A dwelling according to know..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. The first letter of Peter and this evening by God's grace, we are going to be addressing in chapter three, verse seven, in which the apostle Peter is going to give now an exhortation or an instruction to two husbands. After he has given an exhortation or instructions to all Christians, to servants and to wives, the apostle now is going to give this practical instruction to husbands.

And that verse is the one that we're going to be meditating upon. But as we always do, we're going to be reading the entire section that comes from chapter two, verse 11, all the way through chapter three, verse 12. This new section, this new thought in the mind of the Apostle Peter, in which he's going to exhort Christians at outward living. So let's read carefully, brothers and sisters, in scripture, chapter two, verse 11. This is the word of God.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution. Whether it be to the emperor supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrow while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?

But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you may follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued trusting himself to him who judges justly.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds ye have been healed. For you were strained like sheep, and have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Chapter three. Likewise, wives be subject to your own husbands so that even if some do not obey the word, they might be one without a word by the conduct of their wives.

When they see your respectful and pure conduct, do not let your adorning be external. The braiding of hair and the printing of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear. But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and a quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. This is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. And you are her children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightened.

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the women as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but, on the contrary, bless, for to these you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For whoever desires to love life and seek good dates, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good.

Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." Fearful birth. Amen.

The Word of God. Brothers and sisters by by god's grace. We are going to be now addressing verse 7 in which the apostle peter is now going to give this direct this clear instruction now not to wives but to husbands and the instruction or the instruction or the the exhortation better that the apostle peter gives to these Christians' husbands is to live with their wives in an understanding way, is how the ESV says here. And he has done this after the apostle has given the instruction to wives. And it's very important, beloved brothers and sisters, that we see this as an instruction that is given in unity.

husband and wife are one flesh and therefore the instructions that are given to the wife for their christian living are connected to the instructions that the holy spirit by the apostle peter in this case gives to the husbands to the men. Those two instructions come together because of the one fleshness. If you allow me to use that word of marriage of the husband and the wife. So it's very important that whatever we're going to say about the husbands being exhorted by the apostle to live in an understanding way with their wives. We understand that in light of the things that we said last week about the submission of the wife to their husbands.

And if there was something that I wanted you to have in your mind, everyone, but especially sisters that by God's grace are married to men and to Christian men, is that submission is something that goes beyond the fact or saying yes to everything that husbands required, but... Deep in the heart, the submission of the wife to the husband is a spiritual reality of the heart that manifests itself outwardly. So that is, that the act of submission from the wife to the husband is something that happens rooted in the heart. It's not something that you can do in your flesh outwardly, in the power of your intellect, in the power of your flesh. We get frustrated when we do things in the flesh.

We get tired when we do things in the flesh. Every command that the Apostle gives us is to walk in the Spirit and to obey in the Spirit. That is an inward reality. That is the exhortation that the Apostle gave to the wives to be submitted to their husbands. But now, beloved sisters and brothers, the Word of God tells us two very beautiful things about that submission that wives are to give to their husbands.

The first one that is that it is because because it is something that happens within the heart, within the soul of the sister, that the sister has been visited by the power of the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit has produced within her fruits worthy of the Christian life, Christ likeness that she decides to submit to her husband as unto the Lord for the glory of God, for the Lord's sake. that she herself, this sister, becomes a public testimony of the glorious workings of God. So that's why the apostle said that even some unbelieving husbands might be won by the conduct of their wives. Why? Because the workings of the grace of the Spirit of God was so powerful in the life of these sisters that everything that was coming out of them was a testimony to the glorious working of the grace of God.

So then they were not living their lives in their own strength, but it was Christ living in them by faith, just as Paul would say in Galatians. It was Christ living in the life of these sisters, so that everything that they said, everything that they did and the places that they went, everything was marked by the hand of God. So God used them as an instrument, as a spiritual weapon to pierce the heart of the lost and to use it to bring those lost men, unbelieving husbands, to the Word, to obey the Word, to obedience of the truth, as Peter would say it in chapter one. That submissiveness that comes from the heart, that is the submissiveness that is produced by the workings of the Spirit. That is the first thing, that the woman becomes an instrument, a powerful spiritual instrument in the hand of the Spirit of God to pierce the heart of sinful men.

