6, 6, oh please, 660.
When this passing world is done, when has
sunk yon radiant sun, when the pearly gate
I gain never to go out again, then,
Lord, shall I fully know, not till then,
how much I owe.
660, please.
Note tonight that I am talking about saved
wives.
Saved wives should be submissive wives.
And you know when I pitch around this
country on the devil, sometimes I pitch a
week preaching on the devil.
And I get taken what for?
Well, it's usually a very rough week for
me when I'm preaching on the devil.
But you want to see it when you're
preaching on women.
It's worse than the devil.
An old lady came to the door the
other day, rang the bell.
She said, I see by the notes you're
going to preach that wives should be submissive
and sensible.
Well, I can neither be submissive nor sensible,
she said.
I said, I've not for a long time.
She said, what would I be like when
I'm 90?
I said, God forbid that you would ever
get to 90.
And you want to hear the last of
her going up the street.
She was all pleased with this, she said.
Now, I want to say this tonight, that
in these six verses, 1 Peter 3, from
verse 1 to the end of verse 6,
I would say that this is one of
the greatest messages of the times in this
world for good wives.
I'm sure it's one of the greatest.
And I'm going to touch every phrase, but
you cannot bypass one word.
Now, I want to make it perfectly clear,
that no matter what phrase I touch, that
I'm not aiming at anybody in particular.
Sometimes I could blame someone.
Now, don't blame me.
If the word of God comes across you
this evening, then you just take it from
the Lord, because I didn't think.
You know the story of the old farmer
who was crossing the yard with a friend,
Nelson, showing him around, and he got the
old stout pig coming down the yard.
And as he went past her, he just
hit her right through on the head and
on the back, and the American said, no,
please don't do that.
Ah, well, he said, this is not common
from devil, but this is good for you.
And then the old fella took a brush
and he said, she's just like the Welsh,
he said.
Now, don't you think that I'm thinking anything
particular about you, because I'm just teaching the
word of God.
And if it happens to light on you,
then you may bow your head to the
Lord and acknowledge just what the Lord's doing.
And I don't want the husbands to lick
your lips too much either, because I assure
you that next week it's just husbands that's
the subject.
Our subject starts tonight at verse 1, chapter
3, and it says, likewise ye wives.
Well, we're going to look at verse 7
next week, and it says, likewise ye husbands.
And I would say that there's one of
the greatest truths that can ever be expanded
in that second verse for husbands.
You know, it says, ye husbands, dwell with
them, with your wives, according to knowledge.
And that's a tremendous thing, that you should
know all about what marriage means, before you're
married.
Then you'll be able to dwell with knowledge.
And of course, the Lord is going to
exhort the husbands next week not only to
dwell with them, but to give honor unto
the week of gossip for this purpose, that
your prayers be not hindered.
Why are so many prayers?
My answer, it's the husband's fault.
And I'll take it out on you next
week, so don't lick your lips too much
tonight.
You know about the old farmer again, don't
you?
And he bought a new tractor.
And he brought it into the yard, you
know.
Oh, he'd been all his days with horses,
and now this is a brand new tractor,
and he went round and round the yard,
you know, round and round.
Came up by the back door at times,
and the old lady came up and looked
at him, a long white apron on, and
watched him.
He came round, holding a hand out, one
hand, that's what he said, turning it round
and round.
One hand.
She went in, nodding her head, and then
he took a motion to take her down
the lane onto the goats.
And she came up to see where he
had gone to, and just as he came
up, what was it going over, and he
just came down all over the yard.
She says, look where the old fool is
now.
Oh, be very careful about this tonight, and
you dear husbands, take it easy, because you've
got a week coming.
And it's a very important message for husbands
next week, that your prayers be not ended.
I think that you can see right away
that Peter is talking to saved wives, and
he's specially talking to saved wives who have
unsaved husbands.
As we go down the passage, of course,
it will become perfectly plain that these are
saved wives, wives who, like the holy woman
of old, have trusted in God.
Yes, I think that you can save us
of this message this evening, that it's wise
words to wives who witness in the home
to win the husband.
This is a great old book we have.
Sometimes I take women's meetings and I have
no trouble finding messages for women's meetings in
this book.
