 One of the most difficult things I have to do as a pastor's wife and discipler and counselor is to give women help and hope in their marriage, especially I think more often when they're married to an unbeliever in the difficulty of parenting and making decisions for the family. It's often very difficult. Wives want to rear the children one way, the husband wants to raise them in the other way, and it requires a lot of wisdom, a lot of prayer, a lot of understanding of scripture, and so it's a very difficult task indeed to give them counsel. And often I'm asked by these women, how do I win my lost husband to Christ? And we certainly know from looking at Eve it's not by our outward beauty, right? That's not how we win our husband or our worldly compromises like she did. That's how she won him over in the sense of causing him to sin. And you know many of us have believed a lie whether married to a believer or an unbeliever, and the lie is this. Here's the lie that many of us have believed. If I could just be thin enough, beautiful enough, I would find true happiness and contentment and a husband who's attracted to me. Ladies, our culture has told us a lie and we as women have believed that lie. We believe that if we could you know wear a size 8, who wears a size 8? I'm sure some of you do. But you know have a peachy cream complexion, wear the latest fashions, everything would go well with us, with our marriage, with the world, everything would be great. But is that a godly thought? Is that what the Word of God teaches us? How can we truly be attractive to our husbands whether they're saved or unsaved? How are we going to win them over? By being beautiful, skinny, and sexy? No. We're going to see from this text it's our inward beauty, not the outward beauty. Remember that's what got Eve in trouble. She forgot about the inward beauty. And so these are six attitudes that should characterize a submissive woman. And ladies, if you're married to an unbeliever or a believer, if you're not married, may I say this because I know there's several single women here tonight. Even if you're not married, these six attitudes should characterize you. And you know what? You that are not married, you need to hold us who are married accountable, right? Because we are full of goodness and knowledge and we're able to admonish one another as Paul says in Romans 15, right? So we should be admonishing and helping each other. And who knows, those of you that are single, you might get married someday. And so you need to know what these six qualities are, right? So let's read the text together. And we are going to look at these. And they are in the Crosstix Submit. It's not in your notes. You just have one, two, three, four, five, six, but I did fit it in there somehow. So all right. Likewise, be submissive to your own husbands that if any obey not the word, they may without a word be won by the behavior of the wife. While they behold your chaste conduct coupled with fear, who's adorning not to let it be merely outward adorning, but the inward arranging the hair, wearing gold or putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden men of the heart, which the incorruptible beauty of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For in this manner in former times, the holy women of old trusted in God, they adorn themselves being submissive to their own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord, whose daughters you are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any terror. Now, as I mentioned, we're going to have, we're going to look at these six attitudes that should characterize a submissive woman for those of you that are just now coming in. Doesn't matter if you're married, unmarried, married to a believer, married to an unbeliever, either one, these attitudes should characterize all of us. But specifically in this passage in first Peter, Peter is talking to women who are married to unbelievers. And before we unpack this first, I just want to say this, we need to understand the culture of Peter's day, very different from our world. And so what he's telling these women is challenging to them because of the culture. In the biblical world, a woman was expected to adopt the religion of her husband. And so if her husband became a Christian, she would become a Christian. If her husband was a pagan, then she was a pagan. She really had no rights. In fact, a woman could not be seen alone on the street. She couldn't eat with a man. Her husband could divorce her for about any reason. Even if she burned his dinner, he could divorce him. He could be unfaithful and she wouldn't divorce him. But if she was unfaithful, he could divorce her. And so the women in the biblical world were to be seen and not heard. And so it's almost impossible for us to understand the kind of pressure that these women were under. Because if she became a Christian and her husband did not become a Christian, then he would try and demand her to be unfaithful to