Imperishable Beauty: Modesty, Identity, and Fearlessness in Women Who Hope in God | Mark Griffin

You know, sometimes I just stop singing so I can hear you sing. And it's a joy. It's a joy to hear you sing. So I praise God for you and thank you for for worshiping the Lord from your heart. The word of God is truth.

It's not just filled with true ideas or true facts or true history. The word of God is the very definition of truth. For in it, we learn who God is, what his character is, what his attributes are, and what his plan for salvation for all of humanity is. And we also learn who we are in the word of God. Our sin, our rebellion, and our pride that keep us from him.

The bible is not just a self help book. It's not a book filled with good sayings about clean living and morality. No. In it, we learn what it is to be saved. And we read it not just once, we run to it over and over again on this pilgrimage because we need to know as pilgrims headed to the celestial city, we need to know what it is not just to be saved, but how to live.

How to live every day. How to live every day for Christ. How do we live for Christ? How do we live for him today in our decadent culture? In this age obsessed with appearances in this world that is quite literally drowning in selfies and likes and views and attention.

Because we live in a time where the focus is mainly on how do I look? What am I wearing? Am I beautiful? Am I sexy? This is the age we live in.

But God, our heavenly father does not want that for his children. He wants to give you. He wants to give me so much better than the pathetic trinkets that this world has to offer. He wants you to possess strength and beauty and freedom and fearlessness such that the world cannot even imagine. So today today, I want to look together at what God's word says about beauty and modesty.

How Christians, especially Christian women should think about what they wear, their external experience, appearance, the role clothing, makeup, and jewelry have in the sanctification of a God fearing woman. But even greater than that, I wanna look at what the Bible says about true indestructible beauty that God values. And this will not be a message telling you how many inches above the knee your shorts should be or how many earrings is appropriate or how much makeup is too much because God's word is so much grander than that. God doesn't just care about what you wear on the outside. He does care about that.

But the inner you, the real you, That's where true transformation happens. And when this is transformed on the inside, everything else about you will change. So today, I hope you see it. I hope you see it in the Bible. And more than that, I hope you love it and cherish these truths.

And this sermon is not just for the ladies today. It's for the husband who loves his wife, who wants to lead, protect, and provide for her. It's for the father who wants his children to know who they are in Christ and to equip them to stand on God's word even if it means standing by themselves in the face of the onslaught of culture around them. And it is for the single man who wants to grow in holiness on how to view, talk to, and treat sisters in the Lord. So will you turn with me to first Peter chapter three in your Bibles today and let's see what God has for us.

First Peter chapter three verses one through six. Likewise, wives be subject to your own husbands so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be one 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 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. Let's pray. Father, Lord, we need your help today by the power of your spirit. Lord, show us in our hearts the glorious realities of this passage.

Lord, soften our hearts today from... To hear from you. Work in our hearts to transform us to be more into the image of Christ. Father, we pray for your blessing. We pray for your clarity today and most of all, we pray for your joy as we delve into this great word.

In Jesus' name. Amen. So the first thing we need to see here is the context. Who is Peter addressing? Verses one and two.

Likewise likewise, wives be subject to your own husbands so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives. Peter has in his focus married Christian women. Some of whom are married to unbelievers. Is these these women heard the gospel at some point and presumably their husbands also heard the same gospel because they weren't obeying. But the wife did.

And she received the word and was born again. So in this marriage now we have a wife who is a believer and a husband who is not. Living with his unbelieving husband may be difficult in trying and frustrating at times. But Peter tells these Christian wives to be subject to their unbelieving husbands, not by being a doormat, not by following him into sin and not by choosing him over the Lord but by their conduct. In fact, by living for Christ, by fearing the Lord and trusting in the Lord, That is what will win him to God.

He will see the change and the transformation in his wife and he will want what she has. Now this doesn't mean that the wife is silent. In fact, she should speak. She should tell him about the Lord and what the Lord is doing in her life. But winning arguments, nagging and haranguing will not win him.

It is through her life. Does her life match the gospel that she espouses? And if it does, Peter says that's what's going to win him over. So sisters today, even at the very beginning, if you are married to an unbeliever, let this be for you. You might be discouraged today.

