Illus: When I think about submission I think about the three fellows talking about submission in their marriage.
Two of them were bragging about how that they rule their house by having their wife under submission.
• After a while one of the first two turns to the third and says, "Well, what about you, what sort of control you have over your wife?"
• The third fellow says "I’ll tell you. Just the other night my wife came to me on her hands and knees."
• The first two guys were amazed. "What happened then?" they asked.
• "She said, ’get out from under the bed and fight like a man you coward!"
Submission is a major part of our daily life:
(1) An employer has the AUTHORITY to tell
His employees:
• What time to be there and what time they can leave.
• What time to take a brake
• What time for lunch
• How he/she wants the job done
They have that authority and the employee has to submit to it.
(2) The government has the AUTHORITY to tell you how much taxes you are to pay, and you have to submit to their authority
(3) As a car driver the government has the AUTHORITY to tell you how fast you are allowed to drive around town, and you have to submit to that authority.
Illus: If we do not SUBMIT to the AUTHOIRTY of the government they will give you FREE room and board in the local jail.
In this sermon I want to focus on the AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD.
God is our CREATOR and He expects us to SUBMIT TO HIM AS OUR CREATOR.
God can communicate with mankind in two ways:
(1) Spoken Word
(2) Written Word
Illus: If God was to speak to anyone in this congregation they would obey Him immediately. But it is amazing if God speaks to mankind through the Written Word some will completely ignore the written Word of God.
He gives us the WRITTEN WORD OF GOD and He expects us to SUBMIT TO THE AUTHORITY OF HIS WORD as well as His Spoken Word.
On the judgment day every one of us will be held accountable if we have SUBMITTED TO THE WORD GOD!!!
WHAT DOES HE SAY ABOUT HIS WRITTEN WORD?
We read in Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Listen to what the Bible says about the AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD.
Illus: John Calvin tells us when the AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD IS PREACHED, HE SAID, "Whenever the Lord addresses us by his word, he deals seriously with us, in order that he may touch all our inmost thoughts and feelings; and so there is no part of our soul which ought not to be roused."
THE WORD OF GOD IS POWERFUL!!!
When God’s Word is preached:
• God’s AUTHORITATIVE WORD there will be Christians sitting there in the pew and thinking someone has told that preacher about the way I am living in sin.
• WHEN THE AUTHORITATIVE WORD GOD IS PREACHED there will be lost people sitting in the pew and the Holy Spirit will began to deal with them about their sinful life.
The Word of God is powerful when it is preached.
However, we continually hear times have changed in this age in which we live and the Bible is no longer adequate for the age in which we live!!!
Listen a church may change their doctrine to fit the age in which they live but the WORD OF GOD NEVER CHANGES.
Look at Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
• Jot; is the name of the smallest Hebrew letter.
• Tittle; point or corner of a letter.
The idea is, not the smallest part of His Word will pass away.
God has placed and preserved the Word of God in our life as the AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD to tell us:
• Who is qualified to serve in His Church as church officers
• How we are to live the Christian life
• What is sin and what is not sin.
• How often we are to pray and search the scriptures.
WHAT IS THE WORD OF GOD?
The Bible is not the book of the month. It’s the Book of the Ages.
Did you know…?
• It took 1,500 years for the Bible to be written.
• Its authors spanned 30 generations.
• It was completed 2,000 years ago, yet it’s still fresh today.
• More than 500 times in the first five books of the Bible, God says, “This is My Word.”
• More than 1,000 times in the prophets, God says, “This is My Word.”
• More than 4,000 times in the Old Testament and 44 times in the New Testament, the Bible is called the “Word of God.”
• God not only called His Book the “Word of God,” but He also called His Son the “Word of God.” In John 1:1 we read in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Illus: A man and his word may be different, but Christ and His Word are the same.
Did you know that Second Timothy is likely the final letter that the apostle Paul wrote?
It is written to Timothy, who was his “son in the faith.” (1 Timothy 1:2)
Paul would send Timothy to churches to help take care of problems when Paul was unable to go there himself.
He instructed him in 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the word.”
• In other words, the Word of God will tell them how to solve their problem.
• God’s Word also tells us how we can defeat the devil every time he attacks us.
If we are going to be victorious in the Christian life, we are going to have to learn to submit to the AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD.
Often, we older Christians will tell younger Christians that when the devil attacks them, they need to start “resist the devil...”
