In Trent Moody's sermon 'A Wife's Submission To God', the speaker addresses the biblical concept of submission, particularly focusing on the role of wives as outlined in 1 Peter 3:1-6. The sermon emphasizes that a wife's submission is ultimately to God by respecting and honoring her husband. This submission is positioned not as oppression but as obedience to God's ordained order, reflecting the relationship between Christ and the church. Moody clarifies that marriage is not the ultimate goal but a reflection of a greater spiritual truth. He discusses the importance of a wife's conduct being chaste and respectful, which can serve as a powerful witness to an unbelieving husband. The sermon denounces cultural misunderstandings of gender roles and submission, urging believers to adhere to biblical teachings. Holy women of the past, especially Sarah, are presented as models of godly submission, trusting in God's providence. Wives are encouraged to focus on Christ's strength rather than their husband's weaknesses, and husbands are urged to create an environment that makes it easier for their wives to practice submission.

1 Peter chapter 3, looking at verses 1 through 6. Thus says the word of the Lord, wives likewise be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner in former times the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves being submissive to their own husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.

Let us pray. Our gracious Father, Lord as we come to this passage of Scripture and we think about what you have done in bringing together men and women in a bond of marriage and Lord how you have set this up to be the great design of picturing of a shadow if you will Lord of Christ and his church I pray Lord this morning that you would give us humble hearts, Lord, that our hearts would be ready to hear and to obey your word. Lord, I pray that both men and women, both girls and boys, that we would all come before this passage of scripture, seeing it for what it is. This is the word of the Lord and Lord may we remove all faults of our culture and of the influences of the world into our thinking help us not to read into the text but to pull from the text what it is you would have us to know and to obey and we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.

You may be seated. So this morning as we come to this passage of scripture in 1st Peter, As you noticed in your handout, I titled this passage or this message, A Wife's Submission to God, because in truth, it is not about your husband as much as it is about your submission to God and to his Word. And before we can understand our roles and our relationships in marriage, we must understand that the purpose of marriage is to point to something much greater that I alluded to in my prayer for us this morning, marriage is not an end in itself. If you are single here this morning and think that if only I was married, my temptations and my struggles would go away, you are sorely mistaken. For once you are married, you will find that now instead of one sinner in your inner life, there are two.

And those two must live together for the rest of their lives. Although marriage brings to a person some of the greatest blessings and some of the greatest enjoyments that you can experience this side of heaven, which it certainly has to mind, if your focus is on your marriage as the end all be all or a future marriage as the end all be all or if your focus is upon your husband or if the focus is upon your wife to a greater extent than should be, you will find that marriage can also bring some of the greatest struggles of your life. If you get your counsel from the world, you will find that your marriage will be a thorn in your flesh and not a joy from the Lord and a blessing from the Lord. For he who finds a wife finds a good thing. And it is a good thing for us to walk together in unity before the Lord.

Just as we sang, oh may that be the prayers of our hearts, what we just sang. That Christ would be the Lord of our homes. That they would be homes full of holiness and happiness and joy and humility and service one to another. In marriage we must remember that God is so much more concerned about your holiness, though, than he is your happiness. He's so much more concerned about your character than he is just your comfort.

You see, although marriage can bring both, and it does bring both happiness and comfort, when it is focused upon Christ and upon the church, marriage is to point us to this much greater picture of the relationship between Christ and his church, which will bring great blessing to us. And so, think of it this way, your marriage and the relationship you have is a gospel witness to the world. If you miss this, you've missed the most significant part and aspect of marriage. For Paul says in Ephesians chapter 5, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is head of the church and he's the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." Now, before we pick up in chapter three, I want us to turn back again to grab really what I believe to be the context and kind of the starting point for all of this subject on submission.

We spoke about submission to government authorities, we spoke about submission with master servants and in our social relationships, and now he brings us into our most intimate relationship and that is the marriage. And we'll be focusing of course on the men next week and verse 7 and what God's Word says to men. But here in chapter 2, flip back there with me, chapter 2 and I want you to look at verses 11 and 12 with me as we go back and grab this context so that we understand the purpose of why he's writing this about submission. Keeping in mind where are these people Peter is writing to? They are scattered, they're pilgrims, they're under persecution, they're struggling in the midst of the culture that they're living in.

