Turn back to James Chapter 4. I've entitled this message, What
Does Submission Look Like? Now this is not an easy subject
to deal with. I hope you'll pray for me as
I try to bring this message. What does submission look like? James says in verse 7, Submit
yourselves, therefore, to God. Since God gives more grace, since
He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, submit yourselves,
therefore, to God. Humble yourself before Him and
submit. This is a command and it's made
in the passive voice. Which means I simply present
myself to God. Here am I. Send me. Submit yourselves. He's God. It's the best thing to do. It's
the only thing to do. Submit yourselves unto God. Now, what I thought of when I
thought of submission to God, I thought of our Lord in Gethsemane's
garden. Three times he was so overcome
with the thought of drinking the cup that his father had given
him to drink. Three times he said, if it be
possible Let this cup pass from me." Now there's so much in that
that you and I will never understand. Here is the only man who ever
saw sin as God sees it. Me and you don't. He could see
this cup he was getting ready to drink and he was so overcome
He said, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But what
did he say next? Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. Now that is submission. That is the essence of holiness. Not my will, but thine be done. Take my will, make it thine. It shall be no longer mine. Now the only true submission
is willing submission. If I'm forced to submit, it's
not submission. The only true submission is willing
submission. What I thought about is where
the scripture says that the Lord Jesus Christ became subject to
his parents. He submitted to his parents.
He who is infinitely greater than them, yet submitted to his
parents. Now that's submission. He did
it because he wanted to. When the scripture says to the
wives, wives submit yourselves to your own husbands as unto
the Lord. The only way you'll do that is if you want to. You
really want to do that. That's what your desire is to
do. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter 12. Verse 1. I beseech you therefore brethren
by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now, there is submission. I present myself to him. I don't tell him what to do with
me. I don't make any promises about what I'm going to do. I
know myself better than that, but I do present myself to him. Lord, here I am. Your will be
done. Whatever your will is, let that
be done. That's all I want. I want your
will to be done. Do with me what's good in your
eyes so I can prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. And the will of God, submission
is submission to the will of God. And His will is good. His will is acceptable. His will
is perfect. Oh, what a blessing it would
be to be in you, to be completely surrendered to His will in all
ways. Thy will be done. This is a reasonable service,
isn't it? Anything else is unreasonable.
It's the only thing that makes sense. Submit yourselves unto
God. Now God's will is good because
it's God's will. Whatever he wills is good. I'm
not going to sit in judgment on Him over what He does. I know
it's good. Doesn't matter what it is. How can God let this happen?
How can God let that happen? Anything God does is good. His
will is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You
see, He's all-wise. He's all-powerful. He's omnipresent. His eyes see all. He's immutable.
His will has never changed. His will is sovereign. He always
does according to His will. And His will is good. the good
will of God. Everything God does is good. Now, when the Lord taught us
to pray, what are we taught to pray? Our Father which art in
heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be
done. On earth, as it is in heaven. You see in heaven his will is
done promptly, joyfully, cheerfully, willingly. Let that be going
on here on earth according to your will just like it is in
heaven. I love John Newton's famous illustration
of if God had two angels and he told one to rule a kingdom,
and the other to sweep the streets. They'd do it with joy, both jobs,
not caring which one they got. Think about that. If it's God's
will, it's good. The very essence of the holiness
of the Savior is seen in his prayer in Gethsemane's
garden, where I just quoted that. Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. That's all he wanted, and it's
all you and I should want as well. Now, we submit ourselves
to God because He's God. No other reason is needed. He's God. Submit unconditionally. God doesn't negotiate. The example
I thought of is when God said to Abraham, Abraham, take now
your son, your only son, who you love, and offer him up as
a burnt offering to me on a mount that I'll show thee of." Now,
you can think of all kinds of objections Abraham would have.
How can it be right to kill my son? How can it be right to do
this? I mean, I don't know all the
things that could have gone through his mind, but what did he do?
He rose up early, saddled his ass, and went on the way to do
what God said to do. He didn't have to understand
it. He did understand that God would raise him from the dead
if he did kill him. He understood that. But he didn't
have to understand God's reason for telling him to do that, because
all his was to do is to do what God said. You don't need to understand
it. Submit to what God says in His
Word. Now, if we submit to God, we
will submit to His Word. There's where you begin. We will
submit to His Word. The Bible is the inspired Word
of God, and we submit to His Word. There's nothing in it that's
unimportant. There's nothing in it that's
non-essential. Somebody says, well, it's OK
if I don't believe that doctrine, if I don't do it. No, no. This
is the Word of God. It's all to be submitted to. God has made known His will in
His Word, and all He says is to be submitted to. Don't argue.
