Soul Clothing – Part 2

In fact, there’s even more than
will handle today. We’ve touched upon a number of
these things in past weeks, and so I hope to wrap up this particular
passage this week. As you know, we have been for
the last several weeks looking at the wife, the wife of a godly
home. a Christian wife and her responsibilities
in this difficult world. And we were reminded that this
whole subject here in First Peter, chapter three, verse one through
six is really in a long stream of thought that began much earlier
in the book. Back in chapter 2, verse 13,
we were all exhorted to submit ourselves for the Lord’s sake
to every human institution. So really, submission is for
every Christian. It just depends on the realm
that you’re in and the role that you play to whom you will be
in submission. In verses 18 through 25, we’re
reminded that servants are to emulate the suffering servant
who is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That’s all that servants
do is emulate the Lord Jesus Christ in submitting themselves
to their earthly masters. Here in chapter 3, verses 1 through
6, wives are in view. In chapter 3, verse 7, it only
took one verse to address the husbands, but it is a doozy.
And if you think you get off easy, hold on. Husbands in verse 7. In verses
8 through 12, Peter returns to address the whole body of The
church in verses eight through 12 in chapter four through four,
one and on, he talks about suffering. submitting, as it were, to the
trials and the suffering that come our way as being sifted
through God’s fingers. He addresses sanctification in
that regard in verses one through six. He addresses serving in
that regard in verses seven through eleven. He addresses trials specifically
in twelve through fourteen. In fifteen through nineteen,
he calls us to the remedy for the whole suffering motif in
submitting ourselves or entrusting ourselves to a faithful creator. The passage in chapter five,
or the subject rather, even continues itself in chapter five, doesn’t
it? As young men in the church are called to be submitted to
their elders in the church. So last week, having already
considered that wives were called in verse one to be submissive
to their husbands. And we talked about what that
meant. We talked about what that looks
like, that, you know, it’s not just this empty headed subservience
that, you know, never questions a husband’s decision or never
has a voice in anything that the husband does or thinks. That’s not it at all. In fact,
I think it was Chuck Swindoll years ago who said it, but it’s
wisdom nonetheless. He said a man who doesn’t listen
to his wife’s input on a matter is a fool. She has a different
perspective, he went on to say. She has different ways of looking
at things. And it is it is wisdom for the
husband to consider his wife’s counsel. So this It doesn’t mean
that the wife is a lesser creature. It doesn’t mean that she has
less or fewer mental faculties. In fact, it went on to say that
wives are to be submissive to their own husbands. So it’s not
women as a class that are inherently subservient to all men. It’s
women as a class that are inherently submissive to all men. Paul could
have said that, but he clarified it very simply. Paul went on
there in verse one to say, in the same way, you wives be submissive
to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient
to the word. Now, some took this to mean ultimately
they are disobedient. They don’t want Christ. They’re
not submitted to Christ. They don’t want the gospel. They
don’t want the gospel’s influence in their life. They don’t want
salvation. They don’t need salvation. I take this much more simply. We can all be disobedient to
the word, even if it’s just in a simple thing, we can be disobedient
to the word. And I believe that what Paul
is saying there is that even if they are ultimately disobedient
to the word, but includes the whole scope of disobedience so
that even if you have an unbelieving, ungodly husband, you are called
to obedience. So that even if any of them are
disobedient to the word, they may be one. That’s the goal.
Remember, that’s the theme of the whole book is proclaiming
our testimony abroad, letting the world see what a Christian
is like so that they too may be one to Christ. And so the
wife must have her husband’s reformation in. The core of her
being, she must have that as her ultimate goal. Even if it’s
just one of those little sins, quote unquote, that the husband
is disobedient in disobedient to the word, he may be one without
a word by the behavior of their wives. We’ll come back to that
thought in a moment today. That they may be one without
a word by the behavior of their wives as they observe your chaste
and respectful behavior. Peter was concerned that the
the women of The day might go too far with their newfound liberty
in Christ and that they might begin to repudiate all authority. And Peter here is concerned.
