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Man, Ephesians chapter 5, the Bible reads in verse 1, Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling saviour. So the Bible is telling us to love one another just as Christ loved us. Obviously his love is the great example for us. The Bible says, greater love hath no man than this than that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. That's what Jesus Christ taught his disciples. Then he follows it up right away with that conjunction in verse 3, But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints. Now the reason why that list of sins is connected to telling us to walk in love is because if we walk in love we're not going to be doing those things. See the Bible says that all the law is fulfilled in this one saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law, the Bible says. The Bible says in the book of 2 John, and this is love, that we walk after his commandments. And so when we keep God's commandments, that's one way to love one another. And when we love one another, we're certainly not going to be committing fornication, or uncleanness, or covetousness. You say, oh fornication, that's making love, no wrong, that's lust and sin, fornication is not love. This is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. If you loved that young lady, you would marry that young lady and spend the rest of her life with, the rest of your life with her, provide for her, and keep thee only unto her so long as you both shall live. That's God's definition of love, okay. Love is when we keep his commandments. What the world considers love is just using someone and discarding them when you're done with them, or when you're bored with them, or when you find something better, or when you're ready to move on. And so fornication is not loving. He says, walk in love and don't let fornication be named among you, or covetousness, desiring what belongs to other people. That's not loving either, uncleanness. He said, don't let those things be named among you as becometh saints. See as God's children, as saints, we are to live to a higher standard than the world around us. So he puts up this thought in verse number eight when he says, for you were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord, walk as children of light. So we need to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we're called. If we're children of light, we need to walk as children of light, and we need to act in such a way as becometh saints, or is suitable for saints. Back to verse three, it says, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints. Is God saying that these sins are a little bit okay? I mean, if it happens every once in a while, or if you really love it, no, no, no. He says, don't even let it be named among you. I mean, he's saying, look, that's a pretty serious sin when he doesn't even want it to be named among you. The Bible says it's a shame to even speak of those things which are done of them in secret, it says in verse number 12. So this is one of those things that is so shameful. We don't want to talk about it, let alone participate in it. And we live in a society now that downplays fornication, and it can be easy for us as Christians because we live in a culture where fornication is not that bad, for us to start thinking that it's not that bad. But yet in the Bible, it's a major sin, and it's something that the New Testament just harps on over and over again to flee fornication and to abstain from fornication, et cetera. So the Bible says, neither filthiness, verse 4, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving up thanks. What's it, you know, just stupid talk, just joking around with dirty jokes and filthy communication and just saying dumb things and just blowing off your mouth. He's saying don't do that. Verse 5, for this you know that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater, he's bringing up the same three sins, he says hath any inheritance in the kingdom of God. Now some people could look at that and misquote that and say, well, this is saying that that person isn't saved. You know, hey, if you commit fornication, you're not saved. Or if you commit uncleanness or covetousness, you're not saved. But that's not what it's saying. Let's look at it carefully together. It says, for this you know that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience, be not ye therefore partakers with them, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord, walk as children of light. So he's not saying that anybody who does these things is not saved, because he's talking about the unsaved people as another category of people, right? Because he says, okay, the children of disobedience, this is why God's so mad at them, right? Look at the end of verse 6 there, it says, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. This is why God is angry at unsaved people. This is why God's wrath is resting upon those who do not believe in Christ. Why? Because of their sins. If you study Revelation, when God's pouring out his wrath, it mentions the fornication, the adultery, the theft, the murder. Those are the things that have kindled God's wrath. That's why he's pouring out his wrath in the first place. So the Bible says because of these sins cometh God's wrath upon the children of disobedience. So they're a separate group of people. The unsaved people, the children of disobedience, God's mad at them. God has wrath for them. Why? Because of all their sins. But we in verse 7 who are saved, who are the children of light, are not to be partakers with them. Now a lot of people teach a doctrine that says, well, when you get saved, you're automatically going to fly right. You're a new creature and to them that means you're not going to live a life of sin anymore. You're going to live right. And as soon as somebody starts living wrong, they'll just say, oh, that person was never saved in the first place. Because they think that when you get saved, you just automatically start flying right. Well, if that were the case, then why does he keep having to tell us, don't be partaker with them? That wouldn't make any sense if it was just automatic that they have no desire to do those things anymore and it was just completely unappealing for them, then it wouldn't make sense for God in all of these epistles over and over again to keep hammering. Don't live like them. Don't act like them. Don't be a partaker with them if it were just automatic. But this comes from a lot of preaching from false teachers who get up and instead of teaching salvation by grace through faith, which is pretty easy to find in the book of Ephesians, right? So verses like Ephesians 1-13, Ephesians 2-8 and 9, and on and on, it's pretty clear that salvation is not of works, it's by faith. But they teach kind of a turnover a new leaf salvation. A repent of your sins salvation where you quit doing this, quit doing that, or whatever, or you're willing to turn and then God gives you the power to turn and you never even crave those things. There's been a lot of sermons before where they say, you know, bless God, when I got saved I got all the way saved. Whatever that's supposed to mean. You know, I thought there's only one kind of salvation, you