You might be tired or downcast, but don't lose heart. God is working in you and God is working through you. You don't know what your kindness, what your love and respect and faithfulness will bring about in your husband. Peter is saying, live as a Christian and be God's instrument for the salvation of your husband. Isn't that amazing?

You can be God's instrument from bringing this man from death to life. But then Peter does something interesting. After giving this counsel to these wives, he further strengthens his point, but this time by zooming out to describe attributes that ought to belong to all godly women, not just wives with unbelieving husbands. And this is where we will spend most of our time today. How do we know this is what Peter is doing here?

Because he goes in the next verses. He goes to the very root of what it means to be a woman. Not just a wife but a Christian woman. He speaks about personhood and identity and what the core of biblical womanhood is. And he starts with an admonition.

He starts with a warning which leads us to our first point today. If you're taking notes, the first point, the enticement of the external. The enticement of the external. Read with me in first Peter chapter three verses three and four. He says, 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. The world around us puts a premium on the external. From the youngest of ages, we see through movies and music and social media and advertisements. Maybe even you see it and hear it from your friends and family.

Girls and women are told that

your outward appearance is what

truly matters. How thick is your outward appearance is what truly matters. How thin you are or how fit you are or how pretty you are. Can you attract attention with your looks? Can you use your appearance to get what you want?

The world tells women show more skin. Wear tighter clothes and then you will be filled with confidence and poise and power. And then if you do that, you will be accepted by your peers or even envied by those around you. So we see women, young and old, outside the church, but also inside the church believe these deceptions. Your worth, they believe is found in what you wear.

They believe your identity is the amount of attention that people can give to you. They believe that their value is based on how they look. And this is not just a cultural phenomenon. No. This is a sin issue that has permeated cultures for thousands of years.

That's why Peter inspired by the Holy Spirit says, don't do it. Don't let your adorning be here. That's why Paul says in first Timothy chapter two, inspired by the Holy Spirit, don't do it. The holy spirit is calling you women, sisters in the Lord. Don't do it.

Do not let your adorning be external. Does this passage mean that women can't wear jewelry or makeup or nice clothes? Of course not. Peter is not forbidding wearing jewelry or having a nice hairdo just as he is not forbidding wearing clothes. He is not saying outward appearance doesn't matter.

He's not saying that. So it would be a mistake for us to equate modesty with frumpy or modesty with dull or boring or even sloppy. Wives and women, this is not a prohibition on wearing makeup. Wear makeup. This is not a prohibition on against wearing jewelry or getting your hair done.

Being modest does not mean that you are not outwardly beautiful. Women want to feel beautiful. That's good because God made you beautiful. But what Peter is saying here is Christian woman, if you knew what truly matters to God, who you are in Christ, where your identity and worth lie, you would not focus your valuable time, energy, emotion, and resources to adorn the external. You won't spend hours doing your hair to get everything just right.

You won't spend all of your money buying the latest jewelry or the best clothes to meet the world's faulty definition of beauty. Because when you do that, when you spend your time and resources doing that, there is no free lunch. There's always a trade off. If you do that, you will miss out on the magnificent life that God offers you. Now Peter gives this warning because he knows this is a temptation for women in general.

But why? Why? Why is he specifically mentioning this? Why do some women dress immodestly or focus so much on the outward appearance? And like I said, we can't just blame culture.

And as I was thinking about it, there are at least four reasons. Four main buckets of reasons. There may be more but at least four that I've thought of why a woman would dress immodestly. First, some women may never have been taught about what true biblical modesty is for whatever reason. Their father or mother or or pastor or mentor or friends never show them in the Bible what it says to dress like a Christian woman.

And so without this instruction or awareness, these women dress like those around them. What they see on the media, what they see in school or see at work. So they imitate where the culture goes, where the world goes. That's where they go because they don't have any other That's where they go because they don't have any other basis. And I'll say if that's you today, if if you've never heard a sermon or teaching about what the Bible says on modesty, please focus today on this message.

But even after today, read your Bible. Seek out wisdom in this area and don't remain as you are. Two, there are those women who dress immodestly because they desperately desire the approval of others. You'll hear everyone else is wearing a dress like this, so that's what I'm gonna wear. I'm not showing more skin than my friends are because I wanna fit in.