• And bless their hearts, when the devil hops on their backs they say, "Devil, I resist you." But nothing happens!
• Then, when the devil gets on their backs really bad, they say with an authoritative voice "Devil, I really resist you now!”
Illus: That is like a plumbing company that advertised, “We can stop your leaks for a hundred dollars. But we can REALLY stop your leaks for two hundred dollars.”
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? We need to ask ourselves the question, “What is the difference between STOPPING YOUR LEAKS and REALLY STOPPING YOUR LEAKS?”
And what is the difference between RESISTING the devil and REALLY RESISTING THE DEVIL?
It does not matter how you say it; you are NOT going to scare the devil off.
Satan is not scared of a person in this building…NOT A ONE!!!
Illus: We can all remember when we were children. We could get by with a lot, but when our parents had all, they could take, they would call our names with an authoritative voice, and we knew we were in some serious trouble.
But this does not work with Satan.
There is not a human alive that can sound authoritative enough to scare the devil off.
HOW DO WE RESIST THE DEVIL?
Notice, before the Word of God tells us we are to RESIST the devil, it tells us we need to do something else first - SUBMIT OURSELVES UNTO THE LORD.
Look at verse 7. “SUBMIT yourselves therefore to God. RESIST the devil and HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU.”
The Christian that is not SUBMITTING to Christ is wasting his/her time trying to RESIST Satan.
Illus: The apostle Paul is a good example of what God will do through a submissive Christian.
Look at Acts 19:11-12, we read, “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them. And the evil spirits went out of them.”
Some people try to build a doctrine on this unique experience, but notice, the scriptures only reveal that God did this through HIS ONE SPECIAL SERVANT.
Nowhere do we read that Paul said, "If you send me a thousand dollars, I will pray over this prayer cloth and send it to you."
The Bible makes it clear that this man, THE APOSTLE PAUL, had so SUBMITTED his life to the Lord that God was able to use him that way.
God does not mention that anyone else ever did this.
But get this, there were some who had seen how God was using the apostle Paul, and they decided, like many do today, that it was a good way to make some money.
Look at verse 13, "Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of Jesus, sayinq. We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth."
Did the devil HEED what those men commanded?
No! Look what happened to them.
Look at verses 15-16. We read, “And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them. And overcame them, and prevailed against them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”
The point of mentioning this passage is to show you that the devil will NOT HEED to anyone THAT IS NOT SUBMITTED TO GOD!
The AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD that is powerful tells us before we RESIST us first need to SUBMIT ourselves unto the Lord.
And listen, as a Christian, if you are not submitted to God, the devil is going to walk all over you.
In this sermon I would like to deal with SUBMISSION in three ways.
Such as we are to SUBMIT OURSELVES TO GOD SO THAT WE CAN…
I. OVERCOME THE WORLD
When the Bible says that God loves the world, it is referring to the human beings who live here (1 John 4:9).
Let me explain, God is not talking about this beautiful world in which we live; He is talking about the world of evil in which we live.
In the Bible, the term world can refer to two things…
• To the physical universe
• But it most often refers to the humanistic system that is at odds with God.
When we are told not to love the world, the Bible is referring to the world’s corrupt value system.
Satan is the god of this world, and he has his own value system contrary to God’s value system.
The Bible tells us in II Corinthians 4:4) and I John 2:16 details exactly what Satan’s system promotes:
• The lust of the flesh,
• The lust of the eyes,
• The pride of life.
Every sin imaginable can be summed up in those three evils.
When we submit to the world we are committing spiritual adultery.
Look at James 4:4, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
In this verse of scripture this is some strong language!
James is making two serious charges!
The first charge was of...
A. SPIRITUAL ADULTERY
Jesus regards our relationship with Him as the same intimate relationship of a husband and a wife.
However, our relationship with Christ is even closer than a marriage relationship.
Let me explain why it is closer.
Illus: With our mate we can share the most intimate things about our thoughts and deeds, and they still love us.
We would not think of telling the general public, or even our best friends, of some of the things we would tell our mate.
Why?
Because we know if they knew these thoughts and deeds about us they might:
• Want to associate with us any more
• Tell others those things, which we certainly would not want them to know.
But, as close as a marriage relationship is, I believed every married person here would admit there are sometimes:
• They have thoughts they will not share with their spouse
Illus: For example, we husbands might see a beautiful woman and we think, I should like to be married to her.