It talks about saved women, and in some
of its pages it talks about silly women.
You remember that great phrase in 2 Timothy,
that in the last days men will keep
their houses where silly women are.
I don't need to go into that tonight.
I only need to say this.
A saved woman will never be a silly
woman.
This book, it not only talks about saved
women and silly women, but seduced women.
And remember that they have Jezebel seduced for
men.
And even the Lord, speaking to one of
the churches in Revelation, said, Thou hast that
woman Jezebel who seduces my servants.
Of course, there is a scarlet woman in
this book.
The Lord's wife was a sinful woman.
Of course, there are sinning women in this
book.
Yes, the bride in the Song of Solomon
and Deborah in the Days of the Judges.
There are sinful women in this book, like
Hannah and the Virgin Mary.
Yes, there are sacrificing women in this book,
like Mary of Bethlehem.
Oh, I would have no problems getting messages
for women's meetings.
But we're looking at these saved wives this
evening.
And the first thing that Peter says, he
says, Life wise, be wise.
You see, at verse 18, last week he
was speaking to sergeants and I pointed out
that the Greek word there could be translated
slaves.
And he was saying to these slaves, Be
subject to your masters with all fear.
And he was teaching Christian slaves to be
subject that the Lord might be glorified, even
to suffer wrongfully for the glory of his
name.
Then he uses the word likewise now, and
he's going to teach these Christian wives how
their husbands can be run for Christ.
You see this first word here?
Be in subjection.
That's a tremendous exhortation, isn't it?
Likewise, be wise, be in subjection.
I want you to get this bit.
To your own husbands.
And he's very dogmatic about that, you know.
To your own husbands.
You know, Peter is a great teacher.
And as we've gone through this, you know,
Peter has taught us all about the new
birth.
How that you're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of
God by which the gospel is preached unto
you.
Peter did not believe in baptismal regeneration.
Some of the folks that exhort Peter to
the highest bring out this damnable doctrine that
you can be saved by drops of water
on your brow.
Well, Peter blasts that.
He said you're saved by the incorruptible seed
of the word of God through the gospel.
And Peter is the one who has taught
us all about redemption.
You're not redeemed by money.
Nor silver nor gold are obtained by redemption.
You're redeemed by the precious shed blood of
Christ, Peter says.
Peter is the one who has taught us
here in this book about the foundation of
the church.
He said that Christ was the chosen and
precious foundation.
He had no doubts at all about who
it was.
And the other week in this meeting he
taught us that the church should be subject
to the state not to try to run
it.
Oh, he's got a lot of things.
And now he's coming to this great thing.
He's saying, why?
Say it, why?
You to be subject did you get it?
To your own husband, not to the priest.
But we never taught rubbish like that, did
we?
There's no parson, no pastor, no priest, no
pope has the right to come in to
tell you how many children you should have.
This is a tremendous word, you know.
We use it at times.
But it's Peter who's talking.
Peter's talking to wives now.
And saying, be subject to your own husbands.
And that's required, you know, to save wife.
You know, Paul was with Peter in this
thing.
Let me show you what Paul said and
we're at Ephesians chapter 5, please.
Paul's letter to the Ephesians and we're at
the fifth chapter.
And here's a great word in verse 18.
He says, be not drunk with wine wherein
is excess but be filled with the Spirit.
Many times I preach from the faith, be
filled with the Spirit.
And you know, when one's filled with the
Spirit certain things happen.
Here's one of them.
Speaking to yourself in sounds and things and
spiritual songs.
Singing and making melody in your heart of
the Lord.
You know, it's good for your whole fame
to be filled with the Holy Ghost because
you sing.
Or we get down in the dumps at
times and we moan and murmur and get
into moods.
Ah well, if we were filled with the
Holy Ghost there'd be less of it.
That's all there is about it.
And I'll tell you this, it would be
far better for your constitution.
But it goes a bit further than that,
you know.
It doesn't only make you sing, it makes
you give thanks always for all things unto
God and the Father in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear
of God.
And then He directly preached to wives.
Wives!
Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto
the Lord.
That's a tremendous word, isn't it?