There's all kinds of things coming from without and from within and he is instructing them as a pastor to his people. And this is what he says in verse 11, beloved I beg you, isn't that such a pastor's heart, beloved I beg you As sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles that when they speak against you as evildoers they may by your good works which they observe glorify God on the day of visitation." That is what the thrust of all of this doctrine on submission is really about. It is about doing war with our fleshly lust. It's the same word that Scott was using in Revelation when he preached last week in Revelation 18. It's about this desire, this fleshly lust.

It's the same idea that we are to do battle with this. These are the active and individual desires resulting from the diseased condition of our soul. That's what these lusts are, that we are to do battle against. And part of that battle, ladies, is in your soul that you must do battle with. These fleshly lusts that you must do battle against.

You must identify in your life and go to battle with them because they are out to destroy you. You see, part of this battle for the wife is found right here in chapter 3 when God says, wives, be submissive to your own husbands. Now a wife who is not fully submitted to the Lord finds that to be somewhat, if not entirely uncomfortable. Not because of who God is, but because of who her husband is. That's a hard saying, but this is what the Word of the Lord teaches us.

You see, this battle between the sexes started in Genesis chapter 3, not that submission was part of the fall, but the difficulty in submission is part of the fall. In verse 16 of Genesis 3, the Bible says, your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you. Now this does not teach, again, that the husband's authority started there. It started at the creation when God created man in his own image. God then said it is not good that man should be alone and he created a helper not taken from his foot bones so that man should trample on him, not taken from his head so that she would rule over him, but taken from his side as one man said that she would be near and dear to his heart, but that he would lead.

But the difficulty lies in the fall where now her desire is for her husband. Now let me explain that just a little bit. I believe that we find the meaning of this in Genesis chapter 4 verse 7 and he says this speaking to Cain, and if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you. Same words, but you shall rule over it. So this desire that he speaks of here is not the desire of an intimate relationship with your husband, but the desire to rule over him just like sin's desire, he told Cain, is to rule over him.

But you shall rule over, but he shall rule over you. You see, sin's desire is to rule in your heart, ladies. It is the desire to rule in your heart, men. And we must be at battle against this fleshly lust that wore against our soul. So now before we jump into this text, husbands, hear me clearly.

This passage is not your hammer. Any husband who seeks to justify his sinful behavior over his wife by using this passage of scripture is engraved sin and is going to find himself lacking in about seven days. Next week. Peter is addressing wives, but husbands, be content to let God's words speak to your wife, not your elbows, not your feet, not your eyes. If your wife is lacking in this area, give room for the Holy Spirit of God to work in her heart.

He will, he is. He will continue to do this good work. And he'll do it this morning without you trying to muddy the waters. Stay out of this. This is between God, Holy Spirit, and your wife and the Word of God.

Be praying for your wife this morning throughout this message and it will become a blessing to her and to you in it. So let's jump into this text. Wives likewise. He continues on this same topic of submission, bringing it forward. So wives likewise be submissive to your own husbands that even if some do not obey the word, They without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives." You will see first Peter lays out for us this duty of a godly wife is spelled out very simply and very clearly as be submissive.

Wives likewise be submissive to your own husbands. This indicates that these verses, as I said, do not stand alone as one individual text but as a context of submission. And this submission is really a part of everyone's lives. Everyone in this room is under submission, including myself, and all men upon this earth are to be under submission. God is the only authority that there is that is not in submission but even in his glorious gospel the Lord Jesus Christ came and submitted himself to the will of the triune Godhead to bring about our great salvation.

Just as it says in Corinthians where God is the head of Christ. It is a beautiful picture here of submission in a biblical way. So God has ordained this submission for every person. So let us return to this definition of submission. Submission means to place in an orderly fashion under something else.

That's all it means. Place in an orderly fashion under someone or something else. And so you must remove this unbiblical notion that submission equals oppression. That's the world's definition. The world hates submission.