her Christianity. And because she would stay in bold and against that, then she would incur a lot of persecution. And that is why a lot of people have said, well, why does Peter give so much space to the wife? He just gives like a verse or two to the husbands. I mean, how come they don't get the same amount of space? And it's because she would need more help in this area because of the culture of the day. And that's why he probably gives more space there to the role of the wife than the role of the husband. So when a wife embraced Christianity and her husband did not, it obviously caused great tension in the home. For those of you that are married to unbelievers, and I'm sure in an audience this size, there are some of you women that are married to unbelievers. And you know, and I know, it caused, not because my husband is not a believer because I've counseled many women who are in that situation. It causes great tension in the home. And so Peter starts out with an interesting word in verse one. He says likewise. In other words, in the same manner, and that begs us to ask the question, in the same manner as what? Wives are to be submissive in the same manner as what? Well, just like he's already said, we don't have time to turn back, but slaves are be to submissive to masters. Masters are be submissive to slaves in the sense that they don't treat them harshly. We're to be submissive to government. Just like Christ was submissive to wicked men. He talks about that in chapter two. So the first attitude that we as wives should have is the S on your cross stick, we are to be submissive. And it seems to be a heading of all the other characteristics that Peter is going to talk about. We should have an attitude of submission. And again, I will say this, if you're married, unmarried, even if you're married to an unbeliever, we all should be submissive to some type of authority. And if you are married, it would help if you maybe help, if you understood a little bit of what this word means. The word submission means actually to place in an orderly fashion under an orderly fashion under the husband, you might say is the president, the wife is the vice president, or the husband is the five star general, and the wife is the four star general. Now, ladies, this is not a spineless submission. It is a voluntary selflessness. This also does not mean a wife is passive or can never express an opinion. Submission does not mean you're inferior. Just like slaves in the biblical world are not inferior to their masters. Christ was submissive, but he was not inferior to unjust men. Ladies, we're not inferior. That is not what submission means. We've already brought out Galatians. In Christ, there's either what? Male or female, we are all one in Christ Jesus. But my dear sister, there is a reason we are to submit. Submission is part of God's sovereign plan for your life to sanctify you. In fact, my husband has often said that submission is a huge part of a woman's sanctification. And so I would beg you to clearly think through that. The only exception to this command would be if your husband would ask you to sin. And if you're married to an unbeliever, that probably more likely would happen, that your husband would ask you to sin. Ladies, remember your loyalty to your Lord is above your loyalty to your husband. You are to love the Lord, your God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength, right? And so even Jesus says that you don't hate your father, sister, brother more than me. You're not worthy of me. And so you must love and your loyalty to the Lord is above your husband. Now the submission here is to your own husband. That talking about the bond of marriage that we talked about it from Genesis in our last session. It's your own husband. It's not someone else's. And thankfully it's just one, right? So that's the good news for tonight in this session. One husband. That's all you gotta submit to. And this passage is a little bit different than Ephesians and Colossians where Paul just commands there for women to be submissive because Peter puts it this way. It's a little bit different than Colossians and Ephesians because Peter says you be submissive even if they don't obey the word. And so Peter is referring to husbands who are in a state of disbelieving. In fact, the word there is obstinate, disbelieving to the gospel. So they're really hostile towards the gospel. They didn't want to listen to the gospel. They certainly didn't want their wives being Christians. And so what's a Christian woman to do? Is she to get a divorce? I would caution you to be very careful about ever giving that kind of advice to a woman who's married to an unbeliever unless she has biblical grounds for divorce. Being married to an unbeliever is not a ground for divorce. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7, do you not know a wife that your husband might be sanctified or saved by your don't leave him? If you're married to an unbeliever, he specifically says, don't leave him. So instead of a divorce, Peter, being the apostle of hope, which by the way that's what he's known of, encourages us how these women could win their husbands to Christ. And it's not by preaching to them. Notice what he says, without a word, by your conduct. Now, despite what some people say, Peter is not saying that you win your unbelieving husband without the gospel. That is impossible, right? Peter says in 1 Peter 23, you were born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which lives and abides forever. So how can you hear without a preacher, right? You can't know the gospel unless someone shares the gospel. But when Peter says the wife wins her husband over without a word, he means to win him over without a lot of talking, a lot of speaking. I have met many Christian wives who quite frankly preach so much to their husbands that all it does is drive them further away. I don't know how many women I've talked to from time to time. And I said, I have told them graciously and kindly, you're talking too much. You're pushing your husband farther away by doing this. And, you know, they leave post notes, you know, scripture verses on their mirrors and have Christian radio blaring when their husband comes home from work. That's not how you're going to win your husband to the Lord. And I'm sure this would be a temptation for these wives that Peter is writing to. And it would only be natural for them to want to encourage their husband over. Honey, I came, I'm a Christian. I can't tell you what God has done in my life. There's so much joy. There's so much peace. I mean, God is amazing. And their husbands are saying, no, he's not. I don't want to hear this anymore. And so if you do it over and over, as Jesus says, do not cast your pearls before swine. Neither give holy things to dogs. Why? At least they turn on you and lacerate you. And so these women need to be very careful. And I would encourage you, if you are married to an unbeliever, to do that, to be very, very careful. I'm not saying you never share the gospel with your unsaved husband. You should share the gospel with him. I'm not saying you should never confront your husband if he's sinning. You should. But there's a gracious, respectful, submissive way to do that. And I don't have time to get into all that in this session. But Peter has a better solution for wives who are married to unbelievers. You want to know how to win your lost husband to Christ? It's not by what you say. It's how you behave. Notice how Peter puts it. He says, you win them by your chaste conduct, your behavior. This is a favorite word of Peter. He mentions that, I think, eight times in this epistle. Ladies, I want to say to you, the best way you can win your husband is by your behavior. By your behavior. You will not nag him into the kingdom. It won't work. But by being loving and graciously submissive, you can win him. You should treat him with respect, love, kindness, and patience. Ladies, your lost husband, if you're married to an unbeliever, needs to see Christ in you. In fact, the purpose clause here, when Peter says, maybe or in order, would indicate that this woman's submissive attitude has an evangelistic function. You might win him over to the gospel by your conduct. Ladies, do you realize what Peter's saying? A believing wife has a wonderful opportunity to evangelize her husband by her behavior, by her conduct. Even a harsh, unbelieving, antagonistic husband's heart can be won by watching his wife live out Christianity. And ladies, this does not mean that those of us who are married to believers can be free as we want with our speech, right? Or, you know, oh, I've got the right to go do what I want to do. What does proverb say? It's better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and angry woman. In fact, it says that some men are dwelling on the corner of a house top, right, because of their wife, drip, drip, drip. In fact, one time one in the kitchen, my water was dripping in the sink there, and I thought, as I heard it go, you know, drip, I go, that drives me insane. And I thought, that's what I do to my husband when I nag him. I am driving him insane. So if you find your husband working late hours and not coming around much, you might ask yourself, what kind of a wife am I? Am I nagging? Am I encouraging? Am I gentle and quiet? Or am I mean? Am I loud? Peter says we win and by our good conduct we gain our husband. In fact, it's the same word that Christ uses in Matthew 18, when it says we, if we confront our brother who's in sin and if we, he listens to us, we've won our brother. We've won him over. We've won him over to the kingdom. So wife doesn't preach it, she lives it. That's the hard thing to do, isn't it? We all like to preach it. But how about living it? That's what's wrong with the church today, right? And some people in the pastorate, they can preach it but they don't live it. We need to live out. That's the harder thing to do. Peter goes