Submission, the Key to Happiness

I'm going to speak to you today
on the subject, submission, the key to happiness. Now the world
is full of books on how to be a useful Christian, how to be
filled with the Holy Spirit, how to be happily married, how
to build a Christian home. But without the fear of oversimplifying
this very important area, of our relationship to God and our
relationship with one another, I boldly state that the key to
our spiritual problems is found in two verses of scripture, Ephesians
chapter 5 verse 20. Now you listen carefully to these
two verses. Give thanks always to God for
all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Submitting
yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord. Submitting
yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord. Submitting.
That's the key to happiness and that's the key to salvation. What does it mean to submit to
another? Well, the word means this. It
means to surrender. It means to yield to the authority
or the power or the control of another. That's what it means
to submit. Submission is to yield. To yield to the power, the authority,
and the control of another. Now I know that that word submission
is offensive to the flesh. It's offensive to the will of
the flesh, to my personal will. We want our wills to be done.
It's offensive to the desires of our flesh. It's offensive
to the pride of the flesh. But it's still the key to happiness,
and desalination. The great sin of the flesh is,
I will. If you read the 14th chapter
of Isaiah, you'll find that this was the sin of Lucifer. This
was the downfall of Satan. In Isaiah 14, 12 through 15,
Satan said, I will be like God. I will ascend above the heights
of the cloud. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. In other words, my will, not
God's will, be done. And then Adam and Eve, if you
read the third chapter of Genesis, you'll find that the sin of Adam
and Eve was this, I will be God. Instead of bowing to the will
of God, instead of submitting to the authority and the power
of God, it is exerting my will in the place of God's will. And
then at Calvary, what did they say? We will not have this man
reign over us. is offensive to the flesh, to
the will of the flesh, to the pride of the flesh. Romans chapter
8 verse 7 says the carnal mind, that is the natural mind, is
not subject to the law of God. It is not submissive to the will
of God. Neither indeed can be. The natural
mind, the natural flesh, will not submit to the will of God.
The will of God can only be found by the person who is willing
to follow God's will. That's what our Lord said in
John 7, 17. If any man will do God's will, he shall know of
the doctrine, whether I speak of myself or whether I speak
of God. Now read the text again. I'm
saying that the key to our spiritual problems, the key to happiness,
the key to salvation, is submission. In Ephesians 5, read it again,
submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord.
Now, this is what Paul is saying according to the Amplified Version.
Submit yourselves one to another out of reverence for the Lord
and submission to the Lord Himself. Now, this is the moving cause.
This is the motive for submission to any authority, whether it
be in the home, or whether it be in the church, or whether
it be in the school, or whether it be as unto the Lord. This
is the key. This is the moving cause. This
is the motive. Because all authority is of God. Whether it be the policeman on
the street, the boss down at the factory, the principal, the
teacher in the school, the husband in the home, the pastor in the
church, wherever this authority is found, all authority is of
God. Now you check the Word of God
on this. In Romans chapter 13, verse 1, listen to the scripture.
Let every person be subject unto the higher authority, or higher
powers. For there is no power but of
God. There is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. In other words, a wife obeying
her husband is obeying the Lord. In other words, children obeying
their parents, they are obeying the Lord. Rebelling against their
parents is rebellion against God. All authority is of God.
Submission to the laws of the land. is obeying God, and rebelling
against those laws is rebelling against God. All authority is
of God. All authority is ordained of
God. Employees submitting to their masters or to their bosses
is obeying God, and rebelling against them is rebelling against
God. Submission to pastors and teachers is submission to God.
Now if you want the key to spiritual life and spiritual happiness,
You'll find that key right here in this verse of scripture. Submitting
yourselves one to another out of fear of the Lord and reverence
for the Lord. And there can be, and I boldly
state this, and I'm not oversimplifying it at all, I boldly state this,
there can be no spiritual happiness, there can be no spiritual blessings
in rebellion against God. Or in rebellion against God's
ordained way of life. We used to call it in the Navy.
The chain of command, and that's what it is. It's the heavenly
chain of command. It's the spiritual chain of command.
And there can be no happiness when we're rebelling against
God's ordained authority. Self-will is destruction. Satan
found that out when he said, I will be like God. Adam and
Eve found that out when they said, I will. And the people
of Calvary, the people of Jerusalem, found that out, 70 A.D., when
Titus came in, destroyed that city, laid it flat, plowed up
the ground, sowed salt, when they cried, we will not have
this man reign over us. You know the key to happiness?
