Submission and imperishable..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Good evening everyone and welcome to church Would you please open up your bibles to the first letter of peter? the first letter of peter This this evening by by god's grace, I hope that we may be able to address chapter verses 1 through 6 in chapter 3 So we're going to be reading or we're going to be addressing chapter 3 verse 1 through verse 6, which is the exhortation that the apostle is going to give to wives to submit to their husbands.

And as we always do, because this belongs to a section I thought of the Apostle, we're going to be reading together from chapter 2, verse 11, all the way through chapter 3, verse 12, paying special attention to the section that we are going to be considering this evening in chapter 3, verse 1 through 6. So paying much attention to each one of the words of God, and with reverent hearts, Let's read together the Word of God. Chapter 2, verse 11. 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 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 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 entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.

He Himself bore sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. for you were restrained like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won 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 putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear.

But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with imperishable beauty, of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. For 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 frightening. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heir with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers might 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 this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For whoever desires to love life and seek good deeds, let him keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him speak peace and pursuit.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Amen. This is the word of God. And as I said, beloved brothers and sisters, we are going to be addressing chapter three, verses one through six, in which the apostle is going to clearly give an exhortation to wives to submit to their husbands.

But let me submit to you that as Paul says to Timothy, that all scripture has been given as inspiration, has been breathed out from God, is given inspiration from God, and is good for teaching, for reproof, for exhortation, for training in righteousness, that all men of God, everyone who is in Christ, might be fully prepared for all good works, that he says in Ephesians 2, that in Christ has been prepared beforehand, before the foundation of the world, that had been prepared for those who are united to Christ Jesus. So here, in a sense, beloved brothers and sisters, there is a principle that generally can be applied to all Christians. The Apostle uses in the end of verse 2, he speaks of a peer conduct or a respectful behavior and a peer conduct. Those are words that correspond to a general principle of holiness that the Apostle has already addressed. In chapter 1, in verse 14, he has called us that, as obedient children, we should not be conformed to the passions of our former ignorance, but that we should be holy as God who has called us is holy, and that we should conduct ourselves in holiness.

That is, to have a pure conduct. There is a principle of holiness that the Apostle Peter has already addressed in chapter 1, in chapter 2, and now he's using that general principle of holiness, that is to be like God, to be holy as God is holy, and now he's going to take that general principle and he is going to give a more specific So, in a sense, this call that the Apostle is giving to wives to have a pure conduct can be a principle rooted in that general principle that he has already addressed. However, the text is very clear that the specific application of that principle of holiness or conduct that is pure, it is addressed in a more specific sense, let me say, to women. He is going to address now this concept of beauty and vanity, as we have read it now in verses 3 to 5. He speaks of the adorning that is external and the adorning that it is internal.

So that principle, that general principle, brothers and sisters, that it is of a conduct that is holy, that can be applied to all Christians, now the apostle is taking it to a more specific sense, addressing this concept or this issue or this matter of beauty and vanity and applies this to sisters in Christ, to those who by grace through faith have been united to Christ, but are female Christian sisters. And even in a more specific sense, because in that second sense, that passage applies somehow to everyone who is a female. sister, those who are single, those who want to get married, those who are widows, those who are married, applies to everyone this principle of beauty and this principle of vanity or the issue of vanity better. But however, also from the text is very clear that in a more specific sense, The Apostle is not only going to speak of a pure and holy conduct, and taking the principle of beauty and vanity, but he is going to address to those sisters in Christ, who by God's providence are married, who have entered into the covenant of marriage, who have been united in that covenant to a man in the same flesh. So I want just to say that because the word of God, it is breathed out of God and comes from his lips and is sufficient for all of us.

And we are to see the principles that God gives us in his word, independently of what our situation is. So we are not to approach the text and saying, I'm not a woman and I'm not married. Therefore, I can jump this section of scripture. may not be that way, brothers and sisters, because this is even fruitful for us to know what to expect in those sisters who are married, and then to pray for that, so that they may develop a Christ-like character, just as is given to us. in Scripture.