I don't want to do this. Don't argue with His commands.
Don't argue with His doctrines. Don't sit in judgment on His
Word and pick out what you agree with and what you disagree with.
Like I said, me and you don't have to understand. What understanding we have, we're
thankful for, but we don't have to understand. We have to submit. This is the Word of God. And
remember, in this thing of submission, that's what we want to do, isn't
it? I want to submit to all that
He says. I want to submit to what God
says about Himself. He's holy. That lets me know
how unlike me He is. I love that scripture. Thou thoughtest
I was altogether such a one as yourself. That's what most people's
problem is. They think God's like they are.
He's not. He's not. He's other. He's a part. He's
holy. He's absolutely sovereign, controlling
everybody and everything. He's absolutely just. He said,
I'll by no means clear the guilty under no circumstances. He's
merciful and gracious. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth.
This is who God is. And we submit, we're willing
to submit to how He presents Himself to us in His Word. He
is who He says He is in His Word. And we submit to what He says
about us. When I read this description,
God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's me. I agree with what God says. When
I hear there's none righteous, no not one, there's none that
understands, there's none that seeks after God, they've all
gone out of the way, they're together becoming unprofitable,
there's none that do it good, no not one, I say amen. I agree
with God. I submit to what He says. When
He says the heart is desperately wicked, deceitful above all things,
I submit. I know that's the truth about
me. When I read Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Complete
agreement. Submission to what God says in
His Word. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. That's the mind you were born
with. It's actual enmity. It's not an enmity. It is enmity
with God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be. Now, you think of that. We agree. We submit to what God says in
his word. We submit to his way of salvation.
Do you submit to him electing who would be saved before time
began? You don't see any unfairness
in it, do you? Not if you submit. Do you submit to His way of salvation
by Christ where Christ actually atoned and put away the sins
of everybody He died for? And you say, that's right. That's
glorious. You submit. Do you submit to
God the Holy Spirit coming and through the Word preached, giving
life to the dead? You see, it's what God's Word
says and you submit. You agree with everything God says. You
may not understand it. You may not even see yourself
to be as sinful as those descriptions give you, give us. But you believe
them. You believe them because God's
Word says it. We submit to the Word. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10 for a moment. Verse 1, Brethren, my heart's
desire And prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For I bear them record. They
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being
ignorant of God's righteousness. And here's what you'll do if
you're ignorant of God's righteousness. You'll go back to establish your
own righteousness. Now in doing that they have not
submitted themselves, there's the word, they have not submitted
themselves to the righteousness of God. Now let me ask you a
real simple question. Have you submitted yourself to
his altogether righteous character? He's altogether righteous. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of his throne. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Do you believe that? Well, whatever
he does is right and you don't have to understand it. You know
if he did it, it's right. You don't apologize for it and
whatever he does is right because he's righteous. That's who he
is. Have you submitted yourself to
his utter righteousness in casting you off? Would you have to say he's righteous
in doing that? Just and righteous is he. You've
got no sense of entitlement with God. You know that if he sent
you to hell, you might not think of somebody else, but you know
if he sent you to hell, you'd be getting what you deserve.
And he would be just and right in doing it. You submit yourself
to his righteousness, even in your condemnation. But here's
what this means more than anything else. You submit yourself to
His righteousness in your salvation. He made it, bless His holy name,
He made it to where the righteous thing for Him to do is to bring
me into heaven because I deserve it through what Christ did for
me. It's a righteous thing. It's not Him just sweeping my
sin under the carpet and saying, come on up, and sin not being
punished. No, sin was punished. Righteousness
is given to me, and I submit to His righteousness in my salvation. Now, Christ is all. He's all that God is. He's all that God requires. He's
all in the Bible. He's all in salvation. Do you
submit to that? Willingly? Joyfully? Aren't you
happy that Christ is all in salvation? Faith is submission to what He
says. Reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed to sin, but alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't feel dead to sin. I feel that sin's very much alive
in me. But if God says I'm dead to sin, you know what? I'm dead
to sin. It has nothing to say to me. Faith is submitting to what God
says in His Word. Submission is submission to His
commands. Now, I think of the scripture
The Lord said several times in that last discourse with his
disciples, if you love me, keep my commandments. He that loves me keeps my commandments. Not admire them, not know what
they are, but keep them. Keep them. Well, I've tried to
not lie. Have you not lied? Well, I've
tried to not have any lust in my heart. How's it worked? Here's the way, with regard to
God's holy law, if Christ kept the law, I did. But that's really
not what he's talking about when he's talking about keeping the
commandments. He's talking about turning to
1 John chapter 3. Here's the commandments that
every believer in his person, by the grace of God, keeps. 1
John chapter 3, verse 23. And this is his commandment.