But the second thing is that submissiveness. It is a beautifying adornment of the heart. It is not only that the woman becomes an instrument that testifies of the glory of God, but submissiveness, as the apostle will say in the second section of the chapter, is a beautifying, adorning item, not to the external beauty of the woman, not to the hair or to the clothing or to the jewelry that they use. But it's a beautifying adornment to the inside person of the heart, the internal person. And that is glorious.

That is glorious, because the Spirit of God makes a person, and in this case a woman, more beautiful, not according to the precepts and the standards of men, which are wicked, but according to the precepts, according to the standards of God. the beauty that is within in the heart and he says that that beauty is imperishable that is not temporal that which is outward the physical appearance of outside is perishing and is passing away but the beauty that is given by the hand of this spirit is in Perishable. It is Christ-like. That's what I wanted to point you to, that this beauty that the woman has, the Christian woman has, is the beauty of Christ, of a gentle and a quiet spirit to which God the Father says, that is precious, just as the father says, this is my beloved son. And his son was precious in the sight of the father.

Then the woman that is submitted to his husband, not in the power of the flesh, but in the power of the spirit, dominated by the things that the Word of God says is beautiful and is precious in the sight of God. And that type of woman, brothers, is the type of woman that should be precious in our eyes. If that type of woman is precious in the eyes of God, so then we should do everything as men. So that would be the standard of beauty in our eyes and in our hearts and within our souls. Then the apostle saying that this beautifying effect and power of submissiveness was bringing or was a testimony of the workings of the spirit, not only for the sisters that were receiving this letter, but it was also a testimony of the workings of the spirit from all.

Why? Because the salvation that is brought to humans who are sinners and are lost has the same effect. The spirit visited powerfully the person and is transformed from death to life, from darkness to light, even from when redemption started. So he says that these sisters are the daughters of Sarah. Sarah, the wife of Abraham, the mother of faith, the workings of the Spirit were always the same.

So submissiveness is this beautifying adornment to the heart of those sisters who are in Christ. But something very important that is going to connect to our passage, brothers and sisters, is the fact that in the end, in verse six, the apostle is going to say that these sisters also do good works. And then he says that they do not fear anything that is frightening. that they do not fear anything that is frightening. The workings of the Spirit within these sisters were giving them boldness to endure the tribulations and the difficulties and the persecution that they would have been going through.

Why? Because, as he says in verse 1, some of them may have been married to unbelieving husbands. And as it is in the biblical principle in which man is the head of the wife, it was also in the wicked secular society of the Roman Empire in the first century, in which whatever the religion of the head of the house was, then the wife had to be submitted. But what happens if the Spirit of God visits the heart of a woman and then she is radically saved? You see, Christianity is not something that you choose and you pick.

If the Spirit of God visits a heart, then there's nothing that can be done. That person has been saved. So if the Spirit visited a woman who was married to a pagan man, so more than likely, this sister would have gone through tribulations and difficulties. So the apostle Peter is writing now to those sisters, at least in the previous section, that would have been going through those persecutions. Now, these days, it is completely different because if a sister is married to a pagan or to an unbeliever, to a lost man, That sister, it is to submit to that man insofar as she is not going against principle of righteousness that is given in Scripture.

That sister has the authority of Scripture to define this submissiveness to the husband. She is not going to submit to something that is being imposed on her that is clearly going against the principles that are given to us by God, by the Triune God. It was not the situation of sisters in the first century. Now, they would have been going through persecution, but now then Peter is going to shift his address or his exhortation, and now he's going to speak to husbands, and these husbands are not husbands who are married to unbelieving wives, but rather he's going to now address husbands, Christian husbands, who are married to these Christian women or women that he has described already. Why would he do that?

Well, because also if a man was the head of the house, more than likely that he would have not gone through persecutions and difficulties within his house from his wife or from his children. Why? Because just from a secular point of view, they were supposed to submit to them. Plus, we can see also the providential hand of God through the New Testament that every time that a man believed, in his grace and in his providence, God granted salvation also to the wife and to the children. At least as we read through Acts, this was the case.