Because we're going to learn tonight that Sarah,
one of the holy women of old, she
called Abraham Lord.
This is submission, you know.
I'm not saying that we should use the
word Lord just now in these days.
My, it would be a great sin to
see Peggy Coulter coming out and saying Lord
Jim.
I'm sure Jim wouldn't care, I think he's
worthy of it anyway.
But it's this submission.
And we should submit ourselves or the wives
should submit themselves unto their own husbands as
unto the Lord.
Is that any important word, you know?
God has order for families, you know.
And the sooner we learn the order, the
better it will be for the family.
To go a little bit further here, He
said wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands
as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the
wife.
Even as Christ is the head of the
church and He is the Saviour of the
body, therefore as the church is subject unto
Christ, so let the wives be to their
own husbands.
And here's a very important phrase in every
faith.
If we go on to point out, you
know, that it's not in any bossy fashion
that the Lord's talking.
He's not wanting might to just be the
master of the house.
And we have come to see this.
And it may be that very thing that
would hinder us, but we must keep that
for next week.
Emergence in everything must be looked at very
carefully.
Let me point out something that Peter said
just the other week, and I don't know
whether you got it properly or not, but
let's go back and have a look at
it.
We're at 1 Peter chapter 2, as he's
saying to the believers here, in verse 13,
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for
the Lord's sake, whether it be to the
king, our supreme, or unto governors, as unto
them that are sent by him for the
punishment of evildoers.
And you remember when we were looking at
this, we could see both church and state
together.
And Peter was teaching the believers, members of
the body, the church, he was teaching them
to be submissive, to submit themselves to all
who are in authority.
That is, of course, to submit to the
state in state of things.
If the state brings a curse you from
this land, then I shall have to put
up with it, and obey it, and I
will.
Then if the state feels that they must
intern somebody, then this is the state, and
I'm not questioning it.
If they want to get on with it,
that's their business.
I must bow to the state in state
things.
What's so bad?
Of course, if the state, you know, should
lose its head a little bit, and venture
out of the circle of state, and begin
to dictate to me about the gospel, then
I should rebel.
Now, that's what Peter teaches right through.
You see, when Peter was before the Sanhedrin,
let's go back to the Acts of the
Apostles for a moment, and we're at the
Acts of the Apostles, chapter 5, verse
27, for the sake of time.
And when they had brought them, that is,
the officers of the temple, when they had
brought these men, Peter, and James, and John,
and so on, they set them before the
council, and the artist asked them, saying, Did
not we strictly command you that you should
not teach in this name?
And behold, you have served Jerusalem with your
doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood
upon us.
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and
said, We ought to obey God rather than
men.
And if the state gets out of step,
that's exactly the answer we shall answer.
Should I be commanded by the Stormont government
or the Westminster to never preach the gospel
again, then I shall go on preaching.
And they must lock me up, or shoot
me, or do whatever they like, but I
will rebel.
So while the state keeps in the circle
that we call state of just all of
the business, we shall submit to them.
But all the time, remember, they're there for
the punishment of evil doers.
Don't forget that which is in the text,
too.
And we expect the state to do what
the book says as they expect us to
do what we should do in the state.
But it's the same with the ones at
home, of course.
If the husband gets out of bounds, and
he says, Mary, you're not going back to
that meeting again.
We're talking about on-state husbands just now.
And he says, You're not going up to
the morning meeting anymore, and you're going to
go down to the pub or the club
with me, and you'll go my way.
Then she rebels.
Yes.
Subjecting everything that's limited, of course, to him
getting out of bounds.
There's a circle that we call the state.
And while the state conducts itself, we shall
submit.
I will try to do my best to
treat it.
There's a circle that we call the church.
And if the state steps out of bounds
and comes into the church to command and
demand, then we shall rebel.
And if the husband steps out of the
circle of the home and comes into the
church and demands and commands, then the wife
shall disobey.
Yes, I think we've got to see this
quite clearly.
You know, wives are to be subject to
their own husbands within the realm of the
things of the home.
Just as we're to be subject to the
state within the realm of the things of
the state.
Have you got that?
You see, if the husband says you're not
going to get a new carpet, then you
must stop talking.
