First Peter, and I'm going to ask you to let me read a few verses leading up to chapter three. Chapter three is going to begin our new focus for the coming weeks, but it's connected to what precedes beginning in verse 18 of chapter two. So I want to begin there. And you'll see how closely it's connected as we get into chapter three in a few moments. So I'm going to read beginning in verse 18 of chapter two, and I'll read all the way through verse six of chapter number three. Servants, slaves, be subject to your master with all regard, all reverence. not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward, those who mistreat you. For this is thankworthy. If a man for conscience toward God endures grief, suffering wrongfully, God accepts this as an offering to himself. For what glory is it if when you suffer, You're suffering buffeted for your own faults, your own bad behavior, bad attitude, and you take it patiently. Where is the benefit in that? But if when you do well and you suffer for it and you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even here unto were you called because Christ also suffered for us. leaving us an example that we would follow in his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who when he was reviled, he reviled not again. And when he suffered, he didn't threaten, but rather committed himself to him that judgeth righteously, his father. Who his own self, Christ in his own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree, so that we, being dead to sins, should now live unto righteousness, by whose stripes we have been healed. For you were a sheep going astray, but you are now returned unto the shepherd and the bishop of your souls. 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, the behavior 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 the hair and of wearing of gold or putting on of apparel, but that your adorning be the hidden person, the hidden man, the hidden woman of the heart, and 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. or was after this same manner in the old times, when 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. From this reading, We recognize that Peter's theme of suffering hasn't changed as he's moved out of chapter two and chapter three. These are man-made divisions. These are not given to us by God and sometimes they give us a false sense of what is actually happening in a text. But the connection is obvious, it's real as we read it. He has now shifted his application of suffering He began with servants and slaves, and now he's dealing with the marriage relationship, as we see it here in verse one of chapter three, and then the men in verse seven of chapter three. Marriage by God's design is intended to bring joy, gratification, and companionship, and many other benefits. to the union between a man and a woman. It's meant to be a joyful thing, marriage. However, Peter is focused on marriages that can potentially crush the human spirit. Marriages that cause a true believer to feel sorrow and grief and even disappointment Peter is tenderhearted here in his writing as he is expressing the very nature of God to us. When dealing with a woman, and here in our text, wives, likewise ye wives, who are suffering under the weight of a marriage that is divided over spiritual things. There's nothing more important to a believing wife or husband than to share their faith with their marriage partner. Not to have that is great grief and sorrow. Peter has just pointed the believing saints, God's people, who are slaves and servants to live godly, even when they are suffering wrongfully, and he tells them to look to Christ. He points them to Christ, who suffered wrongfully, and follow his example. We are God's sheep, Peter said. We must remember that Christ, the suffering servant for us, is also our shepherd who watches over us no matter what our conditions are this morning. And Christ is our bishop, Peter says, the one who inspects the Greek soldiers. Remember the episcopus. And he made sure that all of the soldiers were fit for battle, that bishop. Christ is our inspector general who inspects our life and requires us to stay in spiritual shape so that we can fight the world's efforts to compress us into its mold. It's happening all the time around us. Our bishop prepares us to fight against our own fleshly tendencies. Power was broken, as we read and heard this morning in Sunday school, and these things that were broken, the sins, the power, the reign was broken. They cannot reign over us unless we habitually yield to their tendencies. Our bishop prepares us to fight against the devil whose cunning methods for making war against our soul cannot be detected if we are not alert. Remember, his appointed means for shepherding and inspecting your life is through his word and body life. Christ doesn't work apart from his word and spirit and body life. And so we take great comfort, no matter what our life is going through, to know that Christ, the suffering servant, is also our shepherd and our bishop who cares for us and makes sure that we are ready to face our enemies. When we are led into the valleys of the shadows of death, we will not fear. And so a woman who is faced with these kinds of difficulties in her life, a wife who is living in a very oppressive environment, she has hope, she has reason for hope because she has a shepherd who watches over her. She has a bishop who is at work in her life to bring her to and through these things as she experiences them. And she learns to, like Christ and like slaves and servants, the suffering wife learns to trust in the righteous judgments of her father. And so as we look at our text this morning, you might ask a question, why should you be interested in a text that speaks very specifically about a person called wives? You may not be a wife, so why should this interest you? And it's a very specific condition. He's talking about wives oppressed in a marriage where someone is not obeying God's word. So why would that interest you? That's