Submit - The Key to Happiness

cold, snowy January Wednesday
evening could be for you a very eventful and special evening if God the Holy Spirit
is pleased to apply his word and his message to your heart
tonight. It could be a very eventful time. It can be just another preaching
service, just another church service, which most of them are. But I want you to turn to Ephesians
5, verse 21, and look strongly at this word in verse 21, the
first word, submitting, submitting. And I submit to you that this
word, one word, submitting, is the key to spiritual happiness. It's the key to peace. It's the key to finding the will
of God. It's the key to harmony in the
home, in the heart, in the church, and in the world. And it'll do
for you what no medicine can do. It'll do for you what no human can do. It'll do for you
what only God can do. And that's my text tonight, submitting,
Ephesians 5, 21, submitting the key to happiness. Now the world
is full of books on how to be saved, how to be a useful Christian,
how to be filled with the Holy Spirit, how to lead a victorious
life, and how to win friends and influence people, and how
to be happily married, and how to build a Christian home, and
they're worth just about what you'd give for them to make paper
to light a fire. That's just about all they're
good for. Without the least bit of fear that I'm oversimplifying
such a difficult thing as our relationship with the living
God and our relationship with one another, without the least
fear. I don't have the slightest fear
that I'm oversimplifying this thing at all. I submit to you,
I boldly state to you that the key to all of your problems is
found in one word, and that word is right here in Ephesians 5.21,
and that word is submit. And the word means to yield,
to surrender, to the power, control, and authority of another. That's
exactly what it means. The word submit means to yield,
to surrender, an unconditional surrender, to the power, control,
and authority of another. As I was preparing this message,
the first thought that came to my mind when I looked up that
definition, what does this word submit mean? Submitting yourself. Now, you can't submit me, and
you can't submit the fellow or the lady next to you. You are
the only one that you can submit. Submitting yourselves to one
another in the fear of the Lord. You can submit yourself, but
you can't do one thing. This is not a message you can
take to anybody else. This is a message for you, for
me, and it can't be given to anybody else. If you don't hear
it, then perhaps somebody else will. But now the first thing
I thought of was this. This word is offensive. It's
offensive to my flesh. It's offensive to the will of
the flesh. It's offensive to the pride of
the flesh. It's offensive to the desires
of the flesh. This word, submitting, is offensive. That's the first thing. When
you come to someone and say, yield yourself unconditionally,
surrender to the power, control, and authority of another, the
old flesh rears up in anguish, and I will not. And that's the
sin of the flesh. It's I will not. That was the
sin of Satan. He says, I will be like God.
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will mount
my throne above the stars. I will, I will, I will. And that
was Adam's sin. He said, I will be like God.
That was the basis of the whole thing. You know when you eat
this fruit, you'll be like God. And when they saw that it was
good to the taste and to the sight, they took it. This was
the word at the cross. We will not have this man reign
over us. We will not have it. We will
not submit. We will not yield. We will not
surrender. We will not. And the flesh says
no. The flesh says no. That's the
whole conflict. Turn to Romans 8. Let me show
it to you. That's the whole conflict. Romans chapter 8, verse 5. Romans 8, 5. Look at it. For
they that are after the flesh, they're interested in the things
of the flesh. That's their interest. That's
their concern. They that are after the Spirit, they're interested
in the things of the Spirit. And to be carnally minded, to
be materially minded, fleshly minded, is death, but to be spiritually
minded is what? Life and peace. Because the natural
mind, the carnal mind, is enmity against God. It is not, watch
that word, subject. It is not submissive. The carnal
mind is not submissive to the will of God, to the law of God.
And it can't be. The old flesh is not going to
submit, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God,
because they will not submit. They will not be in subjection
to God. Turn to Galatians 5. Here it
is again. In Galatians chapter 5, verse
13. Now let's look at this carefully. Brethren, brethren, you have
been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh, but by love do what? Serve. Serve one another. Submit to one another. For all
the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love
thy neighbors thyself. But if you bite and devour one
another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another.
This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill
the lust, the cravings of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth,
or warreth, against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.
