Peter's School of Divine Cosmetology

Introduction: The Obvious Desire for Beauty and Peter's School of Divine Cosmetology

0:03 Now, may I urge you to turn in your own Bibles to 1 Peter, and the third chapter, 1 Peter, chapter 3.

0:20 And I shall read the first six verses in your hearing. In like manner, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that even if any obey not the word, they may, without a word, be gained by the behavior of their wives, beholding your chaste or pure behavior coupled with fear. Whose adorning, let it not be the outward adorning of braiding the hair and of wearing jewels of gold or of putting on apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner aforetime, the holy women also who hoped in God adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose children you now are, if you do well, and are not put in fear by any terror.

1:37 As we come to the study of the word of God this morning, I would not waste your time or insult your intelligence by seeking to prove to you what is obvious and recognized by every one of you. For example, I think most of you children would think I had something less than a full load or a few screws loose upstairs if I were to take time this morning to try to prove to you that water is wet, or that snow is wet. Or that water is cold, or that fire is hot. That's obvious, understood, accepted by all of us.

2:21 Well, into that same category, I would put the statement that women and girls ordinarily, and don't forget my qualifying word, ordinarily desire to be attractive or beautiful. From the time they are little girls and engage in dress-ups, to that mingled awkwardness, and thrill of the first touch of modestly applied makeup that caused them to sense somehow I'm on the threshold of womanhood, to the billion-dollar businesses of cosmetics with Revlon producing 177 different shades of lipstick. That's not an exaggeration, that's a fact. To hair salons, to designer clothing, I think it's...

3:16 It's obvious, and I don't think anyone but the person who wants to try to prove a point that's unprovable would debate the statement that girls and women ordinarily desire to be attractive and beautiful. And what they do to make themselves attractive is what is called in the Bible adorning themselves. The action and the result of that action called adornment, adornment. What is seen and observed by others.

3:49 Well, this morning we're going to enter Peter's School of Divine Cosmetology. We're going to enter into the Bible's beauty salon, where we're going to learn about the adornment, the making of oneself attractive and beautiful that is commended by God himself. And as we do, I want us to pause just a moment and look at the path that has brought us up to the door of Peter's School of Divine Cosmetology, of Peter's school of what constitutes true feminine beauty. After laying out another series of the great privileges that are the possession of all the people of God, male and female, rich and poor, bond or free,

Context: The Path to Peter's Specific Instructions for Wives

4:47 and the most important role in the life of God. And then after that, we're going to look at the life of Peter. Peter has issued this second focused, concentrated call to a life of godliness in chapter 2, verses 11 and 12. Reminding the believers of their true identity as sojourners and pilgrims, he calls them on the one hand to abstain from fleshly lusts, and to cultivate a lifestyle that will command and validate the gospel to onlooking unbelievers. And then after that, we're going to look at the life of Peter.

5:17 After that general call, he focuses upon the specific area in which this is to be worked out in the lives of God's people. And that area is the area of principled submission to constituted frameworks of authority. So he calls upon the believers to be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. First of all, the citizen to the state, verses 13 to 17.

5:44 Verses 18 to 25, the house slain. Slave to his master. And then in chapter 3, 1 to 6, wives in subjection to their husbands. And two Lord's days ago, we began our study of the paragraph read in your hearing.

6:02 And we saw that the paragraph begins with an articulation of the fundamental duty of wives. In like manner, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. And then he goes on. He gives what some might consider a possible exception of the wife's responsibility to be submissive to her husband.

6:25 What if he is not merely an unbeliever, but one who resolutely, with a determined disposition of resistance, will have nothing to do with the gospel? Am I still to be obedient and submissive to him? Peter says, yes, that even if any obey not the word, they may without a word be won by the manner, of the wife's life, beholding their holy behavior, coupled with fear. So having focused upon the fundamental duty of the Christian wife, Peter now takes up the fundamental beauty of the Christian wife.

7:04 So that in verses 1 to 4, we have the fundamental duty and beauty of a Christian wife defined. Her duty, she is to be in subjection to her own husband. And after that parenthetical statement, having to do with the problem of a wife who has a crotchety, unconverted, gospel-resistant husband, Peter then focuses back upon wives in general, beginning in verse 3, and the concern is obviously the issue of her beauty. And we know this because we immediately encounter the words, whose adorning let it not be the outward, adorning, verse 5, for after this man or the holy women who hoped in God adorned themselves. And you have the noun, adorning, and you have the verb to adorn. Peter is going to take us to school and tell us what constitutes godly adorning. What is the essence of the beauty of the Christian wife?