I don't want to be different. So if fashion moves in one direction then these women have to move so they don't get left behind. And

even some

of these women are uncomfortable with the clothes they see around them or the clothes they purchase. There's hesitation in their heart because they know this is not right. Yet their fear of man, their fear of rejection is stronger than their hesitation. And three, some women dress them modestly because of pride. Now this pride can manifest itself differently in different people.

You'll hear some, I look good, so I'm going to do my hair. I'm going to do my makeup and I'm going to wear the clothes to make sure everybody knows how good I look, how much I work out. Others may have grown up in a family or a culture where they couldn't wear what they wanted. So now, no matter the style, no matter how closely it resembles a pagan world around them, they will wear it now because they are free and they can wear whatever they want. As long as it's cute or trendy or Instagram worthy, it's fair game.

And you'll hear others express this pride in their casual disregard for what modesty is. They'll say, what's the big deal preacher? It's just clothes. It's just makeup or jewelry or hair. I'm gonna put on what's comfortable comfortable for me.

What makes me feel good. And if you have a a problem with that, that's your problem, not mine. And our last bucket of reasons here is there are some women who dress a certain way or apply makeup and jewelry in a certain way to get what they want. And look, I understand it might not be pleasant to think about this, but there are women who know that their looks will influence how people treat them. Yes.

There are those who are actively seeking to seduce and entice and tempt. But without even going to that extreme, there are women who know that if they dress a certain way, if they look a certain way that they will captivate and draw others to themselves. And we do know this. We see this especially in our time. Exposed skin we see is powerful.

It has great influence. Otherwise, billions and billions of dollars would not be spent in music and advertisement and social media to promote the showing of skin. And so some women use how they dress and how they look to gain advantage. And these these reasons are important because except for maybe the first one lack of knowledge, all of these reasons are rooted in the heart. It's often said that modesty starts in the heart and it's true.

It does and we will, we will see that. But if modesty starts in the heart, so does immodesty. It is mainly a heart issue first and foremost, which leads us to our second point. We looked at the enticement of the external and now number two, the beauty that will never perish. Verses three and four first Peter again.

Chapter three. Do not let your adorning be external. The braiding of hair and 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. You see, Peter first gives the negative command. Don't do this.

But then he follows that up immediately with a positive command. Do this instead. We see this throughout the Bible. Here's a negative thing. Don't do this, but instead do this.

It's... God is not saying to us, don't do something just because I tell you don't do it. That's not who God is. God is saying to us, don't do this brother. Don't do this sister because this road leads to pain and sorrow and misery.

Do this instead. Do this instead because this is where life and joy and true peace is found. And that's what Peter does here. Don't let your adorning be external. Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart.

And the first thing I wanna zero in on here is that a woman is a person. You are a person, not simply a body. Men, she is a person, not an object to be oggled or perused or evaluated for those stuck in pornography or those fighting pornography. Think about this. Let this be on the forefront of your mind.

Next time you open that phone or turn on that screen, the woman you are looking at is a person created by God fearfully and wonderfully made. She is a person, not an object for your own selfish desires. Peter says here, personhood is not found on the external. Personhood is what is inside of you and we know this is true. Think about this.

When you become a Christian, your body isn't transformed. But what is transformed? Your heart, your mind, your spirit, everything on the inside. Turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 36 to see this. This glorious truth about what our transformation means as a Christian.

Ezekiel chapter 36 verses twenty six and twenty seven. And the Lord is speaking and he says, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Heart transformation, spirit transformation. And then Romans twelve two, very familiar passage.

Romans twelve two, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by what? By the renewal of your mind. You see, it's the the inner man, the heart, the mind, the soul. That's where our personhood lies. And these are what God has transformed in us at our salvation and continues to transform us, transform within us during our progressive sanctification.

So what we say, what we do, our outward conduct comes from inside of us. It reflects everything that is inside of you. The inner person, that's the real you. So modesty has to begin in the heart without an internal radical transformation of the heart, a changing of our desires and longings in what satisfies us. There can be no true outward modesty because there is no inward modesty.

And look, guidelines and dress codes and rules and expectations, they they have their place. But if we start and stop with mere outward behavior modification, we miss the point. We miss the point completely and we lose out on God's great blessings. So how does a woman then adorn the hidden person of the heart? Chapter three again in first Peter.