And these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot
do the things that you would, that you would. You do the things
that God would. You do the things that your friends
would. You do the things that the church would. You don't do
the things that you would. The will of God for us, for me,
for you. whether in the church or the
home or in private life, the will of God can only be found
when there is a willingness on our part to submit to the will
of God. God is not going to reveal his
will until there is on our part a willingness to submit to it. It would be a waste of time to
reveal his will to you if there was no willingness to submit
to it. People talk about they can't find the will of God. Well,
they don't have any intention of doing it, why should God reveal
it to them? I can't find what God would have me do. God's not
going to reveal to us what he would have us do, because he
knows it will meet with a rebellious spirit, it will meet with a spirit
that is not surrendered. It's not submissive. This is
the key. Submitting yourselves, and I
know it's a word that the flesh abhors and hates because the
flesh is proud. But it's still the word. And
watch the next line here in verse 21. Submitting yourselves to
one another in the fear of the Lord. In other words, the Amplified
says, out of reverence to the Lord. out of submission to the
Lord himself. When you are submitting yourself
unto the people of God, you're submitting yourself to God. This is the moving cause, this
is the motive for submission to authority. And yielding ourselves
to one another is yielding ourselves to God, because all authority
is of God. Turn to Romans 13, let me show
you there. In other words, when I obey the
laws of the land, I'm obeying God. In Romans 13, listen to
this. Romans 13, verse 1. Let every
soul be subject to the higher powers. There's no power but
of God. The powers that be are ordained
or ordered of God. Whosoever therefore resists the
power, resists the ordinance of God. And they that resist
shall receive damnation. to themselves damnation. For
a wife to obey her husband is obeying the Lord. For a husband
to love his wife and treat her as she ought to be treated is
for him to obey the Lord. For children to obey their parents
is for them to obey the Lord. To disobey their parents is for
a child to disobey God. Submission to the laws of the
land is submission to God. Submission to spiritual leaders,
pastors and teachers, is submission to God. For Paul says, we are
ambassadors for Christ. We beseech you in Christ's stead. It's no light thing to hear a
message and walk away and say, well, I'm not going to do what
that says. I'm not going to submit to that.
I'm not going to buy that. That's just his opinion. Well,
it could be God's opinion. And the only way God will speak
to us is through His Word and through His Messenger. If you
want the key to spiritual joy and spiritual happiness and spiritual
growth and spiritual peace, it's right here in this one verse.
Submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of the Lord
out of reverence and submission to the Lord Himself. And outside
of this area, I can, I think, Faithfully and truthfully say
to you, there's no blessing. Out of this area, there cannot
be a blessing because when you move out of this area of submission,
you're getting into the area of rebellion and self-will. And
that's the greatest sin. That's the chief sin. All right,
let's look at these one at a time. Now, first of all, the first
submission is to Christ. The first submission is to Christ. Submit yourself, first of all,
to Christ. The Scripture tells us this,
as many as received Him. And the first time I ran into
this word was twenty-odd years ago when Brother Barnard was
preaching one time, and he said this, John 1, verse 12, the word
receive, he said, is submit. To as many as received Him, or
to as many as submit to Christ, To them gave he the power to
become the sons of God. Now Christ is our Savior. He's
our Savior from sin. The angel said to Mary, Thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sin. He is our Savior. We receive
him as our Redeemer, our Savior, our Priest. But Christ is also
our Lord. And we submit to him as our Lord. And His greater glory becomes
our chief desire. When we savingly submit to Christ,
it is not our glory that we seek, but His glory. His gospel becomes
our delight. His word becomes our rule of
life. His will becomes our prayerful
goal. His people become our coveted
companions. His worship becomes our enjoyable
occupation. And to win Christ and to be found
in Him is our one object in life. That's when we submit to Him.
The Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, when Christ spoke
to him, he fell on his face and he cried, Lord, Master, King,
Sovereign, what will you have me do? That's submission. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus, to be what? To be Lord. And believe in thine
heart, God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
He's the Lord of our lives. It's the Lord, Eli said. Let
him do what he will. It's the Lord. Alright, secondly,
look at verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husband. Submit. There's the word. I say
that it's the key to happiness. It's the key to prosperity, spiritual
prosperity. It's the key to peace and joy.
All believers submit. That's the entrance into the
kingdom of God, is submission to Christ. But then we come right
on down the line. It says, wives, submit yourselves
to your own husbands as unto the Lord. Now, contrary to what
is taught today, And I know this would not make Reader's Digest,
and this would not make McCall's Magazine, and this wouldn't make
Woman's Home Companion, and this wouldn't make a Marriage Manual,
but contrary to what is taught today, marriage is not a partnership. And for any couple to enter marriage
as a partnership, they're entering it on a wrong basis. A scriptural
marriage, I'm talking about a scriptural marriage now, a Bible marriage,
is not at all a 50-50 proposition. No way. And there are two reasons
given right underneath. Verse 23, here's the first reason.