And also when we address the principles of vanity or beauty, also those are applied to all women and in a sense also to men. And when it goes down to the principle of holy conduct and pure conduct, that applies to all of us. So, Scripture is sufficient and goes to the root of every spiritual issue of the life of people. But now, the exhortation, the very specific exhortation, beloved brothers and sisters, is very clear. The Apostle, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is calling sisters who are in Christ and who are married to be subject or submitted to their own husbands.

The apostle is clearly exhorting wives, those who are married to a man, of course, to be submitted to their own husbands. That is, that women are to be under the authority of their husbands, that if they have been united in this covenant of marriage, that women are to be under the authority in obedience to their husbands. And the apostle makes it very clear. He doesn't say to a husband, but he says to their husbands. That is, that submission is due to the person that they have joined in marriage.

That is, that independently of who the person is who is next to you, independently of what the person knows, or independently of what the person does not know, or independently of what the person is or is not, The call of the Bible, beloved sisters in Christ, is that you are to be submitted to the husband that is next to you. That is the exhortation of the Holy Spirit. But before we go into the details of what that mission is and what the canon of Scripture says about wives being submitted to Scripture, we must pay attention to the qualifier that the Apostle is given to that submission. Because there's a qualifier in the text that is going to help us define this submission from wives to their own husbands. And that is given to us by the Apostle in the first word.

He says, likewise. Likewise, wives be subject to your own husbands." If we are going to understand the way in which wives are to be submitted to their husbands, then we are to understand the words of the Apostle when he says, likewise, or in the similar manner or in a similar or in the same way wives are to be submitted to their husbands what is that way or what is that matter well everything that the apostle has said about submission in this section in verse 13 So when he's speaking of submission to authority, he has defined submission that has to be done for the Lord's sake. Verse 13, he says, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution. So when he says in chapter 3, verse 1, likewise, wives be submitted to your husbands.

That means that wives are to be submitted to their husbands for the Lord's sake. In the same way, in verse 18, when the apostle is speaking of the submission of servants to masters, he is going to give a qualifier of that submission. And he says, servants or slaves or bond servants, be subject to your masters with all respect. With all respect, and that word respect would be better translated fear, which is a reverential fear. So when the apostle, beloved brothers and especially sisters in Christ, when the apostle is calling, wives to be submitted to their husbands in a similar way, likewise, he's calling them to be submitted for the Lord's sake, initially, and also with all respect.

For the Lord's sake. That is, having the Lord as the ultimate intention of the submission that the wife is given to her husband. That is giving the heart to a submission that goes beyond the person who is living with you in your house and submitting your heart to the Lord. The Apostle Paul will say in Ephesians that wives are to be submitted to their husbands as if they were submitted to the Lord. This is the type of submission that the Bible calls to have a submission that it is before the Lord.

And then he says, he has said, for the Lord's sake, Brothers and sisters, he doesn't say, for your sake, as if keeping and having a good reputation of a wife that is submitted will protect you from that which people may think of you. He doesn't even say, for your husband's sake, that if you just by following what he says or being obedient to what he says, you're going to please him ultimately. But rather, he says, for the Lord's sake, as if a person, in this case, a sister in Christ, was seeking to please ultimately. the Lord, for the Lord's sake. He doesn't even say, beloved sisters, not even for your children's sake, as if you were just trying to give an example to your children of what a godly woman should look like.

You have to do, and we ought to do those things before our children. But the apostle gives a very important thing, and that is that submission has to be rooted in the ultimate goal, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. How difficult that is to make the ultimate intention of everything that we do in our Christian lives, the glory of the Lord, and not the temporal, immediate glory of our name, of those who are around us. That's the biblical principle of this admission of these wives that the Apostle has said, likewise. So, not only for the Lord's sake, but also, as we saw it in verse 18, with all respect.