With the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. Imperishable beauty. And we know that our outward beauty is going to fade. We're going to get old. I don't care how much money you have.

I don't care how many Botox injections you get or how much lotion or moisturizer you apply. We get old and our beauty fades. But imperishable beauty. Look at that word. It's the same word that Peter uses in chapter one.

Flip over there real quick to see this. First Peter chapter one verses three and four. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To what?

To an inheritance that is imperishable. Same word, undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you. Peter says, adorn yourself with beauty that is like your inheritance in Christ. That is indestructible.

That is immortal.

That will never die. That will immortal. That will never die. That will never fade. So what does that mean?

Imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. Now, this phrase might not mean what you think it means at first glance. A gentle spirit. Think meekness. Think an attitude of the heart that is not self reliant.

This is a person who does not do things out of their own self interest. You wanna see an example of that? Matthew chapter 11 verses verse 29. The greatest example of what gentleness, of what meekness is, Jesus Christ. Matthew eleven twenty nine he says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

See gentleness, meekness is not the same as being weak or a pushover. Christ was strong and kind, gentle and lowly. And that is what Peter is describing here as real true beauty. You're not puffed up. You're not filled with self and ambition or aggressiveness to always get your way.

This is a disposition of the spirit and attitude of the heart. This is you coming humbly before God and placing your complete confidence in him, in him alone. Galatians chapter five verse twenty two and twenty three, the fruit of the spirit. Galatians five twenty two twenty three the apostle says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things there is no law.

This kind of inward beauty, this gentle spirit, this meek spirit comes from the Holy Spirit. Is it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? It's progressive. It gets better and better as we mature in Christ.

As we read the word, as we grow as Christians, our gentleness increases. And what Peter says, so does your beauty. So with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and now quiet spirit. This verse does not mean that women are to keep silent. Women have ideas.

They have opinions. They have aspirations. They have a voice and hopes and dreams. But just as gentleness placed confidence in God alone, so does being quiet. A quiet spirit.

Think still and tranquil. Think think of a pond with no ripples, no waves, no wind. It is just at ease. Women place... Women places their trust in God and his sovereignty alone.

That's how you get a gentle spirit. Says no matter what, this woman is at peace. She is at rest in God. Proverbs 31 woman. She laughs at the time to come because of her gentle spirit, not because of her own strength, not because of her own ingenuity or abilities or beauty, but because of the foundation of her peace.

The foundation is not in her circumstances. Literally, things around her could be going crazy. Yet she is at rest because her confidence is in God. Her unbelieving husband might be ridiculing her or mocking her. Yet she is at rest because her confidence is in God.

And people around her might reject her because she does not dress like the world. They might reject her because she refuses to expose things the culture says to put on display yet she is at rest. Do you see this? Do you see how magnificent this is? Woman of God today, adorn yourself like this.

Adorn yourself with confidence and peace and assurance and joy that can only come through confidence in God alone. But there's even more, which in God's sight is very precious. This is the beauty that the Lord wants to see. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. The Lord deems it good and valuable and lasting to put your trust in him for that gentle and quiet spirit.

So put on these. Clothe yourselves today with these qualities, but it gets even better. Let's turn to the next verse and this will be our third point. We've looked at the enticement of the external. We looked at the beauty that will never perish.

And now three, the freedom of fearlessness. First Peter three five. Four, this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves. You see in verse one of this chapter, Peter starts the passage by addressing Christian wives. Then that he zooms out to describe the personhood and real beauty of all godly women.

And now he shifts his focus once more. You see biblical femininity is not something new. It's something old. And by using examples of women in the past, we are seeing more glorious facets of God's design. Look at this here.

For this is how holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves. The world says your identity is in your looks. The Bible says your identity is in your holiness. Holy women set apart women. Women who have been chosen by God before the foundation of the earth.

Women who hope in God. If it's not underlined already or circled in your Bible, I encourage you to do that. Look at this. This is identity. Holy women who hoped in God.

You wanna talk about women's liberation. This is it. A woman who hopes in God is not bound by the chains of the world. Because when you think about it, the roots of this woman, her identity is not found in ephemeral things, in temporary things like the approval of others or the waves and shifts of culture or the new fads or her own beauty and looks. If your identity as a woman is found in these temporal things, then you make yourself a slave to them.