So these husbands were not going through tribulation. And these are the husbands that we are going to be addressing this evening. Now pay attention, beloved brothers and sisters, because the principles that we're going to be addressing here are not only beneficial for the souls of those who, by the providence of God, are married to a Christian woman, but these are principles that go directly to the heart of every Christian. And just as men should be interested in knowing what the Scripture says about their duties as husbands, Then also, women should be interested in knowing what Scripture says about the duties of their husbands, so they should pray for their husbands to be like that, and also exhort their husbands when they fall from that. And also, those who are single, they should put their eyes in a person not according to the standards of beauty and excellence that this world gives.

but should put their eyes in a woman and in a man according to the glorious and perfect precepts that the Scripture, that the Word of God gives, which are completely different to what the world says. So, in verse 7, when the apostle is going to start giving this exhortation to husbands, he is going to give us the qualifier. But before giving you the qualifier of that exhortation, I want to present to you simply the exhortation that the apostle gives. It's very simple. It's, in a sense, simple, yet it is very profound.

The apostle is going to call husbands to live with their wives and in the ESV is called in an understanding way if you have another translation may say with understanding or even if you have another translation may say according to knowledge so the apostle says to husbands to leave with their wives in an understanding way. That's the exhortation. That's the instruction. But then if you want from that exhortation, there is an evidence or there's a fruit that will come that living with their wives in an understanding way is manifested in the fact that husbands show honor unto them. So the apostle calls wives or husbands better to live with their wives in an understanding way.

And the evidence or the fruit or the manifestation of it is that they show honor onto their wives. And then the apostle is going to give two reasons why that honor is to be given to their wives. And it's going to be rooted in the identity of the wife. One is that the wife is the weaker vessel, and the other one is that the wife is the co-heir or heir together with the husbands of the grace of the life. That's instruction.

That is the whole instruction, my beloved brothers, that we are to live with our wives in an understanding way, and the manifestation of living with our wives in an understanding way, it is that we show honor unto them. This is the manifestation, this is the fruit, this is the evidence, this is the outward actings of living with our wives in an understanding way, that we show honor unto them. And the reasons why we show honor unto them are rooted in the identity of our wives. The first, that they are the weaker vessel. And the second is that they are coerced with us in Christ of the grace of life.

That's how he presents the instruction to husbands. And then in the end, he presents the consequences, the spiritual consequences of neglecting that principle. which is that your prayers may be hindered. So he presents the instruction, what we are to do, and then he presents the consequences of neglecting, following the principle that the Spirit of God has given us. So I don't know about you, but this is serious and it's very important for the life of everyone within the church.

that we would live our lives in an understanding way according to what Scripture says, so that our prayers may go beyond the roof. They may not be hindered. They may reach the heavenly places. So then the apostle starts giving this exhortation to live with their wives in an understanding way with a qualifier, as I said. And the qualifier that he gives is, likewise.

I love how the apostle makes things so clear, yet sometimes very complicated. He is going to give again, likewise, in the similar way. That means that you should have been not only here, but pay attention to what I said last week. Because this likewise is going to connect the exhortation that is given to husbands to the nature of the exhortation that was given to wives, and then to servants, and also to all Christians to submit to the governing authorities. That is, that husbands are to live with their wives in an understanding way, for the Lord's sake, as it is said in verse 13, it says, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution.

And also it is said in verse 18, with all respect, just as wives were supposed to submit to their husbands for the Lord's sake, with all respect, also husbands are to live with their lives likewise in the same way that the wives did also for the Lord's sake, and also with all respect and with all reverence. Brothers, this means that the reason why we are to live our lives with our wives in a godly, Christ-like manner, it is not because of what others may say of us. It is not because of what others may see in us. It is not because of our reputation. It is not because of what people say or may not say of who we are.

But the ultimate goal of living with our wives in an understanding way is the Lord's sake. Put it in the words of Paul, whether you eat or drink, everything that you do, do it unto the glory of God. So then the glory of God is the final destination. Brothers, the glory of God is the final destination of this spiritual train. You are not to stop in your life.

You are to continue towards the final destination. And that is God Christ himself. You see, your wife is just a passing stage on your trip towards God. You are to put your eyes in Christ. You're to put your eyes in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And by doing so, you are to live your Christian life so that everything that you do You do for the Lord's sake, not even for your wife's sake, not even for your children's sake, not even for your sake, not even for the church's sake, not even for society's sake, not even for anyone's sake. For the Lord's sake, because glory is due to Him, the One who saved you. That's the principle that whatever we do, whatever we obey, that we do it as unto the Lord and with reverence. And then he's going to start giving the instruction to us. For one second, I was going to speak in Spanish.