And that word, as I have said, it means Fear, and that is going to be very important, brothers and sisters, because the apostle has already addressed this concept of reverential fear. And even if you go to the passage of the scripture that we have this evening, in the end of verse 1, it says that they might be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. Now, verse 2, when they see your respectful and pure conduct, That word respectful is the same word that is in verse 18 with all respect, and that it would be better translated, probably you have it in your translations as fear, because this fear is a reverential fear. Beloved brothers and sisters, that the Apostle has already addressed, if you go to chapter 1, and then you see it, it is in verse 17, in chapter 1, he says, the Apostle, And if you call on him as Father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear, throughout the time of your exile." A very similar construction of words, speaking of the conduct of women attached to their submission to their husbands, with this principle of not only doing things for the Lord's sake, but also do it with a heart that is filled with reverential fear.

Now, brothers and sisters, and especially sisters, This is very important because submission, biblical submission, is not only saying yes to everything that the husband will say or request from the wife. It is not only going to the places that the husband will say or doing the things that the husband will say, but rather, Biblical submission speaks of an external manifestation of an inward spiritual reality that is produced and given by the life of God that dwells in the heart of the person. You see, when a person is interested in submitting, or in this case, a woman is with intention, or the grace has been given to this sister to submit biblically to her husband, so then that means that this sister has in her heart the God-given intention, not only to submit to her husband, but also to submit to the precepts and the statutes of God. And these cannot be accomplished by the morality of men. These cannot be accomplished with the good principles and the traditions of men, independently of the type of society in which we live.

Man is utterly unable to fulfill the requirements of God, even when those requirements come to define how the relationship of marriage should be. We can pretend outwardly to do particular things. We can pretend to follow biblical principles, just like the Pharisees. But the heart could be completely voided and empty of the spiritual reality that is needed So that a woman, in this case, will submit to her husband in a God-pleasing way. Not in a man-pleasing way, but in a God-pleasing way.

So, in a sense, brothers and sisters. Obedience and submission, in general, is an alignment of the heart of the Christian, in this case, a sister in Christ, with the will of God. It is an alignment, it's coming in agreement with that which God says for my life, and then that does not become a burden on my soul, but becomes a delight. Brothers and sisters, we could define obedience in a general term, or submission in this particular sense. But biblical submission is an external manifestation.

It's an external manifestation, because we submit by doing something that is external. But that is a manifestation of a spiritual reality that is taking place in the heart of this sister, by the power of God. And that power is bringing the will of the sister in alignment with the will of God, and that which God has set and determined for marriage. Because what God says for marriage, it is like what the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 11, that man is the head of the wife, and that Christ is the head of men, and that God is the head of Christ. He says that the husband is the head of the wife.

The same thing he's going to say in Ephesians chapter five, that just as Jesus Christ is the head of the church, then the husband is also the head of the wife. And let me tell you something, brothers and sisters, that goes against your flesh. That goes against the carnality that we have and the principles of this world in which the world is going to tell you and tell us that we are in a sense, at least in the covenant of marriage, that we all have the same authority and that we are exactly the same. the grace of God, we are all the same in Jesus Christ. That's what the Apostle says in Galatians 3 and 4, that those who are the children of Abraham and by faith have been united or put on Jesus Christ, that there is no Greek, no Jew, no male, no female, no slave, no free.

that we are all one in the person of Jesus Christ. But when it comes to the structure of the covenant of marriage, and when it comes to the structure and the hierarchies of authority within the context of the church, the Lord has determined that there is a particular way in which things should be organized, and that way is perfect. Why is it perfect? Simply because He said so. And He is perfect because He is perfection.

He is who defines perfection. We are the ones that are not in alignment with His will. So, brothers and sisters, even though what I'm saying to you has been repeated probably many times in your ears, The depths of the spiritual command that is uttered from this pulpit, it is impossible for you to accomplish apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. Because biblical submission, sisters in Christ, happens when the will of your heart is brought into alignment, into agreement with that which God wants and has defined for you and for your marriage, independently of the person that it is next to you, then submission becomes for the Lord's sake and with all reverence or with all respect. Our will has to be brought in alignment.

