Godly Wives

Genesis chapter 10, sorry, Genesis chapter 12, verses 10 through 20.! That's Genesis 12, 10 through 20.

! And then 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 1 to 6. If you're using the church's Blue Bible, the first reference is on page 8. The second is on page 1015.

Genesis chapter 12, beginning at verse 10. Now there was a famine in the land.

So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there. For the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, I know that you are a woman, beautiful in appearance.

And when the Egyptians see you, they will say, this is his wife. Then they will kill me. But they will let you live.

Say, you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.

When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. And when the princess of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh.

And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And for her sake, he dealt well with Abram. And he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. So Pharaoh called to Abram and said, what is this you have done to me?

Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say she is my sister? So I took her for my wife. Why did you say she is my sister? Now then, here is your wife.

Take her and go. And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

Second passage, 1 Peter 3, beginning at verse 1. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be warned without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear.

But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

For this is how holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Pharaoh obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord.

And you are her children. If you do good and do not fear anything, that is frightening.

Thank you very much, Faye, for reading for us this morning. And this morning we are continuing our sermon series in 1 Peter, or better, we're actually returning to the sermon series in 1 Peter.

And we have come this morning to perhaps the most familiar part of the letter of 1 Peter. Even for some unbelievers, in particular unbelieving husbands, they're very familiar with verse 1 of our text.

And so I'm aware that we all come to this passage with some degree of familiarity, and that means we bring some ideas and preconceptions to this passage.

For example, I imagine that there are some wives, when they consider these words, husbands be subject to your, wives be subject to your own husband, they hear that, I think, some of them, with a negative meaning.

And if you're in that category this morning, and that's the way you hear this first verse of 1 Peter, I encourage you to open your hearts and let us hear what God's Word says to us.

And certainly if you're a husband this morning and you are eagerly anticipating what I'm going to say, likewise, I would say to you, let us, let us hear God's Word.

This is not my Word. And no personal thought that I bring to you this morning is worthy of your acceptance. But if you hear God's Word this morning, let us all embrace what God's Word says to us.

let's take a moment to pray and ask for God's help. Heavenly Father, we bow in this moment and we give you thanks for your faithfulness to us.

We thank you, Lord, that you have demonstrated your faithfulness to us by preserving your Word and giving your Word to us. that it would be our guide and our rule for living.

So would you draw near to us, Lord, in this moment as we sit under the instruction of your Word. Use your Word to teach, use your Word to teach us.

Use your Word to correct us. Use your Word to equip us. I especially pray for wives this morning who would hear your Word.

Lord, would you help them to posture their hearts to hear and to respond to all that you say. And Lord, since this is your Word to all of us, would you help us all to engage your Word as we should.

I pray that you'd have your way with us this morning and use the preaching of your Word for the building up of this church and for the glory of your great name.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, it's been three months since we have been in this sermon series. We took a break over the summer.

And so I thought it would be helpful to begin by recapping chapter 2. And in chapter 2, the Apostle Peter reminds us as believers that we are God's chosen people, that we are His holy nation, we are His royal priesthood whom He through salvation brought out of darkness into the marvelous light of His Son.

And what Peter says to us is that in light of what God has done for us, we are to abstain from the passions of the flesh.

He says we are to keep our conduct as honorable in this world as we live before unbelievers. Peter reminds us that we are sojourners, that we are exiles, that we don't belong to this world.

We live in it, but we're not of it. In chapter 2, Peter also addresses the area of submission, and what he seems to do is he seems to use an example of what a converted life looks like that is lived in service to Christ.

And he starts with slaves. And he says to them, you are to be subject to your masters. Actually, before he starts with slaves, he addresses all of us and he says, all of you are to be subject to the governing authorities.

You're to be subject to every human institution. And then he addresses slaves and he says to them, you're to be subject to your masters. And not just to the ones who are good and gentle, but even to those who treat you harshly.

You're to subject yourself to them. And he reminded them and he reminds us this morning that when we suffer for doing good and we endure, that that is a precious thing in the sight of God.

Because it is unto the Lord that we endure. And Peter reminds us that the Lord has given us an example of suffering, how he entrusted himself to the righteous judge who judges righteously.

And so this morning we come to chapter 3 and from the very first verse of chapter 3 we're able to see that Peter is continuing to talk about submission. But his attention is now drawn and turned to wives.

what Peter is doing is as he did with slaves, he's addressing wives. They weren't slaves in his day but they didn't have a lot of rights.