know, but he said, bless God I got all the way saved and I never craved another cigarette again and I never craved another drink of alcohol again, you know, and they get up and they give this tesla. And then people are sitting in their chair thinking like, oh man, I don't know if I got saved because the cigarette sounds pretty good right now. And they're wondering if they're even saved. It isn't true. And let me just go on the record right now. I don't believe in this so-called deliverance doctrine that you hear going around of, oh, God delivered me from these, from my sins to the point where I don't even have a temptation anymore. God delivered me from this sin, delivered me from that sin. When they mean that actually they don't even have a temptation. I don't believe in that. I don't believe that that's biblical. I think every single day we have to mortify the members of our uncleanness. We have to die daily. We have to deny self daily. It's not that self just isn't there anymore. Self just doesn't like cigarettes anymore. No, no. Self still wants to sin. Self still wants to walk in the flesh and be carnal. But we have to deny self and say no to self every single day. God just, oh, I just delivered that. Now look, God does give us overcoming power. You know, God does give us the power to where we can do right and we can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us. And God can give us the power to resist temptation. And the Holy Spirit can help us. But don't get this doctrine that just said, oh, I'm not even tempted anymore. Now look, if there's a sin that you used to do and you're not even tempted anymore, great. Praise the Lord. But don't go around saying that other people aren't saved because they still are tempted. And I guarantee you that even if you do have a sin that doesn't tempt you anymore, that there are other sins in your life that do tempt you, right? I mean, look, I could get up here and list all the things that I'm not tempted by, right? To pat myself on the back or something. But there are plenty of things that I am tempted by because I'm a human being, because I'm flesh and blood. I mean, certain things that don't tempt me. I'm never tempted to drink alcohol or do drugs. I've never gone down that road. I don't know what it's like to be drunk. I don't know what it's like to take drugs. It's a zero temptation for me. But for other people, it's a strong temptation. It has nothing to do with saved versus unsaved. It just has to do with the more sins you commit, those are things that you might struggle with for the rest of your life. That's why it's better to never take that first drag on a cigarette. Don't ever take that first sip of beer. Don't ever take that first hit off the marijuana cigarette or whatever else because of the fact that once you open that door, that can become a continual temptation. Those of us who've never shot up heroin, we don't crave it. I've never thought, man, snorting a line of coke would be good right now. That thought would never enter our mind because we've never done it. But people who've snorted coke, they do have that thought. The less sins that we experiment with, the less temptation we're going to have because sin doesn't satisfy you. It makes you crave even more sin. When you open those doors, they stay open. So sure, are there some people who get saved and they never smoke another cigarette, never drink another beer? Absolutely. But to get up and say, oh, God just took away. If you're still struggling with sin, you need to come down to the altar and get saved because if you get saved, you'll be a new creature. Look, if you stop and think about that verse that says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. Did you get that? And I've heard a lot of people say this, see, according to that verse, there's got to be some change. There's got to be some change or you're not saved. Did that verse say some things? It said old things are passed away, behold, all things are become. So if that were talking about your lifestyle, then that would mean you'd be a perfect person. If all things are passed, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new is talking about your lifestyle, then that would mean you get saved and you become perfect because all things are become new. But that's not what that verse is teaching. The Bible's real clear that we have the old man and the new man. And the new man is a new creature in Christ and truly all things are become new because the new man cannot sin. The new man is created in true righteousness and holiness. And it's the old man that sins and we have a dual nature. We have a battle going on inside of us every day. The Bible says the flesh lust against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary the one to the other so you cannot do the things that you would. So the true story is that when you get saved, yes, God does create a new Steven Anderson or a new insert your name here, but the old Steven Anderson is still there also and you have to deny him and put on the new man, the Bible says. And there's a lot of teaching on that in the New Testament, putting on the new man, walking in the spirit. So it's not automatic. He's saying here, hey, you are the children of light. You're not the children of disobedience. You're not in darkness. You're not of the night. He says, but you need to walk as children of light and don't be partakers with the unsaved people. Sure, the unsaved people around you are committing these sins, but don't you be a partaker with them. So what does it say in verse five? For this ye know that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. It's not saying that that person's not saved. It's just saying that person doesn't have any rewards waiting for them when they get there. They're not going to inherit the rewards and they're not going to get the same benefits that a person who lives right is. Because the Bible says that if a man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned unless he strive lawfully. And so if we live a very wicked life as a Christian and we get into fornication and uncleanness and covetousness, then we're not going to be rewarded. We're not going to get the crowns. But we will still be saved, yet so is by fire. So the Bible says in verse number six, let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Here's the one who's deceiving you with vain words, the one who's telling you that these things are okay to do as a Christian and that God is still pleased with you and you're still going to earn great rewards with the Lord and God's not mad at you. And that teaching is out there. I mean, there are a lot of teachers out there. Sometimes it's known as a hyper grace movement where they teach not only that salvation's free, which amen to that, that salvation's by grace, but they teach even that after you're saved by grace, that even if you commit these sins, not only are you eternally secure, which of course we believe you're eternally secure, but they'll take it a step further and say that God's just never even mad at you and that you're never even going to be chastised. Like God's just always pleased with you. You're just always in his favor all the time. And there are TV preachers, Joseph Prince is like that where he really