It goes on to reaffirm the authority structure for the home. Paul,
likewise, as we saw last week, did the same thing in chapter
two of First Timothy. In chapter two of First Timothy,
and I’ll bounce into this verse a couple of times today, Paul
said, I want women to adorn themselves. Same thought is in our passage
at hand this morning. I want women to adorn themselves
with proper clothing. In other words, he says there
are things that are appropriate and things that are inappropriate,
but he’s not talking about fashion trends necessarily. He does address
some of those things as he courses through here. He says, first
of all, that would include modestly. That they must dress modestly
and discreetly. Not with braided hair and gold
or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works
as befits women making a claim to godliness. As we said of our
passage last week, Paul isn’t forbidding the use of gold. He
isn’t forbidding the wearing of dresses. He isn’t forbidding
pigtails. Essentially, what Peter is urging
here even more clearly is that it can’t just be the outside.
Ladies, you are called to adorn yourselves. And that may seem
stunning to you. You may seem you may think that
because of maybe circles that you’ve been in the past, Christian
circles, that adorning yourself is sinful. It’s not sinful. Both
Paul and Peter here tell you to adorn yourselves. Peter assumes
that you’re going to do so. Paul explicitly tells you adorn
yourselves with proper clothing. I want to take you to the passage
in First Peter now. And let’s look at it in its entirety.
First, Peter, chapter three, beginning in verse one. In the
same way, you wives be submissive to your own husband, so that
even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won
without a word by the behavior of their wives as they observe
your chaste and respectful behavior. And let not your adornment be
merely external, braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, putting
on dresses, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with
the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious
in the sight of God. For in this way, in former times,
the holy women also who hoped in God used to adorn themselves,
being submissive to their own husbands. Thus, Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him Lord, and you have become her children
if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear. As we said last week, neither
of these passages, First Timothy two, First Peter three, forbid
the way that you do your hair, going to get a fancy hairdo,
getting a perm, braiding your hair, doing cornrows, any of
that. Then forbid that. Doesn’t forbid
wearing a gold necklace or gold jewelry or pearls or any of those
things that God has given. Essentially, the translators
softened this a bit or clarified it, really, by adding that little
italicized word, at least in the NAS, merely. Don’t just let
it be that. As one said, don’t let it just
principally be that. Let not that be solely or chiefly
attended to. Don’t make that the focus of
your life. The way that you dress. What
you’re going to wear. Don’t get all wrapped up in those things.
It’s good to adorn yourself. As one said, if the barn needs
painting, paint it. But, don’t let that be your only
focus. said one who have to take care
that their presence in the congregation does not appear out of sorts.
They must come in seemly or appropriate, proper, as Paul would say, attire. They must come in seemly attire
with seemly behavior. Everything which might divert
attention from the service to themselves must be avoided. That’s Paul’s focus in 1 Timothy
2. Paul there in that great section
is talking to Timothy about people and how they behave in the church. And he says, you can’t come in
dressed up in all this gaudy gear, drawing all the attention
to yourself. The focus on the Lord’s Day is
who? The Lord. It’s the Lord. So, ladies, You’re called to
adorn yourselves. It’s a good and wholesome thing
to adorn yourselves. You are the fairer sex. There’s
nothing wrong with it. Just keep it in perspective.
Keep it in balance with what’s going on inside, as we’ll see
in a moment. One pastor summed it up this
way. He said the apostle here does not condemn the desire on
the part of girls and women, a desire created in their hearts
by the father to adorn themselves. He says, you know what? This
desire to pretty yourselves up to primp, that’s a God given
thing. Then leave them alone in the
bathroom. All right. The apostle doesn’t condemn the
part to adorn themselves to be in good taste. But if a woman’s
robe is truly to be such, it will be expressive of modesty
and good sense. And that’s always the tension,
isn’t it? In every society. What’s appropriate, what’s proper? One pastor went so far as to
kind of pose some prompt her questions for you as you stand
before the mirror. Is this whole thing subjective?