Submission does not equal oppression. Submission to a biblical authority equals obedience to God and brings glory to God and rebellion against God's ordained authority is rebellion against God. That's what we have learned through all of these passages of submission. We must not rebel against God's ordained biblical authority within its jurisdiction and I say that because I'll touch on it in just a minute you'll note that he says wives be submissive to your own husbands. No wife is to be submissive to me, not in that jurisdiction, not in that relationship.

So please note that I am not saying that a wife should submit to abuse, whether that be physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, God has given recourse for you in this situation and that's why he's placed jurisdictions with certain authorities to help in that time. That's why your elders are here for one, to help in those jurisdictions and help if there is abuse and perhaps even civil authorities in those things. You must take all that I'm saying this morning in the context of the greater teaching that I've done on the topic of submission to authority. That must be clear. William Goudge writes this and notes, the submission which is required of a wife to her husband implies two things.

First, that she acknowledges that her husband is to be her authority. It must begin in her thoughts. She acknowledges this. Secondly, that she respects him as her authority. Now that statement alone is enough to get me killed.

And I pray that it won't happen this morning. So I'm glad I'm where I am. Because let me be honest with you ladies, the vast majority of you, and I'm not thinking of anyone in particular, y'all demonstrate these things. These are beautiful things that we were praying about this morning. We were praying, Lord, thank you, that we're in such a place where we have godly, holy ladies who love the Lord and who desire to do his will.

But do any of us do it perfectly? No. We are all here to grow in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and to grow in obedience to him. So Let's think through this. A wife, you will have to submit in some form to imperfect authority.

Will you? Yes, because that's the only authority upon this earth is imperfect authority. Whether it be in your husband, whether it be in the church with the elders, we are imperfect authority. There's only one perfect authority and that is the Lord himself. So yes, the wife will have to submit to imperfect authority.

That is all there is. I know of no other kind upon this earth. There's only one perfect authority and that is God's authority and that is where we're going to this morning is to His word. So a wife is submitting to her husband and when she does this, it is a totally foreign concept and it is vehemently rejected by our culture. This world, if you haven't noticed, has gone totally insane when it comes to the understanding of the idea of gender and their roles.

So almost without exception everyone in the church and outside the church has drank the red Kool-Aid and believes that there is no difference between men and women and the roles that are established by God. They don't see it. They don't acknowledge it. They reject God. That's really what this is all about.

When you see this, what one man titled the gender blender nonsense that's going on, that is a rejection of God's authority. That's what it is. Don't get confused with all of these little rabbit trails. It is a rejection of God's authority. God says he created man and he created woman and everything else that you see that is morphing these things, that is a rejection of God because man says, I will be as God.

I will determine what is right and wrong. No, you won't. And it will play out and God will show the natural consequences of this insanity. It will show itself forth. So, wives are equal in value and in dignity and in worth and in honor with their husbands but when it comes to their roles and responsibilities and their authority God says but I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

For a man indeed ought not to cover his head since he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of man. There he distinguishes here something that is very important and as I read before about William Guge's statement regarding submission there's an acknowledgement from the wife that these things are so and then there is the actual working out of respect to that authority that we should all do. There should be a natural respect to our authorities. But this command must be seen in its limited scope. So this command is in scope to your own husbands.

That's what he says. So the scope of the wife's submission is right there. Look to your side. If you're sitting beside your husband, I hope you are this morning, That is the limit of the scope of this submission within this jurisdiction. Now, it doesn't negate other jurisdictions because we are told in Ephesians chapter 5, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

That means that here this morning, we are all to be submitting to one another in the fear of the Lord. But when it comes to the marriage relationship you wives are submitting to your own husbands it is a limited jurisdiction in this sphere no other man has authority over you the way your husband does so the great temptation that a wife will face Goudge writes is regarding the wife denying honor to her own husband. He writes this, against this is a very perverse disposition in some wives who think they could better submit themselves to any husband than their own. Though in general they acknowledge that a husband is a wife's authority yet when the application comes to themselves they fail and cannot be brought to yield that they are their husband's subordinate. And he describes this as a vice worse than the former in his book and I believe what he's talking about there he's speaking about an unbelieving husband because notice what he says wives likewise be submissive to your own husbands that even if some do not obey the word.