That we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. Now you submit to this. The name
of his Son is all that's needed to make you accepted before God.
You don't need anything else. Split to that. Believe it. And this is his commandment that
we love one another as he gave us commandment. Now, I do love
his people, don't you? I took a commandment I keep. Keep my commandments. If any
man come after me, let him deny himself. Let Him take up His
cross and let Him follow me. That's a commandment. What am
I to do? I'm to deny myself. I'm to take
up my cross. I'm to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved is a commandment. I'm keeping it. I am believing
on Him. God commands all men everywhere
to repent. Repent! Keep that commandment. Change your mind. Whatever you
were thinking, it was wrong. It was wrong. Believe what God
says in His Word. Keep His commandments. Submit
to what He says. If sin is sin. If He says it's
sin, it's sin. Don't justify it. Submit to whatever
He says. And this thing of submission,
There has to be willingness. If it's not willing, if you don't
submit because you want to submit, it's not true submission. Psalm
1103 says, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Philippians 2, 12 and 13, Paul
said, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For
it's God that worketh in you both to will and to do his good
pleasure. You know what that makes me think?
Lord, make me willing. Cause me by your power. Cause me to be submissive. Turn me and I'll be turned I
love what the Shulamite woman said, Draw us, and we'll run
after thee. Turn us again, O God of hosts,
and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Cause me by invincible grace
to be what you say to be, and to do what you say to do, to
submit. Submit yourselves to God. I repeat that scripture I already
quoted, If you love me, keep my commandments. Now submission is because of
love. I love the scripture 1 John 5,
3, For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments,
and his commandments are not grievous. We're submitting to
a person we love, and we know that whatever he says is best,
whatever, because of who he is. Now, I'm to submit myself. I've got two or three more things
to say about this. I hope it's not me having something
to say about it, but it's the Word of God. I mean, if it's
just me saying something, it's worthless. But I'm to submit
myself to His providence. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18, In
everything give thanks. In everything give thanks. You've got cancer. Give thanks. You've lost everything. Give
thanks. For this, whatever it is, is
the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. You know something a believer
should never say? I'm not happy. I'm not happy. Whatever happens, it's the Lord's
will for you. It's what you needed. It's for
your good and his glory. And I'm not happy. I'm not saying
you have to feel happy, but I am saying we're to give thanks for
whatever the Lord brings our way, for it's for our good and
for His glory. Whatever is going on in my life,
it's the Lord and I really believe that. I might not understand
what He's doing, but I know He's doing it. We have so many examples
of this in the scripture. Now, to say I am not happy is
to say I don't trust what he's doing in his good providence. I can't trust him. That's all
that means is I don't trust him. I think of David saying in Psalm
31 15, my times are in thy hand. That's a good place for him to
be, isn't it? when Mephibosheth was unjustly
accused by Ziba of siding with Absalom. Ziba had deceived David and made
it look like Mephibosheth had no loyalty to him. And Mephibosheth
said, I was slandered and misrepresented. And David said to him, Well,
you split the inheritance and you can have half and Ziba can
have half. Now I'm a bit upset by that.