Oh, you bet it is. That’s why women, each of you
need to examine your motives as you stand before the mirror,
before you go away from the mirror, before you come into the public
worship. He said he asked, number one,
does it show the grace and beauty of womanhood? Does your attire,
your hair, the jewelry that you do wear, the clothing that you’ve
selected, does it does it show the grace and beauty of womanhood?
What a beautiful question. Does it show her love and devotion
to her husband? Or is she merely out to attract
the glances of others? Does it reveal a humble heart
devoted to worshiping God? That’s a great question. I mean,
I’ve been in some churches where, you know, you think you’re out
on a Friday night somewhere at a club the way some people are
dressed. Or does the whole thing call
attention to herself to flaunt her wealth, to flaunt her beauty,
to allure others? Well, that’s the question ever
before. The godly women of this congregation, you want to please
God. And what Peter says first and
foremost is that what you do is far beyond the visible. You
need to attend to the visible, but you need to attend to the
visible as being a lesser thing. And so we come to point two,
and this is really where we left off last week. We’re looking
at the ornaments of a woman of God and she is called to ornamentation. There’s nothing wrong with it.
It is part of her God given design. Women are called to adornment.
But they are called to adornment that is, first of all, beyond
the visible. They take that as second place,
because in first place is point number two. It is an adornment
that is beneath the surface. That’s what the godly woman really
is concerned about adorning. That’s what she’s really interested
in. Look at verse four. where Peter
urges, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable
quality of a gentle and quiet spirit. There is an incorruptible,
a heavenly quality, a heavenly clothing garb, if you will, that
the godly woman is to put on in the hidden person, what Paul
would refer to as the inner man. The soul, if you will, and that’s
why we call this whole section the soul clothing. That’s what
the godly woman is really and genuinely concerned about adorning.
She will take those extra steps to doll up the outside of the
tent, but her real concern is the inside. What’s going on in
the heart, the soul? One said it this way, it must
be, it must in general be something not corruptible that beautifies
the soul. That is the graces and virtues
of the Holy Spirit. The ornaments of the body are
destroyed by the moth and they perish in the using, but the
grace of God, the longer we wear it, the brighter and better it
is. What a great thought. I’m sure many of you have things
that, you know, through wear or whatever, no longer you know,
are appropriate to put on. But the beauty that Paul is or
Peter rather here is pointing us to, ladies, is a beauty that
will never fade and never wear out and never go out of style.
And that’s why he points us inward. He says it’s the hidden person
of the heart. As I said, the Apostle Paul refers
a number of times to the inward man. It is the soul over against
the body. That’s how Paul uses it. It is
opposed to those external ornaments that have already been mentioned.
It’s completely apart from anything to do with the way that you do
your hair, the dress that you wear, the color of it. Those
things are all fading, perishing and passing away, but this is
abiding and durable. And wives are encouraged here. Rather, they’re exhorted to enrich
and beautify their souls with God-given grace. That’s as simply
as we could say it here at the outset. And it’s a hidden person. And
you might say, well, but nobody’s going to see that. Well, first
and foremost, God sees it. God sees the hidden person of
the heart long before anybody else does. What most people end
up seeing is the fruit thereof. The fruit of how you’ve adorned
your heart and what you’ve done with your soul. Who can best judge when it comes
to looking at the inner man, the soul of a person? It may not be obvious to the
eyes of people, But it’s God. And isn’t His judgment,
isn’t His opinion most to be valued? It’s God’s judgment opposed
to the judgment of vain people who think that they commend themselves
to others by this outward display. I mean, you’ve met people like
this. You know that you have. That are all dressed up on the
outside, but inside you just wonder what’s there, if anything. Right? In some Christian circles that
I’ve lived in and worshipped in, some areas of the country
to be unnamed, church is just a social event. And dressing up, that’s what
it is. It’s dress-up time. And you get
all dressed up and you go and you go to be seen. And once you’re
seen, then you go and you go out and you’re seen some more
at lunch. That’s what it’s about. It’s an attempt, instead of to
walk your walk, it’s to dress your talk, to dress your walk.