builds everybody up that there's no such thing as sinning and getting punished by God and God being upset with you. Joyce Meyer has a book called God's Not Mad at You. On the back of the book, it says, no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, God is not mad at you. Don't let her deceive you with vain words. God's wrath was even kindled against Moses. He might get kindled against you if you go out and commit a bunch of sin, right? You're not better than Moses. Neither am I. Verse nine, for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, loving what is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. That means they're exposed by the light, made plain and aware by the light. It says, for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Therefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. There's a lot of talk about the will of God, seeking the will of God, trying to figure out the will of God for your life. One of the things that the Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4 is, and this is the will of God, even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. Here he talks about knowing what the will of the Lord is, has to do with not having any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, reproving them, not being fools, being wise, not being drunk with wine, it says in verse 18, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. When it comes to understanding what the will of the Lord is, too many people focus on the part that they don't understand, or the part that they don't know. They get all hung up on, I'm just trying to figure out God's will. Where am I going to live? What am I going to do for a living? Who am I going to marry? Those type of things. The cost of God's will for our life is revealed in scripture. If you study the term, the will of God, he's constantly telling us what that will is, abstain from fornication, follow me, obey me, go out and preach the gospel to every creature, grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Don't fornicate, don't steal, don't covet. He's telling us what his will is. When it comes to these other decisions in our life, such as where do we live, who do we marry, what am I going to have for breakfast tomorrow morning, and those type of questions, in many cases, God is allowing us to choose what we want. God does not dictate every area of our lives. God does not tell us everything. He gives us certain rules, certain guidelines, and he created us with free will. And we can choose to marry whoever we want, only in the Lord. So he gives us a guideline. Don't be unequally yoked. Marry someone who's saved. Then he gives us other guidelines about what to look for in a godly wife or in a godly husband. He gives us all kinds of criteria and guidelines, but at the end of the day, you're the one who is going to live with your choice, so you pick one that you want to spend the rest of your life with. You don't have to just pray and fast and wait for some kind of an omen or a sign to tell you, this is who I'm supposed to marry. What you do is, you listen to God's word, you listen to advice, you listen to the pastor, you listen to your parents, you listen to principles, and then you choose a person that you like, that you want to spend the rest of your life with within those parameters. How do you know if it's God's will or not? Well, if they're saved and they love the Lord and you love them, go for it. Amen? Look, of all the trees of the garden now, may us freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat thereof, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. God gives us choices all the way back to the beginning of the Bible. You don't date that unsaved person. You don't marry that ungodly one. You don't marry that one who's a fool according to scripture. You choose one who's saved and loves the Lord, and then within that parameter, pick the one you like. It's that way with a lot of things in life. You say, well, how did you know that it was God's will to start a church in Phoenix? Because I like the heat and I don't like being cold, and I like palm trees, and I just like it. There's a lot that I like about it. That's not very spiritual, but here's the thing. When we live our lives, if we follow God's will that's revealed in scripture, he's not going to get mad at us for moving to the wrong state to go start a church, if we're following the Bible. See, the what of God's will is more important than the where of God's will. Plus, the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and God will direct in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. The main thing is to focus on the part of God's will that you do know and do it. Then when you come to a decision in your life, where do I live? What do I do for a living? Who do I marry? Do what you want. People freak out when you say that, like, oh, unspiritual carnal. It's okay to do what you want. It's okay to enjoy life within God's rules. I mean, look, God has enough rules, doesn't he? Do we need to add more rules? No. The Bible says fear God and keep his commandments. This is the whole duty of man. That's it. So if I'm fearing God and if I'm keeping his commandments, I can live in Arizona if I want to, right? I can eat at this restaurant or that restaurant. I can marry that woman. I can do whatever I want as long as I'm obeying God and keeping his commandments. So we don't want to just wait for God to give us miraculous signs and wonders about every decision of our lives. Sometimes we just do what we want. And I believe that God, because he created us and because he has a will and a plan for our lives, he will sometimes use our desires to put us where he wants us. If God wants a preacher to go start a church in Arizona, he'd probably create that preacher with a hatred for cold weather and a love for deserts and cactuses and palm trees. And then, lo and behold, he ends up in Arizona. See what I'm saying? So God can work through those things. So quit worrying so much about what you don't know. The things that are not revealed belong to the Lord, but the things that he has revealed belong unto us. And that's what we need to stick with, worrying about that. So understand what the will of the Lord is. What is the will of the Lord? It's all the guidelines and commandments and teachings that Christ gave us. That's his will for our lives. Do all those things and you'll be fine. I mean, if you're following, if you're observing, as the Great Commission says, all things that Christ taught us, you're going to be just fine if you make a few decisions on your own and just decide what you want to do within that parameter. The Bible says in verse 18, be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Now, those two things are contrasted because there are similarities between drunkenness and being filled with the Spirit. What are they? Well, when you're filled with the Spirit, one of the things that God gives as an evidence of that is that you speak with great boldness, the Word of God. It says in Acts 4 31, and when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the Word of God with boldness. So the effect of being Spirit-filled was to have boldness to do things for God, you know, to preach the Word of God and to