That is when the Lord Jesus Christ says that the husband is the head of the wife. We say Amen, but not with a pharisaical Amen that comes from our Christian culture, and that we know that that's what we have to do, and this is what we have to say, but rather it's an Amen that comes from the heart, that is in alignment with the will of God, and that says, not my will, but your will be done. Not what I say, but what you say. So you see, brothers and sisters, and in this case, especially sisters, that coming in submission or in biblical submission to your husbands, not simply waking up in the morning and saying, I'm going to say yes to everything that He says, or I'm going to be patient, and I'm going to go to the places that He requires or wants me to go. It takes more than that, it takes a heart that says, Lord, you have called me to be in submission to these men.

And in calling me to be in submission to these men, you have given a purpose to my soul in this covenant of marriage so that by fulfilling what you have called me to do, my soul finds joy and rest. So then, even though he says or does that which is contrary to the preferences of your flesh, You are submitting to your husbands for the Lord's sake, and not for the sake of your flesh. May the Lord give us grace to do all of those things, because the Bible is also very clear in speaking of that which happens when the heart of the woman is not in alignment to God's will. You see, there is a sense, brothers and sisters, that every time that the Bible gives us a commandment, every time that the Bible gives us something that we ought to do, not only we learn of the character of God, but we also learn of the character of men. So every time that the Bible says to us, you shall not lie, we do not only learn that God is truth and that for that reason we should not lie, but it also tells us that we are naturally inclined to that which God has called us not to do.

that within our flesh we are inclined to lie, and that's why a commandment has to be given from divine courts to regulate the paths of sinful humans. So, every time that a commandment is given to man, then we understand the implications in the flesh of not following those commandments. And the Bible, brothers and sisters, is very clear of what happens when a woman, in this case, or when a wife, in this case, is not submissive, or is not, in better terms, in alignment to the will of God. And I want to show you a couple of verses, especially in Proverbs, that will speak to us of the nature of the heart of the woman who is not in alignment, not with the will of his husband, but with the will of God that has called her to submit to her husband. So if you go to Proverbs chapter 12, if you go to Proverbs chapter 12, I want to show you two or three different Proverbs.

two or three different Proverbs here that speaks of this heart. Chapter 12, verse 4. It says, Proverbs 12, verse 4. An excellent wife is the crown of her husband. Bashi, now the contrary, Bashi who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

An excellent wife is the crown of her husband and this word excellent in other translations will be translated as a virtuous woman or a woman who is complete. A woman that is made complete not by the social standards of what a woman should be but by the precious all-sufficient standard of virtue that it is given by the Word of God. So, an excellent woman that is crowned for her husband is a woman that lives in completeness and in fullness according to what the Word of God expects or requires of her. Go to chapter 19, verse 13. Let's see again in Scripture, the consequences of the heart of a woman that it is not in alignment to God's will, that is in disagreement with God's will.

19 verse 13, it says, A foolish son is ruined to his father, and a wife's quarreling is a continual dripping of rain. that is a wife that is unbearable, a wife that is quarreling all the time, a wife that is bringing an accusation to her husband all the time. It is a continual dripping of rain. Now go to Proverbs 21 verse 19, It says, 21 verse 19, it says, It is better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman. That it is better to live where there is nothing that you can have as provision than with a quarrelsome or a fretful, that is a woman that is filled with unrighteous wrath.

filled with unrighteous accusations brought to your husband, now brothers and sisters. Now here I'm just reading verses that I applied directly to our sisters. But apart from the operations of the grace of the Holy Spirit, this is the heart of all of us. A heart that complains, as we heard. A heart that grumbles.

A heart that is not satisfied with anything. A heart that lives without contentment in life. A life that ultimately and foundationally lives with no contentment from the providence of God. That is us, apart from the Spirit of God, working and bringing our will into alignment with God's will. This is the testimony of Scripture.