And they were subject to abuse and oppression. And in particular those who had come to Christ who could no longer survive in the sinful way that many of them survived, Peter addresses them.

And he in verses 1 to 6 paints for us a picture of what a godly woman looks like.

And in particular he's painting a picture of what a godly woman looks like in an environment that is hostile towards her. this picture that Peter paints is really a compelling picture when we consider the context in which it was actually written.

And this morning there are three aspects of the lives of godly wives that I want us to consider from these six verses that we have before us.

The first aspect is a godly wife's submission. A godly wife's submission. In verse 1 Peter begins by calling wives to be subject to their own husbands.

the words be subject to they mean to be in submission to. And submission means to voluntarily bring oneself under the authority of another person or institution like we do towards the government.

Although Peter calls wives to submit to their own husbands, husbands, many people miss what Peter is saying and they understand Peter to be saying that wives are to be obedient to their husbands.

He doesn't say that. Submission and obedience are two different things. Two different activities.

Submission at its core is an attitude of humility by which a person brings him or herself under the authority of another person. Obedience on the other hand is complying with or fulfilling the desire or the instructions of another person.

So a person can actually submit without obeying and a person can obey without submitting.

Sometimes people are forced into obedience. But because submission is such an attitude of the heart, true submission cannot be forced.

True submission is rendered voluntarily. It's not coercion. it is willingly bringing oneself under the authority of another person.

And so we should not hear obedience when what Peter is addressing in this passage this morning is submission. One of the other ways we should think about obedience and submission is the submission that wives are called to is absolute.

But of course obedience is conditional. So for example if a husband says to his wife while he is healthily doing whatever he wants to do call my boss and tell him I'm going to be in today because I don't feel well.

Well a wife doesn't have to obey that because that's not the truth and to obey him she would be disobeying the Lord by telling something that she knows not to be true.

So the obedience of a wife only goes to the extent to which it does not disobey the Lord. But even as she may disobey her husband in something that is wrong she can do that submissively.

She can do that with a right attitude of respect towards her husband. So submission is an attitude but obedience is an act.

Now what is the motivation behind a wife's submission? Is it to make husbands feel important as we say this? Is it to big up your husband?

Is that the reason that wives are to submit to their husband? No that's not the reason. The reason that wives are to submit to their husbands is motivated by their desire to please the Lord.

By their desire to glorify God because that is what a godly wife is doing. She is living out her new found life in Christ and submission to her husband is one expression of that.

So although she is submitting to her husband she has God in view. She wants to honor the Lord. She wants to please the Lord. And that is the motivation.

And I think we should all be reminded both the wife and the husband the reason that the wife is called ultimately to submit to honor the Lord is because marriage is not about us.

Marriage is not about the husband, it's not about the wife. Ultimately marriage is about God. It is his gift that he has given to us. And we are to seek to glorify him as we live in our marriages.

I think one of the helpful ways wives to embrace this command that God has given is to remember that every command that God has given to us is good.

Because God is good. And so this command to submit to your husband, it is God's good and wise design.

And it is for your good in marriage, it is for the good of marriage, it is that a couple may flourish in their marriage. It is God's good and wise design that wives submit to their own husbands.

I think it is important to not overlook what I believe is the emphasis that Peter makes in verse 1 when he says wives are to submit to their own husbands.

And I think the idea is that submission in marriage, the submission of a wife to her husband is to be tailored to her husband.

husband. A wife is not to submit to her husband the way her friend or friends submit to their husbands. She's to submit to her husband in the context of the unique husband that God has given to her.

husband. So you don't listen to what your friends say. You certainly don't listen to what the world says because what the world says about what we're talking about this morning is arrogantly they say.

this is patriarchy. This is misogyny. This is oppression.

That's the wisdom of the world. The world frowns upon what we're hearing from God's word this morning. But nothing can be further from the truth.

What the world says about biblical submission. Biblical submission is a good gift from God and expresses his wise design for wives in marriage.

In his instructions to wives, Peter addresses a difficult situation that some believing wives face in his day. And that difficult situation was being married to an unbelieving husband.

And there are believing wives who face the same difficult situation today. And Peter's word to believing wives who find themselves in the difficult situation of being married to an unbelieving husband is in verses 1 and 2.