There was a famous singer who once defended wearing revealing outfits and sexually provocative clothing on stage. And in her defense, she said that she wore this clothing and looked this way to reclaim her confidence, to step into her power and to celebrate her own freedom. This woman, this singer thinks she is free but she is more bound than ever. You see, true freedom is not skydiving out of an airplane without a parachute. It's not freedom.

It's destruction. You want to know true freedom. Put your hope and faith in God. Adorn yourself with imperishable beauty and you will be free indeed. Moving on.

Four, 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. Now time does not allow us to go into great detail on wives submitting to their husbands looks like in this passage. But I I will say this, true submission by God fearing wives, true honoring and joyfully submitting to husbands can only come from a woman whose hope is not in her husband, but in God alone. And then Peter uses Sarah to tell these women, you want to be identified with her.

You want to be one of her children. You know, sometimes and many times we are used to referencing Abraham. Right? Father Abraham. We are children of Abraham in John chapter eight.

And... But without negating that wonderful reality that we are children of Abraham and his blessings, how the Lord has blessed us through him. Peter says here, holy women, you want to be a daughter of Sarah. How? If you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

I love this verse. Biblical womanhood is fearless. You think leaving all that you know, your family, your land, your people, you think that's frightening? That's what Sarah did. Do you think being told that you will conceive when you are old and barren is frightening?

Well, that was Sarah. But then Hebrews eleven eleven tells us about Sarah. Hebrews eleven eleven says, by faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age since she considered him faithful who promised. You see, Sarah put her faith in God. She put her trust in him.

She was a holy woman who hoped in God. And because of that, she was not afraid. And as we think today about the dangers of obsession with outward adornment, we have to think about the association between outward immodesty and inner anxiety because the connection is real. Why do women... Why do some women dress provocatively or wear revealing outfits?

Because of anxiety, because of insecurity, because of fear. The anxiety of not being accepted by her peers. The anxiety of of not fitting in. The insecurity of always comparing herself with other women to make sure that she measures up. Or the fear of not getting attention or the fear of not getting what she wants by using her looks.

You see fear and insecurity permeate everything when you focus, when you obsess on outward beauty. And it will leave you trapped in an endless cycle of inferiority, loneliness and pain.

The

Lord does not want that for you. Be a woman who hopes in God. Clothe yourself with Christ and put on imperishable beauty. Be a fearless woman. Be a free woman.

Romans eight fifteen. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons. We can add as daughters by whom we cry Abba father. Now I'm fully aware that women today are inundated with the message that beauty and sex appeal are the same thing. That they are constantly pressured to show more skin, wear tighter clothes or emphasize every part of their body.

So what can you practically do? And I wanna spend the remainder of our time talking about practical things that you can do to fight. Fight for joy. Fight for beauty in this dark age. First, guard your eyes.

Put down your phones and shut off those sources that are constantly lying to you with every single swipe of your finger and have a real distrust and suspicion of what the world and culture say you should look like. If you see on the movies or in television what the world holds up to be a woman, don't trust it. If you hear in music what it means to be a woman, don't trust it. And then when we think about our outward appearance, clothes, hair, makeup, jewelry, whatever it might be, ask yourselves questions before you put on that outfit, before you spend that money, before you do this to your outward appearance. Ask yourselves these questions and ask them in humility before the Lord and ask them with maturity.

Four questions that I propose to you. One, why am I doing this? Why am I wearing this? Is it to get attention? Is it to stroke my own ego?

Is it to show off? Why am I doing this? Am I doing this because I believe the world's definition of what it means to be beautiful? Why am I doing this too? Am I considering others?

You'll hear you will hear some people say, I don't have to think about what others feelings are or temptations are or struggles are. If they have a problem, that's their problem not mine. No. Wrong. Wrong.

Christian woman. Christian men, that's wrong because we are responsible for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We read this verse on Friday. But I want to read it again. Philippians chapter two verse three.

Philippians two three, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Is what I'm wearing going to cause this brother to stumble? Is what I'm wearing going to cause this sister to envy me? Consider others in what you're wearing. Three, Am I revealing parts of my body that are only for my husband?