You're not getting it.
And if he says that big leather suite
that you're after, you're not getting it.
Then you must give it up, dear.
You're not getting it.
No forcing the issue now.
He's the head of the wife, and we
are to be submissive.
Something else I want you to see here.
You know, sometimes some people try to wrestle
the Scriptures and they do it to their
own destruction.
Somebody came to me once and they were
going to be married to an unsaved man.
And I said, well, you can get married
if you like, but I won't marry you.
And that's a very solid rule of my
conscience in this place.
I will marry none who are unequally yuked,
or going to be unequally yuked again.
It matters not whether it's a deacon's wife,
a deacon's daughter, or an elder's wife, or
the best friend I have in this place.
They will not be married by me.
That is clear-cut for me.
That is my business.
I cannot help you to break the Word
of God, can I?
When the Word of God is distinctly saying,
be not unequally yuked together.
Do you want me to break it?
Well, I cannot do it.
And I will not do it.
That is for me, of course.
That is my clear-cut division.
Everybody knows that around here.
They don't bother me too much about it.
I want you to get this.
That somebody came to me and said, look,
see these on-stage husbands here?
For these wives, they're taught to live before
them, that they might get themselves.
Why can I not marry them and then
live before them?
I'm perfectly sure that this case here before
us is this.
That the woman was so doused that she
was married.
I'm not thinking that Peter is teaching a
contradiction to God's truth.
I'm perfectly sure he wasn't.
Sometimes, you know, a pair go on for
years and end the woman's approach.
Ah, well, she's not to run away with
them now.
This is the time she's got to start
to live before them, that she might be
married.
That's the case, in fact.
You see, what he's saying this for is
just for this purpose.
He's saying, likewise, ye wives, and we're at
1 Peter chapter 3, be in subjection to
your own husbands, that if any obey not
the word, and the phrase, the word there
could be the gospel, any that obey not
the gospel.
Now, I want you to get the word
obey into its proper perspective, because he is
the man who has heard the gospel.
He's the man who has been to gospel
meetings somewhere, and the whole challenge of the
gospel has come to us all.
But he knows he has turned away in
disobedience.
You remember the Peter, the question that Peter
asked a little further on?
What shall the end be of them that
obey not the gospel?
There are men who know all about it,
and there are women in this meeting who
have men at home tonight, and they know
as much about the gospel as I do,
but they will not obey it.
And it can come to the spot at
home where the husband will not come back
to here again.
He refuses to come.
One gentleman not so very far away from
here tells his wife that whenever he comes
on Sunday night to this place, I'll just
preach at him.
Well, I assure you I don't, but I
assure you that the Holy Ghost takes the
gospel and presses it home to his heart.
And then he goes out on a rage,
and then he refuses to come for months.
There could come the time, you know, when
he would refuse to come back again altogether.
Yes, this is where the wife comes in
now.
This is what Peter is talking about.
Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your
own husbands.
That as any obey not the word, they
also may without the word.
That's why I stress the word obey.
He won't be saved, of course, without hearing
the gospel.
But if he refuses to come back again,
well, once he has heard it and disobeyed,
well, he can, without hearing it any more,
be won by the conversation of the wives.
The word conversation, of course, is just behavior.
It's just by the behavior of the wives.
You know, this is what Peter's trying to
get over to these wives.
These women who have got gloriously saved, and
they've got on-page men at home.
These men were now beginning to rebel.
Peter says, well, they won't come to hear
the preaching.
They won't listen.
Well, I'll tell you this.
They will look if they won't listen.
Many a man has been beat by a
great woman at home.
Just living for God.
Just being humble and submissive and shining like
a light in the darkness.
And while he groped about for years, she
kept on shining.
Many a man was won.
Ladies, you can win them, you know.
That's what it's all about tonight, winning these
men.
You must be submissive.
And then I want you to get this
picture.
You know, you must try.
It says here, likewise ye wives be in
subjection to your own husbands, that if any
obey not the gospel, they also may without
the word be won by the behavior of
the wife, while they behold your chaste behavior,
is the word again.
It's the old word, behavior.
You know, they look on, don't they?