Giving the instruction to us. And that is, live with your wives. That's the instruction that starts. Live with your wives. For the Lord's sake, we're going to understand now what we are to do with our wives.

This word, live, is a very interesting word, brothers and sisters, because it's the only time that it happens in the New Testament. It's the only time that this word is going to be given by the Holy Spirit to us. Some translations say, leave. Some other translations say, dwell. And the particular aspect of this word, it is that a very intimate and private word.

It is not only about coexist and be with them, but the apostle is directing to the very private place of the dwelling of husband and wife. The apostle is addressing the place that no one sees. And this is very important because men, we act in a different way as we act in the very secret place. Now, we expect and we hope that by God's grace, the public living is congruent and related and rooted in the public, in the private life. But because of the providences and the freedoms of marriage, I'm pretty sure that you behave in a different way before your wife than when you were before me.

because this is the freedoms that marriage gives to both husband and wife. So the apostle is now giving an instruction for that very secret place of the dwelling of the husband with the wife. A place where there's no time for pretending. A place where there's no time for disguising and putting something so that people may see or think something. A place where things are on the table.

A place where we say the things that are truly in our hearts. A place where we do the things that are truly in our hearts. A place where we go and do not go to the places that we really have intention in our heart. A place where we are who we really are. Someone said that the true Christian is seen in the secret place of the man dwelling with his wife.

That the wife is the person that is able to say of that man who he really is. And that's the place that the apostle is speaking of. He's saying, live with your wives, not when people are seeing, not when you come to church, not when you are at work, not when people are observing you and your performance as husband, but rather live with your wives in the very secret place. You see how piercing it is? Glory to God that is that piercing, because that's the purpose of the Word, brothers, to purify us, to sanctify us, to show us, to show us secret sins or even the sins that we know so that through the Word of God we may be sanctified and made more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

The instruction is given to men then for that private, secret place to the point that some even would say that the apostle has in mind intimacy. That everything that happens only between husband and wife, everything is clearly on the table. And then the qualifier that he's going to give to that type of living is in an understanding way. Now, as I said to you, brothers, the exhortation is to live with our wives and then the fruit of honoring comes out of it. So I'm going to place much of my effort to address those two words or three words, depending on the translation that you have, which is in an understanding way.

It is actually four words or two words, depending on the translation that you have. some other translation would say with understanding or another one more literally would say according to knowledge and this is very important because those two words in an understanding way or better according to knowledge says that we are to live in that very secret place with our wives and that the living of the husband with the wife in that very secret place is derived, is taken from, it comes from the knowledge. That's the relationship between the living and the understanding at least that is put here in the verse. that the way that we live in that very secret place is derived, is governed, is rooted, is derived, is absorbed, is taken from the knowledge. That is, therefore, that this knowledge, according to this type of knowledge, is what is going to be the engine that is going to empower the living in that very secret place.

And our brothers, my beloved brothers, this is very beautiful and glorious because this word understanding or knowledge, it is used 28 times in the New Testament. And every single time that the Spirit of God will use this word, It's always speaking of the spiritual knowledge of the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. Now, this is very important and pay attention, please, because the apostle is not saying that we are to live our lives or with our wives, understanding their preferences. He's not saying that we are to examine what they want, examine the places that they like to go, the places that they do not like to go, the things that they like to eat, the things that they do not like to eat, the things that they like to read, the things that they do not like to read, or if they don't like to read at all. that we are not to analyze or understand those ways or those things in the life of our wives, but rather that we are to have within us a type of knowledge that is going to empower our life so that when we are going to relate to them for those matters, we will do it in a godly way.

The apostle is saying that we need spiritual knowledge in us to regulate that type of living. Brothers, this is very important because the Bible is very clear in that humans are unable to develop a spiritual knowledge of Christ. Humans are, again, or men are unable, they do not have the ability to develop or to reach any level of spiritual knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. From when they are lost and even when they are saved, there's no one good, not even one. No one seeks after God.

No one understands those who are outside of Christ. They do not have the ability to know or to understand the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, the type of knowledge that the apostle is pointing to here in this verse is a spiritual knowledge. whatever we do as husbands, and if we are truly with the intention within our hearts to live with our lives in a way that is glorifying unto God, then the question that we should have within us, it is, what is that knowledge? And where do I get that knowledge?

