1 Peter chapter number 3. I'll read verses 1 through 6, and our focus this morning will be verses 5 and 6. Likewise, you 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 chase conversation coupled with fear, whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of the plating of hair and of wearing of gold and of putting on and off 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 a quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is 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 you are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement. There have been and are today many wives who have come to faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord without a believing husband. This condition that wives experience is not minimized by Peter. He includes them among those who are suffering, experiencing pain, some kind of pain, emotional, mental pain in their life. Peter devotes a very significant amount of information when we look at this, the instruction and encouragement that he gives to them for their plight. We believe that Peter is writing under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit, right? Meaning, God is attentive, God is sensitive to women who follow Christ alone without a believing husband. She, these wives, will find that God will make up the lack of support and minister to her in many other ways. One of the main means for her support on her pilgrimage will be the church. She will find a great support system there. But apart from those few hours when she meets for worship and fellowship, She is required by God to live most of her hours, her days, her months, and years with a husband who has no interest in the things that bring the most joy to her heart. What does God require of this woman, this believing woman who is married to an unbelieving man? The Spirit of God speaks very clearly here in our text through Peter about the importance of wives, even those who are living in this difficult condition, to trust and obey. Through Peter's words, the Holy Spirit has promised to use her obedience to God's word. to confront her unbelieving husband with God's Word without the wife verbally even speaking a word to her husband. In fact, if it is the plan of God to save her husband, he will be brought to Christ through the light of the truth that is shining through her, as Peter describes it, her conversation, the manner of which her life behaves and speaks, the demeanor, her disposition, her countenance, that's her conversation. That's how God will win her husband, is through her behavior. We noted in these verses that we, the last couple of sermons that we had on this text in verses one through four, We considered five essential things that are connected to her conversation. I'll mention these. Again, these five things are consistent with God's will and therefore must be obeyed or demonstrated in her life. These five things that we drew out of our text. And they are powerful influences that pass through the wives and are felt by her husband and her family. The first one Peter mentioned, remember, is submission, right out of the gate. That's the first thing. This is her action and her attitude. Submission that a wife gives, she freely gives this. She willingly places herself in the position that has been given to her according to God's design for marriage. It is her inner joy and peace that she finds when she does this. And it is through this that her influence begins to be felt upon her family, particularly if she has an unconverted husband. It begins with this essential ingredient, submission. The second one that Peter mentioned is chaste or chastity. And this is another integral part of the wife's calling. It speaks of her purity. She is to be chaste. In her motives, she is not self-serving. She is pure without selfish motives. She is chaste in this nature of her inner purity. And the third essential thing we notice is she gives the utmost respect to her husband. Even though he is not a believer, she is respecting the office that God gave to her husband, even though he is ignorant of the responsibility that he has to God. But she respects the position. that God has given to him. And she forces him by this respect to consider his position that had been given to him. And the fourth essential comes in the form of a prohibition. She is not, don't do this. Don't allow yourself to become a vain woman like the women of the world. If you're going to have an impact on your husband and your family, you must not be vain. It's important to properly care for your physical person for sure, but she should not be preoccupied and obsessed with her outward appearance. This kind of vanity will become a hindrance to her influence in her relationship with her husband. She must show herself to be different from the women of the world. And the fifth thing we drew out of this portion as an essential ingredient of a woman's conversation. In contrast to her being vain, Peter noted that she is to focus not on the outward but the inner person, her inner beauty, and he capsulizes that in the phrase of a meek and a quiet spirit, meaning it's a gentle and composed demeanor. She's not abrasive or mean-spirited. She's not argumentative, but she is kind. She manages her spirit well. While not easily attained, we are not suggesting these can be easily attained by any woman, and often even more difficult to sustain in your life. It's important to know that God highly values this conduct, and the reward, indeed, must be great for wives who reach this level of service in her life. It says that in the sight of God, this inner beauty of a meek and quiet spirit is of great value to God. The world, women of the world see these five things that we've just mentioned as a hindrance to true happiness. But spiritual wives know that this is how to find real joy and real peace. This is how to exert a meaningful influence on your husband. God has given that for the wives to hear and to embrace and to work out in