You are as you dress. That’s basically what people
think. Patrick Fairbairn, the great
Puritan said, As making this profession, the apostle would
have them understand first that the kind of dress which becomes
them is a neat and plain as compared to a luxurious or costly one.
And second, that the distinction which worldly women seek to acquire
by their splendid ornaments and fine apparel, they should endeavor
to reach through their good works. He said the same thing in much
more flowery and Elizabethan tongue. What is it? Ladies, what is it that he’s
calling you to in the inner person of your heart? He goes on, let
it be the hidden person, the heart with the imperishable quality
of a gentle and quiet spirit. That’s what you’re called to,
ladies. That is that beautiful grace
that adorns the inner person. That is what goes beyond what
is external. That’s what is, as Peter first
says here, imperishable. I mean, I want you to get that.
It’s imperishable. The old man said, one, with its
corruption according to its deceitful lusts, is passing away, but this
new man, the hidden person of the heart has no corruption in
it, nor cleaving to it. It is the workmanship of God. That’s why we keep calling you
to a work of grace. That’s why we keep calling you
to cultivate the work of grace in your heart, in your souls.
It is created in righteousness and holiness, and though it is
yet imperfect, there is nothing impure in it. But that doesn’t really capture
the meaning of that word imperishable. He’s not talking about merely
in this life. Right. Sometimes you depending
on what you purchase, some garment, usually a coat, it will have
a life, sometimes a lifetime guarantee. Right. And what they’re
suggesting by that is the material is so good, it’s practically
Kevlar. It will last you a lifetime.
That’s fine. But is it imperishable? You see, what Peter points to
here is is not a garment that even is going to live 80 years
or 100 if you want to stretch it. No garment is going to last
forever, but the garment, the sole clothing that he’s calling
you women to is imperishable, and there are very few things
articulated in Scripture as such. But it is a very noble crowd
of things that are imperishable. What are they? And I’m just pointing
to those few things that are called imperishable using the
same word that Peter does here of a godly woman’s character.
Romans 1.23 Romans 1.23 says that there were those foolish
and sinful heathen that exchanged the glory of the incorruptible
God. Well, that’s good company to
be with. The way that you’ve adorned your
soul is now in the same realm as the incorruptible God. Those
two things will last forever. Forever. We all yearn for heaven. We all yearn for whatever it
is. We don’t know exactly what it
is or what it will weigh or what kind of jewels it will have in
it. But we all look for some kind of crown. It’s not so much
the crown as much as it means being in eternity forever with
Christ. Paul spoke of it. 1 Corinthians
9.25, everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control
in all things. They do it to receive a perishable
wreath, but we an imperishable. So you have the nature of God,
the incorruptible God and the character of a godly woman. And
now this incorruptible, imperishable wreath. Those things are all
in the same realm. We have an inheritance. Peter
said at the outset of this very book, we have an inheritance
that is imperishable. And now we have another thing
that we bring. that we see there in this same little grouping,
very small group of things that is considered imperishable. It’s
a very elite group of things, ladies. And what Peter says is
this, this quality, this character of the heart is going to last
forever. As you are greeted in heaven,
they will greet you possessing this same character of heart.
In eternity, as they do, as you’re able by God’s grace to develop
it in the here and now. This is a profound thought, ladies. And yet so many come to this
passage and they they stumble over, you know, the early thoughts
of verse one submitted and they lose sight of the whole thing.
Because they don’t want to submit themselves to their husband. Peter says, you know what? This
character quality is going to be around not only for this lifetime,
but forever. What is it? Peter says it is
a gentle and quiet spirit. Let not your adornment be merely
external, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the
imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit. This little
word, gentle, meek. You know it is meek from the
Sermon on the Mount. From Matthew chapter 5, the meek
shall inherit the earth. Same word. It is one who does
not create disturbances. Not in their own life. Not in
their own home. Not in their church. Not in their
societies. They’re quiet. They bear tranquilly,
peacefully with all the disturbances going on around them. They don’t
let it… I love the way my good friend
created a word one time. He called it frustrated. Flustered
to the point of being frustrated. They just don’t let it bother
them. They’re meek in their feelings.