Sometimes it is best to keep your thoughts to yourself or soon someone is going to be asking you how you got that big knot on your head!!!
We have thoughts we will not even share with our wife.
And also, we…
• We have deeds we will not share with our spouse
For example, maybe you loan someone a hundred dollars and they paid you back. And you know if you tell your wife she might ask you for it so you hide it for yourself.
Yes, we can tell our mates things we cannot tell the general public and our best friends, because the marriage relationship is a very special relationship.
Still our relationship with the Lord is even GREATER than that because there is nothing, we have done that Christ does not know about us already and His opinion of us has not changed one iota!
Our relationship with Christ is greater than any other relationship we have.
But in this intimate relationship, the Lord tells us we are committing SPIRITUAL ADULTERY when we put anyone or anything ahead of Him.
James says, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses...”
James recognized that the reason so many Christians commit spiritual adultery is because of what the next accusation is...
B. SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE
Ignorance in the carnal realm has been behind much of the harm that has come to people over the years.
(1) It has been behind the FINANCIAL misery of many.
They stay "broke' because they are ignorant of how to handle their finances. Many simply have not figured out that you cannot spend more than you make.
They are ignorant about finance and also, they are ignorant about…
(2) Raising Children
Many couples simply are ignorant of how to raise children because they have not observed or been exposed to any good examples to follow.
Many have the physical ability to bear children, but when it comes to raising them, they are completely ignorant.
Notice that James is charging many Christians with SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE.
James says, "...know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
The Lord considers the world to be His enemy.
If you and I allow anything to come between us and the Lord Jesus Christ it becomes spiritual adultery.
We are to submit ourselves unto THE LORD JESUS, THAT WE MIGHT ESCAPE THE WORLD'S SEDUCTIONS.
We must SUBMIT to God to overcome the world.
Also, we must SUBMIT to God to…
II. DEFEAT THE DEVIL
Look at verse 7 again. "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the DEVIL, and he will flee from you."
The devil is not scared of us, but he is scared of the Lord Jesus and when we submit our bodies unto the Lord and come against the devil will flee.
Look 1 Peter 5:8, "Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."
Did you know that Peter was talking to Christians in this passage?
You see the devil does not have to pursue lost people. He already has them in his fold.
He knows that we, who have been saved by the marvelous grace of God, are in God's fold.
The devil works hard to get Christians to ruin their Christian testimony by getting those who claim to know Christ to:
• Follow after the cravings of the flesh
• Follow after the trends of the world
• Follow after the devil
How do we overcome the FLESH, the WORLD, and the DEVIL?
James 4:8 teaches us how. We read, “DRAW NIGH TO GOD, AND BE WILL DRAW NIGH TO YOU. CLEANSE YOUR HANDS. YE SINNERS: AND PURIFY YOUR HEARTS, YE DOUBLE-MINDED."
Illus: Vernon McGee says, "God comes to the door of your heart; He will not come any farther."
And He won’t, unless He is invited in and allowed to do His work in our lives.
He left heaven. He died on the cross of Calvary for our sins. What more can He do to let us know He wants to have a close relationship with us?
He put the ball in our court.
He tells us in the POWERFUL WORD OF GOD to DRAW NIGH TO HIM AND HE WILL DRAW NIGH TO US. There is no other way to get close to Him.
Illus: The song writer had it right “THERE IS NO OTHER WAY BUT TO TRUST AND OBEY!”
It is our job to make sure that NOTHING or NO ONE comes between us and Him.
The devil will FLEE from the Christian who has SUBMITTED HIMSELF TO GOD!
We are to SUMIT TO HIM SO THAT WE MIGHT…
I. DEFEAT THE WORLD
II. DEFEAT THE DEVIL.
But also we are to SUBMIT TO the AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD so we can …
III. DEFEAT THE FLESH
Look at JAMES 4: I-3 We read, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
James shows us some things to consider in these verses of Scripture about ourselves.
Look at verse 1, "From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in you members?"
Let us look at-
A. THE CAUSE
In this verse of Scripture, James deals with WHAT CAUSE us to do wrong. He is speaking specifically of the FLESH.
That is because this fleshly body of ours is filled with "lust."
The Greek word is “hedonon," which means: "To crave pleasure, to crave gratification.”
He is telling us that within these bodies of ours is a constant warfare of craving for pleasures, yearnings, urgings, desirings, and grasping after whatever will gratify us and will bring us pleasure.
