? Do you value the gold that you might wear in your earrings, your necklace, your bracelets? Or is it the blood of Jesus Christ that has redeemed you? Is that more precious to you? Because that's the value God has for you, that he gave his own son to die for you. So you don't need to find your value in the looks of other people on your jewelry, but it's how God has valued you in the blood of his son, which is more precious than gold or silver. That's how much God values you. You don't need to get other people's attention because you've got Christ's attention. It's not about legalism. It's not somebody standing up here and telling you, don't braid your hair. Stop wearing jewelry. Stop putting on pretty clothing. That's not what this is about. It's about telling you, value what God values and recognize that God values you. He values you. And He values the quiet and meek spirit that He's put in you. But notice also that this conduct that they are to have is because of the holiness that God's given them. Look at me at chapter 1 verse 2 as well as 15 and 16. To the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in sanctification of spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace be multiplied. You were sanctified by the Holy Spirit for obedience By the way, that word obedience, you were sanctified for obedience, that's the same word that's used in chapter 3 verse 6 about Sarah. As Sarah obeyed Abraham. And then in verse 15 and 16 of chapter 1, But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. Christian wife, where will you find your holy conduct? It comes from the holy calling that God has given you. He has called you holy and now He's making you holy. So you don't need to be like all the other women of the world who are constantly trying to find what conduct they should be doing and how they get the most power and how they get the most prestige and how they get the most attention because you have God. You've been set apart. You're not like all the other common women of the world. No, God has made you holy. That idea of holiness is as you were. There's a common use of something, right? We talked about this with the Tupperware that my grandma would make us eat off of and the fine china that she had that none of us were able to touch. You're not the Tupperware to God. You're valued. So treat yourself as the value He sees you with. Because you are precious in God's sight. Look with me again at verses 1 and 2 of chapter 1. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God and sanctification of the Spirit for obedience in the sprinkling of the blood of Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace be multiplied. The phrase Precious in God's sight, if this is how God views women who are submitting to their husbands, with a meek and quiet spirit, echoes the idea of being chosen as the recipients of God's divine love in verse two of chapter one. You, Christian wife, are of infinite value to your God. He foreknew you. He saw you. He chose you. He loves you. You're free from trying to get the approval of others. Because He's made you acceptable in His sight through Jesus. And so you can be fearless in your trust. Because you're guarded through faith. Look at me at verse 5 of chapter 1. You who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. This is exactly what Sarah experienced. When Peter pointed to her as an example, in verse 6, Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him, Lord, whose daughters you are, if you do good, and are not afraid with any terror. Sarah could call Abraham, the New King James translate this, Lord. I might translate it something more along lines of sir. She could use even a respectful tone of a husband who failed her time and time again. But she could still respect her husband. Why? Because she didn't have any terror. Because she knew who God was. Where did she find that type of security? That freedom from terror? She found it in the Lord's plan and love for her. And so can you. Because she had hope in God. And you were born again to a living hope. 1 Peter 3.5 tells us, For in this manner, in former times, the holy women trusted in God. Also adorning themselves being submissive to their own husbands. They trusted in God. They hoped in God. And as a result, they were adorning themselves with meekness and quietness. But why? Because chapter 1 verse 3 was true of them. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to His abundant mercy. He has made us alive again. Begotten us again to a living hope. See that hope in verse 5, that the holy women trusted, that word trusted is hoped. The holy women hoped in God. And you have that same hope. You have that same source of hope. You can submit to your husbands because you know you were bought at the same price as him. Christian wife, you were chosen. You are beloved and you are precious in God's sight. You don't need to go outside of God's love for you to find your value and worth. You can trust in His steadfast love. Because your faith is anchored in God. That's what verses 5 and 6 are getting at. For in this manner in former times the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. You're not being called to something brand new, but you have example after example after example. Notice what it says here. The holy women, who trusted in God. Sarah has just picked out as one example, but I would encourage you, go through the scriptures and find the other ways in which you see godly women hoping and trusting in God and following their husbands. I think Sarah's pointed out as an example here of submission, because if there's any dude you wouldn't want to submit to, it'd probably be Abraham. Abraham is the father of the faith. He's the one that God makes the covenant of salvation with. He's the one who tells him that he's going to have more offspring than the stars in the sky and more children than the sand of the seashore. And yet when they go into Egypt, do you remember what Abraham did? Tell them you're my sister. And if that wasn't bad enough, he does it a second time with Ingarar, with the king there. If there is any dude you probably wouldn't want to, as a Christian wife, submit to, it might be Abraham, because you don't know when you're going to get thrown under the bus. And yet, Sarah could fearlessly call him Sir. She could submit to him, even though he would make some silly decisions, even sometimes though he would listen to her, rather than doing what he knew was right. Sarah had faith in God's sovereignty. and not in Abraham's perfection. I gotta tell you, if you're waiting for your husband to be perfect, to be wonderfully sanctified before you submit to him, go ahead and hold your breath and we'll come up and wake you up later. You can't wait for your husband to be perfect or to be smart enough or wise enough or good enough or holy enough before you're going to be submissive to them. Husbands doesn't give you a free pass to then be stupid and unrighteous and mean to your wives, right? The point is wives, you married a sinner. Will you submit to them? It's hard. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it must be for Olivia to submit to a numbskull idiot like me a lot of times. It's hard. Husbands, we ought to have a lot of respect for our wives and the difficulty of this calling that God's given them to do. But Sarah was chosen. She is precious in God's sight. And her submitting was a demonstration of her faith, because she knew of God's love for her. And that's the same for you. Because you see, all of this is based on what Jesus Christ said He was. He was meek and gentle. He did not come insisting on His own. Even though He was reviled, He did not revile in return. But he humbled himself, taking on the form of a man, making himself under the law. Could you imagine Jesus, the perfect God-man, who never sinned in any way, had to submit to Mary and Joseph? Pilate? Herod? But he did. He did. And blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit The earth. So live out your Christian freedom. Live out your Christian freedom to be holy. Women, know your value and your worth before God. Have no fear what the world might think about you because of this. Go ahead, let the feminist next door think you're stupid. May your conduct maybe even save her. It's amazing, if you've ever read Rosario Butterfield's story, the secret thoughts of an unlikely convert, one of the things that amazed her was seeing the women in the church submit to their husbands. And it made her realize there was something here that she needed, that she lacked, that she wanted. They had an inner strength that in all her feminism she didn't have. And so while the world is always trying to define your value and your dignity as a woman, you can have a living hope knowing that God has valued you, valued you so much that he gave his son to die for you, and has a heavenly inheritance that he has secured and is protecting for you. So go ahead. Do the bold thing. Do the strong thing. Do the godly thing. Submit to your imperfect husband. Show them by your conduct the gospel at play. Live your life biblically and confidently. Your Holy Spirit conduct may even just win your husband over to the gospel. Wives, this is what God has in store for you. It's not legalism, but I hope that you embrace us with all the gospel hope and the Spirit makes us true in your life. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that you are the one who's designed marriage. Lord, you are the one who created Adam and saw that it wasn't good for him to be alone and created a helper for him. And so, Father, we thank you for husbands and wives. Lord, this morning, we specifically pray for those wives in the congregation that you would give them assurance of faith Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit might convince the women and the girls in this congregation of how valuable they are to you. Lord, we pray that you would please reform marriage from the inside out. Lord, we pray that even those women who might be married to non-Christian men, Lord, that those women's holy conduct by your Spirit might display the gospel before their very eyes, and they might turn that they might be won over to you and have eternal life. Lord, please give the women in this congregation strength. Only your spirit can do this. So please, God, we leave it to you to do. In Jesus'