win souls to Christ. Well, what does alcohol do? It gives you boldness. People are constantly drinking up the courage or drinking up the nerve to do this or that, but the difference is it gives you the boldness to commit sin, gives you the boldness to make a fool of yourself and to do wicked things that you would never do when you're sober. So it's like the opposite of being filled with the Spirit because it gives you great boldness. Also, have you noticed that sometimes when people are drunk, they tend to get angry, don't they? There's the proverbial angry drunk, people getting drunk and losing their temper, getting mad, getting angry. You'll find throughout the Bible people being filled with the Spirit and getting angry, except they're getting angry about the right things, whereas the drunk is getting angry at the wrong things. The drunk is getting mad at people in the bar and getting in a fistfight and being a brawler and a striker. He's getting angry about some insult or perceived insult and getting stabbed or a bottle broke over his head. That's the drunken anger. But the Bible talks about King Saul having the Spirit of the Lord come upon him and being filled with anger at the enemy that was abusing God's people and they wanted to punch out their eyes and do all these horrible things to the Israelites, and that made Saul mad and he chopped up those oxen and he sent them out and he rallied all the troops and he fought the enemy and he won the battle, but that was while he was filled with the Spirit. It's the right anger versus the wrong anger. There's a false doctrine out there that all anger is bad. Obviously, most of our anger is bad because usually we're angry for a carnal reason such as getting angry if somebody insults us or cuts us off in traffic or we get angry because somebody dropped a glass and it shattered. Obviously, those are all the wrong carnal reasons to lose your temper and get angry, but when people are getting angry about false doctrine, getting angry at sin, angry at wickedness, that's called a righteous indignation. People used to understand that, a righteous anger, a righteous indignation, and we see a Spirit-filled anger in the Bible. Drunkenness is the exact opposite. What else do people do when they get drunk? Sometimes they get what's called maudlin, right? Who knows that word, maudlin, and this might help you in a crossword puzzle someday, M-A-U-D-L-I-N or in Scrabble. Maudlin is when they get that attitude where they get really sentimental like, I really love you guys. I just really appreciate you. You've always been there for me. It's this sappy, weird, sad love sentimentality and they're just telling you how much they love you and all that stuff, right? Who has seen people get like that under the influence of alcohol? You didn't know what it was called, but you've seen it, maudlin. They tend to get maudlin whereas when people are filled with the Spirit, they're filled with true love because the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness. There's a righteous love. When we're filled with the Spirit, we really feel strongly love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, love for the lost, love for our families. The right kind of love for the Lord, right? Not just hanging all over who happens to be with us at the bar or whatever or hanging all over someone that you're not married to or whatever. You can see how these are two sides of the same coin. Filled with the Spirit is the righteous side and then the drunk with wine is all the sinful equivalent of these things. We don't want to be drunk with wine. We're in his excess but want to be filled with the Spirit. I'm not going to go into it for sake of time, but I believe that we should not drink any alcohol whatsoever. I believe the Bible says that when it comes to strong drink or alcoholic beverage, the Bible says not to even look at it. Look not on the wine when it's red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself right. That's a whole sermon and I've done many of them, but I just want to throw that out there. This verse doesn't go into that, but this isn't the only verse in the Bible. There are plenty of other verses in the Bible that make it clear to us that we shouldn't be drinking any alcohol at all. This verse is just specifically talking about don't get drunk. You know what I've noticed about people who drink alcohol? They get drunk. I personally have never known a Christian who drank in moderation and never got drunk. Every person I've ever known who said, I believe it's okay to drink a little so long as you don't get drunk. I saw that person drunk every single time. Now I'm not saying it's not out there, the guy who just drinks one beer and that's it and whatever, but still the Bible doesn't just tell us not to get drunk and plenty of places tells us to be sober. How much do you have to drink before you're not sober anymore? I don't believe that you should even touch this stuff or look at it and that's a whole another sermon in and of itself. The Bible says in verse 19, and this is a continuation of the phrase be filled with the Spirit, it says be filled with the Spirit speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. One of our pathways toward being filled with the Spirit is through singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. That's one of the ways that we can be filled with the Holy Spirit. You say, how do I get filled with the Spirit? Well a couple of ways, be filled with the Word of God, pray to the Lord as they did in Acts 4 31 and also speak to yourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Now when the Bible says here, speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, I believe that that is literally referring to the book of Psalms there. So I think that there's three types of singing that are mentioned here that would help us be filled with the Spirit. Number one is psalms. This would be taking the psalms from the book of Psalms and putting those to music. And then there are the hymns. Now a hymn is basically a specific type of spiritual song, a specific style or a specific type. And a spiritual song would be any other song that wouldn't necessarily be classified as a hymn, but it's a spiritual song, as opposed to what, a carnal song or worldly song or something like that. So the Bible says here, speaking to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Now when I was growing up, we definitely sang the hymns and spiritual songs, but we didn't sing the psalms. And a lot of the psalms have not been sung. Now I did grow up singing a few portions of psalms. Some of them have been put to music over the years. And most of the time though, they'll just do a couple of verses of the psalm. And it's pretty rare that you'll find the entire psalm from the King James Bible put to music. And a lot of people say, well, it can't really be done effectively, but I think it really can be done effectively. I think we've done some pretty good examples of putting psalms to music. Obviously some are better than others, but the thing that I think is so great about singing the psalms is that there's such good doctrine in the psalms. And the psalms cover such a breadth of subject matter. Now the hymnal that we use is a great hymnal, and