maybe not your condition, right? Well, this text ought to cause every husband, and I appeal to you as husbands this morning, those of you who are here. You may be addressing wives, but I'm appealing to you to look at yourself this morning and see if you are causing any grief, any sorrow, any pain in your marriage. to your wife. Be humbled by the fact that this is something that God would not have for you to do, and you must adjust your life to be a blessing, to bring comfort, to bring joy to your wife. So you can learn from this bad example of this bad man, this jerk that's in our text. You can learn from him. You don't want to be like him. He's not the one you want to imitate. Every young man should look at this scene and fear becoming this man who is not the spiritual companion that his wife desires him to be. If you're thinking of planning marriage one day, as a young man, you need to contemplate this. What kind of man will you be? Will you bring through your spiritual leadership the benefits to your marriage or will you fall prey to the weaknesses of your life and bring this kind of harm and sadness to a woman's life? Every young woman ought to be very interested in this text today. How careful you need to be when deciding on a husband, make sure Make sure to the best of your ability and the counsel that you receive that your choice includes a man with obvious and consistent spiritual qualities. We have a domestic scene here and we can all learn from it. That's my point. Wives. It's not an ideal marriage that Peter is showing to us. He's showing to us a scene where there is a wife who is suffering because she's alone on her spiritual journey. When Peter writes likewise ye wives, he's connecting the concept and ideas of suffering to the very things he just talked about. Wives suffer. when they are married to men who are not leaders spiritually in their life. They suffer from that. If she is a spiritual woman, she's grieved by that. And so this is a domestic scene that deserves our consideration this morning. Likewise, Peter says in verse one, you wives, Peter, by means of the Holy Spirit, is directed to connect this condition to what he's just been talking about on the subject of suffering. She is living with a man who doesn't share her hopes, he doesn't share her commitments, he doesn't share her values. That's the scene we have, the domestic scene that Peter is picturing for us. Remember, Peter was married. It's very clearly stated in the Gospels. And we know that Peter had his own ups and downs, didn't he? He had a lot of difficulties in his life. Maybe he was extremely sensitive to what his dear wife went through during his many ups and downs. He was presently pastoring at this time. He tells us that at the end of this letter. And so he was familiar with women in his ministry or those that connected to his family who were experiencing these kinds of difficulties, these oppressions. Look at verse one, likewise you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they may also without the word be won by the conversation of the wives." Her husband here in this scene is a man who obeys not the word is what we're being told. What is the condition here? What is this about? He's not obeying the word. Is this rebellion? It could be a source of rebellion in his own heart towards the things of God, it could be. But it's interesting, this Greek word that is used and translated in our English, obey not, It is the Greek word that is pronounced apatheo. Is that a ring in your head a little bit? When this word is transliterated into the English, we get apathetic or apathy. What does that mean? It conveys the idea that this wife is married to a man who has absolutely no feelings for those things she is passionate about. He has no zero interest in them, in spiritual things. He's completely indifferent. No feelings for spiritual things. That's the condition of this man. Things that excite her, things that she values, mean nothing to him. This brings her suffering. That's why she's connected in this text to the concept of Peter's teaching on suffering. To be a woman who loves the things of God married to a man who has absolutely no interest is oppressive, very discouraging, very difficult. So what does this Christian woman do, right? What does she do? How should she respond to her husband? It's difficult to imagine that this man is a believer, that he has that kind of disposition towards spiritual things, but we heard this morning in Nathan's lesson, these things are possible for a spiritual man to so decline in his life that he's no longer a useful instrument in his wife spiritually. He can decline to that level. That may be the case here. We don't know. We're not told exactly. We just know that we have a guy, a man, a husband, who is apathetic towards spiritual things and towards his wife's interest in spiritual things. I remember the gospel had spread, was spreading rapidly at this time throughout the Roman Empire. And many were believing and accepting God's plan of salvation. We have, earlier Peter talks about slaves and servants who've come to the gospel and they're now in churches and they are trying to figure out how do I respond to abusive masters? And Peter gives them counsel, look to Christ, look to Christ. And so again, we're looking at another condition, and this is a domestic scene of a husband and wife. And she's married to this man who's an unbeliever, a seriously backslidden man, we're not sure. But in the Roman Empire, as the gospel is being spread, many homes would be divided over religion. Many homes. Jesus said in Matthew 10, I didn't come to bring peace. I came to divide homes. That's the reality of the gospel. Not everybody in the home is going to embrace the gospel. And even gives the relationships in the home Jesus did in Matthew 10 about the division that does occur. These are real things. And we see Peter is addressing that problem right here with a woman who's married to a man who appears to be an unbeliever. How should she respond? He dealt with