So then that my life in that very secret place will not be regulated by my impatience or by my words or by my flesh, but rather by Christ. so that my wife will see in the very secret place Christ in me, living by faith. Well, brothers and sisters, the answer to that question is not so much what is this knowledge, but it is rather who is that knowledge? Because the same word that is used here for knowledge or understanding is what Apostle is going to explain to us in Colossians. If you go with me to Colossians, you will see here in Colossians chapter two, The Apostle Paul is going to speak of this knowledge of this understanding that is needed to live with wives in a pleasing way unto the Lord.

And he's going to answer rather not what this spiritual knowledge is, but who this spiritual knowledge is. And he is going to give us that answer in chapter number two, after the apostle has spoken about his ministry and how through much suffering and tribulation he has made known the Word of God to the Gentiles, In chapter two, the apostle is going to give us this information. Chapter two, verse one, it says, for I want you to know how great, Colossians, for I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love. What's the purpose? to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ.

Verse 3, in whom, this is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, by the way, exactly the same word that Apostle Peter uses in the section that we are addressing this evening, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that in Christ our Savior, all the treasures of the spiritual knowledge that is necessary for the life of a person to live unto God are hidden. Verse 4, I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order at the firmness of your faith in Christ. Now continue with me, please. Verse six, pay attention.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Now, verse eight, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit. According, exactly the same word the apostle uses in Peter, according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Brothers and sisters, especially brothers, the Apostle is presenting here to the Church at Colossae the two options of wisdom that are available. And he says that they are not to be taken captive by the philosophies and the empty deceit of human tradition.

but rather that they are to walk according to Christ in whom are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In verse 20, he says, if with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to the regulations or to the traditions of the men? brothers and sisters, it is in Christ Jesus is in himself. It is in the person of Christ that all the wisdom of God is hidden. Now, someone may say, well, that wisdom and that knowledge is hidden.

So if it's hidden, then therefore we have no access to that wisdom that is hidden. Go with me to first Corinthians. Go with me with 1 Corinthians 1-2. This wisdom is hidden in the person of Jesus Christ. Now the Apostle Paul is going to speak of this wisdom.

He is going to speak of this wisdom. Well, these knowledge. Chapter two, after he has spoken to the church, And after He has said that He did not come to them with words of wisdom of men, but rather He came to them with much fear and trembling, so that their faith may not be established or rest upon the wisdom of men, but rather upon the Spirit or the power of God. Then in verse 6, He is going to speak of this wisdom. And you have to love this, brothers and sisters.

Verse 6, He says, Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom. Although it is not a wisdom of this age, of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we, speaking of the apostles, we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God. the secret and hidden wisdom that is in the person of Jesus Christ, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would have not crucified the Lord of Glory, but as it is written, what no eye has seen.

nor eerie hurt, nor the heart of many imagine what God has prepared for those who love Him." Speaking of this secret wisdom, not speaking of prosperity in this present world, speaking of this secret wisdom available for the church. Verse 10, These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the Spirit of that person which is in him?

So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now pay attention to verse 12. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand the things freely given by us or given us by God. Verse 13. And we, the apostles, impart this wisdom in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths.

to those who are his spiritual brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters, when a man is saved by the grace of God, when a man is dead in his trespasses and in his sins, when a man is deaf to the beauty of the word of God, when the heart of a man is indifferent and dull to the spiritual things of God, when that man is living and walking in his sins, And it is completely unaware of the majesty of the gospel and cares nothing about it. But when that man is visited by the Spirit of God, The Spirit of God works in the life of that man in such a way that not only that man is going to change a religion, not only that man is going to change to something that he was not doing to something that now I'm going to do, but that man is radically transformed in his being and he is given the deposit of the Spirit of God that now dwells within him. And that Spirit enables that man to reach and to apprehend Christ and everything that has been given to Christ, including the depth of the knowledge of God available to humans. that which God has decided to reveal of Himself to humans.

It's only available through the workings of the Spirit, by the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it is not only that we are saved and that we call ourselves now Christians, and that every Sunday we come to church and do this or that, but rather, the triune God of this universe who created everything, He has visited in His power, He has visited us in His power and now He's indwelling us with His Spirit. So now our eyes have been opened, not only to salvation, but to the author and the person who has made this salvation available. That is the person of Jesus Christ. And then faith has united us to Him vitally.