Now this is where a woman has to
shine in the hall.
You know, a saved woman should keep her
home as unto the Lord's.
Ah yes, you know, it's a great thing.
Mind you, it wouldn't mean that you have
to have a fancy and well furnished and
valuable and magnificent palace of a home, because
the Lord lived at Nazareth, you know.
And I was in a little house one
day up at Nazareth that was very like
the one he would brought up in.
But you would need to keep the home
as unto the Lord, wouldn't you?
And you would need to spread the table
as to the Lord.
And you would need to do the chores
of the house as unto the Lord.
He's bound to take notice of that, you
know.
Yes, he won't listen.
He'll look.
I tell you, that's very important, you know.
And I want you to look at this
little bit, because it does say this.
They can be won by the behavior of
the wife while they behold your chaste conversational
behavior.
Watch this word, coupled with sin.
You know, that's the very same word that
we had up the chapter where it says
in verse 17, Honor all men, love the
brotherhood, fear God.
And it's the old Greek word for reverence.
And you remember right back there in Ephesians
that Paul said, Look, if there's a woman
here and you've got an unsaved man at
home, I'll tell you one of the ways
to win her.
Just radiate Christ in everything and respect Him.
That's what it is.
You don't call Him for everything or let
the mother-in-law call Him for everything.
You've just got to radiate Christ and respect
the man.
Let your radiation be coupled with reverence.
And it's still the way that you go
to win men for Christ.
Very important, you know, that we learn the
lessons, isn't it?
Yes, I want you to get the hold
of that.
But then saved wives, that's Peter, should be
submissive wives, and saved wives should be shining
wives.
You see, not only does the husband look
on, but I want to steal this little
bit out now.
Dress me whose adorning, let it not be
that outward adorning of flapping the hair and
of wearing of gold and of putting on
of apparel.
Let it be the hidden round of the
heart in that which is not corruptible, even
the ornament of the meek and quiet spirit
which is in the sight of God.
That's the bit I'm after.
You see, God looks into the home too.
And you know, there must be some things
down in this world that God values.
But I'll tell you there's one thing that
God chose to keep Christ on.
That's a woman living for Christ in a
home where a man doesn't care about the
law.
In the sight of God.
It's of great pride.
I come as a Saviour.
And if you just respect your husband and
be adorned the way God is going to
tell you in a moment.
I'll tell you this.
God looks into that little home.
And it may be like the one I
was read in, a very humble one.
But the wee woman in there, she's of
great price in the eyes of God.
My mother had seventeen of us, you know.
Sixteen boys and one girl.
And I never knew much about shoes until
I was a man.
I went to school all the days of
my life on my bare feet.
And enjoyed every minute of it.
And you know, I was the youngest one
of the seventeen, so all the old clothes
came down to me.
I was never dressed in the least.
All the old torn jerseys and trousers, and
the backstag out of them and all about
it.
Yes, that's how I was brought up.
But in that wee humble home where we
used to gather at night, us for nights,
all the boys.
How she made food I could hardly tell
you about it.
But I look back and I think it
was the most wonderful time of my life.
You know, all those fellas dipping in, you
know.
It was wonderful.
In that home there was a wee woman
who loved the Lord Jesus.
I can see her, you know, getting down
at night.
Her knees on the tiles.
And they were scrubbed as clean as could
be.
Put their hands up like that.
For many a time I opened my eyes.
Her old white face turned into the heavens.
And well down her knees.
She wouldn't be allowed to sneeze.
She would cough her ear out.
And that's the start of religion of course.
You did it and you had to do
it.
And my big brother was older than me
by a long shot.
And the old Presbyterian minister came in and
he was a godly old man.
He couldn't preach at all.
But he loved the Lord.
He used to get down in the middle
of the floor on his knees to thank
my mother.
You could hear him praying, the old preacher.
He was a great old soul.
And my big brother loved her.
But the old fellow wasn't out of the
door.
In fact the latch was finally gone when
she hit him.
Humbled and head over heels.
And he was a big man, you know.
He could have rolled up and lifted her
and thrown her.
I can see him lying in the corner
and she says, Now he's not far down
the street.
Get on your feet and run after him.