slaves and servants, how they should respond. Now he's going to deal with women married to unconverted husbands and tells them how they should respond. So he gets down to the details. of how to live out your faith in your environment, even if it's oppressive and causing suffering in your life. He brings this subject up, I believe, because it wasn't uncommon. It wasn't uncommon. The nature of the gospel causes this to occur. Not everybody, the whole family, sometimes they come to Christ, but that's not always the way it works. And so Peter's counsel to wives here in verse one, living in these difficult conditions begins with the essential contribution that wives are meant to contribute to the marriage. Peter begins where God begins. Marriage is God's plan, His design. And all of the reasons why God designed the marriage the way that He did, they're all recorded for us, not only in Genesis 1 through 3, but also reaffirmed by Christ's own teachings and the apostles as well. So Peter's counsel to wives is in perfect agreement with God's original design. So whatever we read the counsel to be, no, it's God's plan. It's always been God's plan. And he begins with the most essential part of the contribution a wife makes to marriage. Subjection. That's where he begins. That's where God begins. That's where Paul begins. Now, when Peter wrote this letter, he knew it would be read in churches everywhere. And Peter is not afraid of his culture and the changes taking place within the Roman culture even at that time. If you go back in history and read what's going on at the same period of time in the Roman culture, there was an elite class of women at that particular period in history who were promoting and making a very strong push toward a more feministic view of women in society. Peter's terms will be ridiculed and they will be rejected. Most people in that society would not accept these words as being valid upon them. Because the word that Peter uses is a word that is a military word. Most women at that period of time who were oppressed and in submission to their husbands were forced to be in submission. from threats of abuse and beatings and being thrown out if they're not in submission. God uses a term, Paul uses it, Peter uses it, a term. This is a military term, remember, and it had to do with every soldier who was being recruited and brought into the military, he had to take an oath, a sacrament, a vow. And that vow is what this word refers to, that he would willingly put himself under those who were in authority above him in the ranks of the army. If the army doesn't have that, they have no order, they have no structure if the soldiers are not willing to submit to their superiors. It had to be something every soldier decided to do. You enter the army willing to accept that position. This is the word that the New Testament uses. And Peter's not concerned about what the cultural trends are. He's not afraid to be counter-cultural in his preaching and teaching when it comes to the subject of God's design for marriage. This word is the means by which God preserves the marriage. If the wife isn't willing to accept this willingly as God's choice for her, then she shouldn't enter marriage. No young woman should enter marriage who's not willing to accept God's placement for her. as any man should not marry who's not willing to accept God's placement for him. This is all God's design. And Peter is simply giving us what is essentially the most important contribution that a wife makes to her home is to be in subjection to her own husband. This is not an ideal domestic scene. This is not a perfect marriage. This is anything but a perfect marriage. And yet it is required of her that she willingly accepts the position that God has given to her when she commits to marriage. This is her role. This is her contribution. to the stability and the strength of marriage. Peter begins his counsel here in verse one, to wives who are suffering, remember, under the leadership of a man who is totally indifferent to her hopes and commitments and values. And Peter begins with the most basic thing that God requires of his daughters. Peter presents subjection. And it's important that wives catch what Peter's doing here because Peter presents subjection as not only what you owe to your Lord who requires this from you, but subjection. Listen here closely. Even if your marriage is sound and structured, you're going to deal with people in your life that it's not that way. The wisdom of God here is this. When you accept your role and make your contribution that God has given to you, and you do it as unto God, subjection opens the door for a woman to influence her husband. This is not just submitting to be oppressed under some rule. This is being submissive so that you can change your husband. That's Peter's point. This is how a woman can change her environment. And this is a mystery for sure that wives need to understand and be very clear about. If you don't offer subjection and you try to do all the other things that Peter talks about, it won't work. You have to start here. The most influential thing in a man's life will be your willingness to accept your role that God has given to you. It's not that he sees it that way, it's that God will use it to impact him. That's how Peter is presenting it here. for the woman to consider. Because God designed the marriage and gave to the woman this responsibility, then when it's being practiced, wives are encouraged because God blesses obedience. When you are obedient to God with the position that he has given to you, not the man, God has given this to you. When you accept this, and embrace it. God is going to bless that in your life and use it to impact your environment. It's the way it works. You want to change your environment? It has to start here. The first thing that God requires, it's because God designed the marriage and he's given the woman the responsibility And when this is practiced, God will bless her obedience. So wives, may not be any of you here, but