Amen. Turn with me, if you would, to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter three, continuing in our study through Colossians. Let's read verses 18 and 19. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it's fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. I was going to title this Bible study, A Happy Marriage. That's what I was going to title this. This is a word to wives and a word to husbands. but I felt strongly led to say some things that didn't allow me to get past verse 18. I kept trying to move on and get into the relationship of a husband and a wife, and the Lord just very, very strongly laid some things on my heart. So I wanna look at our spiritual marriage today. And if the Lord is willing, we will apply this to our physical marriages next time we're here. If the Lord would have me to bring a Bible study on that, we'll look at it next time we're here. This is what I want us to understand today. The Apostle Paul is instructing us here in Colossians, and especially chapter three, on how we ought to live in this world. That's what he's instructing us on. How we ought to act and how we ought to be as God's people and followers of Christ. Verse 1 says, we've been in Colossians 3 for a little while, and just to recap, verse 1 says, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for you're dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. He's saying Christ is coming to get his people and we're gonna be forever with him in glory, in a sinless state. So verse five, he said, mortify or kill your members which are upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, which is idolatry, and we went through all of these and gave the meanings of all these words. For which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience? Verse 7 says, And the witch, you also walked sometime when you lived in them, But now ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth." He's clearly telling us this is what God's people ought to be. This is what God's people are going to be. Verse 9, He said, Seeing you've put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him, where there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Verse 12, he said, put on therefore as the elect of God. He said, you are the elect of God, God's chosen people. Put on therefore is the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, that's patience. Forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Now, verse 18, he says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men. knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons. The Apostle Paul is instructing us here on how we ought to live, how we ought to act, how we ought to be as God's people and followers of Christ. And I want us to understand something about how we live in this world. and how we act and how we ought to be as God's people. I want us to understand something. I pray we might learn this. If we don't know this, I pray we might learn this. If we know this, I pray we might be reminded of this. Some people believe that we must obey God's commandments in order to be saved. I just read commandment after commandment after commandment, instruction after instruction, a whole chapter of it to everybody. Some people believe that we must obey God's commandments to us so that we can be saved. That is not true. That is not true. That's not so. God saved us while we were still dead in trespasses and sins. God saved us on the cross of Calvary 2,000 years ago before any of us were ever even born. When he cried, it is finished, it was finished. Either it's finished or it's not. And it is. It is. God saved us in His will and His purpose before this earth ever even had foundations. Christ was the Lamb slain for the sin of His people before the foundation of the world. The finished work of Christ is not dependent on anything that we do. Anything. His obedience. If we're gonna talk about obedience for salvation, His obedience in the shedding of His blood, that is the only thing that our salvation is dependent on. So we do not need to obey God's law in order to be saved. Salvation is not earned. We need to understand that. Salvation is not earned. It is freely given. That's what grace is. Grace means freely given. Salvation is by grace. It's by grace, okay? We will not, by His grace, even insinuate that the death of Christ was in vain if we don't make it effectual by our works. God forbid that we even imply that blasphemy, okay? So, some believe, very wrongly, that we must obey God's commandments in order to be saved. Wrong. Then, you have some who believe And this is important. Okay, that's that. Then you have some who believe that God saves whom He will. But you can't have any evidence or any assurance of knowing that He saved you unless you see in yourself a putting away of your own sin, a turning from your own sin to the obedience in yourself of good works. Meaning, this is what I mean by that, meaning good works are the evidence of salvation. Some people, here's a little recap. Some people believe good works are the cause of salvation, okay? Some people believe good works are the evidence of salvation. Both of those are not so. They're not so. Just listen to Romans 3, verse 28. It says, we are justified by faith. without the deeds of the law, before or after. We're justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Well, Gabe, are you against the good deeds of the law? Are you against good works? No. Oh, I love thy law. That's what David said. I love these good works. I want to be that kind of husband. I wanna be that kind of servant. I wanna be that kind of brother. I'm not against good works at all, but I am against lying to people. Telling them that their salvation is in a place that it's not. Telling them that it's evidenced