So when a believing wife rejects the authority of her husband and say, I could submit to any other man, Lord, I could submit to any other man besides this man, you are rejecting the authority of God in your life. That is a vice worse than your husband not being what he should be, especially because he's talking about an unbelieving husband. Now what does this mean for us? For believing wives this is a sobering fault, but notice what Timothy says or Paul says in Timothy in chapter 2 verses 4 through 5, that this is the older women admonishing the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. What a...

Think about that. That goes right back to 1st Peter chapter 2 when he speaks about this very thing that when they speak against you as evildoers they may by your good works which they observe glorify God but wives when you reject the authority of God in your life and you're not submissive to God and likewise submissive to your husbands, Paul says that you can bring blasphemy upon the Word of God. So many people want to joke around with this topic of submission and husbands and wives And there are some funny things that are said and we giggle at them, but this is no laughing matter. Blasphemy? I find nothing funny about that.

None of us should. We do not desire the Word of God to be blaspheme. How far does this go even to disobedient husbands? Now wife, let me ask you a question. Is your husband a believing man?

If he is, you will find yourself in a happier and easier place than the wives that Peter is speaking to. He is speaking to wives with unbelieving husbands. Most likely that's what he's speaking of. Now it could be, it says that they obey not the word. It could be that it is a believing husband who is weak in the faith and he is not obedient to the word to do the things that God has called him to do, but it seems like the context is speaking about someone who it says even if some do not obey the word they without a word may be one.

So it could be one unto salvation, it could be, I don't think it is fully this, that they could be one to obedience to the word, that may be what it is, but I believe the greater point is this, that the power of the influence of a godly wife in the life of her husband could win him to Christ. What a gospel opportunity, even if some do not obey the word. You see, we see this pre-fall purpose of the roles of husband and wives in 1st Corinthians 11 7 it says for a man indeed ought not to cover his head since he is the image and glory of God but a woman is the glory of man for man is not from the woman but woman from the man nor was man created from the woman but woman from the man for this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels." Now what does this mean? I'm not going to get into a topic of head coverings, but Paul's argument for them has to do with the authority of the husband over the wife, and in this case, even an unbelieving husband, it is not a salvation ordinance.

In other words, it's not based on the husband's salvation, but it's based on his creation that he was created as head of the wife. So this shows that this role and purpose of the wife is not dependent on the spiritual state of your husband. Now that could be very hard and again I go back to my former statement about abuse. I'm not saying that. What I am talking about is a godly wife submission to her husband because remember submission to biblical authority within its jurisdiction would never obey someone or some entity if they commanded you to disobey God or kept you from obeying God.

Those things are not biblical jurisdictions. He stepped outside the bounds of jurisdiction if he has done that. But it is to be a humble submission before the Lord because remember keep your eyes upon the Lord because if you look at your husband you're gonna say why should I submit to this man? He's sinful or even unbelieving, but yet God requires it. So this principle that we see in 1 Corinthians 11 is not a cultural custom because the authority of a man over his wife and her submission to him is from creation, not his spiritual salvation.

But what is the answer to this? I believe something that is very hope-filled that I want to get into is this, is that this hope-filled motivation in submission. What is your motivation that will fill you with hope in the midst of this role and responsibility as wives if perhaps your husband is an unbeliever or maybe just disobedient and not really following the word as he should? What is your hope-filled motivation? I believe we find that.

He says that they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives. Really, Peter is stating here a most amazing truth. It is the powerful influence of a godly wife that next to the Word of God, God uses the godly wife to bring her husband to a saving knowledge of him or at minimum brings her husband into a willful obedience to the word of God that he, Lord willing, would begin to lead her as a godly man. It is a powerful influence ladies, don't miss this. But remember, in this powerful influence, it is very interesting that the ability which most women are most gifted, Now I'm not saying this to be a joke, I'm being serious about this.

The influence or the abilities in which most women are so gifted, which will be verbal communication, you're very good at that, is actually one of your weakest instruments of influence over your husband. I know of nothing more anti-productive than a wife trying to convince her husband of something, then with the superfluity of words. Now I speak this in love and for the purpose of building stronger marriages. The absolute worst method of trying to influence or convince your husband is by the abundance of words and your ability and I don't mean arguing in a negative sense but your ability of argumentation but yet Peter lays out that the best method which also happens to be the most difficult since the fall is your respectful and submissive behavior. What am I not saying?