For the husband is the head of the wife. That's the first reason
it's not a partnership. That's the first reason it's
not a 50-50 proposition, because the husband is the head. You
can't have two heads, you've got a monster. the husband is
the head of the wife. That's the first reason why marriage
is not a 50-50 proposition. And what's this? He's the head
of the wife in the same way that Jesus Christ is head of this
church. Now I ask you tonight, how many
of you would dare question the authority of Jesus Christ in
this church? How many of us, this preacher
or any of you, would for a moment, just would for a moment, in any
way question his right to do as he pleases with this church?
Well, we wouldn't do it. But why? Well, he's the head
of the church, preacher, in the same way in every scriptural
home there can be only one head. And God Almighty has ordained
that head to be the husband. All right? Secondly, verse 24.
Here's the second reason why no marriage is a 50-50 proposition. It's not a partnership. Therefore,
as the church is subject to Christ, let the wives be subject to their
own husbands in everything. Everything. How is this church subject to
Christ? Well, we're subject to Him as
our head. as our supreme authority, as our Lord, as our ruler. But
it says here, clear as words can make it, that in the same
way the wife is to be subject to her husband as the church
is subject to Jesus Christ. And I promise you, on the authority
of God's Word, no other arrangement will ever be blessed of God.
It won't be blessed of God, I promise you. God will not bless rebellion.
Submit yourselves. And when we start this thing
off, I had to start with the first place in order to be a
believer. I'm not talking to fools now,
I'm talking to believers. Every believer starts out the
Christian road by submitting to Christ. He's the authority.
He's the head. And then secondly, he deals with
the wise, and he says they are to submit to their husband. Let's
look at some Scripture. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 3. 1
Corinthians 11 verse 3. Now this is God's Word. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 3. But I
would have you know that the head of every man is Christ,
sovereign, absolute, supreme, tyrant, dictator, master, king,
Christ, no question. And the head of the woman is
the man. And to question that is to rebel
against God. Turn, if you will, to 1 Peter
3. 1 Peter chapter 3. And we'll look at verse 5 and
6. Listen to this. For after this manner in the
old time the holy women also who trusted in God, and that's
who I trust I'm talking to, those who trust in God, adorn themselves
being in subjection to their own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are, as long as
you do well and are not afraid with any amazement. Turn to 1
Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2, verse 11 and 12. It says here, Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection,
I suffer not a woman to teach, nor, nor, watch this, to use
of authority, nor to use of authority over
the man, but to be in silence. And in 1 Corinthians chapter
14, if you'll turn there with me, 1 Corinthians 14, verse 34. Now listen to this, 1 Corinthians
13, 34. Let your women keep silence in
the church, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they
are commanded to be under obedience, as saith the law. If they will
learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. It's
a shame. for a woman to speak in church. I look back at our
text a moment, submitting yourself. And as I said, this word greats
human pride. It is objectionable. It is offensive to the proud
heart. It's offensive to the lust of
the flesh that wants itself to be lifted up and wants itself
to be exalted, wants itself to be acknowledged. But this submission
on the part of the wife will bring honor and respect. Look
down at verse 33 of Ephesians 5. Nevertheless, let every one
of you in particular so love his wife even as himself, and
the wife see that she reverence her husband. And that word reverence
there is honor and respect. And see that she speak respectfully
to him and of him She will do nothing without his
consent. She will submit to him not only
material decisions but spiritual decisions. She will provide him
physical joy and comfort, mental joy and comfort, emotional joy
and comfort in a happy home. And rebellion against this word
is rebellion against God and to me constitutes an unregenerate
heart. All right, thirdly now, submit. But this is the key to happiness.
