strongly impressed to recommend. This is an extremely important
message and very profitable, so very profitable if we have
ears to hear, if the Lord will give us ears to hear. This deals
at length with marriage. Let's pass it. At length with
marriage. And who among us that is married
or may be married someday, who among us does not need this?
But at first it begins with an exhortation to all of us. In verse 21, it says, submitting
yourselves one to another in the fear of God. The title of
this message is Submission, the Key to Happiness. And I did not
make that up. Years ago, I heard my pastor
preach from this passage. I was a very young believer.
I heard him preach a message entitled Submission, the Key
to Happiness. And I got the tape, and I listened
to it a couple or three times. Just a few years ago when we
were studying this book, before I called to get the tape again.
I wanted to hear it. I remember distinctly it being
such a blessing. But there was no record of it.
They never could find it. I was so disappointed. But I
do remember some things that were said. Submission, the key
to happiness. The key to happiness. Submission.
What does it mean? Submission. Submission basically
means yielding to, submitting to God's
Word, God's will, God's way, God's providence, and that's
the key to happiness. Not only eternal life, but life
here, more abundant. It's the key to happiness. Submission. Submission to God's word. If
we'll do what he said, it'll be well with us. Yes, it will. Submission to God's will, God's way, God's providence.
It's the key to happiness. Submission is a humble, not a
backtalking, not a questioning, but a humble acceptance. A humble resignation to, yielding
to what God says and what God does. What God says and what
God does. A humble resignation to that,
yielding to it. Submission is a heartfelt belief,
trust in the wisdom and the ways of God Almighty. So that, like
a little child, he just absolutely accepts, for lack of a better
word, everything he says and does and ordains. It's the key
to happiness. The opposite of submission is
rebellion. The Scriptures call it gain,
say, back talking. The opposite of submission is
rebellion. And the reason why anyone rebels
is this, they must think too highly of themselves, their own
wisdom, or their own worth. And that person does not want
to be told what to do. I cannot learn and does not want
to be ruled by anyone. A rebel does not want to be in
submission to anyone or anything. And it will never be well with
that person. Never. And hell is full of rebels. I don't mean the Civil War kind.
There are Yankees there too. But it's full of rebels against
God's Word, God's truth, God's way. All right, listen. Submission is the key to happiness.
Christ is the head of the universe. He said, all authority is given
unto me in heaven and earth. Power is given unto me over all
flesh. Christ is the head. He's the
authority. He's the king. Go to Romans chapter 13. We're going to be in Romans 13. It's amazing how this is all
so similar. Romans 13, if you're familiar
with it or read ahead in anticipation of studying it, you'll see how
it is similar to Ephesians. But Christ is the head. He's
the authority. He's the king of his church,
of his world, of his universe. And he delegates authority, though.
Christ delegates authority. Yes, he does, in his name. He
delegates authority in the home. We're going to look at that in
a little bit. In the church and in the world. All authority. Look at verse
1. through four of Romans thirteen.
Let every soul be subject to the higher, unto the higher powers. This is what we're talking about,
submission, subjection. Let every soul, everyone, young
and old, male, female, everyone be subject unto the higher powers. What powers? Whatever is higher
than you. Whoever has authority over you,
wherever it is, whatever it is. Read on. There is no power, read
it with me, look at me, look at the Bible. Verse 1, there
is no power but of God. You have never had a foreman
in your life or a supervisor that God didn't make him your
foreman or something. Oh, but you don't know, you didn't
know my foreman. I've had a few foremen. But you know when Paul wrote
this? You know who was the ruler in
Rome? Nero. He burned the people for the
fun of it. And Paul says, now, tell me about
your foreman. Tell me how bad your boss is.
You can go home. But every power, there's no power
but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. Do you believe that? That'll
give you peace. It sure will. Read on. Whosoever
therefore resisteth the power. What power? Any power. Any authority. Whoever it is. Resisteth the
ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive
themselves damnation. God, as I said, hell's full of
rabbits. Rulers, verse three, rulers are
not a terror to good works, but to evil. Wilt thou then not be
afraid of the power? You don't want to be afraid?