by something that it's not evidenced by. pointing men and women to something that they should be looking to for their hope of glory when they shouldn't be looking to that, putting them in a bondage that God has not placed them under. I am against that. I'm very much against that. Salvation is not by our good works, start or finished, period, period. Salvation is by the mercy and the grace of God through the blood, through the death, through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. That's the cause of salvation. The blood, the death, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone. That's the cause of salvation. And the evidence of it Salvation is evidenced by a sinner receiving faith to stop looking to himself. All of a man or woman's life, wrongly, they look to themselves. They look to themselves. They're all worried about themselves. It's all about themselves. And then when God sends faith, they stop. Sometimes it takes a little while. It becomes less and less until it's no more because their faith is increased. Little faith looks here a lot and there a little. Medium faith kind of splits the difference between the two. Much faith has no confidence in the flesh at all. We stop looking to ourselves and we start looking to the blood and the death, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone, period. Salvation is evidenced when a sinner looks to Christ's obedience. All of that stuff that we just read, I want to do that so badly, but I have to acknowledge this in truth to you. I have not done it. and neither have you, Jesus Christ is the only man who has, with perfection before God, in a way that God will say, well done, come on in. He is the only one. So salvation is evidence when we look to Christ's good works. His good works. And salvation is evidenced when a man or woman is given a heart to beg God to send me the peace of knowing that my sin and disobedience to that was laid on Christ. And Christ's goodness and obedience to that was laid on me. And through that transaction, mercy is going to be shown to me. Grace is going to be shown to me for Christ's sake. OK, that's the evidence of salvation. It's a pleading heart that cries, please show mercy to me for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake, I have nothing to plead. Nothing on my own to plead. All my deeds are filthy rags. I have no obedience before you. None whatsoever. Christ is all I have. He's all I have. That's the evidence of salvation. If good works and obedience was the evidence of salvation, if a man's good works and obedience was the evidence of salvation, when those two Went into the temple to pray that Pharisee and that publican. The Pharisee should have been the one to go to heaven. And the publican should have been the one to go to hell. But that's not how it went. The Pharisee said, I have obeyed you with good works. God said, not justified. The publican said, God be merciful to me. I'm such a sinner against you. God said, welcome in. Good works is not the evidence of salvation. Some believe, here's a recap. Some believe good works and obedience is the cause of salvation. It's not. Some believe good works and obedience is the evidence of salvation. It's not. All right, then. You're going to ask yourself, how are we going to get to wives submit then? You're going to have some who say, who hear this and say, well, all right then, I guess it doesn't matter what you do. It's not the cause. It's not the evidence. I guess it doesn't matter how you live your life. You don't have to pay attention to any of God's commandments. That's not so. That's just not true. Our obedience does not make us to be God's children. God made us to be God's children. My children's obedience didn't make them to be my children. We all know God made them to be my children, but for the sake of the illustration, I made them to be my children, okay? God did that. But here's the thing, as God's children, our obedience or our disobedience will either bring his smiling countenance to us, or his frowning countenance to us. Anybody here who has ever been the child of a parent can understand this. If you've ever been the child of a parent, we all know our actions, our obedience, or our disobedience can either bring the smiling countenance or the frowning countenance. If we live in and continue in and just stay bent on disobedience to what God has commanded us to do. He said, I want you to be this way. And if we just stay bent on disobedience, we can and we will make this life very hard on ourselves. very hard on ourselves, just like any child can do. We can bring His chastening on us and bring His chastening on us and bring His chastening on us. Or we can beg Him to teach us and to conform us more so into the image of Christ our Savior. Lord, conform us to a loving obedience. Conform us to a blessed union with the goodness of God. That's what we have illustrated to us spiritually in this verse of scripture, all right? Verse 18, Colossians 3, verse 18, it says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands. as it is fit in the Lord. And I'm going to say again, if the Lord is willing, we'll apply this to our physical marriages. But today we're going to apply this to our spiritual marriage. Christ is all to us. He is our Lord. I mean, God. He is our Savior. He is our Maker, our Creator. He is our Defender. He is our Husband. He is our Father. There is a Father, Father, Son, and Spirit. But it's all witnessed, it's all seen, it's all known in Christ. He said, have I been so long time with you? And have you not known me? He is our brother. He is our friend. Christ is all to us. He's all to us. And being all to us, we submit to him. We submit to his word. We submit to his will. We do, don't we? by His grace. We submit to His way. We submit