It comes from a word referring to a humble and meek attitude. It expresses itself in a patient
submissiveness that is quiet and still and peaceful. And ladies, we need more. We
need more of that. We need more of that in our society
and in our homes and in our church. You know, Christ was gentle. It is said of Christ in Matthew
21.5, Behold, your King is coming to you gentle. And so if you
cultivate this grace, know that you are cultivating Christ likeness
in your own hearts and lives. You’re gentle. Paul described
himself gentle, but it wasn’t something that he possessed in
and of himself. It wasn’t that he was inherently
gentle. In 2 Corinthians 10, it said, I, Paul, myself, urge
you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. He possessed it, but
it was only because God gave it to him through Christ. It
is a noble quality, this gentleness. It is a fruit of the Spirit,
Galatians 5.23. It is urged upon all the church, men. It’s easy
for us to say, be gentle. It would be much more effective,
men, if we modeled it, modeled our gentleness. Ephesians 4.2
says, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance
for one another in love. But ladies, you’re called to
it, specifically called to it here. You’re called to that gentleness. Colossians 3.12, it is supposed
to be a key mark of the elect. Good check. Right here. Good
way to check yourselves to see if you’re in God’s elect. Verse 12 of chapter three, Colossians,
so as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put
on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. It’s part of who we are called
to be in Christ, people, and it’s called it’s expected of
all of us. particularly the wives, it is expected of elders. It
is supposed to be a character quality of elders. When Paul
wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6.11, he told him, flee from
these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. It consists, said one, not in
a person’s outward behavior only, nor in his relations with fellow
men merely. Rather, it is an inwrought grace
of the soul. This is not something you can
cultivate. You know, I went to a meeting
this past week, a baseball meeting, and they’re wanting us to instill
in these young baseball players character qualities, virtue,
And it’s an impossible task, right? You can model those things. You can encourage towards those
things. But those things are all empty
without Christ. It doesn’t matter how virtuous
or how much character you have without Christ. It is an inwrought grace of the
soul and the exercises of it are first and chiefly toward
God. You are meek and gentle toward
God. I mean, that almost sounds absurd.
But hear it out. He goes on to say it is that
temper of spirit in which we accept his dealings with us as
good and therefore without disputing or resisting. You see, you have
to wonder sometimes when the arguments develop and when they
perpetuate over time, when this animosity seizes hold of a marriage
and both parties dig their heels in, you almost always know that
they first and foremost are not meek and gentle towards God.
That’s who they’re real arguments with. He goes on and says, this meekness,
however, being first of all of meekness before God, is also
such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that
these with insults and injuries which they may inflict are permitted
and employed by God for the chastening and purifying of His elect. God
has a purpose in bringing that, as we saw, that rough and unsavory
boss into your life. God has a purpose in the husband
in which He’s paired you. God has a means of using Him
in your life. Your goal is simply to desire
His reformation, that He may be won. There’s a second element to this
imperishable quality. Not only meekness, but quiet.
Quiet. You see, this is an echo of what
he had said earlier. Your desire is that your husband
may be won, that he may be reformed, either in that sin, that minor
little sin, whatever, whatever shortcoming he has, or in his
total life. He’s totally rejecting the Word.
And your desire for him, first and foremost, must be that he
be one to Christ. It’s got to be that. But how do you do it? And you would never know the
way some people conduct themselves in their homes. You would never
know what counsel Peter has given here by the way you observe some
homes. As I said a couple of weeks ago,
you would assume by observing some homes that Peter’s advice
was, berate them, harass them, harangue them, nag them to death. Is that what Peter says here?
He says that they may be one without
a word. And here, that’s why I said this
is just an echo. This is an echo of what he’s
already said, quiet. And it doesn’t mean that you
never say a word. It doesn’t mean that you don’t
challenge us as godly Abigail did. It doesn’t mean that you
don’t say, can we rethink this decision? Could I may I interject
my observations here? Can we just discuss this one
more time? It’s not saying that at all.