let us learn from this. When you are in subjection, not as a negative thing, don't look at God's requirements that you owe to God a negative thing, but when you embrace it, it becomes a powerful means to influence a husband, who is even apathetic. He doesn't care. No interest at all. Peter is not making a suggestion here when he makes this statement, likewise you wives be in subjection. This is an imperative. This verb is an imperative. You must do this because it's God's will for you to do this, is how Peter is presenting it. And when you, or as you obey, you will be blessed. Through your obedience, God will change your husband. He can turn your husband from the path he's on But even if he doesn't, if it is the will of God to leave the mate alone and not have any impact on his life, you will be greatly changed and blessed for your obedience to God. That goes without saying. God blesses obedience. And when you choose to be obedient, God will bless you. So Peter, in our verse here, adds the reason for ordering your life, kind of arranging your life under your Lord, which will inspire and strengthen your subjection to your husband. Your reason for subjection, Peter says, notice here, wives be in subjection to your own husband so that, so here's the reason, so that. If you have a husband who is spiritually dead or indifferent to spiritual things, we are told that if you submit yourselves, you take on this role that God has given to you, within that submission, God arranges the promise of the blessing to change him so that Here's the reason you do it, because you know your husband will never be changed, is what Peter is saying, unless you do submit. It starts with that. So that, and he explains what he means. So that they also, which without the word, be one. Without the word. They also may be one, even when they reject God's word. They don't want to hear it. They don't want to go to church. They don't want to hear you talking about spiritual things. They don't want the Christian radio on. They don't want it. They have no interest in it. Wives can still force their husbands to be brought face to face with God's word. Not by anything they say. They don't have to preach the word. They don't have to open up the Bible and read the word to him. They will confront him with the word by the way that she lives, by her behavior. That's a little staggering when we think about this because we're so We're so familiar with the concept that God only uses his word when it's spoken, the spoken word of God. But that is not completely true. He uses it when it's being lived. And here's an example of a woman who has the power to change her husband, not by anything she says, but by the way she lives. He is brought face to face with God through her life. That's the way God intended for her life to influence him. By being in subjection and living a godly life before him, he can be one without the word. by the means, Peter says, of your conversation or your manner of living, your behavior of the wives. And this refers to a constant. He says, they also may be won by the conversation of the wives. Without the word spoken, the word is being taught and preached to them by her behavior. She just goes about living a godly life in her home under this difficult environment. And God is preaching to him without her ever saying a word. And if God intends to save him, he will save him through her behavior. That's what Peter's telling us here. This is a pretty amazing thing that God has given to us that we can claim as absolute truth. Behavior, your conversations of the wife, this refers to a consistent lifestyle that she lives before him. It's interesting here that when he says, they may be won by your conversation of the wives, that this is not a verb, this is a noun, feminine gender. And so what this means is that behavior is guided by our mindset. That's what the noun feminine gender is pointing to. Attitude, mindset, disposition. When we possess the knowledge and understanding of God's will, wives will arrange their life accordingly to it. Why? Because godly behavior is not just something we do, it's who we are. It's who we are. It's what we're persuaded of. We believe it to be so. And because we believe it, it works itself out into our daily life. This is what Peter is teaching us. The power of a life, living after the will of God. It will change and impact even a man who is completely apathetic and has no interest in spiritual things. So people will, Peter in the coming verses here in the next few weeks will give our wives several important qualities that they must practice. We'll dig those out as they endeavor to influence their husbands and win them. And so these wives ought to be arranged to hear these words, encouraged by these truths as they arrange themselves under God's structure and design, that you, by your own life, living and following God, have the power to win your husband by your behavior, without ever saying a word. That's the influence. That's the power of God's word. One. That he might be one. He may be one. And this verb speaks of gaining something. God may use your commitment to him to move your husband from a disinterested position to joining with you in your Christian pilgrimage. He may be one. become a part of this shared journey of life. I mean, we think of the Holy Spirit and all of this activity of his using of the Word of God and how he empowers it, and he doesn't work where the Word of God is not spoken. Jesus said that very clearly in the Gospels. He only operates where the Word is being spoken. But we learn from Peter that speaking the word of God is just not a verbal thing, it's a lifestyle. It's the way we choose to live. Remember in Peter, in Paul's letter in Ephesians chapter five, we learned this same truth where Paul challenges the saints there in the church at Ephesus to be light, be light. Walk circumspectly, knowing that your life is designated. As you move through this world, it will call out to the world. As you move on the job, you move in your neighborhood, in