He tells them that their respectful and pure conduct might be effective in winning their unbelieving husbands over to share their faith in Christ.

In other words, he's saying that a believing wife's godly submission to her unbelieving husband might have an evangelistic effect on him.

it might have. He makes no promises. He doesn't say it will have. He says it may win them over. And therefore, any woman who reads out of this that what Peter is advocating or supporting is that they could go on an evangelistic crusade to marry an unbeliever and try to get him converted.

That's not what Peter is advocating at all. He's simply saying that the submission of a godly wife towards an unbelieving husband may have a powerful effect in pointing him to Christ.

Now, think about that for a moment, wives. those who are married to a believing husband. If the godly submission of a believing wife could have that effect on an unbelieving husband, what do you think your submission, the effect that it can have on your husband?

Your believing husband, whose heart is not hard like the unbeliever, who's not walking in darkness, who's able to recognize light, how much more can your godly submission towards your believing husband have an incredible effect, a positive effect on him in your marriage for the glory of God?

And so, wives, this morning, think about this call to submit to your own husband. what's your attitude towards that? And really, only the Lord knows, only the Lord knows how these words are landing on your heart this morning.

Is your attitude one to embrace this biblical call, or does it more reflect the way of the world? Doing your own thing, being your own woman?

What does submission look like for you in your marriage? Are you, by God's grace, living out this call to be subject to your own husband?

Not perfectly, because none of us is perfect, but sufficiently, and truly, is it true of you, as a wife, that you are living with godly submission towards your husband?

And if your husband were to be asked, what would he say? would he say, yes, my wife submits to me, or would he say, no, she does her own thing?

If you're not sure how your husband would answer this morning, I encourage you to have a conversation with him. Talk with him, and listen, without defending, because, as one who belongs to Christ, this is one of the ways that God has called you to live as a wife in the context of their marriage.

And if you're a single lady this morning, and marriage hasn't happened for you yet, I encourage you to engage still with these words, because to marry, if you're going to be honest, is to embrace this command, to embrace this call that God has given to wives, to submit to their own husband, Christians.

One of the most important things that should define us as Christians is that we live under the authority of Scripture. And it's not a buffet where you pick this and leave that.

No, it is, we take the whole thing. this is all of God's word to us. We don't get to pick and choose what we want to follow or not follow.

This is God's word to us. God's love to God's love to God's love to love to God's love to God's love to God's love to love to love to love to be in submission to their husbands.

In his instructions to wives, in addition to addressing their submission, Peter also addresses how they should adorn themselves, which is my second point, a godly wife's adornment.

Look again at what he says in verses 3 and 4. Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, rich in God's sight, is very precious.

Here, Peter is addressing how godly wives are to focus their efforts on beautifying themselves.

He's addressing how they are supposed to focus their efforts on beautifying themselves. He says their focus should not be on external beautification, braiding of the hair, putting on jewelry, through the kind of clothing that they wear.

He says that's not where the emphasis should be. And just to put it to the side, to make sure that we focus on what Peter is saying, Peter is not in these verses giving some rules or some code of conduct for how women are supposed to dress.

That's not what he's doing. First of all, he doesn't address all women, he only addresses wives. Paul, in 1st Timothy chapter 2 verses 8 to 10, he addresses women more broadly in terms of the modest way in which they're supposed to dress.

But here Peter's concern is about a wife who is seeking to make herself attractive. and he's clearly not giving an exhaustive list of the kinds of things that women did in those days in terms of braiding of the hair or gold, expensive clothing and those kinds of things.

Those are representative. But if he was speaking today, he would use other things like weaves and wigs and makeup and costume jewelry, not just gold.

He would use a wide spectrum of things and basically all he's saying is don't use those things, spending your time on those things, trying to make yourself beautiful.

He doesn't prohibit those things. But what he prohibits is putting effort into them to make yourself attractive. That's what he prohibits.

Instead, what Peter says in verse 4 is, let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, rich in the sight of God.

This is very precious. Peter says the beauty that you should be concerned with is internal beauty, not external beauty. Internal beauty, that's where your eyes and emphasis need to be.

beauty. I wouldn't venture to ask women to raise their hands this morning in terms of how long they take to do all the external things that they do, but I think we have a good idea.

It takes time. Put a lot of time into that. What Peter says is, he says, you should take time and put effort into internal beauty, because that's what God looks at.