I really like this hymnal. And it has a lot of wonderful songs in it, but there are a lot of subjects that are never touched upon in the hymnal. Even out of the 479 songs in our hymnal, there are many topics that are not touched upon. And even just in the five or six psalms that we've been singing as a church, and we've got a bunch more that we've been writing and other people are writing, and the goal is to put all 150 of them to music. But even just in the few that we've done, there are a bunch of doctrines that you'll never find in this book. Even out of 479 songs, you'll never find. You know, for example, when you're singing Psalm 11, and it talks about the Lord triath the righteous, but the wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. You'll never find that doctrine in the seminal, that God hates those who love violence. You don't find that. Or in Psalm 15, where it talks about not putting your money out to usury, not charging interest for money. You'll never find any songs condemning the bankers in the hymnal. And you say, well, why would there be? Well, why is it in the book of Psalms? Multiple times. You know, the book of Psalms is just such a great song book, because it just has such a variety of subject matter. That's what I love about it, is that it covers all subjects. It's almost like a miniature of the whole Bible, because it just covers all subjects. The Bible, the New Times, Jesus Christ, the death, burial, and resurrection, how to live our lives, Old Testament Bible stories. Just such a great breadth of content. But there are other people who go to a wrong extreme, where they only sing the Psalms. There are churches and religions out there where they only sing the Psalms. And I think that they're wrong, because the Bible says we should sing unto the Lord a new song. So singing the Psalms is not a new song. Those songs have been around. So singing a new song, I think that God wants to hear compositions of the human heart expressing praise and worship and love to Him in their own words. So I think there's definitely a place for the hymns and spiritual songs to be sung. But as independent fundamental Baptists, we've neglected the Psalms. And so we're trying to rectify that and trying to get some good Psalms put to music and work hard to bring those back. Now, you say, well, I thought you said there's churches out there that sing nothing but Psalms. Why don't we just use theirs? Here's the problem with most of the Psalms that have been put to music. And if anybody out there has musical talent, and you're interested in helping put some of the Psalms to music, listen very carefully to what I'm about to say. Because the biggest problem with a lot of the Psalms that are sung in other denominations where they sing through the Psalms is that, number one, a lot of them will just dramatically change the text. And then you're not really singing the Psalms anymore if you're changing the text, in my opinion. I think we should keep the text unaltered. You can repeat things and have a chorus and whatever, but you want to sing the words in the Psalm. That's the whole point. But number two, one of the biggest problems is that a lot of the people who put the Psalms to music, they make the music so complicated that no one can learn it. Now, I've heard some Psalms put to music that are a pretty good tune. But the problem is they're so long and complicated, they don't really work as a congregational singing because they're too hard to learn. By the time you sing it and then you come back next week, you're not even going to remember the tune. For example, when I was growing up, I learned a tune for Psalm 1. And it goes like, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seed of the scornful. Who's heard it before, this tune? Put it up your hand. A few people? Patch the pirate or something, right? That his delight is in the law of the Lord, his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law doth he meditate day and night, and he shall be like a tree. You know, it goes on and on. But here's the thing, it never repeats the tune at all. There's no repetition. So therefore, you have to learn every part of that song. And so it takes a long time to learn that song. And yes, I could sing the whole thing right now, but I'm not going to for sake of time. But you have to learn the whole song. It's very hard to learn, especially if you're not that musical. Now, if you notice the songs in the hymnal that we sing are really easy to learn because they repeat a lot. You know, down at the cross where my Savior died, down where for cleansing from sin I cried, there to my heart was the blood applied. Notice those three lines are almost the same as one another, very similar. And then just so much repetition, glory to his name, glory to his name. Back to the first tune, there to my heart was the blood applied, glory to his name. Then you do that whole thing four times, four verses. So then by the time you sing the song one time, you've done the same tune 12 times, 15 times, each of those phrases and components. And then you do that a few times a week. And I mean, that song is going to be drilled into you. That's why the hymns are popular and that's why the Psalms aren't. So if you want to write a Psalm and you want it to actually work is number one, try to make it sound more like a hymn. Don't make it sound contemporary or we're not going to want to sing it if it sounds like some boy band contemporary church type music. We want it to sound like hymns and we want it to have lots of repetition. Like for example, the tune that we have for Psalm 11, it repeats the same tune like 10 times. Or the Psalm 67 where there's like a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus. Lots of repetition. That's the key to making the Psalms easy to understand. At our church, we don't believe in being a spectator. We believe in being a participant. Look at your verse there in verse 19. Speaking to yourselves. It doesn't say listening to. Listening to Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. It says speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Keep your finger there and flip over to Colossians 3.16. And let's look at the parallel passage over in Colossians. Speaking to yourselves means that we're all singing to ourselves. We're all singing, participating, not spectating. And in order to have people participate, you've got to keep the song simple enough so that even people without musical training can sing along. Now, this is one of the reasons why at our church we sing all the verses. Have you noticed that at many churches they say, we're just going to sing the first and the last? We're just going to sing the second verse as the last, right? But you'll notice at our church we always sing all the verses. We always sing, whether it's three, four, five, we sing all of them. Why is that? The reason why is because we want to give people a chance to learn the song. Let's say a visitor walks in, they've never heard the song in their life. Well, on the first verse, they're going to be completely lost. On the second verse, they're starting to pick it up, especially because the songs are simple. Well, and then it's over. But at our church, then the third verse, yeah, they're starting to get