their marriage. God has designed that the obedience of faith and the part of a woman will bring the greatest blessings to his children, not only to her, but to him and to her family and to many others. No matter what our circumstances might be, all of us would agree, regardless of our duties to God, that the obedience of faith is the key for all of us. If we want to be happy and if we want to have a meaningful life, we must be obedient and we must do it in faith and our commitment to God. Now look at verses 5 and 6, our primary portion for this morning. Verse 5, for after this manner in the old time. It's an interesting phrase. It introduces here with this word for, it tells us that Peter is giving us a reason for something or an argument even. for something to consider. And who is it for? It's for holy women. It's pertaining to holy women. And he is saying that holy women have always behaved this way. And he's looking back into the Old Testament. That's his reference point is his day. And he's looking back from his day into the old time. And he is telling us that all of God's holy women behave this way. And where we are at today, and we're looking back at Peter, that's an old time, that's way long ago to us. And we can say that the same is true today for us. That all of the women of old times, since Peter's day to ours, also demonstrated the same kind of holy living style, lifestyle. And so as we think about holy women, we are thinking about a kind of woman. It's an adjective describing a kind of woman that has been around since the beginning. She's always been there. She's always behaved a certain way. Holy women. And it's not just limited to those who are married to unbelieving husbands, but that's the primary context he has here. But he moves past that here in a moment, that this is true of all women. All women have these same traits who are holy women. And so we have holy women, as being described by Peter, women who have been set apart. Holy embodies that idea. They are set apart. They are designated for some sacred use. They belong to God. They are God's women, set apart by God, and therefore, by God's own distinction, they have been made Holy women, they belong to him. And this is sort of the description of all women, even from the beginning. It's interesting when you think about as I contemplated holy women and I thought, okay, let me start thinking about holy women in the Old Testament. It was amazing how many women I came up with that God really focuses on as being unusually special to him in the Old Testament. But if you don't study the Old Testament, and you don't go back and read about those holy women, you will not even, what does Peter mean? Of old time, holy women of old time. You have to go back and you have to find them. But when you begin to collect them, the list gets longer and longer and longer, and you begin to look at their lives, and there are qualities about these women that are acknowledged and identified. by God as his Word records them. Paul told us, remember, in Romans 15 verse 4, that we are to use the Old Testament this way. We are to go and study them. We are to learn from them so that we can gain comfort from their story. We're encouraged to do that. So every woman particularly ought to be familiar with holy women because you're in this category. You ought to be familiar with their history. It's interesting even when you go back into church history and you begin to read about great women of faith who had tremendous impact upon the others. There are many of them, so many of them who demonstrated a life of devotion to God. So holy women is a special class of women, a woman that God has set apart for himself, and they're everywhere. And it is your desire to be a part of that group, be connected to them as Peter is teaching us here. And he tells us that all holy women, as we look in verses five and six here, all holy women have the same features, Or after this manner in the old time, the holy women also just like women of today or women of our day also, they have certain features. Holy women trusted in God, they adorned themselves and they submitted to their husbands. Those are the traits of a holy woman and they've always been around. That will never change. We're 2,000 years removed from Peter. Peter was 2,000 years removed from the beginning of Eve and others who came forth and it hasn't changed. Holy women can still be described today with the same qualities. And these are them. Verse five, they trusted in God. What does he mean here? They trusted in God. It is more than just the acknowledgement that there is a God. But this word, trusted in, conveys the idea of even more than they believed in who he was and his claims, it denotes that they put their faith in him and hoped in him. This is a part of the holy women. This is one of their traits. They put their faith and their hope in God alone. It wasn't their husbands that they put their faith and hope in. It was God alone. They trusted in God. This is what holy women do. This is how they've always behaved. They trust in God. They're not fighting against him. They're not wrestling with his ways. They trust in God and they have their hope in him and him alone. And of course, this would include also the idea of the obedience of faith. If you trust in God, you're going to be obedient in faith to that which he desires of you. You can't say that I trust in God and then push away his requirements and desires for you. That his will somehow doesn't matter to me. You can't do that. Holy women trust in God. That's the scripture. They've always been the same. And he says, all holy women also adorned themselves It's an interesting phrase, isn't it? The Greek word cosmeo that is used here is a verb, and it means that she goes about bringing such order and structure and beauty to her life. She adorned herself. I mean, holy women adorn themselves. They're busy about the beautification of their own life. It matters to them how they are seen and