And the sight of God, that is a precious, precious thing. The beauty that God's word calls all wives to, all wives to look uniformly beautiful is with a gentle and a quiet spirit.

Spirit. It's quite interesting that this was the concern in Peter's day, and I think this is the concern still in our day.

Wives, what God's word says is that the beauty that matters, the beauty that counts at the end of the day, is the beauty of a gentle and a quiet spirit that is on the inside of you, but can and should be seen on the outside of you.

And it will be seen when we give ourselves to that, when effort is made. Paul said to Timothy, when he's calling Timothy to certain disciplines, he said to Timothy, he said, Timothy, if you give yourself to these things, your progress will be evident to all.

And wives, I say to you, if you focus on and give attention to cultivating a gentle and a quiet spirit, certainly it's going to be evident to the Lord, even before it's evident to anybody else, and it would be evident to your husband and to those who are around you.

Now, to be clear, Peter is not saying choose one or the other. He's not saying, you know, you choose to beautify yourself externally or choose to beautify yourself internally.

He's not saying that. You can choose both of them. but the emphasis needs to be and in your mind you need to be persuaded how I am on the inside is far more important than how I look on the outside in terms of physical and external beauty.

This is God's wisdom. This is God's word to wives. I think all of us have seen situations where a child is disrespectful to a parent.

I think we've all seen that. And I think it's fair to say all of us are troubled when we see a child who's being disrespectful to a parent, matching them word for word, answering them back, being defiant, shouting.

We consider all those things disrespectful. brothers and sisters, take that behavior and put it in the context of marriage, and it is as inappropriate for a wife to relate to her husband in that way as it is for a child to relate to a parent in that way.

God calls wives towards their own husbands to cultivate a gentle and a quiet spirit.

I'm sure we've all seen children who shame their parents in that way in public, and sometimes you see a child who's acting out in public, and the parent would almost pull back so as to not escalate the situation.

And this doesn't happen every single time, but a lot of times men will do the same thing. They'll pull back because of a wife who in a particular moment, whatever the circumstance, could be disrespectful.

As I was preparing Proverbs 12, 4 came to mind as I thought about this, and this is what it says, an excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

A wife is to be the strength and the support, the helper to a husband. And that's the nutshell role that God gives to wives, to come and be a helper to their husbands.

When a wife does not submit to her husband and said rebels against her husband, it's like rottenness in the bones. It breaks him down rather than building him up.

And what is worse is that this is done intentionally. Sometimes it's done accidentally, sometimes it's done just in a moment of indiscretion and rage, but sometimes this is done in a very calculated and intentional manner, and there's nothing more disrespectful and discouraging to a husband than that kind of behavior.

And so wives, by God's grace, labor to have a gentle spirit, labor to have a quiet spirit, not an abrasive, loud, quarrelsome spirit that seeks to stand toe to toe with your husband, match him word for word, speaking about him, always having the last word, word for word for a husband is not excused by that kind of conduct, but if anyone should have that kind of conduct, in terms of the role of authority, it should be the husband, and he shouldn't behave that way.

And so wives, by the grace of God, I urge you, wherever you find yourself, seek to grow in cultivating this gentle and quiet spirit that scripture calls you to, that's a part of your submission to your husband.

I know some of you may be thinking, what about the husband? Well, we'll talk about the husbands next week, this morning, we consider what God's word says to wives.

I imagine some wives would say, you know, I was never a gentle or quiet person. I was, I just wasn't that way. That's just not me. Well, you know what?

I don't think that this necessarily calls you to change who you may say you naturally are, but I think what it does call you to do is to ask the Lord, Lord, despite me not being a gentle and a quiet person, would you help me to be that towards my husband?

Would you help me to express this towards my husband as my submission towards him?

In verses five and six, Peter concludes his instructions to wives by reminding them that the gentle and quiet spirit that he is calling them to are they to adorn themselves in this particular way.

He reminds them that the holy women who went before them lived the same way. But he also tells them that these holy women they lived that way with their hope anchored in God.

Their hope is anchored in God and this brings to my third and final point a godly wife's hope. Look again at verses five and six.

Peter writes for this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by submitting to their own husbands. As Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord and you are her children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

What is Peter saying in these final two verses to wives? Well again, first he is saying to them he's saying what you're called to do is not unique to you.