This is the key to happiness in any area, is do what God says. And God's Word says submit to
one another, to one another. In submitting to one another,
you're submitting to God. Wives, obey your husbands in
the Lord, in the Lord. Alright, now look at the next
in verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Now,
though the wife is in subjection, she is not a slave. The church
is in subjection to Christ, but the church is his bride. He calls
the church his jewels. He calls the church his favorite
possession. The church is in subjection to
Christ, but the church is not a slave. The church is a bride. The church is a favorite possession. The church is a jewel. And that's
the way a husband is to love his wife. Though she is in obedience
to him, she is not to be oppressed by him. The church is obedient
to Christ, but the church is favored with his choice blessings,
with his kindness, with his grace. Watch this. Though the wife is
beneath her husband's head, he's not supposed to be beneath his
feet. Though she is beneath his head,
he's her head. And though she is beneath his
head, She's not to be beneath his feet, she's supposed to be
in his heart. Christ loved the church, and he loved the church
so much, he gave himself for the church. And the decisions
that are made by the head of the church are for the good of
the church, and the blessings of the church, and the comfort
of the church. And even so, the decisions made by the husband
are for the good of the wife, and the blessings of the wife,
and the comfort of the wife. One old man said this, I thought
it was real good. The wife is to submit to her
husband's will and to her husband's wishes. But he also is to submit
to her needs and her reasonable desires. For she is a wife of
a spiritual covenant. Just as God made a covenant back
in eternity and gave to His Son a bride, you and I made a covenant
here on earth when we took out a marriage license and stood
before the preacher. We made a covenant with our wives
that we would protect, that we would provide, that we would
care for them. And that's a covenant. It's a
promise. And that wife who is a spiritual
companion in a spiritual covenant Though she is in submission to
her husband, it's a blessing from God. And if she is a good
wife, she's worthy to be spoiled. She's worthy to be spoiled with
affection, with consideration, with comfort, and with love.
Husbands, love your wives, and husbands, if they're good wives,
spoil them. Oh John Gill, you know everybody
talks about John Gill being such a dry, dead, cold theologian. I want you to listen to what
he says about this verse. I've never found John Gill to
be cold. I've never found him to be dead.
I've never found John Gill to be without feeling. I've always
found him, I think it's just the way you look at anything.
You know somebody said to me the other day, what a man is, Or a man is known. He said a man is known not by
what others say about him, but by what he says about others. And I think it all depends on
the way you look at John Gill. I like what he says. That's the
reason I like him. I like what he says. He says
this, Husbands, love your wives. Respect them. Seek their contentment. Seek their pleasure. Seek their
satisfaction. Provide for them. Protect them. Conceal their faults. Show them
love and affection, not only in private, but in public. Defend
them before your children. Defend them before your parents. Defend them before your neighbors.
There's no greater gift other than the gospel than a submissive
scriptural wife. And there's no greater burden
in all the world than one that's not. Proverbs 21. Let's go over there
just a moment. This is what the wise man Solomon
said in Proverbs 21. Listen to this. Proverbs 21 verse
9. It says, It's better to dwell
in the corner of a housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide
house. That is a burden. That is a burden. And a contentious wife, he said,
is like the continual dropping of the rain. It just never lets
up. It never lets up. So in this submission, submitting,
submitting, this is the key. This is the King. We all submit.
He's the Lord. We submit to Him. That's the
way salvation comes. That's the way redemption comes.
That's the way life comes. But then the way happiness comes
in a home is for the wife to recognize from the outset, and
she doesn't then, when God saves her, she'll recognize it, that
her husband is the head of the home, that she submits, that
she surrenders, that she's in subjection to Him. He's the priest. He's the one through whom God
will lead a home and bless a home. God will not lead either a church
or a home or a community or a nation through a woman. No way. If you
ladies have any aspirations to be leaders, forget it. God will
not take... He had one in the Garden of Eden
that was a leader, and that's the last female leader we ever
had. That's a fact. That's what Scripture said. He
says, for Eve was in the fall deceived, Adam was not deceived,
the woman was. And since that time, based on
that creation and on that fall, God says the head of the woman
is the man. But husbands, like John Gill says, love you what?
Spoiler. If you have a good one, spoiler.
Be good to her, just like Christ is to the church. He spoils us.
He's good to us. He overlooks our failures, faults,
and everything else, and loves us, and gracious to us, and merciful
to us. All right, now, chapter 6, verse
1. Children, submit to your parents. Obey your parents, for this is
right. Now, I'm old-fashioned. I'm old-fashioned
in the sense that the Scripture is old-fashioned. I believe the
Lord is the head of the man, the husband is the head of the
wife, and the parents are the head of the children. I believe
parents have authority over children. I'm talking about in the Lord
now. I'm not talking about a drunken father and a vain, evil father
who would lead you to steal. That's not what we're talking
about. But we're talking about parents whose will is the spiritual
happiness of their families. We make mistakes. We're not perfect.
But the father or mother who has the spiritual well-being
of a son or daughter at heart has absolute authority over that
child. And for that child to rebel against
that parent is to rebel against God Almighty. We may talk about generation
gaps and all that. I'll tell you what the gap is.