Say, Yes, Father.
Now stand at the door when you do
it.
I can see this big man, you know,
getting up.
Down the street.
He stopped with the old minister, taking his
cap off.
I'll tell you, God was looking on, you
know.
Or God or something or anything like that.
The godly thing, you know.
It was a great sight.
And every one of them got silent.
Yeah, I know all about it.
Thank God for my mother, ten thousand times
over.
She was just a wee poor woman.
That's all.
Her back feet.
I praise God for her every day I
live.
She lived for God.
No nonsense about it.
Yes, you know, the husband looks on.
Aye, and God looks on.
You need to sign.
You need to read.
You need Christ.
You need to respect your husband, whether he's
good or bad or middling.
And then we come to this great point,
of course, that a saved wife should be
a sensible wife.
I want to read this passage and I
want you to watch.
It's very careful, very sweet.
Who's adorning?
Let it not be.
That outward adorning of collecting the hair and
of wearing of gold or of putting on
of apparel.
Now, you want to be perfectly sure of
what he's saying.
And what he is not saying.
You know, he talks about her hair.
And he talks about her jewelry.
And he talks about her dress.
Well, he's not saying that she shouldn't comb
her hair, you know.
Not saying that.
As long as some of you hadn't your
hair combed for the last day or four
years, you would look a saint.
Couldn't you just see some of you?
Three years and not a comb in it.
He's not talking like that.
There would be no glory to God for
a woman running about like somebody out of
a cave.
He is not saying that.
He's talking about making that the adorning.
You see, there are some preachers and they
talk like this, as if the Lord is
saying that you shouldn't comb your hair.
And he's not talking about wearing a string
of beads round your neck or a ring
on your finger either.
Not at all.
He's not talking like that at all.
Because if he was talking like that, if
he was saying don't do your hair and
don't wear jewelry, then he would say don't
wear clothes.
And my goodness, we're near enough not wearing
them without getting any further with it.
Oh, not at all.
He's not saying that.
You would have to carry the thing right
through.
If you say no jewelry, then you say
no combing, then you say no clothes.
That would be some exposition, wouldn't it?
That's baloney.
That's what that is.
Same thing.
If a woman's married, she's got a right
to a ring on her finger.
If a man engaged her, she's got a
right to two.
And the wearing of a string of beads
round her neck is going to make no
difference.
So long as she's not, so long as
she's not trying to work some miracles through
the beads.
I'll tell you what is wrong.
You know, when you come to look at
the Scarlet Woman in Revelation 17, and I
don't want to go, I only waste time
if I go to the chapter, but you'll
find that she's got, the word is there,
you know, dealt with ornaments.
Well, I don't mind seeing a woman with
a ring or two on her, a string
of beads on her neck, but I hate
to see her go.
You know, when I was in Palestine, in
Scabald for days, with an old lady who
was a millionaire, yes, and Mr. Elvin was
very tolly with her.
I don't want you to take it up
wrong.
He was just nice to her.
She was about 70.
And she couldn't understand a word he would
say, you know.
And you know, she had a big, low
-cut neck, breast, and halfway down the back,
and when he would come down in the
morning, he'd just hit her a slap in
the back.
And you know what a slap in the
back from him would be?
And after the sun beaming on it all
the day before, she would cringe up, you
know.
He had some times with her.
But when she was crossing the Sea of
Galilee with us, she came up that morning
and if anybody was ever deaf, she was
deaf.
She had earrings hanging down over her shoulders,
and rings right up her arms, and oh,
you want to see the muscles, eh?
I said to her, Vanessa, fall over for
a moment.
No, Peter's not saying that.
We've got to know what he says and
what he doesn't say.
He's not saying that you shouldn't comb your
hair.
And he's not saying that you can't put
on jewellery if you want it.
And he's not saying, secondly, that you don't
put a dress on.
No, what he's saying is this.
Who's a darling?
Let it not be.
That's the bit he's after.
You don't use your hair.
And you don't use your jewellery.
And you don't use your fancy dress to
move your husband.
That's what he's saying.
He's saying we don't want that.
Keep that out of it.
He's telling you, but let it be.
Let it be.