I am not saying that a woman does not talk to her husband and give advice and godly counsel and that there's a receiving of godly counsel. Some of the best counsel I've ever received has been from my wife. I would be a fool not to listen to the counsel of my wife, but ladies know this that your most powerful influence is your godly life. That is the most powerful and yet the most difficult. How easy it is to want to be able to speak something of truth to your husband, but especially with an ungodly man, a man who may not fear the Lord at all, this is something that will not benefit him no matter how wise your words are.

But he says here that he will be won without a word by the conduct of his wife. You see, in the core of a man's being, What a husband needs from his wife more than anything else is for you to respect him in your words, your actions, your facial expressions, and in your thoughts. And I'm going to talk about the thoughts a little bit later. But I know some men who are so stubborn, and here's why I tell you this, I know some men so stubborn that if a wife tells him what to do, he will not do it even though he knows logically and wisely it would be the best course of action. He will not do that.

To prove that he will not be told what to do. This is not a recommendation or a commendation. This is a foolish, prideful, stubborn, silly, foolish man who would do such a thing. But you have a powerful recourse, a powerful recourse next to the very Word of God of your godly conduct that would show forth the glory of God. And that's really back to verse chapter 2 and verses 11 and 12, that's what it says, that by your good works they observe will glorify God on the day of visitation.

That is the power of an influence that you wives have in your marriages. Don't neglect your most powerful influence. It is amazing but it takes great faith. You see Paul says, he ends his whole treatise on marriage in Ephesians 5 and let a wife see that she respects her husband. There is something that God has put in a man that that is something that clicks with us.

God created men to be leaders. And if men are not respected in that position, It really destroys all motivation, it destroys their ability to go forth and conquer. And you have such a powerful influence in their lives, and I encourage you to use this great influence. Is your husband failing to lead your family spiritually? There's a lot to say to the husband and I will say it next week, but there's something to be said this week to the ladies.

I would say on your part, first and foremost, don't focus on his failure. Ask yourself the question, am I respecting my husband before my family? Am I respecting my husband in my heart? Am I respecting my husband in my words to him? Am I respecting my husband by my actions to him?

This is again not an excuse for failures and neglects in a husband, but in every situation there is always two parts and these two things will work together for a great benefit. So my message to men next week will not be light, not because I'm mean, I won't be ordle men, but because I love you and I love strong marriages and I desire to see the marriages in this church thrive. They are doing good, they can do better. They can do better. You see, wives have a part to play.

Do this part. It is an essential part that God has established and he's mentioned it over and over. I sent out those passages for you to read over. That was only a few of the passages that would encourage you this past week and this week at Hope. Hope that you looked over those things.

The Bible is full of passages that encourages these things. Now I want to focus a little bit differently what I normally would. I'm going to hit a little application point here at the beginning, or kind of in the middle we'll say. Application, what does this look like? What does this respectful behavior, what does this good behavior look like?

It looks like this. It looks like chase conduct. He says here, when they observe your chase conduct accompanied by fear, here's an application point for you, how do you live in such a way that would influence your husband who does not obey the word to be won by your influence, have chase conduct. Conduct that is not defiled with the things of this world, conduct that is not defiled from sin in your own heart. And so this really points back again to the same passage in chapter 2 verses 11 and 12 says the same thing when they observe your good works will glorify God on the day of visitation.

I've read to you Titus chapter 2, you've read that a thousand times I'm sure and so for sake of time I'm going to skip on down to the next one. It says that this chaste conduct is accompanied by fear. It means respectful behavior. This chaste conduct is accompanied by fear. It means respectful behavior.

This chaste conduct is accompanied by a reverential respect for your husband out of a fear of God. There's two fears in this passage that are mentioned and one of them is found here and the other one is found at the end when it speaks about this terror. These are two different types of fear. The first one that we're speaking about now is the fear of God and that fear of God or reverence for God motivates you to respect and to fear and honor your husband. And so I understand this to mean living in a fear of God and therefore because of your reverence for God, you show respect to your husband.