Go to Proverbs 31, and let's just read the last one. 31, verse 10. This is the famous chapter. Speaking of the woman that fears the Lord, here we're going to have, again, this concept of the excellent wife, that is a wife that lives in completeness or in fullness, according to God's will or God's standard. He says, an excellent wife, verse 10, chapter 31, verse 10, an excellent wife who can find.

She is far more precious than jewels. Now, brothers and sisters, Here, the author is saying that a wife whose heart it is virtuous, by the virtuous standard of God's Word, it is more precious than jewels. The Bible speaks of something being precious, like jewels, when it is speaking about the Word of God. That there is nothing more precious than silver or gold, than the Word of God that is uttered from the Holy Mouth of God. That you should seek everything in this world, but beyond everything, you should seek to know and understand the Lord through His Word, brothers and sisters.

the Word of God indwelling a person and producing fruits that bring the will of that person into alignment with God's will, gives the value to that person that nothing else in this world can give to that person. And that is exactly the teaching of the New Testament. Go to Titus chapter 2. In the mouth of Titus, Paul, writing to Titus, go to Titus chapter 2. Titus 2, verse 3.

Now, I want you to pay special attention to this because this is the main thing that I want to communicate to you. Titus 2, verse 3. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. Now the older women are to teach what is good. And so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their husbands.

And then the purpose, that the word of God may not be reviled. Again, that they might be submitted to their husbands, that the purpose is that the word of God may not be reviled. Now, brothers and sisters, this is a very strong word. That means blasphemed, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. This is very important.

Because when the workings of the grace of the Spirit of God have worked in the heart of a woman in such a way that she has been conformed to the person of Jesus Christ, that person can be biblically saying, is living according to the precepts of the will of God. So then the life of that person is a public testimony to the workings of God in the heart of that person. either for blaspheme or either to bring glory for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that means that the Word of God works in the heart of a person in such a way that a person becomes a public testimony. of the grace and the power of God.

So then when others see the behavior of a person, see the attitude of a person, see the words of a person, see the heart of a person, they can see how much the grace of God has worked in the heart of that person. And they know that that which is taking place in that person, in that human being, is not produced by human. And that's very important because this is what the Apostle in verse 1 in chapter 3 is saying, and it is the power that the Apostle is attributing or giving to the submissiveness of the wives. The only thing that I try to do, brothers and sisters, is to prove to you that submission is more than saying yes to everything that the husband says. That submission is a pure conduct, a holiness that is given by the Spirit of God, that is a type of life that is bringing your will into alignment, into agreement with God's will.

So then you do not live according to the will of your flesh, but you live according to the will of God for your life. So then when he says the husband is the head of the wife, then you are filled with joy and then you obey, not because you have to, but because you want to please the one who saved you. And then your peer conduct becomes an instrument, a public testimony to the Word of God, either to bring blaspheme or to bring the power of God, a principle that the Apostle had already addressed in chapter 2, verse 12, when he said, 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." The good deeds, the good things that they did was the means or the instrument by which God was glorified. And this is exactly the principle that the apostle is now saying in chapter 3 verse 1.

He says, likewise, then going back to our text, wives, be subject to your own husbands. And then he's going to say something complicated. so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives." So he's saying, even if some do not obey the word, that is, even if some of your husbands are unbelievers, so even if some of your husbands are not Christians, Some of them may be warned that it is one to Christ, that it may be converted, and that it is without a word, by the conduct of their wives." Now, brothers and sisters, if you did not understand everything that I was trying to say, this will not make sense.

But brothers and sisters, the grace and the operations of God's grace in the heart of a person will bring that person not to walk in his or her ways, in this case, her ways, but in the ways of God. So then that person will be a public testimony to the workings of God and will be a public testimony to the goodness and the perfections and the kindness and the love and the mercy and the love, eternal love, of God, the person becomes a public testimony. And in this case, this is the instrument by which some unbelievers may come to faith. Now, brothers and sisters, I don't want you to think that simply by observing the conduct of a person, a person can come to the understanding of the gospel and therefore believe and be vitally united to the person of Jesus Christ. What Apostle is saying here is that God uses the life of a person as an instrument to pierce the conscience of a person, to bring understanding or awareness of the person of their evil ways, so that person will question the ways in which they are living, and then salvation may be available to that person.