The key to holiness? When our Lord was in the Garden
of Gethsemane, listen to his prayer. It is so different from
the boastful statement of Satan, or of Adam and Eve, or the people
of Calvary, Our Lord prayed, not my will, but thy will be
done. So this is what I'm saying. You
can read all your books on how to be a useful Christian, how
to be filled with the Spirit, and how to be happily married,
and how to this, and how to that, but here's the key. Giving thanks
unto God for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and humbly submitting yourselves one to another out of reverence
for God. out of submission to God himself.
Now I've got six points in this message, and I want you to listen
carefully to them. I have something today for everybody.
I'm going to speak first of all to all believers, and then to
wives, husbands, children, employees, and employers, bosses, masters. Now you listen. Listen to the
whole message. First of all, to all believers. All believers
are to submit themselves to subject themselves to Jesus Christ as
Lord. In John chapter 1 verse 12, the
scripture says, As many as receive him, to them gave he the power
to become the sons of God. As many as receive, and that
word is submit to him, be in subjection to him, our living
Lord. As many as receive him, as prophet,
priest, and king, to them, to those people, in submission to
Christ, God gave the right to be children of God. Now, I know,
first of all, that Christ receives us. We receive Him because He
has received us. He has received us from the hand
of the Father as our surety and as our Redeemer and as our Lord.
But we receive Him also as our Prophet. Christ said, He that
hath seen me hath seen the Father. I and my Father are one. No man
has seen the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will
reveal him. We receive him as the prophet
to reveal God to us. And then we receive him as our
great high priest. He shall save his people, the
angel said to Mary, he shall save his people from their sins,
because he shall be their substitute, their sacrifice, their atonement,
and by his stripes they shall be healed. We receive him as
our great high priest, this one God, and one mediator between
God and men. That's the man Christ Jesus.
And we receive him as our advocate, as our mediator. Not only is
our prophet to reveal God to us, but our priest to atone for
us and to intercede for us. And then we receive him as our
Lord, as our Master, as our King to reign over us. Paul wrote
in Romans 10, 9 and 10, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth
Jesus to be what? Lord. Absolute Lord. And he will
not be our Savior if he's not our Lord. If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. I believe Paul summed it up on
the road to Damascus when he had been smitten and stricken
blind, and he lifted those sightless eyes to heaven from whence came
that voice I'm Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest." And these
are Paul's words. Lord, Master, what will you have
me do? That's submission to authority.
That's bowing to the scepter of Christ. Take my yoke upon
you, Christ said, and learn of me. I'm meek and lowly of heart. If you want life, if you want
salvation, if you want forgiveness, if you want redemption, you must
bow to Jesus Christ as your Lord and as your master. And that's
true of every believer. Now, secondly, down here in verse
20 of Ephesians 5, it says, Wives, submit yourselves. Submit yourselves
unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. Now, contrary to what
is taught today, marriage is not, according to God's Word,
marriage is not a 50-50 proposition. Not a scriptural marriage. Not
a marriage in which Jesus Christ has preeminence. A scriptural
home where Jesus Christ has preeminence. In that home, there is authority. And that authority is the husband.
He is the head of that home. He's not the partner. He's not
the 50-50 partner. He's the head of that home, according
to God's word. Now listen. The husband, verse
23, is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of
the church. And verse 23 also says the wife
is to be in subjection to her husband even as the church is
in subjection to Jesus Christ. Now no other arrangement can
be blessed of God because that's God's word. That is God Almighty's
plan for a happy home. That the husband be the priest
of the home, the voice of authority, and the head of that family.
And no other arrangement can be blessed. This is the way that
our Lord Jesus Christ set forth the order in the home. Listen
to some more scripture. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 3, I
would have you to know that the head of every man is Christ,
and the head of the woman is the man, the husband. Listen
to 1 Peter 3, verse 5. Holy women who trusted in God,
not self-willed women, not those who wrote their own Bibles, not
those who founded their own religious systems, but holy women who trusted
in God, adorned themselves in this way, being in subjection
to their own husbands. And then in 1 Timothy 2, verse
11, listen carefully, 1 Timothy 2, 11, let the women learn in
silence, with all subjection, I suffer not a woman to teach
or to use of authority over a man. Now, my friends, rebellion against
the husband's authority in the home is rebellion against God. Because that authority has been
placed in that home by the Lord Himself. All believers are to
be in submission to Christ. You'll find happiness there.
When we submit to Christ as our Lord, when His purpose and His
plan and His will becomes our desire, we'll find happiness.
