Identification Truths Plus 2012

We're just finishing up question four of lesson 26. We basically were saying... Did we get that? Where were we? Is that right? Did we do three? No, I think we're in three. Is that where we're at? No, I guess that's right. We were ending up on question 2. That's right. We were in the middle of question 2, which I went through a couple of them. Question 2 of lesson 26.

Does Christ ever give some of his authority to humans? And we went to about husbands and wives. Then, did we get to about governments? I don't think we did. In fact, I don't think we even got to the second one. I went to husbands and wives, and again, therefore, should we omit verses that say that we have only one authority, and that is Jesus? If husbands and wives in that relationship, if we do, what are we telling the Lord?

He made a mistake? We just kind of omit those verses. if there is some authority that he has carved out. Remember, he's the total authority, the ultimate authority. But he, under the grace system, has allowed various authorities with very limited spheres and powers and abilities to humans. And one of that was the husband and wife relationship. Another one is with parents and children.

We look at that in Ephesians 6.1 and Colossians 3.20.

So, Ephesians 6.1 is, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

And then Colossians 3.20, Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. And again, the Greek word to obey in these passages, hupakaiō, which means to hear under or to listen intently, to be under the teaching of. Children, obey your parents. I love this part of the lessons. I'm getting great scowls from a few in the audience here. So should we admit this? Should kids tell their parents, I only have one authority, and that is Jesus Christ.

I do not care what you say. Is that how it should go? not looking at some of the audience nodding their heads in agreement with that. No, it shouldn't be that way. Or if you do, should we just omit these verses? Should we just kind of brush these under the carpet and say, you know, that really doesn't exist.

I think you got a bit of a misnomer there, because if their response was, I'm only under the authority of Jesus Christ, that being the case, then they're also by definition under your authority. But they omit that sub-category of the authority. I'm just obeying the Lord. It's any of these. The husband and wife. My point is that the authority that the Lord has given parents or whomever comes from the Lord through the Word to us. That's what I get at. That's exactly right. Ultimately, Christ is our authority. The ultimate authority.

But he has shaved off some of that authority to have structure and organization. And so it's just not an anarchy that we, you know, under grace, which is liberty, he gives some structure to have some function. Because otherwise, you know, you'd never, I mean, husbands and wives, there's some structure there in the family. There's family and the parents and kids. So under grace, we have, again, some of these principles and authorities that we're able to function under. So it isn't just a, you know, Wild West, go crazy, do whatever you want. he has put together a structure that is very open, has a lot of liberty, but it gives some structure to how we function on earth.

You just have here one example of the overarching principle, God is not the author of confusion, as scripture puts it, but he is a God of order, and part of that order One could make an analogy with a business organization, just a secular one. The CEO doesn't do it all. He delegates authority. There are people responsible for certain sections, and they act under the aegis of the overarching authority. But within a certain realm, they are responsible to the head.

In our case, Jesus Christ. But it is part of God's plan that that authority be distributed, whether it's governments, whether it's in families. In each of them, and that's the point, the ultimate authority is Christ. So whoever that authority is, has got to be in the authority of Christ. So if you step out of that, and we'll get into that, when an authority steps out of that, is that authority still valid or you follow that?

But, you know, parents are way off base sometimes. I mean, I was thinking this morning about the shooter's mother that had all the guns and she took into rifle practice and all of that. So, you know, and what happened, she ends up really getting killed herself. Yeah, you know, I guess there's a whole bunch in that. I mean, who's responsible, ultimately? Is she responsible for him and his actions? You know, train up a child in the way he should go. And so you can do the best training. That's why, you know, that's quite a...

Well, we'll get into that, actually, a little bit. We'll get down a little bit. I guess I don't want to shut the gun a little bit. We'll address that a little bit as to Can I go and I see you training your child with guns? I don't like that. So, do I have the authority to tell you not to do that? You don't have the authority, but in friendship you could say that. I don't think it's the best thing to do. Yeah, but can I tell her what to do? Hardly. I know Nita. Okay, can you tell my wife what to do? Or me what to do? How to raise my child? I think no. No way. You know, and we'll touch on that. And that's, again, the sphere of the authority. Whoever, I mean, I feel sympathies for that woman because that young man had such, you know, he was apparently so intelligent and had such a significant problem.

To me, it's just... It was very sad. To me, it just exemplifies evil. You know, there's evil. and pure evil. And you know, you can't, I think, I think to use this, you know, from a, from a... I'll let it all out explosively. Well, I just use it from a witness standpoint that there is evil in the world. And this exemplifies it. That you can show that. That it isn't just this amorphous great Mother Earth and this and that. That there is evil. Pure evil. And you can use it to that. And that sin exists. We're all sinners. And you can use that to, we're all sinners. In reality, we're no different than that gentleman. none of it were cut out of the same cloth. Just by the grace of God, we didn't do that or whatever, but we've been saved, changed, placed into Christ. But there's no difference between...