Inside every believer is a battlefield where the battle of WANTING TO DO RIGHT and DESIRING TO DO WRONG is being fought.
Illus: An old Indian chief explained it this way. He pointed to his heart and said, “Inside of me there are two dogs, a WHITE DOG and a BLACK DOG, and they fight all the time!”
• A man said, “Chief, which dog wins?”
• He said, “The one that I feed the most!”
We all have this LUSTFUL SPIRIT inside us, and EVERY DAY it makes its demands on us.
Illus: The flesh cries out from within, “I must be satisfied, my every urge, my every desire and every yearning, and I am determined to wage war until I have my way.”
If that OLD FLESH is not harnessed, we will never BE VICTORIOUS IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
There are other LUSTFUL SINS that rage within our flesh.
Illus:These things may not be sinful within themselves, but they become sinful when we let these INSATIABLE DESIRES OF THE FLESH crave for more and more!
Here are a few that give us trouble:
(1) FOOD
Illus: We realize that there are people with physical problems.
• It seems like they can walk by food and gain weight.
• There are others who seem to gain weight if they smell food.
These are people who have gland problems. But there are others who do not have a gland problem; they have a mouth problem.
• They make us think of our baby in the church nursery…everything they see they want to put in their mouths.
• These people hear little voices. They can walk by a watermelon and a little voice says to them, “Eat me!”
• They have never learned to control their appetite for food.
Not only do some crave food, some also crave...
(2) DRUGS
Illus: God gave mankind the wisdom to discover many helpful uses for drugs, and we may not fully appreciate them until we see a loved one suffering on a death bed.
But we have a nation full of people today who are no more than legalize drug addicts.
We have doctors who are getting kickbacks on every prescription they fill. They do not care a thing about their patients, they have a license to deal in drugs and not get caught.
These legalized “Drug Junkies” come to them, and they drug them up every time they come.
This nation is filled with people whose old sinful flesh within them cries out for drugs, and they submit to this evil desire.
Those drugs control them, and when it is controlling them the Holy Spirit cannot control you.
We have to control the desires within us or they will control us.
Some cannot control their-
(3) SEXUAL BEHAVIOR
There is nothing wrong with sex, but the Bible makes it clear it is for marriage. If a person is not careful, this old flesh will lead a man or woman down the path of destruction.
One of the many differences God made between men and animal, is that mankind is suppose to be able to harness this desire.
Illus: But some are like an old tom cat they prowl the neighborhood.
But because many do not, they live like animals.
(4) MONEY
We need money to buy the necessities of life. But listen, greed for money can totally possess you.
People who have this greed are like dope addicts; there is nothing they will not do to acquire it.
They will:
• Lie to get money
• Steal to get money
• Kill for money
Notice that the things that we have mentioned are not sinful things within themselves. They only become sinful when we allow this flesh of ours to control us, and we GO BEYOND THE POINT OF MODERATION, OR THE BOUNDARIES GOD HAS SET UP.
Many people lose the war with the flesh that is warring every day in their hearts. The flesh has demanded satisfaction, and many live every day trying to SATISFY THE LUSTS OF THE FLESH.
This is THE CAUSE of their living this life the way they live it.
TO ATTEMPT TO SATISFY THE FLESH IS NOT WHAT GOD CREATED US FOR!
The greatest discovery that can be made in this life is to find out that the PEACE that we all seek is NOT FOUND IN FOOD, DRUGS, SEX, MONEY or IN PEOPLE. It is found ONLY in the LORD JESUS!
Many are struggling within themselves every day trying to find peace. James refers to our struggles within us as a war.
Look at verse 1 again, "From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of you lusts that war in your members."
When there is war there is no peace.
Christians, who never learn to SUBMIT to the Lord, never find peace.
Some of the most miserable people on earth are Christians who have not grown spiritually because they never learned to submit to the authoritative word of God.
Look at verse 2 again, “Ye have not because ye ask not.”
What does he mean, “...Ye HAVE NOT...?”
James meant that you have been asking for PEACE in the wrong places.
The AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD teaches us:
(1) IF WE SUBMIT TO GOD
(2) We can REIST THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE!!!
Conclusion:
We must learn to SUBMIT TO GOD to the AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD so that we might …
I. Overcome the world
II. Overcome the devil
III. Overcome the flesh