on with another attitude that should characterize us as women. He says, while they observe your chase conduct accompanied with fear. Peter says in this verse that the unsaved husband is observing the wife's chase conduct. The word observe means he's watching attentively. He's watching her. He's scoping it out to see. Ladies, this is a second attitude that should characterize us a missive woman. This is the B, if you're doing the acrostic, behavior. Your behavior should be chased. Your behavior should be chased. Now, that's an odd word to us, an old word. But it basically means your behavior should be sacred. Free from impurity. Peter has already said in the beginning of this epistle, be holy as he is holy. Why? Because it is written, be holy. We are certainly living in an age where even Christendom is not living a life of holiness, right? Of chase conduct. But ladies, a husband should observe his Christian wife and see that she is living out what she professes to be. She's really a Christian and she's living it out. And ladies, even if you're married to a believer and even if you're unmarried, your behavior should be becoming to the gospel. You know, we say that sometimes a person's clothes are becoming to them and enhances their appearance. That's the same Greek word here. Our behavior should make the gospel attractive. It should be becoming. And our husbands should see that, whether they're married or unmarried. Now, ladies, notice this chase conduct is to be accompanied by fear. What does this mean? Well, it doesn't mean that the wife is terrified of her husband, because we're going to see Sarah. It says, you are her daughters, if you do well, and not give way to hysterical fear. So we know he's not talking about that. We're not to be terrified of our husbands. But the Greek word there means to reverence or respect him. We are coupling our chase conduct before them with what? Reverence. Reverence. In fact, the word means we are to honor him, defer to him, praise him, admire him. In fact, I will tell you from being married 46 years next month, that my, even though I feel like I'm a very submissive wife, every time I ask my husband that question, he tells me to stop asking him, because he says, I will tell you if you're not. So stop asking me that question, because I make my ladies answer that question on their homework from time to time. So I have to ask him, and he finally said, stop asking me that. So now I submit it. I don't ask him anymore. But I can tell you by living with him this long, do you know that I think my husband, more than anything else, more than submission, he wants me to respect him. He really wants my respect. And so the chase conduct is coupled with what? Respect. Now some believe this could be reverence towards God, and that could be, because we are to submit as unto the Lord, right? So we respect our husband, and as we do that, we are honoring the Lord. And Peter is saying we should have pure behavior that is married with reverence. So ladies, this is the third attitude that a submissive woman has. Irreverent this is the I, irreverent behavior is not allowed. Irreverent behavior towards your husband is not allowed. We are to be reverent, respectful. Now maybe these women perhaps are thinking, hmm, if I would just dress differently or make my husband's favorite lamb stew, then my husband might embrace Christ. But Peter shares something that's much harder than wearing makeup and pretty clothes. Instead of wearing makeup on the outer woman, Peter says we need to wear meekness on the inner woman. Notice what he says. Do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging your hair, wearing gold, and putting on apparel. Now Peter says our outward adornment should not be merely these things. He's not saying don't, because that would make no sense, and he'd say don't wear clothes, and he's telling you know we need to put on clothes, right? It's not to be merely those things. Those are not the only things that we are to do. And he says the first thing here is don't let your outward adornment be merely arranging your hair. Now Peter's never saying, Peter's not saying don't fix your hair, okay? That's not what he's saying. He's not saying don't wear jewelry, don't wear clothes. But he is saying that adornment should not be just that. But let me also say this, you should neglect your outer woman, right? Some of you maybe that's why your husband's rolling on the corner of the house top, you know? Maybe your outward, you know, you need to do something a little bit. Don't be offensive to your husband. Don't look like you just crawled out of bed when your husband comes home from work. That's not quite attractive, very attractive for him to meet. You should dress in a way that pleases him. But Peter's saying we should not look at our outward self as being our true beauty. Ladies, no matter how beautiful you are, how expensive your clothes are, how skinny you are, we are all going to end up in a bunch of ashes in a