Not saying that there is no need of the gospel for a person to be saved. The gospel is always necessary for the salvation of a soul. But that operation of the gospel in the life of a person can bring or can be used by God as an instrument to win the soul of a person, put in another way, brothers and sisters. The heavens declare the glory of God. Every time that the atheist, everyone that is not in Christ, sees the glory of everything that has been created, by suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, they know that there is a God, that there is a divine power.

They are suppressing that in unrighteousness. But they do know that there is a God that is a divine eternal power who has put everything in place and who has created everything. However, the declaration of the glory of God through that which has been created is not sufficient to bring that person into salvation. The preaching of the gospel and the preaching of Christ is necessary. So then that person will be brought to faith or that person will be inserted into Christ by faith.

What we have here, brothers and sisters, is a person being the works of the hands of God and declaring the glory of God, just in the same way that creation declares the glory of the Triune God. So then, when a Christian, an earthen vessel, is shining the glory of Jesus Christ, with an earthen vessel, who was a sinner, who was walking in darkness, now is walking in the light, when everything that a person says comes not from his heart, but from the mouth of Christ, when a person lives in Christ, then that person is a shining testimony of the workings of the grace of Christ, testifying of His glory, and then being used as an instrument to put to silence the mouth of the unbeliever, and to bring an accusation to the conscience of that person, which is something that the Apostle has mentioned already a couple of times. Not only in verse 12, saying, when the Gentiles speak you as evildoers, but when he was also admonishing, or even as the exhortation about being submitted to governing authorities, he says, for this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. I don't know if you can see here, not only the amazing workings of the Spirit of God in sinners who were enemies of God, and not only in saving them, but in making them like him to the point that the lives of those people will be used as the means to bring others to light. But also, brothers and sisters, how undeserving we are that these things may take place within us.

When we were enemies, rejecters of God, that all of these glorious things impossible to be achieved by our own strength may take place. in the life of a person, and not only that, that He might count us worthy to use our lives, our words, the things that we say, the places that we go, the way that we treat this person or that person, that He may use that as a shining testimony to give glory to Himself. This is exactly what the Apostle has said in verse 2. when they see your respectful and pure conduct. But the apostle is not simply going to leave it like this.

Now brothers and sisters, and especially sisters, because this is the level of the argument in which could be just given in general and to all Christians. But the apostle is going to add another layer to this argument of submission. He is going to add a layer that is going to be attached directly to the heart of women, and especially sisters who are in the covenant of marriage, because now he is going to address the topic of vanity or beauty. attached very intrinsically to this concept of submissiveness, to the point that the Apostle is going to make this beauty, or this outward or internal beauty, a qualifier of biblical submission. Now, this is very important because from the wives that we have in the room and even from the women that we have in the room, we may have women being submitted biblically or unbiblically.

And the heart of the church and the heart of everyone, towards everyone within the church, is that we may walk in the ways of God and not in our own. So the apostle is now going to give a qualifier to that submission and he is going to say in verse 3, Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with imperishable beauty, of a gentle and a quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." Brothers and sisters, what Apostle is saying here, it is that submission is an ornament That submission, it is an adorning item to the spiritual reality that a sister should have within. So, that which women wear to make themselves more beautiful before the eyes of their husbands, the apparel and the different things that they wear to make themselves more beautiful before their husbands, it is what submission, biblical submission, is for the heart. So submission, it is an ornament, it is an adorning item to the internal reality of the heart of a sister who is in Christ.

You see, so a sister does not want to use the ornaments and the adorning things that are fake. and that are priceless or that do not have value, but rather a woman or a sister wants to adorn himself or have the ornaments that are pure and precious in the eyes for whom she is making herself beautiful. The apostle is saying that biblical submission is that ornament, that biblical submission is that adorning thing. And the way that he's going to do it, brothers and sisters, is by comparing. It is by comparing external beauty with the beauty of the heart.