It’s not forbidding any of that wifely wisdom. This quiet refers
to not creating disturbances. It’s a quiet that bears peacefully,
as I said before, with the disturbances that are caused by others. You’re
unruffled by everything that’s going on around you. You’re undisturbed
by all that stuff. You know what? This grace too
is encouraged upon all of us. This isn’t just something that
the wife is supposed to be. This is just the beauteous and
imperishable grace with which she is going to win her husband,
even if he’s unsaved. 1 Thessalonians 4.11 is the general
exhortation to all believers. Make it your ambition to lead
a quiet life. What a great verse. What great
counsel. You mean stay out of my neighbor’s
business? Yeah. And I love the whole thing, making
your ambition to lead a quiet life, attend your own business
and work with your hands. That would solve a lot of problems,
wouldn’t it? This quiet, this peaceful, tranquil,
quiet is a benefit of prayer. First Timothy 2.2. We’re supposed
to be praying for kings and all who are in authority so that
we may lead a tranquil and quiet life. That’s what he’s talking
about in the home. He wants peace. God wants a settledness
in the home. He wants unity and unanimity. Not strife. One said that this notes the
particular grace or graces in which the spiritual beauty and
adorning of women’s souls consists. Meek and quiet are but two expressions
of the same grace. Meekness means gentleness. Quietness
means peaceable, still a modest temper in opposition to clamoring
talkativeness. One said it much more simply,
not disturbing, not being disturbed. That’s what gentle and quiet
spirit means. In fact, I was telling my wife,
that’s kind of the rule of thumb that I’ve come up with for driving
I-25 every day. I’m not going to disturb anybody,
because I don’t want a gun pointed at me, nor am I going to get
disturbed by anybody. And that’s the more difficult
part of the equation, right? I’m just going to cruise along.
Somebody does something ridiculous, I’m just going to try to keep
cruising along. The ornaments of the soul, as
one said, are truth and holiness and knowledge and faith and hope
and love and joy and humility. Nothing is more ornamental to
the Christian wife than a meek and quiet spirit. No deformity
is more unsightly than its opposite. A discontented, fretful, peevish,
domineering spirit. This is where so much of the
world has encouraged the wife to be. Opinionated. Outspoken. Stand your ground. It promotes a talkativeness.
It promotes an argumentativeness. The world urges the wife to be
brash and boisterous and loud. The world calls you often and
fosters it when you’re critical. It wants you to be self-promoting
and self-congratulating. That’s what the world wants.
But that’s not what God wants. Matthew Henry said it this way. Those that are possessed of such
a spirit, this gentle and quiet spirit are not easily provoked
to anger. They patiently bear and put up
with injuries. They carry themselves affably
and courteously to all. They entertain even the lowest,
the most lowly and humble thoughts of themselves. You see, that’s
the problem. We’re offended. This is for us
to men. We’re offended. It’s only because
of our pride that we react. If we had the attitude that,
well, I deserve much worse, but, you know, thank you for the abuse
that I did receive. They do not envy the gifts and
graces of others, they are willing to be instructed and admonished
by the meanest or the most lowly saint. They quietly submit to
the will of God in all adverse dispensations of providence.
And when they ascribe all that they have and all that they are
to the free grace of God, and they reckon that when they have
done all that they can, they are but unprofitable servants.
This grace, meekness, humility and quietness is a fruit of the
spirit and so a part of the hidden man and what is very ornamental
to a believer. It is her clothing, it is her
inward adorning that makes her lovely in the sight of God. And that’s what Peter says, lastly,
it is precious in the sight of God. Remember, all of this, ladies,
takes place in the hidden person of the heart. And at least initially,
anyway, God is the one who sees. God is the one who sees first
what’s going on in there. Your husband isn’t going to get
converted or drop his pet sin at the first glimpse of your
godliness. But God sees, and it’s pleasing
to Him. It’s valuable in the eyes of
God. And God looks at the heart. Everything is in God’s sight.