grave. Have you ever thought about that? Doesn't it seem silly to try and put so much time in something that's going to burn up? Why do we do that? Spend so much time on the outward woman. So Peter gives some of this ordered adornment. The first is the arranging of the hair, the braiding of the hair. As again I want to say Peter's not saying you can't braid your hair. I see a lot of braids in here and that you can't fix your hair. But the braiding of the hair here refers to elaborate gathering of the hair. In the biblical world some of the women had these tears and tears of hair. They said sometimes they're like as high as a tower and they'd be afraid to even go to bed at night that might mess their hair up. And so they wouldn't even touch their hair. One man says hair was waxed and dyed, sometimes black, more often alburn. Wigs were worn, especially blonde wigs, which were found even in the Christian catacombs. And hair to manufacture them was imported from Germany and even far away as India. Hair bands, pins and combs were made of ivory, boxwood, tortoise shells and sometimes gold studded with gems. So this is not your, you know, 299 barrette from Walmart. I mean this was, and Peter is saying don't, that is, what is that anyway? Who cares about these adornments, these elaborate hair styles. The second adornment that was overdone was wearing of gold. Again, Peter's not condemning jewelry, but in the biblical world, especially as they would come to church, Paul talks about this in 1st Timothy, the women would come, you know, they had bracelets all up and down their arms and rings on all their fingers and they would have all this jewelry, a gaudy display of jewelry. And Peter again is not forbidding, he's forbidding a lavish gaudy display. In fact, in the biblical world, it said one woman, she had a dress covered with so many pearls and emeralds that it cost, and this was in the biblical time, $450,000. Are you kidding me, $450,000 for a dress? Wow, that's what I say, wow. The third adornment Peter dresses is clothes, or he puts, like this, fine apparel. Now obviously Peter's not saying don't wear clothes because we just saw in our last lesson, right? Adam, or God clothed Adam and Eve in the garden after they sinned. In fact, the words putting on actually mean in the Greek investment of clothing. The word for apparel means expensive garments. Paul says in 1st Timothy we should adorn ourselves in modest apparel, not expensive garments. And by the way the word modest in 1st Timothy means that which is becoming. That's what the word modest means. One man said, every ornament of the body, however beautiful, is soon to be laid aside. The adorning of the soul will endure forever. My dear sisters, should we not be spending the bulk of our time adorning our hearts, which will be an eternity forever with God? Rather than spending the bulk of our time adorning this body, which in a moment is going to be in the ground and turn to dust. You know, every birthday that I have, I think Susan Joy Heck, you are dying. Every funeral that my husband and I go to, I think soon you're going to be in that casket, you know? We should be thinking about our death. And these things that we put so much time in on the outer woman, John calls what? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. They're not of the father. They are of the world. And ladies, we should not be investing in this. John says the world's going to pass away. So why do we put so much time and energy in these things that are going to pass? In contrast to the outer woman, we're going to concentrate on the inner woman. That's what Eve should have done, right? That's what Peter said. Ladies, God is always interested in our heart. I know women that dress to please men. In fact, some women dress to attract the attention of men. But Peter says, dress the outer woman to attract attention of to what? To please God or dress the inner woman to please God. Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks on the heart. Peter puts it this way. Verse four, rather instead of all this gaudy stuff, the hairdos, the jewelry, the clothes, he says rather women, let it be the hidden person of the heart, the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious in the sight of God. Peter says, be concerned about your hidden heart, ladies. The heart that God sees. He's the one that sees our hearts. He sees your thoughts. He sees your feelings. The issue is always going to be your heart. It's not your clothes. It's not your hair. It's not your jewelry. That's not the issue with God. The issue is your heart. Ladies, the heart, Peter says, is not corruptible. The heart is free from the decay that your jewelry, clothes, and makeup are going to experience. So why do we spend so much time on the outer woman? Ladies, our pursuit for beauty in the latest fashions can easily lead to sense of vanity and pride as well as misuse of money. You know, I'm embarrassed that this is what we're leaving to the younger