Do that which is good, thou shalt have praise of the same. We fear
the law, don't we? We fear the police give us We
don't want any run-ins with them. Tell you how to avoid them. There's a speed limit. Don't
jaywalk. Don't whatever. Don't break the
law. And they'll be your best buddy. These days I can walk
up to the chief of police. Hey, Butch. I don't call him
that. I call him Chief. I could call
him Butch, but I don't out of respect to the man's son. How
you doing, Chief? I don't fear that man. As much
as you can be friends with a worldly, but now there was a time when
I was happy and want to see the chief police. I bet you that. But, uh, you
see what this is saying? That man's not a terror to anybody,
but a lawbreaker, right? Now she'll have praise of the
sign. He's a minister of God to thee for good. If I do that,
which is evil, be afraid. He bared not the sword in vain.
He's a minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath on them that
doeth evil. So this is an exhortation to
all of us. Now go back to the text. Submission in every respect,
in every way, in the fear of God itself. Submit yourselves,
submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God, in
the fear of God, reverence for his authority. And out of, in glory, for His
glory, we submit to whatever authority God Almighty designates. Wives to the husband. I'm going
to deal with that. Children to parents. Children
to parents. Employees to employers. And these
are things that my pastor wrote down. And that's why I'm saying,
members of a church to a pastor. all men and women and young people
to civil rulers. These are just authorities that
God, a sum of the authority that God has put in place. All right,
now let's look at this thing of marriage. He begins, you see
how he begins, and why he begins that way. It's the key to happiness. Marriage, now marriage is probably
the most important relationship of all between human beings.
There are so many things involved, so many relationships dependent
upon it and the repercussions from it, whether it's good or
bad and so forth. That's why I say among human
beings, marriage is probably the most important relationship
of all, yet it's the most difficult. It's the most difficult. You've got two, male and female. I told you what Brother Bruce Daly down in Crossville said
about women. In that Tennessee mountain wisdom
of his, he said, women ain't hardly like other people at all. Now, you men know exactly what
I'm saying. Don't you, Ron? Don't you, Dan? Wisdom is mountain wisdom, but
women would say the same thing about men. They think we're from
Mars. You've got two human beings,
and they're very similar, yet they're so dissimilar. And that's
the way it is. It happened in the fall. You
read The Fall of Man, you'll see why everything is the way
it is, why women are like they are, and why men are like they
are. It tells us there in the garden why it all happened. I
don't have time to go into that, but that's the reason I say it's
one of the most difficult of all relationships, and everyone
who has been married or or is married, knows that is so. Now, with the divorce rate in
these days right at 60%, this is pretty important, isn't it? Mighty important. Mighty important. And in our day, in this modern
day with men that They're so vain and wise in their own conceits. They're actually talking about,
you've read it, how they are pondering whether or not marriage
should be done away with entirely. I know you've been reading that,
haven't you? They're talking about how, what good is it? The
reason being is because there's so few happily married people. And so few people willing to
do what it takes to make it work. And so they think, well, it doesn't
work. It sure does. God Almighty is the one that
instituted it. And men think they're wiser than
God. And that we started this thing
out by saying, you know, this all goes back to this thing of
submission. But so few happily married couples. Why? Why is that so? Why? Four-letter word. S-E-L-F. S-E-L-F. Self. That's the whole problem. That's
just a smaller word for an abbreviation of pride. Selfishness. Each person thinking first and
only of themselves. Marriage is not that way. It
was meant to be that way. Self. Self-seeking. A sense of,
a feeling of self-worth. Whereas if both persons in a
marriage, according to God's word, if both persons would submit
themselves to the other in the fear of God, submit themselves,
give themselves to the service and the happiness of their mate, then both would be happy and it would be wonderful. Alright,
it begins with the wives. Why does it begin with the wives?
Because they have the greater responsibility? No. However, it begins with the wife
because the first responsibility, this is all, we're going to see,
this is all a type of Christ and His Church. Okay? You read that with me, didn't
you? It's a type of Christ and His Church. And the church, our
first responsibility is to submit to our Lord. No questions asked. The first responsibility is as the church submits to Christ. And I've said this before, and
I believe it's true, why the apostle deals with the women
first. He, uh, the first, uh, first
Corinthians chapter seven, don't turn there, but in first Corinthians
seven, he also deals with this thing of Mary's a whole chapters
about long chapters, got, uh, uh, 40 verses, all the injunctions
of God's word about Mary's read it, study it, do well. But over in first Corinthians
seven, Paul said, uh, uh, He said this, he said, Are you bound
to a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Don't
seek a wife. But if you marry, you have sin,
nevertheless, you're going to have trouble in the flesh. He
said that. You're going to have trouble.