Your chase conduct accompanied by fear works a powerful influence in the life of your husband. Next I want us to look at the adornments of a godly life. I don't want to spend too much time here because I believe that we have a good hold on this but it's important. Do not let your adornment be merely outward arranging the hair wearing gold or putting on fine apparel. As the natural case is with all of us, we are overly attentive to outward things.

All of us this morning, how many did not look in a mirror this morning? Exactly. We all looked into the mirror. We made sure our hair was straight. We made sure that we were clean and dressed and hopefully matching and all of that good things that brings benefit to everyone looking at you.

But we want us to understand, God wants us to understand that these are things that are not this adornment of a godly wife is not something that's merely outward. It doesn't mean that there's this badness in dressing up and maybe looking nice and clean and neat. Those are good things. Those are a testimony of who we are as God's people, but it's not merely outward. These things must be something that are born from within the heart.

You see the trouble with living in Babylon, as Scott was preaching about, the trouble with living in Babylon is that the temptation is to do as the Babylonians do and to take the worldly culture into our hearts and try to understand how we should present ourselves outwardly to the world. Those things come out from among them and be separate says the Lord. Don't learn the ways of the Gentiles. Come into God's Word and what does God say is the most important. It is not the outward adornment of your hair and of your clothing but it is something that is much deeper and much greater.

And so the difficult question I asked you this morning, ladies, is do you spend as much time before the mirror of God's word as you do before the mirror in your room? Because both are a mirror. And one is the mirror of the heart it shows where we are. J.R. Miller says she must have mental attractiveness she will seek to be clothed in spiritual beauty her husband must see in her ever new loveliness as the years move on.

As the charms of physical beauty may fade in the toils and vicissitudes of life, there must be more and more beauty of soul to shine out to replace the attractions that are lost? Is the inward man being renewed? That is the question. Are you as concerned about that as you are on the outward attractiveness of the body? I'm not saying again, it's kind of like what Paul said to Timothy, bodily exercise profits little.

It profits little. It does a profit, but it profits a little compared to the inward exercising of the soul and of our spiritual muscles. It must be the adornments of the heart. Matthew Henry notes, more especially, the finest ornament of Christian women is a meek and quiet spirit, a tractable easy temper of mind, void of passion and pride and immoderate anger, discovering itself in a quiet obliging behavior towards their husbands and their families. If the husband be harsh and adverse to religion, which was the case of these godly wives to whom the Apostle gives this direction, there is no way so likely to win him as a prudent meek behavior.

You will not win your husband to Christ by how you look but you may by how you behave and as you present yourself as a godly woman. He says next in this word that we always hear of a gentle and quiet spirit. What is this? What is a gentle and quiet spirit? Matthew Henry noted on it or just touched on it a little bit.

It's a quiet spirit. It's one in which a person is not thrown into fits over their circumstances. How do you respond to difficulties? Maybe the difficulty of your husband, of an unbelieving husband. Maybe the difficulties of a believing husband.

How does your soul respond or your spirit respond? You're of a gentle and quiet spirit. See, a gentle and quiet spirit is one in which a wife is trusting in the Lord and her spirit is quieted by her resting in the loving providence of God. Jesus has arisen in the boat and said to the storm, Peace be still. That is a gentle and quiet spirit.

It doesn't mean a silent mouth. It means a quiet spirit. You're not thrown into fits over things. You're resting in God. That is the challenge, ladies, is to rest in God even when your circumstances are not pleasurable or easy.

You may have a foolish husband who's acting foolishly, but you are resting in God and your spirit is quiet. Matthew Henry continues, he says, at least a quiet spirit will make a good woman easy to herself, which being visible to others becomes an amiable ornament to a person in the eyes of the world. They will see your peace. This is no way implies that a wife does not, again as I said, give counsel to her husband. This does not mean that a husband would be so foolish not to receive it.

We must be wise. We must be godly men and godly women living in this beautiful grace of life that Peter describes. A wise husband will ask and heed the wise instruction of a godly wife. He would be a fool not to. Proverbs 31 says, who can find a virtuous wife for her worth is far above rubies.

The heart of her husband safely trust her so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." Those are beautiful things. It's precious, he says, in the sight of God. Look at what he says here. He says, it is the inward person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of God.