generation. We as older women, we are leaving this to the youngest. We are emphasizing outward beauty over inward beauty. Is that what you really want for your children? Doesn't really matter outward, does it? But it matters the heart. And so we come to the fourth attitude that should characterize us, and this is the M on your acrostic. Peter says it's a meek and quiet spirit. Ladies, a submissive woman should have a meek and quiet spirit. What is this? Well, there's a lot of misinterpretations of this, but meek just means gentle, mild, humble. It says of our Lord in Matthew 11, 29, He was meek and lowly. Now, ladies, meekness, listen very carefully, meekness is not weakness. Okay? Meekness is strength under control. In fact, we can learn a lot about meekness by looking at race horses. They tell us, you know the horse that wins the race in the horse races, the one that wins the race is the meekest. You know why? Because he's the one that responds quickly to the jockey's guidance. The horse that is self-willed, he's frequently left at the post, and he does finally get started and he may run faster than some of the others, but he doesn't finish with the leaders of those that are riding horses that are meek. Strength under control. Ladies, we know who is the meekest man in all the earth at one time? Moses. Right? Didn't God say that? Moses. Have you considered Moses? He's the meekest man in all the world. How was Moses meek? How did he have strength under control? I don't know about you, but it takes a lot of strength under control to put up with those Israelites, right? I'd like to slap a few of them. You know, it took a lot of strength under control. And then to go before Pharaoh, 10 times strength under control. In fact, you know, I don't know how Moses did it really, you know, these people, you know, they kind of drove him crazy, but he had strength under control. Now the word quiet means keeping your seat. Or an undisturbing peace, having a calm temper. Now again, quietness is not dullness. Doesn't mean, you know, I'm just not going to say anything. That's not what quietness is. It's a spirit which calmly bears disturbances created by others in which itself does not create disturbances. For example, if your husband comes home or you go home tonight, if you are going home tonight, and he says, as our sister said a while ago, honey, we're going to go to New York City and move. And you say, New York City, are you out of your ever-loving mind? Do you not know what's going on in New York City? Do you not know who their governor is? Are you crazy? Now, that's not a meek and quiet spirit. Hopefully your husband won't say that when you get home. But she says, really, honey, I mean, you really want to go to New York City? Why do you want to, I don't understand. Why do you want to go to New York City? Are you not happy here in Florida? I mean, what's the problem? Why do you want to move? And then they hopefully graciously talk about it, right? And the wife offers her opinion with a what? Respectful attitude, right? With reverence, submission. And Peter says this meekness strengthens control with this quiet undisturbed spirit. Notice what he says is valuable on the side of God. It's precious. It's precious. It's of great price. It's extremely expensive. Ladies, your meek and quiet spirit is what is expensive in God's eyes, not your jewelry or your clothes. He wants a meek and quiet spirit, strength under control and a woman who's undisturbed. Now, the readers of this letter as well as many of you are probably saying, no way, no way, no way. This is too hard. Not doing this. So Peter perhaps anticipates their struggle and so he gives them a godly example to consider in verse 5 and 6. Look what he says. For in this manner in former times the holy women who trust in God adorn themselves being submissive to their own husbands. Ladies, Peter lets them know about the holy women in former times. And these women that were living in this day would be very familiar with the holy women of old. In fact, most of their husbands, the ones that were Christians anyway, would have the first five books of Moses memorized and so they knew about these women. What made these women holy? What made the women of old holy? Was it their clothes? Was it their makeup? Was it their jewelry? No. In fact, I challenge you, search the Old Testament and you will hardly find any mention of these things. Clothes, jewelry, makeup. What made these women attractive? Well, notice what Peter says. They trusted in God. Not their material possessions. They trusted in God. Ladies, this is the fifth attitude that we should have as women. Trust in God. That's the T on your cross stick. Trust in God. Ladies, trusting in God would be the hope that these women would need as they were in very difficult marriages. Married to men that made their lives miserable because they were Christians. And ladies, even if you are married, this should be an attitude that you have all the time in your