And he said, So I said this to spare you some trouble. He says,
Brethren, though the time is short, it remaineth that they
that have wives be as though they had none. There is no marriage
in heaven. except Christ. So, but Paul,
so he said that, and I say why he deals with the wives first
is knowing men, knowing how difficult it would
be to submit to men, he deals with the wives first. So you
see? I know me. I know how I am now. I know how I was when I first
got married. Oh, my. The Lord had mercy and grace
upon a young girl married to a twenty-some-year, twenty-year-old
fellow, unless he is mature beyond his years, really. He doesn't
have a clue. Does he, Ron? Doesn't have a
clue. Does he, Dan? Doesn't have a
clue. So, he deals with the wives first
because it's the most difficult thing. Knowing men. Most difficult to submit to them.
Alright, look at verses 22 and 23. Wives, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. as unto the Lord. 4. The husband is the head of
the wife, even as Christ is the head of
the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Now, is that Southern Baptist
doctrine? Do you remember a while back when, I think it was that
fellow from Lynchburg, actually read this on TV, and it caused
a national uproar. He actually read God's Word,
let's say, and it caused a national uproar. And he even started backpedaling. But that's not Southern Baptist
doctrine. It's God's Word. So that makes
it right, doesn't it? That makes it right. Submission
is the key to happiness. As a little child, butt, butt,
butt. Goat's butt. If we submit and bow to it, God will prove it to us. Not
until. Wives, he begins with them. As
unto the Lord, he said, submit yourselves as unto the Lord.
Because as a church is subject unto Christ, verse twenty-four,
let the wives be their own husbands in everything. Marriage is like
any institution, anything. You think of anything on this
planet that requires some sort of decision or organization or
whatever it be, or direction, whatever you take, it's got to
have a head. Somebody's got to take the leadership.
Right? Got to be a voice, got to be
a leader. Someone's got to be in charge of this. It doesn't
matter if there's just two of you going to town. One has got
to be driving the car. It can't be like Yogi Berra said. Yogi Berra said, when you come
to a fork in the road, take it. Did you get that? He didn't either. You can't. Somebody's got to decide, we're
going this way, or we're going this way. Right? If you both
pull, you're going to have a crash. It's going to crash. And it's
not always an agreement. It's, I want to go that way,
I want to go this way. Somebody's got to say, we're going this
way. Right or wrong? Right? It's with anything, the simplest
of things. You can't do anything without
somebody in charge. This is just good sense. Now,
here problems arise in this thing of marriage between husband and
wife. Problems arise when the one in
charge, the husband, when he begins to think he's a little
king. He begins to think he's a little
king, and if that goes to seed, he begins to think he's infallible. Or problems arise, and or problems
arise when the other one would rather be in charge. At least
it can't be. Somebody's got to be in charge,
but it can't go to his head. Now, the key to this, and the
key to all of this, submission to a husband, love for a wife. The key to all of this, the key
to this thing of submission, is knowing Christ. The key is
knowing God, knowing Christ, and having the Holy Spirit indwelling,
being a new creature in Christ Jesus. A man who knows God, a
man who has the love of God shed abroad in his heart, A man who has a love for Christ,
a real, genuine, heartfelt love for Christ. He will be humble,
he will be meek, he will be lowly, you won't have to worry about
him. Well, not too often. Acting like a little king. Not
too often, Sammy, right? Sometimes, but that's not the
general rule. He will be meek, he'll be lowly,
he'll be humble. As Christ, a man who's led of
the Spirit, will not think too highly of himself. As a matter of fact, the older
he gets, I believe, the more he grows in grace, he will consider
the wisdom of that woman God gave him. Like Manoah. Remember Manoah? You remember
Manoah. He should have listened to his
wife. He finally did. Well, that man who has that love
of God, love for God, love for Christ, Christlike attitude and
spirit, will not think too highly of himself. He won't lord himself
over her. He'll not think he's infallible.
He'll be easily entreated by her. He'll be very compassionate. I'm supposed to be dealing with
a woman. But a woman now of the same character,
a woman who knows God, a woman who has this love of God shed
abroad in her heart, a woman who has this love for Christ,
a woman who's meek and lowly and humble and led by God's Spirit,
she will not seek her own. She will not seek her own. She
will seek the good of her husband. the welfare of her children.
First, over herself, yes. Husband and family over herself. So then, isn't the key here to
marry somebody who knows Christ? Huh? You want to be happily married?
There's no promise at all that the marriage will even last.
if you marry somebody that doesn't know Christ. Now, God may save
them. He might, but you can't presume
upon that. Marry a man, marry a woman who knows and loves Christ,
and they'll act like Christ eventually. It takes a while, but eventually. Or else, if not, that person
will be self-seeking and self-centered. That's it. Self-seeking. Now, as I said, even among believers,
it takes years of growth, years. Those of you in here who've been
married the longest, like the Rosses back there and the Williams
and the Hodges and the Sheasleys, these who've been married thousands
of years. I'm not kidding. Gladys was 14
or something. Were you 14? Go ahead, admit
it, we all know. How old, she say? Sixteen? Fifteen? How old was she, William?
Twelve? Anyway, they've been married
a thousand years. It takes a while, doesn't it?
It takes years of growth and grace, spiritual maturity, to
be submissive. to be gracious, to be loving. But if that's, that new creature's
there, it will be. It will be in time. It takes
time. And this true love, this love
of God that cannot fail, if it's in the heart, that marriage cannot
fail. It cannot fail. Love never fails. I mean, that's God's love. Man's
so-called love does. So this is vital, isn't it? This
is vital. Vital to a happy marriage that
both of them know the Lord. Listen to me, young people. Please. Please. I know they'll promise
you the moon. And after the marriage is over
and the honeymoon ends, they won't even give you a two-day
vacation. So you need to marry a believer, even if you yourself are not
a believer. Seek one. And what about if you're married
to someone who's not a believer? You already are. Well, then you
need to endeavor that your mate, that the Lord would save your
mate. You need to make that your undying wish and desire. Huh? There's only one person that
can save you until you need to. If you're going to pray for anybody,
pray for him or her and treat the Lord. Give them tapes. Give them tapes. Put a tape on
the kitchen or whatever. Make them listen to it. If you want your marriage for
the sake of happiness for your children, your husband or wife
needs to know the Lord. And everything will be all right.
Yes, it will. It will be all right. And I didn't
really deal in depth with what it means to submit. It just says
submit, doesn't it? My pastor didn't either. He just
said do it. But I'm married to an unbeliever,
and I submit to him. Read Peter. Read what Peter said
about it. Yes. As long as it doesn't completely
go against God's Word. Alright, husbands. Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church. We have a greater responsibility.
It lies with the husband. Husband, love your wives as Christ
loves you. Brother John, we haven't done
that yet. We haven't even begun, commenced
to get started. It's time, isn't it? Love your
wives even as Christ loved the Church. Now, I want you to see
something here, though. I love when something speaks
to me. As Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it. Gave himself for it. Here's a
little tidbit. Here's a little something. It
says he gave himself for it, not to it. He gave himself for it. And I
went and looked all through the scriptures where it says gift
and given and givest and gave. And not once does it say God
gave his son to anybody. Isn't that what religion says
about him? God's gift to man. No, sir. No, sir. A gift, something I give to you,
you can do with it whatever you want to. It says he gave himself for it. There's a few scriptures that
say he gave himself as a ransom for, a sin offering, a surety. He gave himself as a servant
for his people. Not a slave. but in service to,
for the safety of, the provisions of, the salvation of his church.
He gave himself for it. John, there's a little word that
Christ's authority hangs on it, doesn't it? For it. Religion, you see, has a henpecked
Jesus. Religion has a henpecked Jesus
who's doing the bidding of his wife. He has no will and no authority,
and he can't do anything unless his wife lets him. Well, he hadn't
pecked Jesus. Not that Christ the Scripture
stands. He gave himself for it. So there's a little message within
the message. That's what I was trying to get at. Now, here's
Christ's love for his church, brethren, and this is what we
need. This is how we need to love our wives. It says he gave
himself. They gave himself. Nothing will substitute. Just
yourself. For your wife. I would have if
I asked for an amen, I would get a resounding amen from every
woman in here. If I'd say the thing you want
more than anything from your husband is him. To be with you,
to talk to his companionship, his time, his ear, Go ahead and
say it. Amen. I'm just quite sure of it. Unless he's a monster. You don't
want him around. I don't know. Not a fellow in
here I see that's a monster. I know you. I know him. He gave
himself. Christ came down here and spent
thirty-three years with his people. Gave himself, left his father.
It says, a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be
joined unto his wife. Leaves all of his former, whatever,
pursuits and selfish pursuits. I'm not saying pride, well, you
know what I'm saying. But leaves it all. in pursuit
of her and for her happiness and her service. That's exactly
what Jesus Christ did for his people. He did not serve himself,
ever. And he gave himself, he was always
for his people, there for his church. Gave himself for it,
for it, that he might, verse 26, sanctify and cleanse it. Our Lord gave himself for his
church. that he might sanctify, set it
apart, cleanse it. Our Lord, as a sacrifice, as
a sin substitute, as our surety, gave himself before the church. Totally. Greater loveth no man
than this. And he laid down his life. And
that's what Christ, exactly what Christ did. His own happiness,
his own comfort, his own whatever for his And that's what Christ
did, gave himself for it. Read on, that he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. There's the word again, isn't
it? That's what washes, the word. Read on. Verse 27, that he might
present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, that it should be holy and without blemish.
He's not saying that we need to straighten our wives out. We can't do that. But as the
head of our home, as a spiritual leader in our home, buddy, we're going to be right here
and have herbicides and our children's side. This is it. This is how the Lord washes and
cleanses in that sense. But here's a good, oh my, here's
a good gospel picture. Back in old days, Our Lord said,
because of the hardness of men's heart, God suffered Moses to
give a right of writ of divorce for a man to divorce his wife. He did it, Scripture said, because
of the hardness of their heart, because men back then would literally
kill a woman, beat her to death, and there was no way out. for
safety, gave a writ of divorce. But back then, listen, this is
actually the way it was. Back in the old Jewish laws,
if a woman, a man was going to be married to a woman, and he
found out that in her, before she was married or in her past
life, she'd been unchaste, that she was not a virgin, then he
could call off the marriage. He said, I don't want you. It
didn't matter about the man. It didn't matter. That's the
way it was. Well, you could say the marriage
is off, but that's not how Christ married his children. What a gospel picture this is.
Christ, on the other hand, marries the worst. Every one of his brides
is unchaste and ungodly, and he marries them in order to make
them chaste. He marries them in order to sanctify
them and cleanse them, in order to make them faithful to him.
And he does just that. Oh, yeah, he does just that.
They become devoted. That's the reason Scripture calls
us, God's people, virgins. All of God's people are virgins
unto the Lord because we're saving ourselves for that marriage supper
of the lamb, that consummation when we actually are joined together
with our husband, we're saving ourselves. We won't have anything
to do with any other Jesus or any other God or any other religion. We're saving ourselves for him.
And while the whole world's getting in bed with the great harlot
of false religion, not us, no sir, we're chaste virgins saving
ourselves for Christ and him alone. That's why he calls, so
many things are included here, that's why he calls covetousness
idolatry. All right, so he says, men ought
to love their wives as their own bodies, verse 28. So ought men to love their wives
as their own body. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. No man ever hated his own flesh,
but he nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the Church. Even men, men don't like to admit
it, but they nourish their own flesh. They pamper themselves. Oh yeah, they sure do. John,
you go to the same barber. Why? And look at John's hair. Why do you even go to a barber,
John? I cut my own hair. I got up and Mindy says, you
cut your own hair, didn't you? I do. I start saving the money.
I bought me some flippers. But why? Because even if we don't
have much hair, we're a little particular about it. And on and
on it goes. We do. We pamper ourselves to
a degree. We feed ourselves. We clothe
ourselves. We're particular about what color Carhartt shirt we
wear or whatever. No man, it says, ever hated his
own flesh. He nourishes and cherishes it.
Well, that's what a man is to do with his wife. That's what
Christ did for his church. That's what Christ did for his
church. When we get married, a man and
a wife, their two become one. The two become one. Now, for
the woman, her responsibility, think about it. You take his
name. That's a huge responsibility. Everything you do has his name
on it, right? Now, think about this. All the
fellows, you think about this. If there's a husband and wife
and they get in trouble with the law, like Jim and Tammy. Tammy didn't
go to jail, did she? No, he didn't serve a day. He
can go on and on with that. Everything's done in his name.
So that's a huge responsibility. You bear his name. You need to
guard it. That's a huge responsibility.
His name's at stake. Wives never seem to go to jail. So that's a huge responsibility.