You see, in the other verse he said,
who's a darling?
Let it not be.
I'll be depending on your hair and your
jewellery and your dress.
He says, let it be the hidden man
of the heart.
That's the new life that's inside, isn't it?
Let it be the hidden man of the
heart in that which is not corruptible.
Even the ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit.
You know, ladies, this is the thing.
It's this meek and quiet spirit.
I wish I could get that over to
you properly.
Wonder who is the most meek on this
earth.
Oh, you've no bother with it.
I know you haven't.
It is Christ.
You know the Lord, he lives.
He doesn't raise his voice in the street.
Meek and quiet.
Now we learn last week about the tolerance.
And he has put up an example that
we should follow in the steps.
You know, if this wee woman, she has
her hair tidy all right, and she may
have a ring on her finger, and she
may have a dress, yes, she's not depending
on that to move this man.
It's this Christ-like life that she's depending
on.
She's trying to make this fellow see Christ
through to her.
That's important to know.
That's very important.
Yes.
You know, when you come to dress, the
Christian woman, though, shouldn't be overdressed.
A woman's overdress is like a doll.
How many a man has married a doll?
He's found out afterwards there's something inside that
he didn't know about.
Or you can make a thing ever so
beautiful, you know, on the outside.
You young fellows listen to me.
Don't you just look on the grass, son.
You just try to find out what's inside,
before you go too far.
Because you know, a thing can be beautiful,
but that is not lovely.
When the bride drops me, it's altogether lovely.
It's inside and outside, you know.
And you know, a woman's lovely when she
has got Christ.
And he's shining her through.
This meek, quiet spirit, submissive.
Shining for the glory of God.
Yes, she shouldn't be overdressed because she's like
a doll.
And she shouldn't be underdressed because she's like
a whore when she's like that.
Now I'm here to teach the scriptures, you
know.
And a harlot runs about with as little
on as she can.
But she mustn't be overdressed and she mustn't
be underdressed.
Because if she's overdressed, she's like a doll.
And if she's underdressed, she's like a harlot.
And if she's poorly dressed, she's like a
slave.
She doesn't need to be poorly dressed, does
she?
Because then, you know, there are some people,
there are some schisms and some parties.
And they have the idea, you know, that
we'll dress in black clothes down to our
heels and light a spoken and hats pulled
down over their faces until you can't see
who they are.
This was one of the great themes of
cuny, you know.
And a lot of the cunyates, the old
-fashioned cunyates, do this now.
And let me tell you, you know, you
could come into this meeting with a long
black shirt on.
You wouldn't know where it was made of
next, you know, but never mind.
You could come into this meeting with loud
spokens and a hat pulled down and be
as out of beat as you like.
And be as high as the devil!
Because I think that's fanatical.
These spoken run about and they are half
miserable looking.
Oh, I'll tell you, it's fanatical and half
satin.
And it's living this in the face of
God and something else.
It's a real pit on of a business.
Look, are we getting it?
It's not the old-fashioned at all!
Whether it's old-fashioned or new-fashioned.
The victim matters!
Long time!
The meek and the quiet spirit, that's the
bit that matters.
You got that?
You know, she's not to be overdressed, of
course, because she'll be like a doll.
And she's not to be underdressed because she'll
be like a harlot.
And she's not to be poorly dressed because
she'll be like a slave.
A Christian woman is to be utterly dressed.
She can reflect the Lord best from there.
Yes, you know, this is her job, she's
to reflect the Lord.
Then he comes from this...
He comes to this great and wonderful word
of faith from the Old Testament.
You know, Peter is a great teacher because
whatever he's teaching and backing up, he will
always run to the Old Testament.
And he says this in verse 5.
For after this manner in the old time,
the holy woman also who trusted in God...
And it can read like this, that phrase.
For after this manner in the old time,
the holy woman who also trusted in God.
Because he's talking about a woman who has
trusted God.
That's how they adorn themselves, being in subjection
to their own husbands.
You know, if we're going to do anything
for Christ in the home, ladies, you have
to be holy woman.
A woman doesn't only need to be submissive
and shining and sensible.
Needs to be saintly, doesn't she?