It's unbelief. It's rebellion against God. That's
the gap. To refuse to submit willingly
to the wisdom and the will and the wish of your parents is to
defy God Almighty Himself. That's exactly what it is. And you know, this obedience,
this submission to our parents is not a slavish servitude. Well, I did what he said. I did
what she said. No. We don't obey because we
have to out of fear of discipline, but this true spiritual obedience
is an obedience in which we honor our father and mother, in which
we show respect for them. Now, you go back to a wife in
submission to her husband. If she does this solely because
it says so in the Bible, it's like worshiping God with the
lip and not the heart. If she does it just because the
preacher said do it, or because the Bible said do it, or because
that's the law, she'll get no blessing. But she does it because
she loves to do it. She wants to do it. She wants
Him to be honored. She wants Him to be reverent.
She wants Him to be respected. And children, when they scripturally
obey their parents, it's because they love God, and because they
love God, they love their parents. They see God in their parents.
They see God's authority. When you're riding down the highway,
do you see God's authority in the law? When you're in the town
and certain laws are the rule, do you see God's authority? And
children who genuinely honor their father and mother, it's
an honor and a respect and a reverence that comes out of a regenerated
heart. They see God in their parents.
They see God's wisdom and God's will, and their desire is to
make their parents happy and to make them proud of the child.
And I'm saying this, I don't think that this honor and respect
is ever to cease. Now, Ed Ballard, your mother
is right in this congregation here, lives in this town. I think
you'd respect her and honor her, though you're a man over 40 years
of age. I don't think there ever is. My parents are dead. Some of your parents are living.
I don't care how old you get. I believe that our parents are
to be respected and reverenced and honored and held in the highest
esteem. I really do. And God's not going
to bless any other way. And it not only starts from a
little child, it comes right on up. And you go back and read
the Old Testament, you'll find Joseph respected his father. and honored his father, though
Joseph was Lord in Egypt, but he still reverenced his father.
And you'll find it true of Isaac, and you'll find it true of all
these great men of God. Throughout the Scripture, they
honored their parents, and it was from the heart. And I'm sincerely
saying, I'm submitting to you this teaching from God's Word,
that rebellion against authority rebellion against God. And if
you find in your heart tonight, if you find a rebellion against
your parents, if you find you husbands a hatred for your wife,
if you wives find in your hearts rebellion against your husband,
I'm telling you this, I'd seek the Lord. Because that rebellion
and that unwillingness to submit to God, to that authority, is
really a rebellion against God Almighty. You'll see that all
the way. Children, obey your parents in
the Lord, for this is right. Now let's look at another scripture
down in verse 5, servants. Now this applies to all of us
who have jobs. We work for somebody. It says,
servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according
to their flesh. Everybody here has got a boss. Everybody here
has got a foreman, a general foreman, a superintendent, and
management. And we are servants, that's what we are. And you are
to be obedient to them, you're to submit. There's that word
again, submit. According to the flesh, how?
With fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. That's it. As unto Christ. When you're out here working
on this job for Ed Stevens, he's your employer, He's your boss,
you work for him like you're working for the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's right. And your honesty, you're working
up at Charlie Miller's store, I don't care who, if the person's
a Christian, you're working for him just like you're working
for Jesus Christ. That's so. And you men who are working after
me, to steal from your employers is to steal from God. To loaf
on the job is to dishonor God Almighty. to mistreat your boss
or employer or speak against him is to speak against God Almighty. That's right. And we are to work,
we are to do a good day's work in honesty, in strong effort,
in dedication, in determination as unto Christ. Look at verse
6. Not with our service as men, we're not doing it to get a pat
on the back. That's not why we're doing it.
But we're doing it as the servants of Christ. Doing the will of
God from the heart. Look at verse 7. With good will,
doing service as to the Lord. I'm God's son. I never could understand how
preachers could loaf and never study or never go into the pulpit
without preparation. Man, we're ambassadors of the
Son of God. We're servants of the living
God. We're servants of the King. We're not trying to please men
or get along with men. We're trying to do something
that will bring glory to our God. Submit. Submit. I know it grates the flesh. I
know that it does. And I know we go out there on
a job and we don't feel like getting paid enough or we don't
feel like we're being treated just right and we get called
out when we're not supposed to work and we carry a chip on our
shoulder. Well, remember this. God's your
boss. God's your boss. That's the whole
thing. He's the boss man. And these fellows that are over
you are under Him. And whatever you do, you're doing
it as unto the Lord. Look down here at verse 9. You
masters, you men that are workmen. Now some of you here tonight,
you have men working for you. You have men working for you.