And in a home where the husband has the authority in the Lord,
I'm not talking about submitting to a drunken, evil, hateful individual
who doesn't know God. We are to submit in the Lord,
as unto the Lord. But where a person, where a woman
is submissive and in subjection to her husband and gives the
reins of the home and the authority of the home and the headship
of the home to him as God ordained it, she'll find happiness. Now,
husbands, verse 25. The scripture says, husbands,
love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for
it. Now, though the wife is in submission
to the husband, and that's the God-ordained way, though she
is in submission, she's not a slave. The Bible does not recognize
her as a slave. The church is in subjection to
Christ, but the church is not a slave. The church is his bride.
The Church is his favorite choice possessions, and the Church will
be blessed as he is blessed. And the husband is to look upon
his wife as Christ looks upon the Church, in love, as his favorite
possessions, as his bride, and what he has belongs to her. And
though the wife is obedient to her husband, she is not to be
oppressed. The Church is obedient to Christ,
but also favored each day. with his mercies, and with his
love, and with his blessings. And though the wife is beneath
the husband's head, and she is, the head of every man is the
Lord. The head of the woman is the
man. And though she's beneath his head, and in submission to
him, she is not to be beneath his feet. The decisions made
by the head will be good for the body, and good for those
who are in submission to the head. And the husband is to submit
to the wife's needs and reasonable desires and reasonable requests
in the Lord. Old Dr. John Gill, who wrote
one of the greatest commentaries on the entire Bible, back in
around 1700 or in the 1600s, wrote this about this verse.
He said, Husbands, show respect to your wives. Seek their joy
and their contentment. Provide for them. Show love to
them, affection, both publicly and privately. Defend her. Defend her before all, including
your parents, your children, and your neighbors. In other
words, as the wife is to submit to the husband's authority and
to his headship, he is to submit to love for her. Wives be in
subjection, submission to your husband. But husband, love your
wives. Love them as Christ loved the
church and gave himself for it. That's submitting one to another
in the fear of the Lord, out of reverence for God. You see
why I say that this word is the key to happiness? It's the key
to all spiritual problems. It starts with every believer.
We submit to Christ as our prophet to reveal God, as our priest
to intercede for us, as our king to reign over us, and we can't
find any happiness outside of submission. Rebellion will bring
destruction. And the same thing is true in
a marriage between a man and a woman. There's got to be a
God-ordained way. There's got to be a voice of
authority. But that authority is not a rod of law. It's a rule
of love. And as the church is submissive
to Christ, the wife is to be unto her husband. And as Christ
loved the church, the husband is to love his wife. All right,
children. Over in Ephesians 6, verse 1, just a little further,
On the same page of your Bible, Ephesians 6, verse 1, you'll
find these words, Children, obey your parents, or submit to your
parents in the Lord, for this is right. Now, the Lord is the
authority over the man. The man is the authority over
the woman. And parents are the authority, the scriptural, biblical
authority over their children. God ordained it that way. And
we're talking about submission to the Lord now. I'm saying this,
that submission to parents, whose will is the glory of God and
the good of their children, submission to those godly parents is submission
to the Lord. And it will bring to those children
God's blessings. This is one of the only commandments
with a promise. Now, we have the commandments
not to take God's name in vain, not to steal, not to kill, not
to commit adultery, not to covet, not to bear false witness, These
are commands. But watch this one now. Honor
thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. That's a commandment with
a promise. And to be in rebellion and to
speak with disrespect to your parents against godly parents
is to be in rebellion against God. And it's to speak with the
utmost disrespect for God Almighty. And we're not talking about a
slavish servitude out of fear of punishment. But we're talking
about honoring one's parents. And respecting one's parents.
And this honor and respect will continue through life. All the
way through life. Even after we're married, we
still look back to our parents with honor and respect. Children,
obey your parents. Submit to them. Honor them. Respect them. This is right,
God said. Out of fear and reverence for
the Lord himself. Now then, servants. And anyone
who is working for another person is a servant. That's right. The
people who work at this TV station have a boss. Everybody's got
a boss. There isn't anybody who doesn't have a boss, who doesn't
have a master. Now listen to this scripture,
Ephesians 6, 5. Servants, employees, be obedient. to them who are your masters
or your employers, your bosses, as unto Christ, as unto Jesus
Christ. In other words, men who work
in the mines, you men who work in the mines who watch this program,
you men who work in the factories and the steel mills and the oil
refineries, you women who work in the stores, you schoolteachers,
everybody's got a boss, everybody's got someone to whom you're responsible,
someone who gives you orders. And God says this, he says, wherever
you work and for whomever you work, you are to give a good,
honest day's labor, as if you were working for Jesus Christ
himself. Now that's plain, isn't it? Now,
to be rebellious against your employer, to be rebellious against
your master, to that one who is your boss, to take advantage
of that person is to dishonor God Almighty. And I'm saying
this not only to Christians, but to non-Christians. I'm saying
it to every person listening to my voice. It's when you shirk
your duties, when you are a poor employee, when you loaf on the
job, you're dishonoring God Almighty. You're doing that as if you're
doing it to God Himself. That's what the Scripture says.