He's saying what you're called to do holy women before you were called to that and they lived that way and so you're being called to live the same way in the company of these holy women who went before you.

You should take this to heart. Take this to heart that you're not being called to do something unique this morning. You're being called to do something that is a part of your calling and that is fitting for holy women of God.

When you embrace the call to submit to your own husbands, when you embrace the call to adorn yourself with a gentle and a quiet spirit, hoping in God, you will be in the company of the holy women who have gone on before you.

And they did it, and by God's grace, so can you. But again, Peter points out how they did it.

They didn't do it in their own strength or their own goodness. In verse 5, he says, they did it hoping in God as they submitted themselves to their husbands. And you must do the same.

This is the only way that you will be able to do what you're called to do in this passage as wives if you do it with your hope anchored in God. And ultimately what you're doing is you are!

beyond submitting to your husband you're obeying the Lord. And so your hope needs to be anchored in the one who's called you to do this. In verse 5, Peter highlights Sarah's example of obeying Abraham and calling him Lord.

And I don't emphasize this this morning to drop a hint that wives should be calling their husbands Lord. I don't at all. That would be very awkward in our culture to walk around calling your husband Lord.

I'm sure some men will want to start a culture with their wives calling them Lord Lyndon. That has a ring to it, Shelley. That does have a ring to it.

Lord Cedric doesn't sound good, so you don't have to call me Lord this morning. But I think the principle should be clear.

The principle is this, Sarah called Abraham Lord out of respect, despite the fact that Abraham was not a perfect husband.

she demonstrated her respect for Abraham despite his many shortcomings.

We read of one of those shortcomings in the first passage that was read this morning in Genesis 12 where Abraham loved himself over his wife.

Where Abraham protected himself by exposing his wife to sexual exploitation. And he didn't just do it once. He also did it in Genesis 20 with Abimelech.

And yet Sarah respected her husband. Sarah did that as she hoped in God, and God protected Sarah.

The record that we have in Genesis 12 and in Genesis 20 is that God protected Sarah from sexual exploitation, from powerful kings.

Her hope was in God. And so God protected her. In verse 6, Peter says that godly wives are Sarah's children if they do good and they do not fear anything that's frightening.

So Peter says that wives who will be called Sarah's children are marked by two particular attributes.

The first is doing good. A key aspect of godly submission is the commitment to doing good to your husband.

not circumstantially but doing good to him as a matter of course, as a matter of living, as a matter of what God has called you to.

The reality is that every single woman submits to an imperfect husband to one degree or another.

And sometimes because of that you'll be tempted not to do good. You'll be tempted to cease doing good. You'll be tempted to answer in kind.

You'll be tempted to act in kind. You'll be tempted to fight fire with fire. What scripture says is that you are Sarah's children.

if you do good. And so wives, in difficult moments and seasons of marriage, when submission is hard, ask the Lord to show you what does good look like in this situation?

What is the good that I can do in this situation? Lord, help me to see the opportunities to do good to my husband who humanly speaking doesn't deserve good.

and then by the grace of God, do good. And see, remember, this is hard, but there's grace.

And God calls us to do nothing that he doesn't give us grace to do, that he doesn't enable us to do. And so this is hard, but this is possible with God's help.

Godly wives are Sarah's children if they do not fear what's frightening. Now, what does that mean?

What does it mean that godly wives are Sarah's children, if they do good, we understand that, but he says if they don't fear what is frightening.

I think first of all, it should tell us that Sarah faced frightening things and didn't fear.

And I think the implication is that wives will face frightening things, and like Sarah, they are called not to give into fear. I think Peter's words, and Peter's a wise pastor, might read this letter, he's a wise pastor.

His words, these are God's words, they endure to this day, and Peter is wisely pointing to the inescapable reality that submitting to their husbands, wives can sometimes face frightening things.

certainly submitting to an ungodly husband could be a frightening thing.

But even for godly husbands, submission can at times be a frightening thing. Sometimes a wife is faced with the situation where her husband is making a decision, that she believes or knows to be a bad decision, a wrong decision.

And she knows it's not going to affect just him, but her and the children, if they are children, and yet she's called to submit to his leadership. And this can be both tempting and fearful.

And what does Peter say to them? Peter says, hope in God and don't fear what's frightening. Think about Sarah.