it. By the fourth verse, it's, you know, glory to his name. I mean, they've got it. That's the point of singing all the verses. That's why we always do it. Look at Colossians chapter three, verse 16, it says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. So we're all singing to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. So when we sing, it's worship to the Lord. We have grace in our hearts to the Lord. We should have our thoughts on the Lord and love for the Lord in our hearts as we sing the Psalms, the hymns and the spiritual songs. And, you know, there'd be a lot less foolish doctrine in churches if we would sing all the Psalms because so many of the Psalms debunk so many false doctrines. And I guarantee you that if we keep putting the Psalms to music and if we keep singing them in church, you know, not to replace the hymns, but in addition to the hymns, I guarantee you there are going to be a ton of children growing up in our church who when they're adults will have the entire book of Psalms memorized. Even though that sounds like a huge amount, it's true. I mean, that Psalm 67, I never tried to memorize Psalm 67, but just from singing that song, I pretty much have Psalm 67 memorized. And I bet a lot of you do, too. And same with Psalm 15, Psalm 11, Psalm, you know, whichever ones, Psalm 117, amen. You know, because that's the point of putting them to music. It drills them into your head. And think about how much good doctrine you're going to have up there by singing these songs. So Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always, we're in verse 20 of Ephesians 5, unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Now what does that mean, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God? Now I've heard a lot of false doctrine about this, and I just want to make this really clear how this is false. They'll try to connect verse 21 to 22. This is false. They'll try to say, oh, wives and husbands are supposed to submit to each other. That's a mess. That makes no sense. That's basically saying nobody's in charge. You know, if we're submitting to one another in marriage, then there's no head. There's no authority there, right? I submit to her. She submits to me. She's just submitting all over the place. I've even heard preachers get up and they've had parents submitting to their children and just all kinds of crazy stuff. That's not what this is saying. You see, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God, do you see the period at the end of verse 21? Look at the punctuation at the end of verse 20. It's a semicolon. So verse 21 is connected to verses 18, 19, and 20. That's the sentence, right? 18, 19, 20, and 21 forms a sentence. Now, the reason why it says submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God, then it goes to wives, submit yourself. It's because while we're on the topic of submitting, now we're going to switch to talking about marriage, how wives are supposed to submit to their husbands, okay? But the submitting one to another is not talking about marriage, it's talking about the church. The subject was the church, right? We all come together in the church, the church at Ephesus, and we're singing our psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, we're giving thanks, and we're submitting one to another in the fear of God. Gear change. Okay, wives, submit to your husbands. Now, what does he mean they're submitting one to another? We are all in the church supposed to submit one to another because no one of us is the Lord of this flock, right? Because even the pastor, the Bible says that he's not to be a lord over God's inheritance, but he's to be an example to the flock. So I am not a lord over the flock. So we are all on a level playing field. Obviously somebody's in charge, but it's not the same type of authority structure that we have in marriage. You see, when God compares the authority structure of marriage and he says the wives are to submit to the husbands, he doesn't say as the church does to the pastor. He says as the church does to who? To Christ. So Christ is to the church as the husband is to the wife, but the pastor is not to the church as the husband is to the wife. Does everybody understand? Now the Bible does call the pastor the ruler and says that he rules in the house of God, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, and things like that. But there's a big difference because I don't have authority as a pastor over your personal life. I'm not going to come to you and tell you what to do in your personal life and lord over you and tell you do this, do that. The only thing that I'm actually ruling here is in the house of God, I'm running the church. I'm running the church service. I'm running the operation of the church here, but I'm not running you. I can't tell you what to do and all this stuff because of the fact that you are my brother in Christ. You're my sister in Christ. I don't say to you, yes, my child, and I'm Father Anderson up here. No, because that's Catholic. The Bible says we shouldn't be called father or master or rabbi. I'm not father, I'm not master, I'm not rabbi. I'm brother Anderson, Pastor Anderson, but I'm not Lord Anderson or whatever. There's a difference there. Now, also think about this. I remember there was a time because the Bible says submitting one to another. I remember there was a time when my ministry leader in my local church that was the head of the ministry that I worked in, he worked with me, but on the job, I was his supervisor. When we would go to work, I'm his supervisor. When we go to church, he's my supervisor and he's telling me what to do, and then on Monday, I'm telling him what to do. You know what that is? That's submitting one to another. Different situations. How about this? Let's say we go out on a soul winning trip or something and sometimes Chris Segura is in charge or brother Garrett curse weighs in charge or brother Baker's in charge, and I might even come along on those trips and say, okay, what do you want me to do, brother? And then they'll tell me, hey, you go do this, you go do that. That's submitting one to another. There could be situations where one person is heading up a certain ministry or a soul winning time and then we submit to them and say, okay, where do you need me to serve? What do you want me to do? But then the table could be turned a month later, you're running a soul winning day or you're running a church workday or you're running this baby shower or that whatever, then it goes both ways. There are always times when we need to let other people lead us, right? No matter who we are. So we submit to one another. We don't always vie to be the one in charge and always be the one telling everybody what to do. We submit to one another and sometimes we say, okay, let's do it your way. Let's do it your way. Okay. We'll let you run this. You're better at this. You know more about this. We'll defer to you on this. So that's in the church. When it comes to marriage, the Bible says wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Now I don't know what people don't understand about that because that's a really strong statement. You can't get any stronger than that. You can't. You just can't do it. I mean, how can