External desire to be beautiful before the eyes of others, with the beauty that goes from inside, that has the desire to please, not the husband, but God. So he is going to say here, the apostle, he says that the external adorning of the temporary things that are passing, such as the braiding of the hair, and the putting on of gold, and the clothing you wear, is to be compared, he says in verse 4, but... with the adorning brothers and sisters, pay attention to this, that is not external, but is rather the hidden person of the heart. That is, that the concern of this sister is not in the external appearances and that which others may see in me, but rather the concern of this sister is that which is the hidden person of the heart. Now, think about those words.

because the external adorning is to be seen, but rather here the apostle is calling women to adorn the hidden person, that is, the person that cannot be seen in the temporal way and in the external ways, in the flesh. Vanity might take a sister to adorn herself with things such as the braiding of the hair and all of these things, things that are passing away, things that may cover certain things over a period of time, but do not have the power to make this sister beautiful unto eternity. And that's why the apostle says, but with the imperishable beauty, with the imperishable, the one that does not fade away, the one that does not have an end, the imperishable beauty. And then he's going to say something very glorious, with a gentle and a quiet spirit. This imperishable beauty of sisters in Christ ought to be a beauty that is of a gentle and a quiet spirit.

And this is very glorious, brothers and sisters, because These words are only used by two people in the New Testament. One of them is, of course, Peter here, when he speaks of a gentle and a quiet spirit. But the other time in which this gentle or quiet spirit is spoken of is by the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And the special thing is not that He is the one that is using these words, but He is using these words to describe Himself. Go with me to Matthew chapter 11, because in Matthew chapter 11, the apostle or the Lord Jesus Christ will use these words, very similar words in a passage of the scripture that is very familiar to your ears.

Chapter 11, verse 28. And the Lord is going to use a very similar language, exactly the same Greek word to describe himself. Verse 29, he says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly where in heart and you will find rest for your souls. This gentleness, this meekness, this tranquility of being tranquil or being lowly, are things, are virtues, sisters that describe none other but your Savior Jesus Christ. So when the Apostle is speaking of this imperishable beauty, he is not speaking of the beauty that you can accomplish by moralistic efforts, but it is the beauty that can only be accomplished by becoming more like the Savior who gave his life for you, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that beauty, the beauty of Christ, the beauty of the heart of Christ in the heart of my sister, is the one that is precious in God's sight. is not precious in the eyes of men, is not precious in the eyes of society. That beauty is precious in God's sight. That's why I said that biblical submission or obedience is bringing your will into alignment with God's will. So that which he calls good is good for you.

That which he calls evil is evil for you. That which he calls delightful is delightful for you. because He's bringing our heart into alignment with the ways of God. That is the concern of the moment, brothers and sisters, to bring our hearts in alignment with the will of God and to be able to say, I desire like God desires. I will like He wills.

And my heart is His heart filled with this glorious beauty that is imperishable because it's Christ's one. Being not enough, the apostle now is going to say, this is not what I say. This is not only the testimony of the written word, but this is also the testimony of the living word, because the living word through the Spirit of Christ, through the Spirit of God has been always the same. So now the apostle in verse In verse 5, he's going to cite, he's going to quote, he's going to reference the example of Sarah. So he's going to call sisters in Christ the daughters of Sarah.

He says, for this is how the holy women who hoped in God, that is the holy women who trusted in God, used to adorn themselves by submitting to their own husbands. You see, submission, it is an adorning ornament to the heart of a woman who hopes and trusts in God. He says, for this is how the holy women, that is, the women that are being made holy just as God is holy, who had faith in God, used to adorn themselves. Submission was the adorning item that they were using. Their submission, their biblical submission to their husbands was the ornament that was making them beautiful.

Submission to their husbands according to the righteous standard of God, that was which was making them precious in the sight of God. And as I said, not a submission that says yes to everything that the husband says, but a submission that goes beyond that, and that transforms the conduct, the behavior, the heart, the will, the mind, the eyes, the words, everything in that particular person. in verse 6, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. And you are her children, he says, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. Brothers and sisters, when the will of a person has been brought into alignment with the will of God, then we walk with a reverential fear, not before men, but with a reverential fear before God.