Charlie, you got men. The Eddies, some of the Lloyds,
some of the rest of GT got me in working for you. But now you
watch this scripture here. You masters, you do the same
things to them. You treat them like you want
to be treated. Forbearing threatening, don't
mistreat them, moderate, moderately, knowing that You've got a master
too, and he's in heaven. He's just a step beyond the superintendent
shack over there. He's on the throne. You remember,
you've got a master, and there's no respecter of persons with
him. The Lord one day said a man, a fellow called a man in, said,
do you owe me some money? He said, well, I don't have it
to pay. You owe me 500 talents of gold.
I don't have a thing. Well, I forgive you." So he skedaddled
out, and some fellow out there owed him 10 pieces of gold, and
he got him with a throat, and he said, you pay me, or I'll
put you in jail. Somebody came in to the king, and he said,
you know that fellow just in here that you forgave that big
debt? Yeah. He's out there choking
a fellow because he owes him just a Part of what you forgave,
he said, go get him. They brought him in. He said,
didn't I just forgive you of that awful debt? Yes, sir, and
I appreciate it. And you went right out and got another fellow
by the neck and tried to make him pay you ten pieces of gold? That's right. Put him in prison
and leave him there and he pays the whole debt, which he'll never
do. And we've got to remember this. You've got a master in heaven.
You work people. You work them in your homes,
domestic help. You work them for yourself. That
person is to be treated, to be paid, just exactly like you expect
him to treat you. That's the key. You say, boy,
Purchie, if that was in effect today, we'd get the job done.
That's just what I'm saying. We'd get the job done. You wouldn't
need a labor union. You wouldn't need arbitration.
Nobody would ever file a grievance. Wouldn't that be something? But
this is for believers. This is for folks that know God.
But it's still a key to happiness. And then you turn over to the
last in verse 10, it says, Finally, my brethren, finally my brethren,
be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and put
on the whole armor of God. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil
and he'll attack He'll attack. You don't wrestle against flesh
and blood. Your enemy's not flesh and blood. It's just like Job
didn't attack the Sabaeans and the Chaldeans and the Wien. He
said the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. God's the first
cause of all things. So what I've got to do, if I'm
going to be a scriptural husband, if my wife is going to be a scriptural
wife, if I'm going to be a scriptural son, And my children will be
scriptural children, and I'm going to be a good servant, and
I'm a servant. But if I'm going to be a good
master, a good leader, then I'm going to have to have some help. And that help will come from
the armor of God. It says that armor is this, verse
14, having your lorns girt about with truth, the Word of God,
the breastplate of righteousness. That's not my righteousness,
but His. And then I'm to have my feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel, standing firmly in the gospel of the grace of
God. I'm to take the shield of faith. I'm to take the helmet
of salvation, which is the helmet of the Savior, to guard my head
against false doctrine. I'm to take the sword of the
Spirit, which is the Word of God. This is what it says. This is what it says. God will
bless what it says to you. And God will bless that man or
that woman who dares to believe what it says and walk in it.
But that's the key. Submission. It'll destroy arguments,
it'll destroy conflict, it'll destroy warfare when we submit. Starting with Christ, coming
right on down through, through all of the walks of life. Submit
yourselves to one another. as unto the Lord, in the fear
of the Lord, out of reverence for the Lord, because that's
what he commands. Our Father in heaven, work in
these rebellious, proud, sinful hearts of ours a submission to
Christ, our Redeemer, break our hearts. We are so proud. We want our way. We want our
will. Our thoughts are not thy thoughts.
Our ways are not thy ways. And when thy way is clearly set
before us, we look for a way around it. We look for a way
to avoid it. We look for a way to escape it.
But there is no escape. There's no way to avoid it. This
is thy way. Give us a broken heart and a
contrite spirit. Grant, O Lord, that we shall
be so smitten in our hearts and humbled before Thee that we can
say with Paul, I'm the chief of sinners, I'm less than the
least of all the saints, I look not on my own welfare but the
welfare of others. Make our homes happy homes in
which there's love and subjection, submission, surrender, reverence
and honor, respect. Make us scriptural children that
we might honor our parents, not just with our lips, but with
our hearts, that we might respect them, give
them that esteem which the Church gives to the Heavenly Father.
And Lord, make us good workmen, good servants. Let our reputation
be one of integrity and honesty and truth. and dedication. And Lord, help us who are leaders
to remember we've got a Master to whom we are responsible. And we pray that you'd use this
message in each of our hearts. Let us learn this word, if it
be thy will, for us personally. Let's learn it tonight. Submission. For it's in Christ's name we
pray. Amen.

Submit - The Key to Happiness

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