Peter has spoken and Mike mentioned, alluded to it earlier, something else that was precious, the precious blood of Jesus and because of the precious blood of Jesus Christ that has washed over our souls and cleansed us from the defilement of sin and now Peter says that when a wife interacts with her husband in such a way that God says, is this, it is very precious in the sight of God. I don't know about you but anytime that I read something that is called one blasphemy or you could call somebody to blaspheme the word of God, my ears perk up and I pay attention. But when I read something that says it's very precious in the sight of God, your ears should perk up, your thoughts should be attentive. What is very precious in the sight of God? A lady who is resting on the sovereign hand of God and is of a gentle and quiet spirit because she's not worried.

Think about what Abraham did to Sarah. Ladies, think of that. That foolish man. He acted in a foolish way to give his wife, say, say you're my sister and she went to be a part of the harem of another king but who protected her? God did.

God protected her even in that situation. God is more than able to protect you in your situation. And your trust in him will give you a quiet spirit in the midst of any storm. It is the power of God working in your hearts and lives, And it is a precious thing in God's sight. It should be precious to us if it's precious to God.

I want to seek with diligence that which is precious to my Lord. Is that your heart's desire? That's what it should be. And lastly, Peter gives us this. He gives us some examples of a godly wife.

He kind of lays this out really clearly. He talks about the duties of a godly wife. He gives us some attributes or characteristics of a godly wife in her adornment. And then he gives us some examples, something that will help encourage you that you're not on this track alone. Other ladies have walked this path before you and you can find strength and help and encouragement in them and also in this room.

They are the same. Seek them out. That's kind of what he's telling you to do. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves. How did they adorn themselves?

They adorned themselves with these things that he mentioned. Not with the outward arranging of the hair, but the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. These ladies who trusted in God adorned themselves being submissive to their own husbands. You see, there's a general example here of holy women. He doesn't name them all, but he says the holy women did it.

There's a plurality of them. There's a number of these holy women who have lived before and who have gone before you and what a what a recommendation What a commendation the holy women now ladies? I don't know about you But if I was a wife that would want to be the group that would be the group. I would want to be a part of? The holy women.

That's the group that we should be seeking after. The holy women. This should enjoin our hearts to desire to be a part of them. That's the kind of woman and women I would want to be around. This should enjoy us.

It should give us a zeal and an excitement. What a testimony. What will your husband and your children say about you or your grandchildren? She is one of the holy women of God that God spoke of in 1 Peter. Let me tell you about my grandmother.

Let me tell you about my mother. These are some of the holy women. That is what he's talking about. What a testimony. Will it be yours?

It can be. Pursue what these women pursued. You will be a part of the holy women. It will be said of you, you were precious in the sight of God." What a commendation. These ladies trusted in God.

They didn't trust in themselves. They surely didn't trust in the ability of their husbands because so often husbands we are weak we are foolish in our behaviors and sometimes in our thoughts and our actions but these women trusted in God note that their focus was on the Lord they adorn themselves being submissive to their own husbands Let me back up for in this manner in former times the holy women who trusted in God did this. Their focus was on him. All men are weak and fallible. Do not put your trust in your husband.

You put your trust in the Lord who is sovereign over your husband and who can protect you in all things. They adorn themselves likewise they adorn themselves and what did they adorn themselves with? They adorn themselves with these beautiful things that I mentioned before of a gentle and quiet spirit and with chastity and with a gentleness of heart and incorruptible beauty, and they subjected themselves. They considered not themselves to be oppressed, but rather blessed by God for giving them a husband and understanding that submission to their husbands was submission to God and they did not fear. Ladies, I can only imagine the fear that some of us husbands have put into your hearts.

Some of the decisions we've made and some of the thoughts that we've had, any natural person would fear the consequences of some of these things, but they did not fear. They feared God, but they did not fear man. They trusted in God. And then he gives us some very specific example of Sarah. What does it say about Sarah?

As Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. This was what Peter says about Sarah. Sarah obeyed Abraham. Why? Because she understood that God had made Abraham her own husband.