You know, friend, if we could grasp all
that the Lord has told us.
You remember he was talking to us as
slaves last week.
And he was teaching us to be tolerant.
He was showing us that when he himself
was revived, he revived not again.
And when he suffered, and he did suffer
for men, he threatened not.
He just committed himself to God.
I wish that all we believers, and I
wish it for myself, that we could be
more tolerant than we've ever been in our
lives before.
I wish we could.
I wish in these days when so much
evil is abroad, we would let the stiff
look after evil doers.
But even if evil doers come to touch
our homes, oh, may we shout!
And when we're reviled, may we revile not
again.
And when we suffer, may we threaten not.
May we commit ourselves to God.
You know, if we could get this tolerance
into the Christian church, and if we could
get this meek and quiet spirit into the
Christian woman in the Christian church, and then
next week if we could get the knowledge
and the honor into the husbands, we'd be
getting above holiness.
Let me say to all the folks here,
what's holiness?
I'll tell you what it is.
It's trusting in God and obeying his words.
You can't tell me that you're holy when
you disobey the word of God.
Sam McLean used to say to me, every
time you preached on disobedience, I saw believers
baptism.
I wasn't luminous enough.
I was just talking about disobedience.
No use of Sam McLean talking about being
holy if he's not obeying the word of
God.
Yes, this is what God wants.
He wants holiness in the church, in the
home.
That it may shine out into the state.
Oh, couldn't we do something for the Lord
in this state?
Yes, this is the holy woman he's at.
And I'll tell you this, woman, if you're
going to shine in the home, and you're
going to radiate, and you're going to plead
God, there'll have to be a recognition of
God's order, won't there?
You'll have to get it into your mind,
you know, that your husband happens to be
the head of a wife.
You'll need to recognize God's order!
And you'll need to read it God's way!
This is what we need, isn't it?
It's this recognition.
It's this radiation.
And I'll tell you this, this submission.
All that this message could get over to
us this evening.
Now, I want you to get this, that
a saved woman must not only be a
submissive woman, because mind you, while this passage
deals with saved wives and unsaved husbands, surely
the saved wife should be the same for
the saved husband.
You wouldn't think it would also then, would
you?
So, saved wives, I want you to get
this, she must not only be submissive, and
shiny, and sensible, and saintly, she must be
a separated woman in a great sense.
Watch how he does this.
For after this manner, in the old time,
the holy women also had trusted in God,
adorned themselves being in subjection unto their own
husbands.
Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord,
and she did, you know, whose daughters ye
are.
You know your daughters of Abraham.
You know Abraham was the son of the
faithful, wasn't he?
You know, if a woman could only get
it into her mind for a moment or
two, that she was, from that spiritual sense,
a daughter of Abraham.
If you could just get that into your
mind now, that you're a daughter of Abraham.
If you could get it into your mind
that you're a sister of Sarah.
You know, when I went the way up
through Hebron, the way up the field there,
and stood at Abraham's grave, and Sarah's grave
beside him, I did a lot of thinking,
you know.
Way down in here somewhere, with the remains
of this big man of God, and this
godly woman, who did so much for him,
and of whom he asked so much, and
at times he shouldn't have asked certain things.
You know, if we could only, ladies, if
you could only get it into your mind,
that you're daughters of Abraham, sisters of Sarah.
You see, I think it's touching two things
when he does that.
In the one hand, you know, being a
daughter of Abraham, you must have faith in
God.
And being a sister of Sarah, you must
be submissive to your husband.
She called him Lord.
And I believe it's this, trust in God,
and this prompt obedience to the Word that
will make you shine for God in your
home, such that God will bless this world.
Now, don't think the fool stopped his bearer
until he gets his share of it.
We've got to get the husband in on
the theme, too.
So, if he doesn't want to come next
week, will you come round and tell me,
and I'll come and see him.
The singing, 617.
607, I am thine, O Lord.
I have heard thy voice and have told
thy love for me.
I long to rise in the arms of
faith.
Be closer drawn to thee.
607, please.
Dear Lord, part us in thy fear.
Take us to our homes safely.
Let thy blessing be upon us.
For Christ's sake.
Amen.