viewed, not by the women of the world, but by God. They know what pleases Him, what's of great value to Him. And so what do they do? They go about adorning themselves in an order and structure to their own life. This is a personal thing they are doing, adorning themselves. This is a quality, another quality of holy women. They not only trust in God, they're busy about adorning themselves, bringing beauty and order to their life as a holy woman. And we're also told that holy women were actively bringing their life into subjection to their own husbands. And so this is her taking the initiative. Again, remember, subjection is not something imposed on a woman, it's what a woman gives. It's hers to give. And the reason she gives it is she recognizes God has an order, God has a structure, and she accepts God's order and she gives submission. Not because the husband may be worthy of it, but because she respects and regards her Lord who gave the position to him. And therefore she willingly submits herself to her husband. It's interesting, isn't it, that these are the qualities of holy women that have always been in existence since the beginning. We're not suggesting that every holy woman has perfected these. To the contrary, but every holy woman, these things matter to her because she knows they matter to God. And she knows she's been set apart by God to a particular purpose, and she is God's vessel. That's what it means to be sanctified, set apart, belonging to. She is the vessel of God, and she understands what that means. Peter has reminded us of what these things mean. For after this manner in the old time, the holy women also trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands. Here, in verse number six, as he closes out this section, that he's writing to women who are dealing with husbands that may be unconverted, or husbands in what we find in verse six, who are weak in faith, or just the general role of wives, it's the same for all of you. Whatever your circumstance and condition might be, you have been given the same requirements of God if you're a holy woman. Here, Peter uses Sarah as an example. Look at verse six, even as Sarah, obeyed Abraham, calling him, Lord, whose daughters you are, as long as you do well and not afraid with any amazement." What is Peter saying here? Sarah, remember, she was the wife of Abraham, the father of the faithful. Have you gone back and recently read about Abraham's life? He sure didn't start there, did he? He made a lot of bad decisions along the way. He was weak in faith right at the very get-go of his call from God to follow him. He struggled with making good choices. And Sarah is an example of holy women who are married to men who are weak in their faith. Abraham made some really, really bad decisions because his faith was weak. He made decisions that brought hardship to Sarah's life and even danger to her life because his faith was weak. But the interesting thing is that we are told as we go back and even read the accounts in the book of Genesis that Sarah did not rebel against Abraham, but she even submitted to him while he was not being a very good leader. And so all holy women learn to do the same thing as Sarah learns. Sarah is another example. She wouldn't have done what she did if she had not trusted in God. If she had not already been busy adorning her life and practicing submission to her husband, Sarah would have pushed back when these things occurred when Abraham made decisions that were the result of weak faith and exposed her to all kinds of hardships. But Sarah was also a holy woman, even as Sarah. And so she is brought into this group of Peter's discussion here about describing women that are special. They belong to God. They've been set apart by God for his sacred purpose. They are holy women. And so Peter, listen to this phrase, ladies. He says, whose daughters you are. Peter invites all women to show your true bloodline, your lineage, your DNA, show that you are the daughters of Sarah. Show that you are her daughters. And so Peter, again, now he gives two markers that prove you are the daughters of Sarah. The first one he gives in verse six is that as long as you do well. Concerning what? What does Peter mean? He means that you've heard God's word and you are a doer of the word. That's essentially what this phrase means. You do well, you are a doer of the word. It doesn't mean, as I've said before, that you are perfect in doing the things that God has shown to you. But you are practicing. You are working at the process of these traits of a holy woman. You are striving. You're not satisfied. You are not content. You want to be more. obedient to God's word for you concerning your marriage. So as long as you do well, you are a doer of the things you know to be right. You are a daughter of Sarah. Sarah wasn't perfect. No holy woman that has ever lived in the Old Testament or lived for the last 2,000 years has ever been perfect. But they know who they are. They have been set apart by God and they're devoted to this task. and they're committed to striving to be more and more. Holy women, women who trust God, women who adorn themselves, and women who submit to the authority of that role that God has given to her husband. So the first marker was you do well, you're a doer of the word. Does that characterize your life? James says that it doesn't matter. You can hear the word all day long, but if you don't do something with it, it means absolutely nothing. Are you a doer of the word? That's a trade of a holy woman. That shows that you are a daughter of Sarah. The second marker that Peter gives here in verse 6 that identifies wives as the daughters of Sarah is that you're courageous. You're courageous. How does he put it here? He says, and are not afraid with any amazement. You're not afraid. No matter what the trial might be in your life, it doesn't intimidate you. It doesn't cause you to run. It doesn't cause you to stop. The daughters of Sarah are courageous women. Holy