Think about Sarah for a moment. Your husband says, look, you're beautiful, I know the men are going to desire you, so tell them you're my sister.

her. And then maybe she didn't understand the implications of that when she agreed. Certainly by the time with Abimelech, I think she understood what that meant.

But maybe with Pharaoh she didn't, but all of a sudden, Pharaoh's taken her into his harem. What a frightening thing. That's a frightening thing even for someone without power.

That's a frightening thing. And Sarah, we have no record that she protested, but she put her hope in God.

She put her hope in God rather than become fearful over that thing that was frightening.

Why is godly submission in marriage is really only possible when you anchor your hope in God? And you know, sometimes when you have those discussions that are leading to a dead end and your husband isn't budging, you know, sometimes it's more profitable to resort and talk to the Lord than beating a dead horse and putting your hope in God and crying out to God that he would have mercy.

God's love in God. And that's thing, that we can all appeal to God, whatever the circumstance, we can pour our hearts out to him and entrust ourselves to him and put our hope in the Lord and not give in to fear over what is frightening.

this area of submission of wives to their husbands has many great parts. And sometimes it could look differently and work out differently in different marriages.

And in all my years of pastoral ministry, here's what I've come to see. I've come to see that the marriages that embrace community, the marriages that open themselves to community, are the better marriages, the healthier marriages.

See, a husband and wife don't have to stay deadlocked behind a wall, ramming their heads over certain things. Bring it to a trusted couple, brother and sister, and say, hey, we're wrestling with this.

Could you help us? And that's God's good and wise design, to put us in community with brothers and sisters who can help us, rather than having to fend for ourselves.

These words of the Apostle Peter wives to you, these words are harder to hear today than they were in Peter's day. It was far easier for the women in Peter's day, the godly women in Peter's day, to hear that they should live this way, because so much of the culture was already bent in that way, in a sinful way, but it was already oppressing women and coercing them in so many different ways.

But today, there's just so much freedom that women have. And so there's a greater temptation to hold on to that freedom, to hold on to the way of the world, and to do your own thing.

And so these words are harder to hear in our context today. But God's word is timeless and doesn't change based on the culture.

And so by God's grace, I encourage you wives embrace his word to be a godly wife to your own husband.

But these six verses are certainly not just to wives. Husbands, we are hearing what God has called wives to, and we should help them.

We should do our best to make submission to us an easier job. We shouldn't make it hard. We shouldn't fold our arms and say, you know, you submit to me.

No, we should make every effort to be the kind of man that our wives want to submit to.

God has called them to, and let us encourage them in that. When we see growth and we see progress and we see expressions of submission, let's take the time to point it out.

Thank God for them and thank them for it, rather than just having eyes for what is critical, and when something is wrong, we can see that, but we won't commend what is good.

This one I want us to leave this time of sitting under God's word, remembering that marriage is about God, marriage is ultimately not about us.

God has given us the gift of marriage for our good, but ultimately for His glory. But it is so easy for us to forget it.

That it's about me, my satisfaction, my enjoyment, rather than for God's glory and for His honor.

I pray that you wives have already heard that the only way that you can do this is by God's grace, so please don't leave here just with the pure mindset of I can do better, I can try harder.

You need more than that. You need the grace of God to be able to do this in the way that God has called you to do it. So be praying for grace. Husbands, let's be praying for grace for our wives that they can honor the Lord in doing this.

If you are a wife this morning and you don't know the Lord, Lord, you don't have a chance of fulfilling this. As a matter of fact, you probably don't have any desire to fulfill this because fulfilling this is only possible through a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

These commands are laid on godly wives in light of what God has done for them and how he now calls them to live in light of what he has done for them.

And so, if you don't know Jesus Christ, if you desire to honor him in your life and in your marriage, then to you I say, come to Jesus.

Come to Jesus. Because it is only then that your eyes will be opened to see the gift that God has given to you in marriage and more importantly, the gift of eternal life that changes everything.

not just our marriage, but our entire lives. Earlier in chapter 2 in verse 24, the apostle Peter tells us that Christ bore our sins on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

That is the only way that we can live righteous lives that the Lord has called us to. And so this morning, if you don't know Jesus, come to Jesus.

Let's pray. thank you for your word this morning. I pray that you would help us to hear it, and in particular for the wives, that they would heed it.

And Lord, may we do all this for your honor and the glory of your great name. So Christ, we pray. Amen.