And then we can put all of our trust and all of our hope in God, independently of what the circumstances are. Because these women here were women who were married to unbelieving men. And because being married to unbelieving men, they would have been going through much persecution and much difficulties. That's the whole context of the letter, persecution and tribulation. Yet, the Apostle says something very interesting.

He says, do not fear anything that is fearful. Do not fear anything that is frightening. Do not fear anything that should cause fear. Why? It's because you are not walking before men, but you're walking before God, ultimately, to the point that you are not concerned about what society or the world would say of your relationship to your husband, but that you will be only concerned with the heart of God and with His will.

for your marriage and for your life. The message of these sisters and brothers is that when we understand biblical submission, a submission that it is of the heart ultimately to God, bringing into alignment our will with the will of God according to His Word and according to His statutes, that this gives freedom. This gives freedom. freedom from the bondage that women may have around them of trying to be physically and externally something that the world says that they should be. Something that the schemes, the evil and satanic schemes of this world have placed as a burden upon women.

Then this can be liberated and you can have freedom in God because now we are not pleasing the system of this world. We are pleasing God ultimately. Or it hasn't happened to you that when you see a photo of yourself 10 years ago, and then you go, wow, how come I was I was wearing those things? And how come I was just doing my hair in that particular way? Well, 10 years ago, you were a slave to the standard of the world in that particular way.

And now we have changed 10 years after, we are responding to the new patterns of the world. And that for that reason, you cannot believe who you were, how you dress 10 or 15 years ago. but that our hearts should see a picture of us five years ago, and independently of the clothes that we were wearing, or independently of the type of hair that we had, said, Lord, my heart was directed to you, and praise God that today you have preserved me and you have kept me, I'm still walking in your ways, not because of how I looked, or because of the things that I knew, or the things that I didn't know, but because you have kept me in your hands, because the beauty that you have given me by grace in Christ is not the beauty of my external appearances, but is the Christ-given beauty of a gentle and lowly spirit that is making shine the glory of Christ through this earthen vessel, so that the glory is ultimately yours." That is freedom. That is freedom from the precepts and the statutes of this world.

That is freedom that can be found only in the person of Jesus Christ. That's how His yoke is easy. But brothers, now, this is also freedom for us, because the beauty that God describes in a woman, no, it's not the external beauty. Look what he says in the end of verse 4. He's speaking of the imperishable beauty, the beauty of the hidden person.

And that beauty in our wives and that beauty in Christian women is the one that is precious in God's sight. So, if the woman is to bring into alignment her will with the will of God so that her desire may be to please God ultimately and to submit to their husband in light of pleasing God and not pleasing men, So then, brothers, also our duty is to bring our will in alignment to God's will, so that we will call precious that which God calls precious. Not only calling it with lips, but also making it a reality in our hearts. When God sees a woman, He sees beyond the external appearances. He sees in the heart of that woman, just as when David was going to be chosen as the king, that God sees beyond the external appearances.

How then men are going to see only external appearances? Men are to be like God seeing the beauty that goes in the heart. You want your cure for lust and for putting your eyes where you should not? Then make your eyes the eyes of Christ. Then make your heart the heart of Christ.

Then make your time and the things that you do as Christ would do. coming to Christ and spending time with Him, so that just as Christ, you will be able to call beauty that which is beautiful. You will be able to call the spiteful that which is despiteful, so that when you speak also, you will speak the things that God would say, and this brings freedom. This brings freedom of moralistic efforts. This brings freedom from human attempts to be something that we cannot be.

This brings freedom because in the end of the day, the only one who can accomplish all of these things is the glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, making us, all of us, beautiful internally, presenting, separating us, blemished without a spot, but when He comes, He is going to marry a bride that the world says that is awful, but in His eyes, precious, imperishable and eternal. Amen.