But now the man, now, She has become, and she's given over
everything, her name, her family, everything. She has totally submitted
herself into his care. She had a daddy. Daddies now,
daddies can attest to this thing between a daddy and his daughter. And I heard certain people in
there, I hope, listening very carefully. But a father and a daughter,
oh man. It's a rare thing when there's
a young man good enough. But I'm telling you, it'd be
hard to find a man that's going to love that girl like a daddy
does that girl. Man. But so that girl leaves that
daddy who will give her the moon if it's in his pocket. I mean,
he'll drop everything. He'll sacrifice his whole life
to do for her. Right, Mac? That's right. You don't give a second thought
to yourself over that girl. All right? She's going to leave
that to marry some dude. And she's given herself, she's
given all that up at pure, unconditional love and care to entrust herself
even to take his name. I mean, a name is a precious
thing, isn't it? She's going to forsake her
daddy's name and take that man's name. What a responsibility,
huh? You have her in your care. And
so, love her like her daddy does. Love her like Christ does. That's even better, isn't it?
That's even better. Here's a better way to think
about it. Ron, here's a better way to think about it. That's
Christ's daughter. That's God's daughter. Damn,
that is God Almighty's daughter. That's not just your wife. That's
God's daughter. You better treat her right. You better treat him
right. That's a good way to think about
it. I have in my care entrusted to me one of God's children. My, my. And he doesn't take kindly
to maltreatment of them. So he says, we're members. one
of another, verse 30, members of Christ, member of his body,
members one of another, the body were two, the two become one,
not three, one, two, one. You see how God never did ordain
polygamy. Never. Wicked men started doing
that. Never was ordained by God. Two
become one. One. You become one in your pursuit
of Christ, of God. You become one. You love one
to another. You have the same goal, same
endeavor to. These two become one. And so
you cherish your flesh. That person who is one with you,
cherish it, nourish it, cherish it, even as the Lord church were
members of his body, his flesh and his bone. And for this cause,
verse 31, this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and
shall be joined unto his wife. Because that's a picture of Christ
and the church. Back then, you know, men lived
at home at a certain age, just like women did. But when it came
time, they left. got out of my house, and a woman
joined, and he joined to that woman, like old Jacob, remember,
went to where Rachel was, and that's where he was. And the
two shall be joined unto his wife, and the two shall be one
flesh, verse 32. This is a great mystery. It's
a great mystery. A great mystery. All of this
is difficult to Understand, oh, there are so many, you know, so many variables,
aren't there? Because of circumstances and
people, personalities. Are you with me? There's so many
variables in this thing of marriage and so many things that happen
and so forth. It's hard to figure out completely
how, nevertheless. What God says is the only way.
I challenge you to come up with some modern wisdom that somebody,
some marriage counselors have come up with. Obviously, the
wisdom of this world is foolish to say it's not working. There
are probably more marriage counselors now than ever in the history
of this earth. And divorces, I may explain that. Submission is key to happiness
in all things, especially in this, in all things. It's a mystery,
but he says, now I speak concerning Christ in the church. This is
the primary reason for the ordination of Mary, the primary reason to
teach us of Christ in the church. Nevertheless, nevertheless, practically
speaking, verse 33, let every one of you in particular. Now,
he started with the women, but he got to the men and he ends
with the men, or he begins with the men. In the end, let every
one of you in particular, every one of you love his wife as himself. As himself. Don't seek your own
good, seek her. And the wife, see that she reverence
her husband. That's a strong word. That's
the only time that's a word used in it. Reverence. Reverence, wow. That means honor and respect,
and that he's due. And these both work hand in hand. They go together. You really
can't have one without the other? It's hard to, anyway. And they
both feed upon, help one another. This is God's ways, God's words,
God's will. This is the only way there is.
There is no better way. There is no other way. This is
it. Right? But, but, no buts. No, but ask
God to give you the grace. All right, let's stand. Our Father, thank you for your
word, which is your good and perfect will. And we bow to it,
we submit to it, we want to be doers of it, not hearers only,
it's deceiving ourselves. We believe it in our heads, we
hope, we love it in our hearts, we want it to be put in to our
steps and our walk. Give us Your Holy Spirit. Give
us Your grace to do just that. It's going to take Your power,
overcoming this self-will and our pride and rebellion. Lord,
help us. Help us. Lord, save our spouses,
we pray, for Your glory. And enable our young people to
marry believers and themselves be believers. Lord, for your
glory, for the happiness, for the furtherance of thy glory
and thy truth and for our happiness while we're on this earth. And
we pray all these things, giving thanks for all things. We pray
these things in Christ's name. Amen. you.