I'd say Ziba shouldn't get any. Ziba shouldn't get any. Everything
he did was wrong. He got half my stuff through
him ripping me off. But how did Mephibosheth answer? My Lord the King is as an angel
of God. Do therefore what is good in
thine eyes. If I feel like I'm not getting
my share, so be it. God's in control. When Eli is
told by Samuel, God's going to kill both your boys, you remember
how he replied? It's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. When Shammai is cursing David,
and David's at his lowest point, I can't imagine how depressed
he was at this time, leaving Jerusalem. And Shammai's cursing
him and throwing rocks at him. And Abshop says, you want me
to go take off his head? He said, no. The Lord said. Curse,
David. The Lord said it. Job said, Naked came I out of
my mother's womb, naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave,
the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And if you believe Romans 8 28
is so, you better, you better That all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. You can submit to His providence. Everything
He does is that good and that perfect and that acceptable will
of God. We really believe that. In everything give thanks. This
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Now turn
to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. This one's
going to be kind of hard to deal with, so bear with me. Verse
17, Obey them that have the rule
over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls
as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy
and not with grief, for this is unprofitable for you." Now,
you do what I tell you to do. If I say do it, you better do
it. Obey your pastor. Is that what that's saying? No. No. A lot of people A lot of
preachers have kind of presented that, you know, you need the
answer to me and so on. But the word obey is literally
be persuaded. Be persuaded by them that are
your guides that preach the gospel to you. Be persuaded by them
and submit yourself unto such. Submit to them. Now, if God has
called a man to preach the gospel and to be a pastor, he's going
to have some wisdom and some understanding and some insight
that you do not have. That's just the way it is. Sheep
need a shepherd, and God has made under-shepherds. Now, once
again, this doesn't mean you gotta ask the pastor whether
you can buy this or purchase that or whether this is right
or this is wrong. That has nothing to do with it. But you submit
to his preaching of the gospel. You submit. If he's preaching
the gospel, you better submit yourself and listen to what he's
saying. How come? Well, look what it says. Obey
them, be persuaded by them that have the rule over you that are
your guides, is what my marginal reading says, and that's the
way it actually should read. It's not talking about someone
who can tell you what to do, and you've got to answer to them
and ask them for permission to do things, or you don't want
to cross them. That has nothing to do with what
this passage of Scripture is saying. It's talking about hearing
the gospel, Be persuaded by them that have
the rule over you or your gods and submit yourselves for they
watch for your souls as they that must give account that they
may do it with joy and not with grief for that's unprofitable
for you. Now when I am preparing a message to preach Well, I want
to hear the gospel. I want to hear what I'm saying.
But that's also what is done in watching for your souls, the
preaching of the gospel. What is the discipline of the
church? The discipline of the church is the preaching of the
gospel, and God takes it and uses it to discipline His people
as He will. He takes it. It's not being called
up for church discipline or anything like that. I think that stuff
is the biggest bunch of foolishness. It's not what the Scripture teaches.
The discipline of the church is the preaching of the gospel.
And the pastor, I'm called to give an account for your souls.
Now, when I pray for you, or when the pastor prays for you,
does he do so with joy or with grief? And that's the question
I want to ask myself. Joy or grief? Now if you submit
yourself to the pastors, if you refuse to submit to the pastors
what he is preaching, the gospel he's preaching, if you refuse
to submit, you're really not refusing to submit to him, you're
refusing to submit to God. He that heareth you heareth me. He that despiseth you despiseth
me. He that despiseth me despiseth
him that sent me. So, listen, by the grace of God,
be persuaded. If I'm preaching the truth, I
mean, I've heard young preachers say, I'm God's servant in this
place. Well, if you are, you don't need
to tell anybody. They'll figure it out. I mean, they'll figure
it out. All you got to do is preach the
gospel. They'll figure it out. And if
you see that that man's preaching the gospel and that God's hands
on him and preaching the gospel, submit to what he says. Turn back to 1 Peter. I read this passage of Scripture. Verse five, likewise ye younger,
submit yourselves unto the elder. And that's talking once again
about submission to the pastor, to his preaching of the gospel.
Likewise you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea,
all of you be subject one to another. Show difference to one
another. Be subject one to another. I'm
to subject myself to you. If I don't subject myself to
you, I don't subject myself to God. Look at Ephesians chapter
5. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 21, submitting yourselves
to one another in the fear of God. Now, what's that look like? Well, here's what it looks like.
Paul said in Romans chapter 12, verse 10, Be kindly affectioned
one to another with brotherly love in honor preferring one
another. Preferring one another. Not being iron-willed my way
or the highway. Deferring. to one another, submitting
yourselves to one another in the fear of God, not thinking
my way's got to be the way, I've got to have my way. No, deferring,
preferring one another. And last, Ephesians, I mean Romans
13, turn with me there. Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers, whatever form of authority it is, government,
police. Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers
that be are ordained of God. So I am to submit myself to every
authority, to my boss, to the one who writes my check, children
who submit themselves to their parents, the wives to submit
herself to her husband in the Lord. Whatever authority God
has put in place, submit to it. You know, if you teach your children
a respect for authority, you're going to have successful children.
And if your children are rebels against authority, they're going
to have problems all their life. May the Lord give us the grace
to submit willingly, lovingly, joyfully, to submit ourselves
to God, to his word, to his way of salvation, to his commands,
to one another. for the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we ask for irresistible and invincible
grace to cause us to willingly, joyfully, and lovingly submit
ourselves to You, to Your Word, to Your providence, to Your people. In Christ's blessed name we pray.
Amen. We've got Gwen.