the places you shop, among your family and friends. When you choose to live as light, Paul said, it will call out to those around you and say, Awake thou that sleepest, and Christ shall give you life. That's God's design to use our life in this world. It's not just going around preaching. It's not thinking we always have to tell everybody something to convince them. No. Convince them by the way that you live. Show them the power of God operating that they cannot deny. because it's working in you. Yeah, let's wrap up a few thoughts here in closing. I know the subject is different for most of you. We don't have wives oppressed. We have many good, strong families for which we praise God. but it doesn't mean that we still can't learn from this message that God has given to us through Peter this morning. The only way for wives who are suffering and being oppressed and struggling, and you can take this into your families, you can take this into your neighborhood, this message that Peter has given to wives who are suffering They're discouraged. There's sorrow, there's grief. Can't tell you how many times over 50 some years of ministry I've sat with wives married to unbelievers. And the discouragement and the sorrow and the grief that they carry is real. But you, Wives like all believers who suffer cannot find joy and peace until you embrace the necessary thing that God requires of you. You cannot be content until you embrace subjection. It's impossible. You will not find peace until you embrace this concept, this idea that God has chosen to give to you as your contribution. to your marriage. And it's important for us to know and understand His will so that we can behave consistent with His will. So, wives, as we learn this principle and we reestablish it for you again this morning, or we're reminding you of this idea again today, is that as you embrace God's appointment of your position in your home and you embrace that role that God has given to you to embrace of submission to your husband, God will use you in a very significant and powerful way in your husband's life. So don't demean this. It doesn't matter what the world's thinking. It doesn't matter about our culture. There's much wisdom that we can all gather this morning. I've been challenged and instructed just in my preparation over these past weeks, reading and rereading this text again and again. There's much wisdom for all of us to glean from this passage this morning. And I hope that it has humbled in some respects our husbands and challenged us concerning our lack of spiritual leadership in our homes, that we would recognize that when we fail, we impose grief. We impose sorrow. We impose discouragement. on a woman who has to live with a man who is apathetic towards spiritual things. May God help us as men not to be like this man, but rather to follow the instruction that God has given to us from his word. And let us, as we go through this, be confident that there's wisdom for our young men and our young women as they hear this and they evaluate this text. I pray that every, we have a lot of young teenage, early 20 guys and gals, and that you take this seriously. Don't. Don't marry prematurely before you figure out he's a spiritual guy. She's a spiritual woman. You do not want to enter into marriage that is not yoked properly. It will only bring grief into your life. And if you find yourself in that condition, may Peter become a great encouragement to you that there is hope. for women who will follow and obey the will of God. God will bless your life. There's wisdom to pass on to others who live in a difficult marriage. Sometimes they come into our church. Sometimes we know them outside of our church. But Peter is offering great wisdom that we need to be familiar with. And when we encounter wives and later men who are married to someone who is no interest in spiritual things, we can take them to this passage and we can guide them through the counsel of Peter. as the Spirit of God gives us the wisdom that we need for those kinds of trials. And if this morning, as most of our wives are, you're married to a good man, can I just say, give thanks to God. Praise God that he's given you a good man. Praise God that he's interested in the same things you're interested in. that he's sharing and willingly desires to share a journey with you? What a gift to you. Thank God for that gift. And for those who might feel the difficulties and the challenges of how to behave and conduct themselves, Peter has made it very clear that the goal is to constantly be looking to Christ as our example. Look to him. Look to Christ. Look to how he dealt with suffering wrongfully. Look to him. following his footsteps as you live out your life. And remember, Jesus said it, in this world, you will have the experiences of trials and tribulations in this world, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And so may all of you who find yourself or deal with someone who has a difficult situation, Be encouraged by the example of Christ and by his promise that he will in the end show forth his victory in your life because he has already overcome the world. Christ can be trusted. You can lean upon him. You can put your faith in his plan for your life. Whatever the conditions are, obey. and he will bless you in the process as you work through it. Father, we thank you for this morning and the privilege of looking at Peter and considering his counsel to us on the subject of wives who are struggling, married to a disobedient man, to the authority of your word. May all of us find encouragement and instruction from what Peter has given us this morning. that we would put these matters into your hands and we would trust you and we would embrace the role, the responsibilities that you have given to us and that we would live our life in faith, trusting you as the one who blesses the faith of obedience. Thank you for this morning and the privilege to contemplate these things. Bless them now to the lives of your people, I ask in Christ's name, amen.