you make a stronger statement about how wives are supposed to submit to your husband than to say, do it as you would to God. Think about that. Submit to your husband as you submit to God. So how submitted are you to your husband? Well that tells me how submitted you are to God. Because God's the one who made this commandment. God's the one who made this rule. God's the one who put your husband as your authority figure in your life. And some women right now might even be bristling at what I'm saying. But you know what? It's not me that you have a problem with. It's God. That's what the Word says. This couldn't be any clearer. This is not ambiguous when it says submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church. And he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. What does that say? In some things, well not in that area. Well it says in everything. Now this might be a tough pill for you to swallow, but you better swallow it because it's what the Bible says. And you know I'm not trying to ruin your life here. I'm trying to actually help you live a better life. And look this isn't the only scripture because you know women could be racking their brain right now like well what's another interpretation? You know there's another way that this could, but there's plenty of other scripture. Titus 2 says to be obedient to their own husbands. First Peter chapter 3 even as Sarah also obeyed Abraham calling him Lord whose daughters you are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement. So the Bible is crystal clear that the wife is to submit herself to her husband. You say well to what degree though? Where do you draw the line? Well wherever you draw the line in your submission to the Lord. You say that's extreme. You're crazy. Well call me what you want. I'm just reading the Bible to you and telling you what it says. I'm not really adding anything. It says you submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. The husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church. So to what degree is our church submitted to Christ? That's the degree that wives should submit to their husbands. That's what the Bible says. Whereas the church is subject unto Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything. I mean we say all the time that the word of God is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice. So let me ask you this. Is your husband the final authority in your life? If not you're not right with God. Bible's pretty clear. Then he gets on the husband and he said husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourished and cherished that even as the Lord the church. We are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ in the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself and the wife see that she reverence her husband. So obviously husbands are supposed to love their wives and wives are supposed to love their husbands. It says that elsewhere in scripture. When it comes to the main thing that we should really focus on as husbands it's to love our wives to show them love to demonstrate that love and to be willing to lay down our lives for our wives right to love them with all of our heart and you say well to what degree do you love your wife to the degree that Christ loved the church. So again that's an extremely high standard of how much love to have and the wife's main responsibility is to reverence her husband and to submit to her husband. So obviously both husband and wife want to feel loved. Everybody wants to be loved but actually what men need more than being loved is they need to be respected by their wives. They need to be reverenced by their wives. Even more than just feeling loved you know they want to be reverenced and the thing is our wives they want to be loved and that's what we need to focus on with them. Making sure they feel loved. Making sure that they know that we love them and that we express that love and demonstrate that love. And here's the thing if you love your wife you're not going to be a selfish dictator. You're going to be a benevolent dictator and be able to say oh you're a dictator amen. The best form of government is a benevolent dictatorship. That's what Jesus Christ is going to institute when he comes to this earth and rules with a rod of iron. A benevolent dictatorship. But you see a bad leader is one who doesn't love his people. He doesn't care about them. All he cares about is himself and his own power. Look are their husbands like that who abuse their power? Absolutely. And you say oh but what about all these husbands who are just these tyrants and dictators and abuse their power and treat their wife like oh yeah. What about all the loud mouth disobedient wives? Because both exist. Both exist. And you know what? Both are wrong. But just because your wife is a loud mouth disobedient rebellious wife the Bible says love your wives. And it says be not bitter against them. Meaning that when they enrage you or anger you or hurt you you are to not let the sun go down on your wrath. And you are to not be bitter against them. You are to love them forgive them as Christ forgave us. You're to walk in kindness and love toward them tender hearted forgiving one just as Christ did for us. That's what we do for our wives even if they are rebellious even if they are loud and stubborn and all the things that the Bible says that a woman should not be. But flip that over even if your husband is a jerk even if he is a selfish tyrant you submit to him and reverence him. And by the way most people they always want to point the finger to the other person in the relationship when often they are the problem. Try reverencing your husband and watch his love for you grow. Well against your husband disrespect him constantly trample his ego and constantly mouth often and you know what yeah his love is going to wane unfortunately because he's human even though he should love you no matter what like Christ loves us no matter what he's human and you know you show your wife no love obviously she's going to get bitter and whatever just because she's human. But that doesn't justify it so don't come out of the sermon you know thinking to yourself man I hope my wife was listening to this or I hope my husband is it you know you both need to listen everybody needs to listen. And if and if husbands are loving their wives and if wives are submitting their husbands you're going to have a happy marriage you say well it's 50 50 oh sort of like Christ in the church is 50 50 right wrong this 50 50 queer looking marriage where you know there's no boss we're both equal we both wear the pants in the family right that's not God's plan and you know it doesn't make anybody happy feminism doesn't make women happy it makes them miserable and the women who scream the loudest for their feminism are the ones who need to be put in their place in their place the most they're there on the inside they're actually crying out please please would you put me in my place. Would you please Lord over me please rule over me please draw a line in the sand please put me in my place I'm not kidding why they're looking for a boundary and on the outside there I'm going to do whatever I want but on the inside they're just thinking like is he just going to keep