Christ Jesus is now our life. And everything that He is, is what we are by that grace. That's why, brothers, He concludes that chapter, chapter number 2, in verse 16, saying, For who has understood the mind of the Lord? For who has understood the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct him? The answer to that is no one.

But he says, but we have the mind of Christ. I don't know, brothers, we have the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter is exhorting husbands to live with their wives in the very secret place with understanding or according to knowledge. That is not according to their knowledge. That's not according to the world's knowledge.

That is not according to the precepts of the traditions of men. That is not even according to moral or ethical principles, which are traditions of men, but is to live with their wives in that very secret place by the spirit, according to the knowledge that it is in Christ Jesus. So that is the husbands are to be Christ. to their wives. So simple, yet so profound, that in the very secret place of the abiding of the husband and the wife, the husband is to be Christ to his wife, that the workings of the grace of God transforming and modifying that man will make him in the secret place Christ, the life that we live in the flesh, we live by faith of the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us, transforming us.

Not when people see, not trying to pretend things to others, but trying to show things before the one who sees it all. God. Not because we are pleasing him through our works, but we please him through the works that are empowered by the spirit in faith so that we have a faith that is working through love. And these, all of these things that I've done through scripture is very important because the parallel passage in the mouth of the Apostle Paul is going to use precisely that word love. Christ loved the church.

So the husband, in his understanding way of living with a wife, is to be a fountain of Christ's love, is to be a manifestation, is to be a proclamation of God's, of Christ's love. This is what he says in Ephesians. Read it with me, please. In Ephesians, this is the passage that we read last week for the Lord's table. Let's read it together and pay attention to Scripture, brothers and sisters, please.

In chapter 5, verse 22. Chapter 5, verse 22. This is all the section that Peter presented to us in chapter 3, from verse 1 through verse 7. This is the equivalent in the lips or in the writing of the Apostle Paul. Peter says, Wives, submit to your husbands.

And then Paul is going to say the same similar way. Now, Peter says, Husbands live with their wives in an understanding way or according to knowledge. Paul is going to say exactly the same with a deeper and more profound touch to it. Verse 22. 5.

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Verse 25. Husbands, love your wives.

This is an equivalent to live with your wives in an understanding way. Husbands, love your wives was the qualifier as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. that he, Christ, may sanctify the church, having cleansed the church by the washing of water with the word, so that Christ might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she may be holy and without blemish. Now continue. In the same way, if someone was going to say, Oh, but that's just Christ for the church.

Then the Apostle says, In the same way, husbands should love their wives out of their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Now, this mystery of the union between Christ, this is profound.

And I am saying that, that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Now, brothers and sisters, this is crucial. for the understanding of the passage in Peter is crucial and is vital for the understanding because the apostle and the Old Testament is calling us to fix our lives to an standard of knowledge of spiritual knowledge who is Christ himself. That is that we have the mind of Christ and therefore we are to deal with our wives in that very secret place according to the loving principles of Christ.

Now, this Christ manifested His love for the church in giving Himself up for the church, in laying His life down for the church, in washing the feet of the servants of His church, in giving and making Himself the servants of those whom He came to save. He is the triune God, or He is a member of the Trinity. He is the second person of the Trinity, God Himself, our Creator of this universe. He came to the world to serve the church and to give Himself up for the church. This is vital because when the Apostle Peter is calling husbands to live their lives with a understanding way, according to knowledge, the fruit of it, as I said, is honor your wife.

But the wife that they are to honor is the wife that he has just called to submit. The apostle has just said that wives are under the authority of husbands. That is, that the husband is the head of the wife. But when it comes to authority in the order of God, that the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the husband, and just as Christ is the head of the church. Yet the apostle is calling to the one who is in authority to give honor to the wife that is to be submitted.

The same type of honor that the Lord Jesus Christ received from the mouth of God the Father when He said, This is My Son in whom I am well pleased. This is what the Apostle Peter says in 2 Peter. That when the Lord Jesus Christ received this testimony from the Father, This is My Son in whom I am well pleased. This was the glorification and the honoring of God the Father to the Son. Just as the Father was honoring the Son, then the head of the wife is to honor the wife.

That is glorious, because this is completely opposite to all precepts and understanding of authority in the world. In the world, that person who is above someone else in hierarchy, is above that person. And that's it. The other person is to submit entirely and completely, and they are of lesser value. But in Christ, brothers and sisters, We are all the same and we are all of the same value in Jesus Christ.