To steal from your employer. I've known people to laugh about
when they work at the mill or the refinery or somewhere like
that, and they take something home in their lunch bucket, or
take something home in their truck, and they laugh about,
I picked this up at the mill, you know, I stole this from the
mill. You're stealing from God Almighty. You might as well go
down to the church and rob the treasurer next Monday after they
take their offering on Sunday night. You're just as guilty
as if you were robbing God Almighty Himself. To loaf on the job,
to be lazy. I've known men to brag about
how little they do on the job. Well, I don't do anything. I
go out there and clock in, Clock out and draw my salary and draw
my bread. You're a crook. That's what you are. You're nothing
but a crook. You ought to be in prison. A person who treats
an employer that way, who will not work, who is lazy and a loafer,
he's sinning against God Almighty. That's what Scripture says. Laboring
men are to work in honesty and dedication and obedience as if
they were working for God Himself. As if the business belonged to
them. as if it were their own business as you would that men
should do unto you? How would you like it if somebody
were working for you and treating you like you're treating your
employer, your boss? Well, you'd say, the rascal?
That's what you are, a rascal. God's Word says that. Servants
be obedient unto your masters as unto the Lord. You see what
we say? Submission. And if you want a
happy relationship between you and the people for whom you work,
do a good day's work. Give them an honest day's work.
You expect to draw your salary on time? Then they have every
right to expect you to earn it. That's right. All right, last
of all, verse 9, chapter 6. See, submission, it's the key
to spiritual problems. You're not just going to walk
around and shake a preacher's hand and join the church and call
yourself a Christian. Because you call yourself a Christian
doesn't make you one. Because you dress like a Christian
doesn't make you one. Because you attend the church
where other Christians attend doesn't make you a Christian.
A Christian is one whose heart is right with God. And if his
heart is right with God, his heart will be right with others.
And he will put forth every effort to live for the glory of God.
Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it for the glory of God. Build
your home for the glory of God. Be the kind of child you ought
to be for the glory of God. Be the kind of wife or husband
or employer or employee you ought to be for the glory of God. Now
listen to this. Employers, you masters, verse
9, you bosses, Do the same things unto your servants, your employees,
in moderation, knowing you have a master in heaven. That's what
it says. Read verse 9. You masters, you
employers, you do the same thing to your employees, remembering
that you've got a master in heaven. If I hire a man, I'm to pay him
a good wage. For I have a master in glory
who's good to me. That's right. And if I withhold
from the laborer that which he deserves and that which he earns,
and I take it all to myself, I'm a thief. And I'm not remembering
that I have a master in heaven who's been so gracious and merciful
to me in every respect. Do you forget that? When you
try to work somebody as cheap as you can work them, and give
them as little as you can give them, while you rake all the
profits off the top and the cream off the top, you're a crook.
You're not a Christian. And then if I hire a man, I'm
to treat him with respect. and with dignity. I've known
people to get in a place of authority and they begin to step on the
people beneath them. They begin to teach, treat them
with disrespect and in an undignified manner. That's not Christian.
I have a master in heaven who's honored me, who's honored me,
who calls me his son. And when I hire someone to work
for me, I'm supposed to treat them with respect. I tell you,
you'll get the right sense of values when you come to realize
that digging a ditch has as much dignity as writing a poem, or
pulling a tooth, or performing surgery, or practicing law. Digging a ditch is just as dignified
in the eyes of God. And if I hire a man, I ought
to be as good to him as my master is to me. As you would, and this
will cover the whole thing, that men should do unto you, you do
the same thing to them. Giving thanks to God for everything
in the name of Christ, and submitting yourselves to one another in
the fear of the Lord. Now this message is on cassette
tape. We will supply this tape to you if you want it, if you
write to me. There's a small charge. You write to me. The
address will be given to you at the close of the program.
And I hope you'll join us next week at the same time. Until
then, Henry Mahan bidding you a very pleasant good day.

Submission, the Key to Happiness

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Submission, the Key to Happiness

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