to His leadership. We submit to His Lordship. We submit to Him being the head over us. He's the head over us. And we're glad. We're happy about that. We submit. The word submit is not a very popular word. It is not a very popular word. The reason is because men, and I don't mean mankind, I'm not talking about men and women, I'm talking about males. Men have abused that word and they've tried to change the meaning of that word to mean bondage. That's what everybody thinks of when they hear submit. Men have done that, and it's in the heart of every man. We're all guilty of it. It's in the heart of every man, but men have done that by very foolishly and ignorantly saying this phrase to their wives. You'd better submit to me. It has happened so many times. You have a young couple and they're, they're having marital problems. And this young man goes and talks to a, you know, older man about it. And that old fool instructs the young fool, make her submit. You're going to have to make her submit. A man cannot make his wife submit to him. He cannot. The man who makes a statement like that obviously has no idea what submission is. Now, the man who makes a statement like that clearly has a little understanding of what bondage is. He can put his wife under bondage. Men can do that. But he cannot force her to submit. And here's the reason why. He said, wives, submit yourselves. Not wives bow to your husband making you submit. Submission is an inner desire. It's a lovely thing. It is a lovely, lovely thing. It's an inner desire that comes from adoration and respect and love. It is a loving want to. It's something in here that wants to and desires to. Whenever we hold a door open for somebody, okay, you walk into a building, a restaurant, who knows what, and you hold a door open and you say, after you. Okay, that's submission. It's a willing want to. I want to do this. When somebody comes up and says, you better hold that door open or else, and that's fear. and that's bondage, and that's not submission. Submission is an inner desire that says, oh, I would love to do this for you. When John the Baptist said, I must decrease, and Christ must increase, that's submission. John was lovingly, desiringly submitting to his Lord and Savior. All of God's people do. All of God's people do. That is our inner want to. That is our great desire and happiness. That's our happiness. Us being lower and lower and Christ being higher and higher, that's our joy. That's our rejoicing. Turn with me if you would to Revelation 21. Revelation 21 verse 1, it says, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." That's what the people of God are referred to in glory, the bride. Look at verse 9, it says, And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials, full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife, the wife of the great husband." And that's all of the redeemed people of God. And what is the heart and the attitude of this wife toward her husband? Look at Revelation 19 verse 1. And after these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying, hallelujah, salvation, and glory, and honor, and power unto the Lord our God. Everything unto him. Verse three says, and again, they said, hallelujah. And her smoke, that means her praise, her adoration rose up forever and ever. Verse 6, And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. He reigns. He's the Sovereign. Verse 7 says, Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." Who made her ready? Christ made her ready. But she also made herself ready, and what that means is she wanted this. She didn't come to this loving union, kicking and screaming. She desired this. She wanted to spend her eternity crying, not unto me, not unto me. It's all unto you. All of it's unto you. If the Lord has us to do a Bible study on a physical marriage, that's a happy marriage. That is a happy marriage. Our Lord first did that very thing to His people. He is the one who said, not unto me, I'm giving it unto you. He is the one who had that heart, that willing, loving, happy desire. I willingly give my all unto you. That's the example of marriage, true marriage. In closing for today, this is what I want to say to us. Wives. Meaning bride of Christ. Let's submit. Let's submit all of these commandments in this word to us from our husband. This is how this is how we reason these things. If these things don't save us and if these things are not the evidence of our salvation, how do we reason these things? We desire them. Even though these commandments to us from our God, from as the scripture calls him, our husband, even though we know that these things can't save us, he did. And even though we know that we can't fulfill them in a way that is satisfactory to God, only He did. But even so, because of our love and admiration for Him, when He says, flee certain things that will bring a reproach to Him and His name and His gospel and His ministry and His people, let's flee them. If he says, stop doing this for the good of the example of the gospel, let's stop doing it. When he says, I want you to treat each other in this certain way, let's make a conscious, loving effort to treat each other in that certain way. A lot of times we hear these things, they roll in one out the other and we go on about our business. Brethren, wives, If He says, you love each other as I've loved you, let's grab hold of everything that is division and animosity and anger and let's throw it away. Just throw it away. Let's make the conscious, loving, humble effort to submit to what is pleasing to our Lord. Let's desire it. Let's desire the things that are pleasing to Him. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husband as it is fit in the Lord. Pray the Lord will give us the heart to do it. Alright, you're dismissed.