women are courageous women. There may be at times, fear within you, fear that a holy woman feels who is living in a very difficult circumstances, but she doesn't allow it to pour out of her as though she's lost confidence in God. She doesn't allow it to pour out of her as if she's panicking. That's what without any amazement. This is a daughter of Sarah. She has courage. So the goal of every holy woman is to have a strong faith, faith that trusts in God, faith that obeys the will of God, regardless of circumstances, faith that is courageous and not intimidated. That's the daughter of Sarah. And holy women show that they are of this special lineage of women when they follow these two markers that Peter has identified. She does well, she's a doer of the word, and she's not afraid. When the trials and the tests come her way, she doesn't panic and she doesn't run. She has the courage to deal with them. Just a little caution here. Peter is not saying that you are made a holy woman or a daughter of Sarah by your actions. He's not saying that. He's saying, but by your actions and demeanor, you show you are. You have the DNA of the daughters of Sarah. Peter's primary focus as we have studied this portion has been on wives who are married to unbelieving husbands. And this is indeed a difficult marriage for sure, and one that may cause a kind of form of suffering that she has to deal with. And we recognize and do all that we can to encourage them and pray for them. This study has always been important to me and it's a very special part of my life. For many years and 50 some years of ministry in different churches and different places in our country, I have dealt with a number of these women, these wives who are married to unbelievers. And I watched their struggles. And I journeyed with them for many years as they became a part of our churches and we did everything as we could as a body of people to help them, to encourage them. And most of them continue to this day as God's holy women, as daughters of Sarah. I know some of them listen to us every Sunday. And I am so blessed to have been a part of their lives, to see the courage and to see the resolve to be obedient against all odds. Special women. But every woman can be this way. Every woman ought to be this way. I've been blessed by them. Our churches have been blessed by them. Some holy women are by God's sovereign providential plan married to non-believers. To what end? Maybe his conversion is a part of it, maybe not. But always for this woman's good. And she will bring blessings upon her children in her home as a holy woman who's living an obedient life before God. Some holy women are married to weak believers. We've journeyed with a lot of those over the years, men whose faith needs to grow. Her mission doesn't change here. She still has a holy woman's committed to the same principles that women who are married to unbelievers are committed to. And most women, holy women, are married, and we rejoice to know this as God works these things out, to men who are good husbands, who seek to lead their wives and children as godly men, men who understand the position that God has placed them in, men who understand their accountability to God. What a blessed thing it is. to be married to a man who understands his role, but it doesn't minimize yours as a wife. It doesn't take away your position to be a holy woman. It doesn't mean you don't have to be concerned about trusting in God, or adorning yourself, or submitting to your husband, Whatever the circumstances, all holy women are called to live in a similar way. Trusting in God, adorning themselves, and respecting what God has given to you, that position that God has given to your husband. It's interesting how Peter has worked this ground quite thoroughly. He said a lot of things that are similar as he develops these ideas. And eventually he pulls every woman into the story, into this narrative, into his concern of what he's writing. It's not just women with husbands who are unbelievers. It's not just women whose husbands are weak in faith. whether it's women with husbands who are good leaders, all of you, you have been set apart by God, it doesn't change. You are a holy woman, you belong to him. He has designated you for his purposes. And your goal, according to Peter here is Be doers of it. Be doers of the things that you are taught. Doesn't matter what your circumstances are, be a doer of the word. Holy women are doers of the word. And the holy women, Peter concludes, are courageous. They have strong faith. They're not intimidated. They're not afraid of the circumstances that may unfold They have the ability, the capacity, the spirituality to manage those moments carefully, that she doesn't panic, she doesn't run, she doesn't unravel, but she shows strength. That's making you a part of this special family that Peter adds, the daughters of Sarah, a special group of women who lived out their faith and their life in such a manner that they are being honored in Scripture as a special kind of woman. And I trust that as we conclude this portion of women and their relationship to husbands and the struggles they might have and suffering that might occur, that all of you have gained a similar perspective of what your role is, what your duty is. what your responsibilities are as being one of God's holy women. Father, thank you for this morning and the privilege of opening your word again and considering these things that are so clearly taught to us by thy spirit through Peter. I pray the women of our church might glean from these things and find things that would strengthen them and enable them to be among this classification that has been identified here by Peter as holy women. They've always existed. They are yours, set apart by you. They belong to you. They are for your service. May our women in this church have that same commitment, regardless of their circumstance, that they would be numbered among these, I pray in Christ's name.