Right? Everything is in full view of
God. It’s not just like He looks and sees what is good. He sees
everything. Here’s a third point. Women, you are called to adorn
yourselves. But you are called to adorn yourselves
beyond what is visible. You’re called to adorn yourself
beneath the surface and you are called to adorn yourselves because
of the examples. It is, in a sense, that great
cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 11. Verse five, for
in this way, in former times, the holy women also who hoped
in God used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own
husbands. These were those who hoped in
God. And he points to all the Old Testament saints, the women,
Rebecca and Sarah and Rachel and Leah and Ruth and Hannah
and all the rest. Hebrews 11, 13 says, even of
these godly women. They were women of hope. They
hoped in God. How so? Hebrews 13, all these
died in faith without receiving the promises. They were hoping
and trusting and waiting on God. It was their character, their
nature. But Peter mentioned specifically
Sarah. Verse six, Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, and
you have become her children. If you do what is right without
being frightened by any fear. Now, husbands, as much as I like the sound of
Lord Ronald, this is not something I would suggest you try at home.
Because what essentially takes place here is. The Apostle Peter interprets
what took place there in Genesis, that’s not for us to do. He assigns a meaning that you
really don’t get from the text by itself. But the fact that
the Apostle Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit here, looks at
this passage, Genesis 18, and says that when Sarah looked at
her husband and called him Lord, Master, he’s the boss of the
home essentially, she was doing so in faith. She was doing so
as an example. And Peter says, you have become
her children if you do what is right without being frightened
by any fear. Sarah here is characterized as
being yielded to her godly husband. She was characterized by a gentle
and quiet spirit that even though she laughed and if you read through
the passage, you say, how does Peter get this? He got it from
the Holy Spirit who was there. So long as you perform your duty
with a resolute mind and keep from that which is contrary to
your faith, or as long as you subject yourselves to your husbands
willingly and cheerfully, yet without slavish fear or fear
of being losers by your obedience and faring the worst by your
patience and submission. That’s what God wants. He’s not
wanting to pin a title on your husband and certainly not that
title of any title. This fear that he mentions here,
I don’t doubt that Peter had in mind Proverbs 3.25. Do not be afraid of sudden fear,
nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes. That’s kind of
what seems to be the theme in Peter’s mind there. But there
is wisdom there in the book of Proverbs that Peter doesn’t bring
out. Verse 26 of Proverbs 3, the Lord
will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.
That’s the truth, ladies. Christ is there. Christ is your
confidence. Even as we read from Psalm 118,
who am I to fear? If you have Christ, ladies, you
have everything. The Lord will be your confidence
and to be afraid of all those sudden fears and panics, really
speaks of a lack of trust in God and in his providence and
power. It’s unbecoming of a woman. It’s
unbecoming of a daughter of Sarah, as Peter calls you. What kind
of fears does that include? Certainly, unbelieving husbands
and what they might do. But if you think of it, men are
given to anger and women tend to be given to fear, don’t they? Peter perhaps is thinking about
those fears that are caused by a bad-tempered husband. But Peter goes beyond that in
just leaving it vague. It’s fears about children and
fears about others and fears about family finances. Fears about the ill will of the
heathen society in which they live. But the Christian wife who hopes
in God will face all of those things undisturbed. She possesses
a gentle and quiet spirit. She doesn’t need to take control
because she knows that God, Almighty God, is in control. Let’s pray. Oh, Lord God, we rejoice even
at the thought of that, that you are in control. Lord, give our wives freedom
from that fear. Give our young ladies, as they
look to who they may marry, give them wisdom to choose a godly
man and a man to whom they can come alongside and help and to
whom they can submit themselves. Father, grant us grace as we
examine our own hearts with regards to the home. Father, today we
think of the wives and we pray that you would work into them
by your grace, that clothing of the soul, which is imperishable,
never to fade or wear a gentle and quiet spirit. Grant them
this grace, Father, in Jesus name. Amen.