Or if you're not married, am I revealing parts of my body that are for no one? You see, our culture today is so casual. Anything goes. You are encouraged to expose everything you can, but ask yourself, is this part of me special for my husband? Is this part of me private that no one should see if you're not married?

And four, am I being a godly example? Am I being a godly example? Because woman, no matter your age, there are those younger than you looking at you, taking their cues from you. They will want to wear what you're wearing. They will want to imitate you in how you look.

Titus says, older women train up the younger women. Are you training those younger than you to accept what the world defines as beauty? Are you training them to dress in a certain way that is not honoring to the Lord? Or are you training them in how to reject what culture says you should look like? Are you training them to get in their Bibles to read what God finds beautiful?

These four questions. If you ask yourselves these questions, this might mean that you need to go home and throw away some of your clothes. So be it. Do it. Do it with joy.

Do it and be an example to those around you. Do it to be an encouragement to those around you. Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart. How do you... Yes.

We can reject outward beauty. The world's definition of what outward beauty is. But how do I adorn the inside of me? Read your Bible. Read your Bible and get around other people who read their Bibles as well.

And don't just stop there. Study, memorize, understand what the Bible says. Know your doctrine. Know your theology. Know who God is.

This is... Theology is not just for the preachers or the deacons

or

the ministry and team leaders. Theology is not just for men. It is for all of us. Know your Bible because when you know your Bible, you see who God truly is. You see what his characters truly are and it's so easy then to put your trust in him, to put your hope in him.

Now for the men. Men, I hope you see that as we're talking about these characteristics of what it means to be a godly woman with imperishable beauty. I hope you see how these character traits also apply to you. You see biblical modesty is not just for women and we see it today, don't we? We see men so hyper focused on what they look like.

Yes. You can wear the tight shirts because you work out and you have big muscles. Don't do that. Don't be obsessed with your appearance. And I say, do you put on the same clothing that the women are called to as well?

But even more specifically today, husbands, what can you do? Husbands, what can you do? You can praise your wife when she dresses modestly. You can praise your wife when she actively rejects what the world says she should look like. But even better, you can praise your wife when you see her in the bible.

You praise your wife when she's praying, when she's studying, when she's growing closer to God. Fathers, equip your children to recognize true beauty. Help them walk with them to see the lies and futilities of chasing after culture. Help them choose modesty and true biblical femininity. Not based on self righteousness, not based on comparisons.

I... Oh, did you see what this person's wearing? Oh my goodness. No. Not based on that at all.

Help her make that decision based on her identity in Christ. And single men don't be hypocrites. Don't champion the truth of biblical manhood and womanhood and then stare at the first woman who walks by in a short skirt. Seek out, pay attention to and cherish those single women around you who not only dress modestly, but have that inward imperishable beauty of the gentle and quiet and free and fearless spirits because that's the woman Proverbs eighteen twenty two is talking about when it says he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. Now some of you in closing will hear this message and all that comes into your mind is the handmaid's tale or oppression and restriction and constraint.

And if that's you today, I plead with you. Humble yourself. Not before me. I'm just a man. I don't matter.

Humble yourself before the Lord and ask him to show you truly show you the goodness and the joy in this indestructible beauty. The world wants to use you. The world wants to grind you up for its own purposes. And when it's done with you, spit you out. And the world wants to attract you with promises of delight and pleasure and reward.

But as you approached the table of culture that is laid out before you. All the possibilities before you on this table is my prayer that you realize that you are being offered nothing but rancid meat, moldy bread, and infested food. Come come to the table of the Lord. Do things God's way. Adorn the hidden person of the heart.

And if you do that, all of you, if you do that, if you cultivate that gentle and quiet spirit, if you put your hope in God, then you are beautiful. Let's pray. Father, we... Lord, we thank you for your word. There's a lamp to our feet and light into our path.

In this dark world, in this confusing world, in this noisy world, we run to your word for our hope, for our guidance. Lord, we run to you our confidence. We place no confidence in the flesh, but our confidence is found in you alone. Lord, may you help us. Help all of us to recognize the beauty of your plan, the beauty of your design, and to truly recognize what imperishable beauty in women looks like.

May you receive glory today and always, and may we we receive your joy. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Church, will you please stand? Will you please stand and sing to our great and good God today?