Audience: Why This Message is for Everyone

8:14 Now I remind you, that in writing these, things Peter is assuming, as he moves into this section, exactly what he was able to assume when he wrote what we now have as verses 1 and 2. That these wives are women in whom there is a grace-produced motive inclining them to obedience, and there is grace-produced power enabling them unto obedience. Everything Peter has said about Christian experience and privilege, in the preceding two chapters, is true of every Christian wife. And being true, she has a powerful internal motive to obey the word of God, and she has been given power unto gospel obedience. And as we continue to consider what Peter says to wives, I want all of you to listen with two and a half ears. Is it two and a half ears? Who has two and a half ears?

9:22 Well, if you're asking the question, you are listening. Keep listening just as intently.

9:27 Try to see if I say anything else foolish and unreasonable. Seriously, what I mean is, the issues here are so crucial, that I plead with you, not just you wives, you are addressed explicitly, in like manner, you wives. And when Peter goes on to say in verse 3, who's adorning, he is still thinking particularly of these Christian wives, but surely, not only are the wives to be concerned with what constitutes true beauty, but every husband ought to be concerned. What kind of beauty ought you to cultivate in your wife as you nurture and cherish her, and seek to see her become all that God in grace designs to make her?

10:12 In what direction will you nudge her cosmetology? In what direction will you encourage her to cultivate, greater beauty? You must know, as a husband, what constitutes God's estimation of true, wifely beauty. Now, for you who are single women, whether or not God has marriage for you, you ought to understand this, because you will bring into marriage the perspectives that you are now accumulating.

10:44 And the perspectives that are now regulating your life will not suddenly be altered because you walk down the center aisle of the church. You ought to listen. With all eagerness, though you are not a wife, you may one day be a wife. What about those of you who are widows and older women?

11:01 The scripture tells us in Titus 2, you are to be a teaching pool to the younger women, as to what constitutes true godliness. So you better listen, that you might be able to help your younger sisters. And what about your children? Well, you ought to listen as well, so that you young men growing up, what are you going to look for in a, quote, beautiful, young woman, upon whom you will allow your heart to set its affections?

11:28 What kind of beauty will you be looking for? And you young ladies, what kind of beauty will you seek to project? How will you seek to adorn yourself? So you see, this has relevance to every single one of us here this morning.

11:42 And I trust that each of us will listen with two and a half ears to the word of God. Now, as we think our way through the passage, God willing, this morning, and again this evening, and I'm very unembarrassed to tell you why we're going to look at it morning and evening. A number of you singles are going to be gone next week, and I didn't want you to miss verses 4 to 6. I'm 5 and 6.

Sermon Structure: Duty, Beauty, and Illustration

12:05 So we're going to park in this passage, God willing, this morning, and again this evening. And what we have simply in the overall structure of the passage is, Peter begins by establishing the wife's duty and her beauty in verses 1 to 4. Verses 1 and 2, he addressed, the wife's duty described by a simple command. Now, verses 3 and 4, we have the wife's beauty defined by a striking contrast, verses 3 and 4.

12:36 And then verses 5 and 6, the wife's beauty and duty illustrated by concrete examples. And that's the passage. Her duty, a simple command. Her beauty, by a striking contrast.

12:50 And then the beauty and the duty, tied together, illustrated by concrete examples. So this morning, we take up verses 3 and 4, the wife's beauty defined by a striking contrast. Now it should be evident, as I've already mentioned, that the central issue in these verses is that of adorning or adornment. The noun rendered adorning or adornment in the New King James Version, cosmos, is used in verse 3.

The Wife's Beauty Defined by Striking Contrast: Not the Outward, But the Heart

13:22 And the verb adorn, cosmeo, from which we get our English word cosmetics, it's a transliteration, that's found in verse 5. And simply stated, a woman's adornment is what she puts on and how she arranges what she has on in order to make herself attractive to others. That's her adornment. Your adornment, you ladies sitting here today, is what you've put on from clothing to your accessories to your makeup and what you do in the arrangement of what you put on, that would take in your hair and the coordination of things, in order not to make yourself seductive but attractive to others.

14:10 If you were blind and all of us were blind, I'm sure it would affect the process of adornment. There is nothing wrong with seeking to present oneself attractively to others. How? What you wear and how you arrange it impinges on other people's eyeballs ought to be a matter of concern to you.

14:33 For the whole law and the prophets is, as you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them. Do you like it when all of your sense of propriety and neatness and cleanliness and modesty and aesthetic attractiveness are violated by those who present themselves within the range of your eyeballs? Do you like that sense of internal suffering that comes when someone is a frump or a slob?

15:06 Now, you see, you can't help but answer those questions. No, I don't. Well, as you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them. And so, Peter, in addressing this whole matter, the wife's beauty defined does so by a striking contrast.

15:23 And now I want you to look at the text carefully. In order to get the heart of the whole, the whole passage, this is how we could strip away all of the secondary issues. Verse 1. In like manner, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands.