God made the man that you're married to your own. It was not by happenstance. It was by providence. That is the husband God ordained for you. He specifically designed that man to be strong where he needed to be strong for you but yet also to be weak in areas that would make you call out to him so that you would not put your hope in flesh so that your hope would be in God that's why he did it And the same is true for us husbands regarding our wives.

So often the area in which we wish our spouses were the strongest, they may be the weakest. Because remember it's not just about all of this, all happiness is about holiness. God wants us to cling to him. We are to have no substitutes for our relationship with God. We are to have no substitutes.

Our wife or our husband cannot be what Christ is. A picture of it but not in fullness of it. She respectfully spoke of Abraham or to Abraham calling him Lord. Now this is often joked about and I've heard some women kind of mockingly say these things to their husbands I wouldn't. The word Lord means to rule.

It means someone who is sovereign a master or Lord. I do not believe Peter is commanding or teaching you wives to call your husband Lord. It's not Lord in the sense of God. It's a title of respect. Two, I don't believe that the point is that a wife respectfully speaks to...

I believe the point is that a wife should speak respectfully to and about her husband. This is highly commendable by God. He said, this is good. And thirdly, when a wife does this, it proves that she trusts in God. She acknowledges that this is the one who God has put in my life that I am called to submit to and to live for in obedience to God.

And so I'm going to touch on that more when I speak here in just a moment about what was in Sarah's heart. She respectfully thought about Abraham. Not only did she respectfully speak to him, she respectfully thought about him. How do I know this from this passage? I don't from this passage.

That's why we take all of scripture to understand a passage. Genesis 18, 12 says this, therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying, after I have grown old shall I have pleasure my lord being old also. She was speaking to herself And yet she acknowledged her husband in a respectful way in her heart. How do you view your husband in your heart? We have a glimpse.

God gave us a glimpse into the heart of Sarah. That's why she's commended. What does God know of your heart? What does your heart say? Man, I wish I had another one.

Man, I could submit to anybody but him. Or do you acknowledge this is the one that God has given me? This is the best husband I could possibly have had because this is the one God gave me. Now, I want you to also realize that there is a multi-generational faithfulness that is presented here. It speaks about the holy women.

Ladies, what God is calling you to is this great faithfulness, this generational faithfulness. You will be called the daughters of the holy women. You, like Sarah, will be called precious in the sight of God. If you do good, like these ladies, and are fearless like these ladies, especially, you see, he may be weak where you wish he was strong, but there is no fear, ladies, in following an almighty God who is all-knowing, who is all-powerful, and who says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. How should you respond to this?

And in this thought, I'm going to give you four things of application of how should you respond to this as a wife. Number one, get your eyes off of your husband and his weaknesses and turn your eyes on Christ and his all-sufficient strength. He is more than able, Christ is more than able to lead your husband and you can trust him and as you trust him You will glorify him as you live in a right relationship with your wife. It will be a beautiful thing number two talk to your husband about what makes him feel respected. It may surprise you.

It may be something really simple. That may be an easy one there. Talk to your husbands. Listen to your wives. Talk to your wives about these things.

And number three, if God is convicting you that you have not been respecting your husband, what should we do? We should always do what the scripture says to do when we have not done what he has told us to do. We repent. Confess your sin, ask for forgiveness, and seek to live as a godly wife. And then my fourth one is actually for men, for the men here.

Men strive to be the husbands that makes this easy. Strive to be the man and the husband that makes this easy. Don't make it harder than it is. Make it easy. And may God grant you wives the faith to believe that God is able to do all things and that he will enable you to live and act upon his word.

Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you again for this word. Lord, it is a challenging word. Lord, I pray for these wives here this morning. I pray for all of these ladies.

I pray for the future wives. Lord, there is so much involved in this and more than could possibly be said in just a short period of time. I pray for all ladies in this congregation today, some who have been hurt by their husbands in bad ways and some who have who are not married yet, some who are married. There's so many circumstances. I just pray for each one of them, oh Lord, minister to their heart as only you can.

Build them up in the most holy faith. And Lord, there are no wasted lives. Lord, you are still working in each one of our lives. I pray that you will continue to do so. Help us to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And Lord, would you make this a blessing to everyone here today? And God, build in us, in this church, holy marriages that glorify you so that even the world would glorify God on the day of visitation. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.