There is no male, no female, no Greek, no Jew, no slave, no free. We are all one in Jesus Christ to the point that the authority that the husband is to exercise on his wife or to his wife or for his wife is the authority that Christ exercised for the church. A loving authority. that gives the life of the one who is the head for the life of the one that is in submission, that is honor. And the apostle is going to give us two roots of identity that are very interesting in first Peter.

Just for us to conclude, we will never understand the honoring of our wives, brothers and sisters. If your eyes are not set in the person of Jesus Christ, if the man is not humbled by the workings of Christ upon the cross, then the man is going to be authoritative by nature in the house. then the man is going to do things according to the flesh. If we are not humbled by a glimpse of the glory of Christ and the humility of our Savior upon that cross, then flesh is the thing that is going to come through us and not Christ Himself. But when the eyes of the man are placed and rooted in the person of Jesus Christ, Then the unrighteousness of our hearts are clearly presented before us so that we run to Him and say, I cannot be husband to this woman.

You live in me. You live in me so that I will glorify you through my marriage. He is going to say that this woman, that we are to give this honor to this woman, that she is due this honor because two things are rooted in her identity. The first one is that she is the weaker vessel. And the second one is that she is co-heir with us.

And if you think about it, now think about it from the perspective of men. If the woman is the weaker vessel, then that means that the man is the stronger vessel. And if the woman is co-heir with us, then we are heirs with her of the grace of life. Yet, we are to give the woman honor, just as the father gave honor to the father. And this weakness in the vessel of the woman is not a diminishing in her abilities, spiritual abilities, or understanding, or intellectual abilities, but is rather speaking of the earthen vessel of the body.

That is, that the woman is weaker in her a physical composition, and therefore, or her body, therefore we are stronger. That's the providence of God in creation. He has made us stronger with a stronger vessel, so that we may use it not only to glorify Him, but also to protect our dear wives, just as we protect a flower or something that is of great value. We protect it with our hands, with our power, with our mind, with our words. not only of something happened to their earthen vessels, which are weaker than ours, but also to their spiritual vessel.

That is that we care for them in the heart. We do not care for them only in those outward appearances, but we care to watch them through the word of God, to present them to Christ, just as he's going to present the church. Why? Because they are coerced. with us of the grace.

That is, brothers, brothers, that is that when we see our wives, we do not only see the woman that is next to us, but we also see our sister. We also see our sister in Christ, the one who has been bought by the blood of the Savior. So when he was dying upon the cross, he was not only dying for you, he was also dying for your wife. And she is a co-heir of the grace of that life. And that is rooted in her identity.

And God the Father has blessed you with a woman who has been saved by grace through faith and put it next to you so that you will protect her and look after her, not only in her weaker vessel that is her body, but also her heart and her soul. Neglecting that, brothers, neglecting this duty of the communion with our wives diminishes our communion with the Savior. Because it says the apostle that your prayers may not be hinder. That your prayers may not be hinder. Tell me how your life is in the secret place with your wife.

And I will tell you then how your prayer life is with Christ. This is what the Bible says, that our prayers may not be hindered. Now, brothers, brothers, If we do not understand that this knowledge is spiritual, that this knowledge is in Christ, we may find ourselves trying to do things in our own strength, so that we will have a communion with Christ through our prayers. It doesn't happen that way. It is Christ and the Spirit, the one that empowers everything within us, so that we will live lives that bring glory to the Father, and yet our prayers may be received in the high places of God.

Brothers and sisters, our communion with not only our wives, but our brothers and sisters defines our communion with God. That's the summary of the law. That's the summary of the law. Love God. with all your strength and then just as paul said in ephesians 5 that we are to love our wives as we love ourselves or our body the second commandment that summarizes the law is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves you see love is not only a romantic word that the world has stolen just to demonstrate these fleshly and wicked emotions towards sexual things, but rather love is the glorious manifestation of grace and wisdom of the Father.

Not that we loved Him, but that He loved us first and that He gave His Son as a propitiation for our sins. That is love. And that is the type of love that should be working within the hearts of the saints. So it is not our love, it is Christ's love. And then others would be loved, not with my love or your love, but Christ's love.

And then the testimony and glory will be always for the Savior. No man may take the glory that belongs only to the one who saved us. May He give us grace, brothers and sisters, to live this. Amen.