marriage and in every other aspect of life to trust in God. Our hope is in God. Notice what these women of old did. They adorn themselves not in clothing, but being in subjection to their own husband. In fact, the adorn is in the imperfect tense in the Greek, which means these women have a habit of adorning themselves with a meek and quiet spirit, an attitude of submission, an attitude of reverence and respect to their husbands. And then Peter gives us a real live example to follow and it's not women who are celebrities. Thank the Lord. Or in the acting or music world. That's where I think a lot of our girls get caught up today. That's why they trip up. They're not looking to the women in the Bible. They're not even looking to women as godly examples like Elizabeth Elliott and others like that. They're looking at celebrities as who they want to follow. But he gives Sarah as an example in verse 6. He says, Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord, whose daughters you are, if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. Now ladies, notice that Peter calls attention to Sarah, not Abraham. Why? Because he realized some of these men were difficult to live with. And so he doesn't draw the attention to the man's role for the woman to focus on but the woman's role. And by the way, this is where I see a lot of wives get into trouble when there are problems in the marriage. Do you know where their attention is focused on? The husband. He doesn't do this, he doesn't do this, he doesn't do this, he doesn't do this, he doesn't do that. That's where their focus is, all of his faults. Ladies, a holy woman will focus on herself and purpose to walk in her marriage blamelessly, looking at her own sin first and learn to live above any difficulties that her husband might bring. I remember years ago that one of the ladies who's discipled me for over 30 years gave an assignment to another woman who was having trouble loving her husband. And she said, I want to give you an assignment. He said, she said, this is what I want you to do. I want you to take two pieces of paper. On this piece of paper right here, I want you to write down everything you don't like about your husband. And I'm sure she had quite a list because she was having a hard time. On this piece of paper, I want you to write down all of his good qualities. The next time that you're tempted to think about all the things that your husband doesn't do or you don't like about him, you take this piece of paper and you put it on top of this one and this is what you choose to dwell on and think about. Ladies, that's the problem we have in our marriages. We focus on all the faults of our husband. It's a wise woman that looks at the two by four in her eye first, right? Before she tries to get the spec out of her husband's eye. And I often tell women who are in difficult situations, you have the Lord and he is enough. And I have seen women in very difficult marriages, you would never know it. They have the joy and the peace of Christ because they've learned to find their comfort and solace in the Lord. And Peter says, Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord. Now, ladies, don't start calling your husband Lord. Okay. In fact, I remember years ago the first time I was either memorizing or studying this passage, my husband said, are you going to start calling me Lord? And I said, no, I am not. Sorry. Sorry. In fact, I was very emphatic about it. No, I'm not. And of course, he was kidding me, but Lord just means he's in control. He has authority. He has the ability to run the household. Sarah knew that. She acknowledged that Abraham had a right to direct the affairs of their house. And it was her duty to be submissive to that with an attitude of respect. And we don't have time to get into Genesis, the passages that deal with this, but there are three areas that Sarah was submissive in. Remember, move? You know, I think we've moved about 12 times. A move, unexpected guests for dinner. Remember, he said, go and, you know, here comes these two angels, go fix some vitals. And she did. The third area, which Peter mentioned, he doesn't mention, by the way, a lot of people have said, well, see, women are to sin for their husbands because they say, well, she lied. Remember, tell them you're my sister. And remember, she lied. And of course, that caused another whole series of problems. Now, ladies, it is not in the text here. Peter is not commending her for lying, even though I've actually heard some people try and prove that. I read a book one time where a woman was trying to convince, I guess, her readers that a woman is to obey her husband everything, even if he asked her to commit adultery, that she is to do whatever he asks. I hope you haven't read that book. Throw that book in the trash if you haven't. How that could really get into some things here, but I won't. So I ended up actually, well, I just want to go into it. It's too long. Throw that book in the trash. Ladies, that's