15:42 Verse 3.

15:44 Whose... And you'll notice in the older versions the word adorning is in italics.

15:48 It's not there at that point in the original. It's the last word in this first section. And people bring it forward to give it good English sense, but literally it would be, whose...

15:58 Let it not be the outward adorning. Verse 4. But the heart. That's it.

16:10 Strip it all away. You want to feel the thrust of what Peter is saying. This is what he's saying. With respect to the issue of adorning, here is the striking contrast.

16:22 Do not let it be the outward, but the heart. There it is. Not the outward, but the heart. All the rest is built up upon it, surrounds it, sheds light upon it.

16:39 But if you miss everything else, I pray and I've pleaded with God that we go out this morning with this principle deeply embedded within our own spirits. The moment we think of the matter of adornment, the Spirit of God is saying if you come to beauty school, where God is the tutor, through the...

17:00 10 of the Apostle Peter, if you enter the school of divine cosmetology, this much is fundamental to the whole instruction. Your preoccupation must not be the outward, but it must be the heart. Not the outward, but the heart. Now let's look first of all at the negative part of the striking contrast, and then we'll look at the positive part of the striking contrast.

The Negative Side of the Contrast: Misplaced Priorities in Outward Adornment

17:28 Once Peter has underscored that the primary, the primary focus is not on the outward, the visible, the external, he gets specific with three expressions of this misplaced priority of concern that would have been patently relevant in his day. No sooner does he say, whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning, he then gets specific in three areas. The first, the plating or braiding of the hair. Now Peter is not saying that as a convenient, attractive, utilitarian way of managing long hair, you should never let your mama make braids for you. Now any of you girls that would go to your mama the next time she goes to make you braids and say, but mama, the Bible says I'm not supposed to have braids. No, no, that isn't what Peter is saying. And all of his readers would have clearly understood what he was referring to.

18:30 And when one reads it, one reads those who have acquainted themselves with the customs and the social mores of that particular point in human history and that particular part of the world, women who wanted to use their hair as the basis for a show to others would pile up their hair in a showtime, time-consuming, breathtaking, eye-catching display of gaudiness. They would use their hair in the way in which they piled it up and stuck it with combs and jewels to be a symbol of their preoccupation with the outside.

19:19 And when Peter says, who's adorning? Let it not be the outward adornment. He specifies as the first current contemporary illustration of that. These auspices are the ostentatious hairdos, the plaiting or braiding of the hair.

19:37 Secondly, the wearing of gold. The verb literally means the placing around, the picture of hanging gold ornaments all over the place. Now again, he is not referring to the modest use of gold, rings, chains, earrings, bracelets. And I may, in the course of tonight's message, at least give you a couple of illustrations where some of the very holy women who are commended to us in the Old Testament, were women who, to the glory of God, wore not only bracelets and earrings, but one of them, Rebecca, even had a nose ring put on her.

20:14 Now, am I justifying? No, I'm just telling you. The Word of God is not saying that there is no appropriate place for the use of gold jewelry. What Peter is saying, giving a specific illustration of the thing he is condemning.

20:34 In this vivid contrast, let it not be a preoccupation with the external, piling up your hair in a gaudy, showy, ostentatious way. Having bangles and earrings and nose rings and chains and bracelets and necklaces so that from a hundred yards away you look like a gold vendor out ready to hawk his wares. Showy, preoccupied. Anyone could tell you took so much time just to hang your gold on you.

21:06 How could you have any time to be concerned with nurturing the inner man? Let it not be the plating or braiding of hair. Let it not be the wearing of gold. And thirdly, Peter says, or putting on apparel.

21:21 And in the original, there's nothing that modifies the word apparel. So if he's speaking absolutely, he's saying don't wear apparel. Now, obviously he's not saying don't wear apparel. Immodest nakedness is condemned in the Bible.

21:36 But Peter says, let it not be. Let it not be the wearing of apparel. What's he saying here? Here again, he is not condemning the wearing of apparel, having changes of apparel, having attractive apparel, but an inordinate amount of clothing.

21:51 Desiring to stun and to dazzle and to impress with the fact that one never appears in the same place, in the same company, with the same dress. It is this preoccupation with one's wardrobe. You remember the wife of a certain man a certain public leader in the Far East with her hundreds of pairs of shoes. What a horrible thing to be known for, that you had two to three hundred pairs of shoes.

22:22 That's the kind of thing that Peter is addressing. So in the negative part of the striking contrast, like a good preacher, he's not content to simply say, who's adorning? Let it not be the outward. He goes for the juggler vein of specific concrete decision that he's concerned about.

22:42 He's concerned about things that would have been a tangible expression of those women who were preoccupied with the outward. As I've already alluded, this is not an absolute prohibition of or concern for and attention to an attractive arrangement of your hair, a modest use of jewelry and good taste in clothing. This is an absolute for the relative. You remember in John 6, Jesus said, do not work for the bread that perishes.