letting me push him and then they're just thinking and then when he gives into their their their ultimatums and man this is what they're thinking inside oh you pathetic weakling oh you loser they want to be told no tell them no they love it it's true I'm not kidding why because it's the natural order of things nobody is happy it's like a fish out of water it's like a chimpanzee on a bicycle when you have a husband at home and he's doing all the his wife's out working he's at home doing all the chores and he's like yes dear I'm right on it dear I'll take care of her right away dear you know and and he's submitting to her and she's where the best it's it's completely backwards and it may look men are miserable when they're not the boss in their home and women are miserable when they're they don't want to look they might say oh I want 50-50 I want a guy I can push right no they don't you know what they want a big strong man to lead them instinctively on a visceral level God created all the way back to Genesis 3 16 not John 3 16 Genesis 3 16 it says that her husband would rule over her and that her desire would be to her husband women want despite what all the women in the media are screaming about women actually want to be submitted housewives that's their dream yes and don't go don't don't get in the car and ask your wife if that's true you've already failed you need to just believe me and believe the Bible that that's true and just just start and you say well I tried it my wife said no so I backed up take the bull by the horns friend you got to get in there you got it you got a and I'm not saying to be a jerk I'm not saying to be mean I'm not saying to be rude you know you can be the boss and be firm and lead without being mean or a jerk you just need to be firm you just need to be stern and the reason I'm parking on it you say oh why don't you talk more about husbands loving their wives but here's the thing here's why because we've already heard that our whole lives but you know what we haven't heard our whole lives how wives are supposed to submit to their husbands that's what we've not been taught that's what TV's not telling us that's what the school system and 99% of even independent Baptist churches aren't teaching that's why we have to kind of park it on that and undo some wrong ideas why it's just because I don't want your marriage to be miserable and you know what if you want to walk out of here and say that I'm wrong go ahead because you're the one that's gonna have to dwell in the corner of the housetop eating a dinner of herbs just to get away from your brawling contentious wife I'm not the one that has to live with that monster so you know if you want it if you want to walk out of here and say well I'm gonna submit to my wife it's gonna be 50-50 will you go ahead buddy enjoy okay and you know what your wife is not going to be happy she's gonna think you're a pathetic loser when was the last time you saw a romance novel with some submitted guy on it right it's always some dragon slayer dude right with big muscles and you know he doesn't come along and just say hey would it be okay if I take you out sometime you know that's not what that's not even the world will tell you that right you know and you single guys take notes you know when you ask a girl out on a date you tell her hey here's where we're going here's what we're gonna do you take the lead you take charge you don't go so where do you want to go so you have anything in mind for our date pathetic loser that's what she's thinking I'm not kidding you know you got to be the man you got to lead and then both husband and wife can be happy you know just as the church is submitted to Christ why I need to submit to their husband and this isn't about the husband's better than the wife I don't care if your husband has Down Syndrome put him in charge okay this whole thing of oh I'm smarter so I'm gonna lead oh I'm more spiritual no you're not if you were more spiritual you'd obey what the Bible said sick and tired of wives thinking that their husband is so unspiritual and he's just he's just so bad at leading give him a chance to lead see what he can even do crying out loud but he said never let it's all summed up in this I'm out of time but in verse 33 nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself this is kind of the synopsis of all these verses and the wife see that she reverence her husband what does it mean to reverence well the Bible says for example in Hebrews chapter 12 it says that we should serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our gods a consuming fire if you study the word reverence and I encourage you and especially if you're a lady that struggles with this or if you're a lady that's offended by this you should go home and do a Bible study on the word reverence in the Bible that's your homework assignment ladies if you if you have a problem with this you go home and I want you to look up every time the word reverence is used and see what it says and then at each mention say is this how I treat my husband is this how I am toward my husband because that's the standard and you say well my husband's not worthy of that reverence well you know what is Christ worthy because do it as unto the Lord right and you say well my wife's not worthy of my love well let me ask you this are you worthy of Christ's love no I mean while while we were yet sinners Christ died for us that's how God commands his love toward us so we need to just quit blaming the other person and make sure that we do our it's got to be from the heart guys don't just say well you know I bought my wife flowers because I want to show our love here's the thing women are much more perceptive than men and so if you even if you do the right gestures even if you buy the meals and the flowers and the chocolates and you know if it's not from the heart they're gonna see through that at least I know that my wife is has like a sixth sense of perception she can watch she walks in the house is just like there's been an accident here somebody something went wrong while I was gone somebody was playing with matches I'm like that was three hours ago you know I mean my wife walks in and she knows women are much more perceptive than men they have a sense of things so if your love's not real if you're just going through the motions like well pastor Anderson said to give this a shot so I'm gonna try it and see if my wife starts referencing me and calling me Lord you know but but here's the thing if the love is not real she's gonna sense that so you got him the love has to come from the heart you say well how do I do you know pray to the Lord to help you read the Bible get filled with the Spirit sing the hymns and get right with God and you know think about all the the reasons why you married your wife in the first place you know and you must have liked something about her right you know and and and work on not acting like you love your wife work on actually loving your wife no really I mean actually loving your wife and wives work on actually referencing your husband actually having respect for him in your heart not just yes sir you know actually having an attitude toward him that's a right attitude let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer