Verse 12 says, put on, therefore,
as the elect of God, holy and beloved people of God. Put on. Act like your father,
that is. Act like your elder brother who
said, as you would have men do unto you, do so unto them. He
said, forbearing one another, having vows of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one
another. Covering over one another's sins. Forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel, a
complaint against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do
ye. And above all these things, he
said, put on charity, love. This is the bond of maturity
which unites us. This growth and grace is love. Love. Bond of perfectness. And
let the peace of God, you remember this Wednesday night, I hope
it came back to mind, let the peace of God rule in your heart.
Don't give way to unbelief and anxious fears and worries and
cares and fretfulness, but the peace of God rule in your heart,
your minds, to the which you're called also, called to be Blessed are the peacemakers,
they shall be called the sons of God. You are called to be
peacemakers in one body, members of the body, endeavoring, striving
together for the unity of the faith and spirit in one body. And be you thankful, he said.
Be thankful. A thankful person is a person
who has peace and comfort. Let the Word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom, teaching, admonishing one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in
your hearts to the Lord. It's an attitude, that's what
this is, that would cause you to sing psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And
whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name for the honor
and the glory and the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him." Now, I'm not going to
dwell on those two verses right now because we're going to deal
with these exclusively on Wednesday night, like I said. The Word
of Christ dwelling in us. richly in all wisdom and what
it means to teach and admonish one another and so on. But remember
this, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. With grace
in your hearts, singing to the Lord. And he says, whatever you
do, verse 17, do everything, do all, word or deed, in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to Him. and the Father by Him. Now, here's
what we want to deal with, these verses following. These exhortations
to, and commands, not just exhortations, and it's certainly not advice,
but it's commands, to wives, husbands, children, fathers,
and employees. Here, good, profitable exhortations
and command. Verse 18, he says, wives, wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the
Lord. It is fit. Now, this begins with
the woman, doesn't it? It begins with the wives. And
so does Ephesians 5. It reads just like this, almost. Turn over there, Ephesians 5.
It also begins with instructions to the woman. Why is that? Why
does it begin with the woman first? Well, not because she
has greater responsibility for Satan, but as a type of Christ
and the church, the man and the woman. As Christ is the head
of the church in all things, even so is the man the head of
the woman. And this is throughout the scripture.
And today, more than ever. In this modern day, more than
ever, this needs to be dealt with, and especially to the woman,
because the institution of marriage is only 51%. Marriage is 51%
now and declining. Fifty years ago, it was 80%. It's declining. It's heading
out the window. Because people don't know what
God says. They don't know God. And they
don't know what the Lord says about marriage, the proper mode of marriage and role of
men and women and so forth. And they've completely thrown
it out the window. And I also believe that it begins
with the woman because she has more difficulty The strength
of sin is the law, as Scripture says. And this old nature rebels
against authority. It rebels against authority. But all authority is of the Lord.
And it began in the garden when the Lord instituted marriage
between a man and a woman. And the Lord made that for the
good and the happiness and the peace of the home, of the man
and the woman, and everything, and children and all. And when
Eve took it upon herself to usurp her husband's authority, It plunged
the whole race into darkness and trouble. It sure did. And these are not my comments,
per se, but just a paraphrasing of what the Lord has said. The
Lord is the one that did that. In chapter 5 of Ephesians, verse
32, it says, this is a great, verse 31, This cause shall a
man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery.
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let
every one of you in particular love his wife even as himself.
The wife, see that she reverence, honor, respect her husband. You
see, this is a type of Christ and the church, and there are
so many references to it in the Scripture, 1 Corinthians. And
here, look at verse 22 of chapter 5, Wives. Verse 21, submitting
yourselves one to another in the fear of God. I just listened
to an old message by my pastor, I'll never forget it when I heard
it. When I heard it, it made a great impression upon me. Years
ago, 20, 30 years ago, I first heard it. Yeah, at least 30. And I've listened to it since
then three or four times and just listened to it two days
ago again. The title of it was Submission,
the Key to Happiness. If you'll notice in the bulletin,
that's what I named it. Submission, the Key to Happiness.
These injunctions, these commands, this counsel, these exhortations
are to submit. Submit. It's the key to happiness.
A rebel against God, and that's who all rebellion is against,
because all authority is from the Lord, is of God. And a rebel
is going to have a hard time with his Creator, with his Maker.
In any way, shape, form, or fashion, the way of the transgressor is
hard. Hard. And submission is the key to
happiness in every facet of life, beginning in the home, in civil
affairs, and so on and so forth. In the church, it's the key to
happiness. Wives, verse 22, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. That's what he said
there in Colossians 3, didn't he? Whatever you do, do it as
unto the Lord. as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of
the wife. Is that male chauvinist talk? This is God speaking. I see some of you ladies nodding
your head. That's good. That's wonderful.
Christ is the head of the Church. He's the Savior of the bodies.
Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives
be their own husbands and everything. Marriage is not a partnership. salvation is not, Christianity
is not a partnership. We have a head. There has to
be a voice of authority. There has to be. Marriages, the
two become one flesh, yes, but there has to be a voice of authority.
There has to be. Well, in everything, what does
it say? In everything. In everything. Let the wives be to their own
husbands in everything." He said, but, but, but. You better not
say but, but. Goats but. Sheep don't but. Sheep
bow. Why is this commanded? Why is
it commanded? Because it's God's will. It must
be right if God said it. That's right. Whatever God said is right. The Word of the Lord is right.
We're going to see that in Psalm 33. And everything, as we say,
is a chain of command, a voice, a leader. It cannot be two masters.
It's impossible. And as I said, in the garden,
when that started, trouble began. the result of sin. I might. All right, go back to Colossians
3. Verse 18 says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands
as it is fit in the Lord. Now, don't cut me off here because
we're going to see how that can be done. Number one, if that
man will listen to verses 12 And through 15, he'll be easy to submit to, won't
he? If he's a Christ-like man, holy,
beloved, bows of mercy and kindness. And I know some of your husbands.
Well, I know all of them. But there's not a man in here
that I think does not fit this description. Mary's sitting there
nodding her head. Yeah, that's exactly the way
your husband is. Kind man, Christ-like man, a humble man, a meek man. It would be easy to submit to
him, ought to be. I know he's not like that twenty
fires a day. He's a man. But I know him. Now look at this. Verse 19. Husbands, love your wives. How? Now, Ephesians 5 again,
it says, as Christ loved the church. If we will love our wives like
that, I'm pretty confident they'll be very submissive. Pretty confident
that they'll be like that. How did he love the church? How
did Christ love the church? It says he gave himself for it. He gave himself. Christ didn't
live for himself. Christ didn't do anything for
himself. He came down here for his bride,
for his unlovely bride. He came down here for her, gave
himself. Now, a man does not love his
wife who spends all his time and all his money on himself.
He loves himself. He doesn't love his wife. It says, Husband, love your wives
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for. That man who
thinks of himself first, that man who spends only on himself
and thinks of himself first, he does not love his bride, and
it's serious reason to believe he doesn't know God. Scripture
says, he that loveth not knoweth not God. What does that mean?
Loveth not in this way. Loveth not in this way. How can
a man love? I say, now I'm coming down a
little harder on men because that's me. Because we need this. Steve, I was bragging on you
a minute ago. We need this worse, don't we? Than they do. We really
do. But if a man will love his bride
like Christ loved the church, there's serious reason to believe
a man doesn't know God. How can a man know God, love
God, the Scripture says, if he doesn't love his brother whom
he sees? No man can love God who he does
not see if he doesn't love his brother. And the closest one
to us is our wife. So a man that mistreats her and
doesn't love her has serious reason to believe that he doesn't
know God, no matter what he says. And the same goes for how we
treat our children. Look at the next thing here in
Colossians 3. Verse 19 says, Be not bitter
against them. Be not bitter against them. Adam, when the Lord gave him his wife, he just marveled. When the Lord
brought her to Him, he marveled. He said, Oh, this is bone of
my bones and flesh of my flesh. And that's what Proverbs said.
He that findeth a wife, obtaineth favor from the Lord. A good thing. We were talking about this at
the table the other night, weren't we? What a blessing a good wife
is. What a blessing that any woman
would have this husband. But let alone a good one. But
Adam, when the Lord first brought this woman to him, he marveled
at her. He was so thankful, so grateful.
It was his first love. Sweetheart. Bone of my bone,
flesh of my flesh. Well, shortly thereafter, he said, that woman, didn't it? Because sin came in. Because Adam took it. He had
himself to blame, didn't he? But he's laying all the blame
on her. It was his fault. Yes, she was deceived, as Scripture
says. Scripture says she was deceived. Adam wasn't deceived. He took
that fruit and in rebellion against God, took it. Well, then all
his troubles happened. And what's the first thing he
did? He said, woman, that you gave me. First he was thanking
God for giving him this wonderful woman. But because of troubles
he brought on himself, then he said, if you hadn't have given
me that woman, oh boy. Shifting the blame won't do any
good, will it? What happened? Sin. He became
bitter against her. And many men think this, and
maybe every man in here has thought this at one time or another.
If I wasn't married, well, I wouldn't be in the gutter probably. Dead
or something. You ever thought that? Who's
honest beside me? If I wasn't married, Well, I'd
have... There's a cute little song, some
country music, for what it's worth, some little country music
fellow wrote a song about it. If I wasn't married, I'd have
money, I'd have debt. Yeah, you'd be looking for a
woman like that. You'd be looking. You'd be looking. Well, be not bitter against them. Remember that girl you couldn't
live without? That's the same one, the same one. And we're
the ones that made all the big promises, weren't we? Huh, Rob? We're the ones that made the
big promises that we couldn't and probably had no intention
of fulfilling. We just wanted to get her. And she fell for us. So who's to blame? Be not bitter
against her. Be not bitter. Taking away your
freedom. You don't want that kind of freedom
anymore. No, you don't. Look, John and Kelly both are
doing that. That's right. Don't want that freedom. All
right, verse 20 says, Children, children, obey your parents in
all things. This is well pleasing unto the
Lord. I wish every one of our children
were in here, but they're not. The fact of the matter is, we
are. We're still children. If your parents are still alive,
you're still subject to them. You see, the utter breakdown
of all of these things in life in our society is the cause of
all the ills. that we have in the utter breakdown. And it is absolute proof, clear
evidence of the very last of the last days as spoken of in
2 Timothy 3, the perilous time. Clear evidence of the perilous
times, men lovers of their own selves, not lovers of their wives,
lovers of themselves, covetous, man to woman, wanting
to see how much they can accumulate, their careers and so forth. There
used to be devotion to one another, you know, without natural affection
and on and on. It talks about disobedient to
parents. The breakdown of these things
is the total breakdown of society and the proof of the very last
of the last days. And it says here, children, obey
your parents in all things. In all things. You know, knowledge, what you know, is accumulated
over time. And it takes time to learn things.
And Lauren, you're not a teenager anymore. Do you remember back
when you were a teenager? But, you know, when it hit the
teen years, you start learning some things, you know. And you
think you know everything. You think you know everything.
But knowledge is accumulating. You don't stop learning. Once
you hit 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 or 60, do you stop learning? No. Wisdom is you take those
things you've learned from experience. Experience is not just the best
teacher. It's really the only teacher.
You won't learn anything unless you go through it. You really
won't. You can learn it in your head, so that's good, but you
really haven't learned it until you put it to use. And this is
where wisdom comes in. Using what you've learned. I
mean, why? And it takes years to get wisdom
done. And real wisdom comes from what?