extracting something from the Texas, not here. It doesn't say that she's commended for that. And besides, we don't know. Sarah might have made an appeal. Scripture doesn't tell us when Abraham told her to lie and say, you are my sister. Lying is one of those things you should not ever obey your husband in. The Bible is very clear that those in Revelation that love and make a lie, they will not be in the kingdom of heart. It's one of the 10 commandments, right? You shall not bear false witness. In fact, lying is so serious. If it's a pattern in your life, it can send you to hell, right? Outside are liars. Revelation 21 says, in fact, obey here. Very interesting when it says she obeyed him. It's in the heiress tense, which means that Sarah's habitual response toward Abraham was submission. She wasn't perfect, but she was submissive. And then Peter goes on to say, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. Lady Sarah is the mother of all women who fear God just as Abraham has mentioned several times in Scripture as the father of us all. And Peter says, we are her daughters if we do good and are not afraid with any terror. So the sixth and final attitude that should characterize us as submissive women is this. We should be undisturbed, undisturbed, free from fear. We should not be afraid, which is what the word undisturbed means. Don't be alarmed. Don't be scared. Ladies, a Christian wife, should not allow any threats her husband might make to scare her out of her Christian faith. Peter says, don't give way to hysterical fear. Ladies, God's going to watch over you even if your unsaved husband creates problems for you. And even if you're married to a believer, you should not allow his sinful threats or manipulations to frighten you. Do not give way to hysterical fear. In fact, one man said, these women's husbands surely did not like them going to Christian meetings and refusing to worship the family gods. All types of intimidation was happening towards them. Physical, emotional, social, and it would be used to force them back in line with the husband's religious beliefs. While calling for gentleness and inner tranquility overall, and subordination to their husbands in all areas indifferent to their Christian faith, he encourages them to stand firm in the light of their hope in the coming Christ and quietly refuse to bow to their threats and punishments of their husbands. So ladies, do these six qualities describe you? Are you submissive, undisturbed, have behavior that's holy, meek and quiet spirit, irreverent behavior not allowed, and trust in God? For those of you that are married, have you asked your husband lately, do you think I'm attractive, honey? No, I don't mean for you to ask him if he thinks you're skinny, stylish, and outwardly breathtaking. But ask him, honey, do you think I honor you? Do I show an attitude of submission? Do I have an attitude of a meek and quiet spirit? Do you think I'm holy in my behavior? Does my life characterize hope in God, trust in God, or do I give way to hysterical fear? And by the way, even if you're not married, ladies again, this lesson is for you. All of us in this room are submissive to somebody. We are too submissive to those in authority. We should be free from fear. We should have behavior that is holy. We should have a gentle and quiet spirit. We should have reverent behavior, right, to those in authority, and we should trust in God. We would all do well to have ever before our hearts and minds the wise words of Solomon's mother in Proverbs 31 30, which we've said already, but we'll say again, charm is deceitful, beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she will be praised, right? Let's pray as we close. Father in heaven, I do pray for each of us this evening as we go our perspective ways back to our homes, our hotel rooms. Lord, that you would help us to think about the contrast of these two sisters. Eve and then Sarah, one was submissive, one was behaving in a godly way. The other was not submissive at all. She didn't submit to you. She wasn't behaving godly. She gave way to the enemy, to the voice of the charmer. Lord, what a contrast between these two women and I pray that you will give us each hearts that desire to be submissive. Lord, that we would endeavor to follow whatever you lead us, whatever you ask us to do. Lord, that our hearts would not be hardened, that we would not be deceived like Eve was, Lord, but that we would indeed be that woman who is submissive to you and if we're married to our husbands, Lord. Help us to walk in a way that pleases you, that our behavior would be holy, that we would have a gentle and quiet spirit, Lord. Help us to do that not only with our husbands, but even in our relationships, one with another father. We know that that is a needed quality in this day and age. So Father, direct us as we go. I pray, give us safety as we travel and bless in the remainder of our evening that it would honor you. In Christ's name, amen.