23:18 Someone says, okay, I'm going to go on welfare. Jesus said, I'm not supposed to work for bread. No, what the Lord is saying in that context, do not let your preoccupation be one that focuses upon physical bread, temporal bread, but let your primary concern be spiritual labor for eternal bread that does not perish, an absolute for the relative. That's exactly what Peter is doing here.

23:45 Furthermore, these three things were not intended to be an exhaustive list of the specific things that can be the concrete expressions of too much concern for the outward in every culture, at every time, and in every set of circumstances. That's not what Peter is giving us here. The Spirit of God is not giving us a wooden list that from the time Peter wrote to the time the Lord comes, that's all we need to do is address the gaudy, piling up of the hair, the excessive wearing of jewelry, and this preoccupation with a massive, impressive wardrobe. If Peter were speaking today in twentieth-century America and guided by the Spirit were to take some specifics, I have no question that he would say, let it not be the outward adorning of the frizzing and the dying and the spiking of your hair in bizarre attention-getting hairdos. Now, he didn't have to say spiking then. Dying, that wasn't a big issue. But when people walk down the street with green hair, and when they walk down the street with colors of hair that God never made, it's obvious what they're saying is, I'm focused upon my hair and my hairdo.

25:09 Perhaps Peter would address facelifts, tummy tucks, body piercings and silicone implants, all of the symbols of twentieth-century American preoccupation with the outward adorning, the striving for a Barbie doll figure, the ballet gym ads that'll make you look like a woman with a man's body. Preoccupation with face and form and tight skin. These are the things that Peter is addressing when he says, not with the outward adornment. And furthermore, Peter's words were not intended to create a society of frumpish or dowdy women who would be an embarrassment to their husbands and a reproach to the name of Christ. When he writes saying to these women, some of whom have unconverted husbands, that you are to labor for their conversion without a word as they behold your chaste, your pure manner of life coupled with fear, no little part of such a life is seeking in one's external appearance to validate and express the impact of the gospel upon the soul. Read the account of the godly woman who fears God in Proverbs 31, 22, and I just mention this as a little aside

26:37 to just put a biblical hook in this qualification that I'm giving of Peter's words. Without digressing into a biblical theology, of dress, but in describing the godly woman in Proverbs 31, it's very interesting. Among all of her virtues and how they express themselves, we read in verse 22, she makes for herself carpets or cushions of tapestry. The only other place that phrase is found is in Proverbs 7, where the married woman is seeking to seduce the innocent young man.

27:10 She says, I've spread my bed with cushions of tapestry. Let Scripture interpret Scripture and this is telling you something about this woman who wants to keep her marriage bed attractive to her husband. And she does so because she fears God! How unspiritual!

27:28 No, it's not unspiritual. She makes for herself cushions of tapestry. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. She dresses in a way suitable to her economic and social position, not with a view to seducing men but validating the gospel before her husband, her family, and all who see her as a godly woman.

27:51 So whatever Peter says, don't anyone run out of here and say, Oh, wonderful! I can be frumpish and doubting and I have God on my side. No, you don't. You've got God against you.

28:02 Just as much as God is against you if you're preoccupied with your face and your form and your wardrobe, your earrings and your nose rings and your bangles and whatever else it is. No love does not behave itself unseen. And that covers in great measure these principles of dress. But that's the negative side.

The Positive Side of the Contrast: The Hidden Man of the Heart

28:26 Do you feel the weight of what Peter is saying? Who's adorning? Let it not be the outward adorning. But, verse 4, and with a very strong adversity, when the biblical writers want to show a real contrast, this is the word they use, Allah, but, but, here's the contrast, having given you the negative, now the positive, but, and with the force of the imperative of the to-be verb carried down, but let it be, let it be the hidden man of the heart in the incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

29:09 What is to be the primary focus of the godly wife with respect to this matter of what is true beauty? Well, Peter gives us a description that involves at least three things. The place where true feminine beauty is found, the essence of true feminine beauty, and then the worth of true feminine beauty. First of all, notice what he says about the place where true feminine beauty is found.

29:40 Whose, let it be, not the outward adorning of the braiding of hair and wearing of jewels of gold or putting on apparel, but, let it be the hidden man of the heart in the incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit. Now bring those words together. Hidden man of the heart spirit. You see what he's saying?

30:10 The place, the residence of true feminine beauty is internal. It's in the heart. It's in the spirit. What is called here the hidden man of the heart.

30:25 The part which is not visible in your mirror or to the eyes of others. It's the hidden man of the heart. The whole person. And there's a debate among the exegetes.

30:40 Does he mean the hidden man which is the heart? In which case it would be pointing to a truth taught elsewhere in scripture. Guard your heart above all that you guard. For out of it are the issues of life.

30:53 As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. For from within, out of the heart proceed. Perhaps that's what Peter is saying. The place where true beauty is found is the hidden man, that is, the heart.

31:08 The heart. The place where thought and motive and perspective and desire are formed and nurtured. The heart. It could be that he is saying the hidden man of the heart.

31:24 The hidden man whose dwelling is in the heart. The whole person in his integrity as a thinking, willing, desiring creature. And he is there in the recesses of the being in the heart. Whichever the proper understanding is, this much is clear.

31:43 That the place where true beauty is found is internal within every woman. It cannot be found at the cosmetic counter at Stern's, at Bloomingdale's, or at J.C. Penney's.

31:58 True feminine beauty cannot be acquired at Jack LaLanne's Spa Ladies or Bally's Gym. It cannot be hung on, pierced in, painted on or put on. It's the hidden man of the heart. It can't be secured by the services of the most excellent, experienced plastic surgeon.

32:24 It can't be purchased where Calvin Klein's jeans are found. Or where Adidas footwear and athletic wear can be found. Or where you buy your Laura Ashley dresses. It is found in the hidden man of the heart.

32:44 In the human spirit. That's where true beauty is found. And what do we learn from that? We learn this much.

32:52 If you would ever be beautiful according to God's estimation, you've got to come to the place where what you are in your heart is the most important thing to you. Do you hear me, girls? Do you hear me, dear women? Are you men looking for a beautiful woman?

33:09 What kind of beauty are you looking for? You look for a woman who makes it evident that her greatest concern is the state of her heart before Almighty God. I didn't say look for a woman whose only concern was that. No, I didn't say that.

The Essence of True Beauty: A Meek and Quiet Spirit

33:24 Whose primary concern is that. That's where true beauty is found. But then notice what he says about the essence of this true beauty. How does he describe it?

33:35 He says, Let it be the hidden man of the heart in the incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit. The essence of this true beauty has to do with his spirit and it's a certain kind of spirit. Now the word spirit here does not refer to the Holy Spirit because it is something which in the sight of God is of great price. And you would never say the Holy Spirit is of great price or great value in the sight of God.

34:06 It's speaking of the spirit of the woman, the prevailing disposition of the soul. That's how we use the word. We say to someone, I don't like his spirit. What do we mean?

34:16 We say we don't like what's coming through his mannerism, his way of speaking that indicates the prevailing attitude and disposition of the soul. Or we say, I like his spirit. What do we mean? We say there's something coming through that is attractive about what is going on in the inside.

34:33 It's leaking out through facial expressions. It's leaking out in words, in body language, in actions. I like his spirit. I don't like his spirit.

34:43 Peter says, The essence of true beauty which is always found inwardly has to do with the spirit of the woman and it is the spirit characterized by two things. One, look at the text. It is a meek or gentle and quiet spirit. A meek and gentle spirit.

35:03 And I want to say at the outset as we try to get a grasp on what these two things are, it's not talking about basic temperamental attitudes. It's talking about the spirit that can be found in a very ebullient, bubbly, outgoing, excitable woman. It's not talking about a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman who is a woman artificial notion of how this will express itself in terms of the full range of legitimate personality types. God's a God of great variety. And He's going to fill heaven with all kinds of variety. We're not all going to be walking in lockstep so that there's no difference in personality and appearance.

36:19 These things will have continuity in the age to come. But it does say a meek and a quiet spirit. Now the word meek could be rendered gentle. And this adjective occurs only three other times in the New Testament.

36:34 It's in the Beatitudes. Blessed are the meek. They shall inherit the earth. Then the other two times a direct reference to Jesus who said, I am meek, I am gentle and lowly of heart.

36:46 Matthew 11 and verse 29. And then upon His triumphal entry, Your King comes to you meek or gentle riding upon a donkey and a foal of the donkey.

37:02 That's the only time the adjective is used. But the noun is used a good bit in the New Testament in familiar passages such as Galatians 5 and translated gentleness. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness. Restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness.

37:22 And basically, the meaning of the word is one who is not insistent on his own rights, not pushy, not selfishly assertive, not demanding one's own way. That's meekness. That's gentleness. Moses was a man meek above all men on the face of the earth.

37:44 Was he an assertive, strong leader? Yes. But he was characterized by meekness. When God says, look, I'm going to blot out this bunch and I'll take you.

37:53 I'll make of you a new nation. He says, no, Lord, you can't do that. Your name is at stake. He was not pushing himself forward.

38:00 He wasn't pushy. He wasn't pushing himself forward, asserting his own rights. He was ready to pray, oh, God, forgive their sin. And if not, blot my name out of your book.

38:14 Amazing language. I don't know if I understand it, but I do read it in my Bible. Meekness, again, don't identify it with a certain personality type. Well, he's very...

38:24 He's very meek. What you may mean is the guy is just socially awkward. May have nothing to do with grace. It is the hidden man of the heart.

38:35 You say, Pastor, you made your point. Yes, and I'm going to keep making it. So if you forget everything else, you'll remember the words. Hidden man of the heart, meek and quiet spirit.

38:45 This is something that must be internalized by the enabling grace of the Holy Spirit upon the human spirit. Meekness, gentleness, and it's joined with a coordinating conjunction. Meek and quiet spirit. And we must not look for some unusually different significance upon the word quiet, because the word quiet, both in its noun and verb form, is used as a grace that all Christians are to have.

39:13 In 2 Thessalonians, Paul speaks of believers are to study to be quiet. They are to do their work in quietness. 1 Thessalonians 4.11.

39:23 But here in this passage, it would point to the absence of a turbulent, restive, agitated spirit manifesting itself in being mouthy and immodestly aggressive characteristics of every woman who will not internally embrace her divinely appointed place in subordination to male authority.

39:50 Remember the context. Wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, and let your adorning be this, not the outward adorning, but the inward adorning of a meek, a gentle, and quiet spirit. A spirit that has seen the wisdom and the love and kindness of God in assigning your specific role as a woman, in this passage, specifically as a wife, and embracing that from the heart, internalizing it down to the last, the cell of your inner being. That inner spirit will be a gentle and a quiet spirit.

The Meek and Quiet Spirit and Submission to Authority

40:37 You say, on what basis do you connect this gentle and quiet spirit with the issue of submission to authority? I do so because the strongest parallel passage points us in that direction. Turn, please, to 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2.

40:54 Paul is dealing here with the procession,

41:03 the place of women in the assembly, particularly with reference to teaching and governing. 1 Timothy 2.9. In like manner, the women, now notice the parallels with Peter, adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefastness, I'm not going to go into what that old English word means, and sobriety.

41:23 Now notice, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly raiment. You see, in that similar cultural setting, Paul, focuses upon hair, upon jewelry, and upon clothing, just as Peter did, but which becomes professing, a woman professing, God leads, excuse me, through good works. Here we are. Let a woman learn, here's our word, in quietness with all subjection.

41:53 But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness. You see what the contrast is? Dominion or quietness. Now we know, from the analogy of Scripture, that doesn't mean that women are to become mute.

42:08 Women have nothing to say to others or to their brothers in Christ. That is not what the Scripture means. So whatever this quietness is, in this context, it has a direct relationship to the woman internally embracing for her good, as well as God's glory, her divinely assigned place. Do you see that?

42:34 Yes? No. Do you see that in the passage? Let her learn in subjection with all, in other words, let her subjection, okay, the apostle says, I don't have to be this way.

42:49 These misogynist apostles, they're women haters. Oh, bite the bullet. Oh, beings. Now you're being in subjection, all right, you're like the little Quaker kid.

42:59 And the mother said, now sit, Quaker meeting has begun. All talking is to be done. And the little Quaker, the little Quaker kid sits, but looks up at mother and says, me sitteth on the outside, but me standeth on the inside. So the Spirit of God is saying, let your preoccupation not be the outward, but the inward adornment of this meek and this quiet spirit, a spirit that has joyfully embraced the divine wisdom and love and kindness in the assignment of the respective roles of husband and of wife, particularly in this passage and throughout scripture of the gender roles more broadly.

43:44 An enlightened believing grasp upon one's identity and privilege in Christ is the foundation of coming to this meek and quiet spirit. When a woman has embraced the fact that I am everything that Peter says a believer is in these first two chapters. I have been given this inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and it fades not away. I have been redeemed by precious blood.

44:14 Redemptive privilege is gender blind. And when a woman embraces her true identity in Christ and is grateful, then she's in a posture to joyfully embrace her place as a woman in relationship to male authority and not to be restive. Imagine, as I was preparing, I looked out my, study window and we have all kinds of birds in our backyard and some lovely trees. And I thought, suppose someone put a fish in my neighbor's swimming pool.

44:47 They have a big in-ground swimming pool. And one of the many birds were to sit up there on the limb and look down and see a fish going from one end of that pool to the other, up to the surface, down to the bottom and watch him and after a half an hour a little bird, if he could think, say, you know, my existence is very restricted. I can't remember when, but I can't remember when. I've been in water that deep, that broad, that wide and able to go down for 10, 15, 20 minutes.

45:17 It would be wonderful to be a fish. And the bird begins to be filled with a spirit of restiveness and resentment. I'm only a bird. I can only flap my wings and split the air and go up and down and over and the rest.

45:30 But I can't swim inside and down under. You'd say, what a stupid little bird to envy a fish.

45:40 You see where I'm going? I'm going with my silly illustration. The moment of truth comes when you've got to preach and you've got to go with what you've got.

45:50 The adornment of a meek and a quiet spirit,

45:55 embracing what God has made me to be, woven into the texture of your feminine stuff is God's purpose that you should follow, that you should be led in the marriage relationship and in many other relationships defined and described by the word of God.

The Worth of True Beauty: Imperishable and of Great Price to God

46:22 What is the essence of true feminine beauty? It's found in the heart. Its essence is the meek and the quiet spirit. Now, quickly, notice what Peter says about the worth of this true beauty.

46:38 The worth of it. And two things are said. You may wonder why I skipped over the word incorruptible. Well, here again, you Greeks, students will appreciate this.

46:51 It's an adjective with no noun. That's why the old American standard puts in the incorruptible apparel. The new King James says the incorruptible beauty because an adjective needs to have a noun that it's modifying. And some others say no.

47:07 It's a substantive adjective that can be treated like a noun. And I'm not about to try to sort that out. But one thing is clear. They would understand what Peter meant when he used the word incorruptible because it's not the first time he used it in this letter.

47:20 In chapter one, he said that God had begotten us unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible. When he spoke of gold even later on in chapter one, he says you've been redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold. The incorruptible is that which neither time nor death will touch. And what Peter is saying to these women to encourage them in the pursuit of this true beauty is this is a beauty that is imperishable.

47:59 It partakes of the very nature of your inheritance is imperishable. Verse 23 of chapter one. He used it again. The word of God.

48:08 He says having been begotten again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible. There's the word. The word of God which lives and abides forever. Here is a beauty that is imperishable.

48:21 Oh dear girls. Do you want to have a beauty that crow's feet can never take away and that wrinkles can never cause to fade? Do you want a beauty that can't be washed away like your mascara and rubbed off like your rouge and your makeup? Do you want a beauty that moths cannot in any way affect?

48:45 Peter says here is an incorruptible beauty. It's incorruptible. Why? Because it is the down payment of the work of grace begun on earth that will be completed in heaven.

48:59 It's incorruptible. Neither age nor the throes of death nor the worms in the grave can touch it. It is imperishable. It is incorruptible because it is an expression of the very work of God upon the human soul in fashioning it into the likeness of the Lord Jesus.

49:24 When I see these so-called beautiful women of the world and everyone bowing down and worshipping their face and their form, I hope I'm not cynical. I hope it's thinking like a Christian man when I say to myself, Dear, quote, beautiful woman, if the Lord Jesus tarries in a short time, you're going to be eaten by the worms. Maggots are going to crawl over you.

49:54 You say, what a negative thought. No, that's reality.

49:59 You see, the plastic surgeon can only do so much for so long. He's not going to come and get them in the grave and scrape off the worms.

50:11 And it's pathetic to see some of these, quote, beauties losing their beauty, trying to turn back the hands of time and the seeds of death that are sprouting as the outward man decays and still pursuing that elusive, imperishable beauty that they think is in their hairdo. And in their jewels. And in their clothing. And at the gym.

50:38 And in the surgical room where the plastic surgeon does his job. Or in expensive face creams and cosmetics. It's not there. Here is imperishable, incorruptible beauty.

50:50 That's the worth of true beauty. It's imperishable. That's its worth in itself. But now, Peter concludes with something even more wonderful than that.

50:59 What is its worth in the sight of God? Look at the text. This meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. This word great price is the word used to describe that ointment that that woman placed upon our Lord in Mark 14.3.

51:24 It is called an ointment that was very precious. Very expensive. Worth much. And here Peter says when God sees this meek and quiet spirit in a woman God says that is of inestimable worth.

51:46 Before the face of in the presence of God and opium it is precious in God's sight. Well why is it precious in God's sight? Because his purpose his wisdom and love in making a woman what he made her to be is realized when he sees the meekness of God. The meek and quiet spirit and God says that is of great price.

52:09 And because in a fallen world where he sees it he knows it is the fruit of the redemptive work of his own dear son. He gave his son that what we were meant to be as men and women may be realized by grace that no longer would there be that carnal mind that enmity with God that clenches its fist at every point where God says this is what you are to be and to do and we say I will not be and I will not do but God by grace renews us puts his spirit within us writes his law upon our hearts gives us gospel motives and gospel power to increasingly become what he designed us to be and when he sees the fruit of his own redemptive work God says that is of great price. That is the reward of the sufferings of my own dear son.

53:05 Now Peter and I knows that this would be a capstone of motivation to every true Christian woman. You are not a Christian if in your sober moments the thought of being and doing what will please God and is of great worth in God's sight is not a powerful incentive in your life.

Summary and Application: Not Outward, But Heart

53:26 A Christian is someone to whom pleasing God doing that cultivating that which is of great price in God's eyes becomes important to me. If you can be indifferent to what God prizes you have no reason to believe you've ever come to real repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and Peter understood that. So as the capstone to urging these Christian wives in his negative statement and then the contrasting positive statement he says if you truly fear God then his smile will be your great delight his frown will be your great dread. Well in final summary and application what we've examined here this morning is what Peter by the spirit of God tells us about the wife's true beauty defined by a striking contrast. What have we learned? I hope we've learned let it not be the outward but let it be the heart. Not the outward but the heart.

54:35 Let the priority of this concern be evident in the Holy Spirit of God. That's why I've been here a long time and I know it's not easy to hold a big woman as a woman to God. So I I want to to ask you a question that I haven't thought of in ages. You know what God says to you women young or old who won't quote the world's beauty and you don't give a hoot about your heart.

55:05 If you should attain to beauty that would cause every man or woman who walked within 20 feet of you to turn ahead and hold their breath at your stunning beauty, but you had no heart beauty. You know what God says of you? God likens you to a pig with a gold ring in its snout.

55:22 Now that's not very flattering, but that's what God says. Listen to what God says in Proverbs 11 and verse 22. Would you like God to liken you to a pig with a gold ring in its snout? As a ring of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman that is without discretion.

55:46 Are there such things as fair women who have external beauty without this internal beauty? Yes, and God says it's like a gold ring on a pig's nose.

55:59 Now, would you like that to be your ambition? What do you want to be in life? I want to be a pig with a gold ring in my snout. Well, girls, don't fashion yourself.

56:10 Don't fashion yourself after Barbie dolls. And don't fashion yourself after the so-called popular magazines that glut the market. Don't sit and let your eyes and your soul absorb the world's standards of beauty and Seventeen or the other teen magazines that are supposed to tell you what beauty is. You ask God to soak your soul in this book, as we'll see tonight, God willing.

56:37 And you make Sarah and Abigail. And Esther and Mary and Elizabeth and Rebecca. You make them your beauty models. And you pray God will bring you to know God as they knew him and cultivate that inner beauty that is in God's sight of great price.

The Gospel Call: Christ as the Source of True Beauty

57:02 You see, everywhere you turn, girls, you're faced with the fact you can't be what God made you to be without Christ. You can't. As I was meditating again on the passage and saying, Lord, what's the avenue out of this text to preach the gospel? It was obvious.

57:21 You see, as long as you're in your sin, as long as you've not gone to Christ for life and salvation, you won't have the power to resist the native tendency of your heart to be something other than what God designed you to be as a beautiful woman. You'll lack the power. You'll lack the motivation. Now, in God's common grace, you may make some attainments so that you won't be what we might call a typical worldling flapper, only concerned with face and form and fashion.

57:54 But, oh, dear girls, you can only be what God wants you to be as a beautiful woman in Christ. You say, Pastor, would that be motive enough to go to Christ to say, Lord Jesus, I want you to make me a beautiful woman? Yeah, anything that takes you to Christ. To take Christ for all he is and all he desires, just to be to you.

58:14 Go to Christ and say, Lord Jesus, only in you can I be made a beautiful woman. I want to be made beautiful for your glory. I want to be the kind of woman that when you look upon me, Lord, you'll say, that's a woman of great price. I want beauty that the crow's feet and the grave can't touch.

58:36 I want the beauty that is unfading, that is imperishable. And for you, dear women, many of whom, and I, thank God, I've thought of this more than once in my preparation. You exemplify this. I urge you, continue to abound yet more and more.

58:55 Plead with God that that grace of a meek and quiet spirit will be more and more internalized. And you don't need to be asking others, am I showing it? It will leak out. There will be a fragrance of your spirit picking up the peculiar odors of your own, your own particular personality.

59:17 It won't all smell like Chanel No. 5. It won't all smell like the same perfume. But it'll be perfume.

59:26 And we'll sense in that perfume the fragrance of Christ. That this is what Christ is doing to make beautiful women. Let's pray.

59:41 Our Father, how we thank you for your holy word. And we pray that by the enabling grace of the Holy Spirit, we would both be able to be a beautiful woman. That we would both understand it and internalize it. How we plead with you that in a day and in an age and in a society that has gone mad with the devil's concepts of feminine beauty, that you would have a people in this place who understand your description of true feminine beauty.

60:14 And that that beauty would be seen in all of the women of this assembly. That it would begin to be manifested in the girls and young ladies in our assembly. We pray that the men in our assembly will think biblically, will be delivered from looking only for that external beauty that can dazzle the eyes, but may lead them into wretched and grievous decisions about relationships. Oh, Father, seal your word to our hearts, we pray, as we plead these mercies in Jesus' name.

60:50 Amen.