It comes from this book. It comes from God. Children do
not know and understand many things. It takes years to do
so. And the reason I say what I said
was because I think children sometimes think their parents
stopped learning at some point. Well, they're just going to pass
them on. No, the fact is, the parent is
always going to be 30 years more experienced than you. You understand? Always, you're
going to be 30 years more experienced than you. Be wise to listen. Be wise to listen. And a child has never been a
parent. That is, an unmarried child has
never been a parent, but the parent has been a child. Lauren, Joseph. That's it, isn't
it? Sorry. Until you're in their
shoes, you'll not be able to really understand what they do
and say and why they do it. You just won't. You can't. You
can't. You can't know anything unless
you've experienced it. And somebody can tell you and
you might even say, that sounds good. And this is why parents,
you know, especially real young children, They, you know, may
question their parents and they don't understand what they're
doing. No, you can't understand it. You can't. And even if the
parent tried to make them understand, they couldn't until you go through
it. Right? And so you set down rules. You do things. You set down a
rule. This is the way it's going to
be. But no, I'm sorry, that's the way it's going to be. But
I don't like it. Well, someday you'll understand. And you'll probably do the exact
same thing to your child. And you'll be so thankful that
your parents did it, if you had good parents. You'll be so thankful.
Like curfews. My dad used to say, there's nothing
good out there after midnight. There's nothing good on the street
going on. You know that. I know that well. As a rebel,
young rebel, I know what I was doing after midnight. I know
what all my buddies, everybody else would do. I know what goes
on after midnight. Scripture says men do what they
do under the cover of darkness. When darkness hits, troubles
escalate. That's just a fact. So why there
are the curfews? For your own protection. I'd
like to say y'all aren't teenagers anymore. And my dad brought out this point
in the message. submission, the key to happiness.
Even when our parents are older, we're to render unto them the
respect and the honor that is due unto them. The reverence,
even it said. Respect and honor, even when
they're older. No loving parent makes rules for the rules sake. Oh my, I really learned this
now as a grandparent. Oh my, I just don't want to say
no. I don't. Because you've got to
enforce it. If you're going to say no, if
you're going to make a rule, you've got to enforce it. You've got
to. And I just don't want to do it.
So it better be worth it. It better be worth it. because
you're going to suffer yourself seeing them suffer and so forth.
Well, children, obey your parent, they said, in all things. This
is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Ephesians 5 says it's the first
commandment with promise. The first commandment with promise
that it will be well with you. You may live long upon the earth
itself. That's what it said. That's what
the Lord said. It will be well with you. Oh, my. Verse 21. Provoke not your children
to anger, lest they be discouraged. Oh, my. Every dad in here would
like to have it all to do over again, wouldn't you? Wouldn't
you? Wouldn't you, Matt? Like start
over again when they're about six months old and try it again. That's the reason I think, like
now as a grandparent, that's what I'm thinking. I'm not going
to make the same mistakes, Dwight. Learned a little bit more. Well,
fathers provoke, not your children to anger. How do we do that is
by expecting too much out of them. We forget their frame.
We forget their frame. And we expect too much out of
them. Generally, fathers with sons and mothers with daughters.
Right? And part of that's because you
know them so well. They're a little you. and you
worry about them so much, you don't want to see them do what
you did, and so you come down hard on them. But don't provoke
them to anger. You've got to remember they're
frank. You've got to remember. Do you
remember how frustrated you were growing up? It's a tough thing
growing up, isn't it? It's a tough thing. You're a
child in an adult's body, and you don't have sense enough.
You've got all these hormones and everything raging. And you've
got a man or a woman's body, but you still have the understanding
of a child. And it's just, you don't know
which way to turn. And it takes great wisdom to know their frame and deal
with them. My, my. Remember we studied Enoch one
time. Enoch lived 365 years. You know, he probably had at
any one time 100 teenagers in his house. My, my. Solomon, he had 300 wives. How many did he have in his house?
Oh, my, what wisdom we need, don't we? Fathers, provoke them
not to anger. Provoke your children not to
anger. Mothers, lest they be discouraged. They need more encouragement
than discouragement, don't they? Loving, rebuke, and reproof. Remember you said. Remember.
Don't lose sight of where you were. Be a tender, nurturing to those little children. Alright,
verse 21 says, Father, provoke not your children to anger lest
they be discouraged. Servant, verse 22. Servant. Employees. Now everybody in here is some
kind of employee. Obey in all things your master.
according to the flesh, not with eye service, as men please it,
but in singleness of heart, is an eye to the glory of God, to
His Word, to His wisdom, fearing God. Thou, Lord, seest me. Obey in all things your masters,
even the frail one, even the bad one, even the cruel one.
When was this written? In some of the most tyrannical
times ever in the history of man, one of the most cruel despots
or emperor in the history of mankind was Nero, the Roman emperor. That's who was king. If he didn't like your looks,
he'd have you killed. Throw you to the lions for sport. And Paul, who wrote this, was
in prison. Wrongly, wrongfully imprisoned. They said, bow, submit, in everything
give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. Paul bowed to it. Was it good?
Did everything work together for good? We have Colossians, because he
was in prison. How good is that? The ultimate proof of everything
good is the worst known crime of humanity against humanity
was Christ being put on that cross. The holy, just man, Christ
Jesus, crucified in the most brutal way possible. But the
chief good, the ultimate good, the infinite good of God came
out of that. Oh, boy. That's wisdom, isn't
it? to whatever we're going through. Even a tyrannical boss, you know,
obeying all things. I remember working a non-union
job down in Florida when I was just a young man. And it was
about over 100 degrees out. We were building a school building.
There wasn't a shade tree within a mile of that place. It was
over 100 degrees. Having grown up, I had to work hard, playing sports
and all this, fairly fit and able to endure it. But I had
a boss who had a whistle around his neck. Non-union job. And I had a boss who had a whistle
around his neck, and you got a five-minute water break. And,
buddy, if you weren't back on the job mixing mortar or rope
bricks or block And he did the same thing at
lunch, 20 minutes. And he sat there and looked at
his watch. That's a tyrant, isn't it? And my buddy, who wasn't used
to that sort of thing, he got sick from the heat and all. He fired it. He fired it. Now that's a tyrant, isn't it? In all things, obey them. Obey them. Our bosses aren't
that bad now. Time has gone by. Unions and
so forth. Unions are good things, Steven.
Good and bad. Good and bad. Obey in all things
your master. Paul deals with masters in another
place. Margaret. Those who have people
over them, he deals with. Dan. Whoever has employees, he
says the same thing. You work for your Lord and treat
them as He treats you. Not with eye service, as men
pleaser, but in singleness of heart, fearing God, whatever
you do. Verse 23, let's close this out. Whatever you do, do it heartily
as to the Lord. As to the Lord, remembering who
you serve. Not unto men, but to the Lord. The Lord gave us Our wives, our
husbands, the Lord gave us our children, the Lord gave us our
jobs, the Lord gave them to us. That's who we answer to. That's
who we work for. Do it heartily as to the Lord,
because that's who we're working unto or singing unto. Whatever
you do, singing unto. Knowing that of the Lord you
shall receive the reward of the inheritance. Reward is never plural in scriptures
in reference to God's people. The reward of the inheritance. What is it? Well, if you do right,
you're going to get a little crown and glory and a little
bigger mansion. No, no, no. All of God's people,
the prize is Christ. The reward. Like our Lord said
to Abraham, I am thy exceeding great reward. You get me? We're not working for merit badges. No, no. We're just working as
unto the Lord. And you serve the Lord Christ,
He said. He that doeth wrong shall receive
for the wrong which he hath done. There's no respected person. I'm not going to explain that
in what I'm not going to explain that. The Lord said, if you're
rebellious in any way, wife, husband, children, employee,
you're going to pay for it. In the context, you're going
to pay for it. And don't blame anybody, as the Lord told you.
That submission is the key to happiness. The Lord said so.
He knows. Do what he says. The Lord said
there in John Thirteen, if you know these things, happy are
you if you do them. So, why submit? Love them. Children, obey your
parents. Employees, submit. It's the key to happiness. It
will go well with you. It will go well with you. The
Lord said so. Who is he that will harm you
if you be followers of that which is good? And even Peter said,
even a forward, mean, and cruel husband will be impressed by
a meek attitude. Has to be, unless they're an
absolute monster. Okay. May the Lord bless that.