Mental health and all of that, because that is so difficult. But did God know about that? Did God allow that? I just think we're having a lot of problems now. People are just... But... God allowed it, but it's... It's not normal. But God allowed it. That's the key. You have to have rest in that. From an understanding of how that happens, I understand that God knew about that. Just in my prayer, God knew about it and allowed it, and he's using it for his purposes. I have no idea what that means. Although, I'll tell you, the guy... This is getting way off topic.

The guy who I saw on the news last night, we were watching, and it was the dad of one of the kids who... who got killed, he basically said, you could tell he was a believer, because he basically said, you know, I don't understand this, this is tough, she's, you know, loved my life, but I'm praying for the family of the shooter, and I have utmost prayer for them and what they're going through and the suffering that that family is going through. Only a believer can do that. Only a believer can do that. Because otherwise, the old man is the quid pro quo. He took my life, I want to take them, and I want the anger and the frustration. Only a believer can say, pray for the family.

And that was what this guy was saying. And I'm sure the media was going, huh? What? You're praying for the guy who just obliterated 27 human beings? And he said, I pray for that family, because the suffering that that family has gone through. and for the loss that they have, and trying to understand and to be bearing all of that, that, you know, anguish for what went on. And here's a guy who just lost his daughter, praying for that other guy, or their family. You know, that's a believer.

Isn't Satan the prince of this world? Absolutely. In the Garden of Eden when Adam, in essence, bowed down to Satan and he gave up, and it was given over to Satan, Yeah, you know the thing is... Yeah, we're all born under the curse. I always do this, you know, when we hear, you know, people who, Satan's attacking me and all that kind of stuff, you know, and Satan's doing this.

Well, number one, who allowed it? Who allowed Satan to do whatever? You know, and you have to understand that, that Satan is a defeated foe. And what is somebody who is defeated by somebody, what happens to that person? They're used by whoever has overtaken them. So I don't understand that God allows these things because Satan is a defeated foe. And God allows these things. He's still here. He still prints. He still allows them to do things for his purposes.

I don't understand all that. I really don't. But he uses it in his purpose. And I look at this thing and maybe it's for this one guy to tell the world What's different about that guy? You know, he may have spoke to 300 million people. Maybe that was a whole purpose. I don't know.

But I rest in the fact that he uses it for his purposes. And we can't, remember all these things, we can't, we can't be separated from his love. He knows all these things are going on. And I rest in that fact. When these tragedies happen, when Katrina happens, when Sandy, you know, Sandy happens and all these things, I understand that God didn't go, oops, I missed that. He uses it for his purposes and there are a billion different things that he's using that for. And I rest in that fact. because otherwise you can't explain it.

I mean, you can't say, you know, what allowed that, you know, huh? God knew about it and allowed it for his purposes. Didn't Jesus say in the last days things will happen that had never been? Oh, you can see a whole lot, I mean, like earthquakes and the birth pangs and all the things that are, you know, I mean, I can get into that, too, when you look at the number of earthquakes and they're a bunch of different things. But, you know, that's a whole different thing based on current topics, but I rest in the fact that God knew what was going to happen, and He allowed it for His purposes.

I can't explain that, but I just understand that He uses it for His purposes, and He allowed it. Because otherwise, if He didn't allow it, are you limiting God? God went, oops, I couldn't control that. He did, and I don't understand, but he's using it for his purposes and for his glory.

And rest in that fact, and use it for your own purposes. As I say, you understand that sin is in the world. When people talk to you about it, this exemplifies that there is sin in the world and that there was a need for a savior. I mean, you can use it in a lot of different ways. I don't know how he's using it. Alright, let's go on to another one. How about in the authority of governments?

We'll look at Romans 13.1. Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God, i.e. in our recent election, Did God go, oops, missed that? No. He allowed whoever he wanted and put him in authority. In 1 Peter 2, 13 and 15, Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.

Even before I finish, Holly, yes? I was thinking about this, and you know, just because you choose to submit doesn't mean you're giving your power to who you submit to, God's power. It's like if you choose to submit to your husband or choose to submit to your government or to your parents, it doesn't mean that you're giving them anything except choosing to be under that authority.

Right, that's it. And again, that's where I think you understand. Remember liberty and freedom? We are slaves to righteousness, but then act as free men. It's that same thing. You are submitting, but you're still free. Because it's under God's ultimate authority. And He's the Master that we serve, the Master of Righteousness, or Him. So it's still under that, so we still have freedom under that. I was going to say, you're going to be under the authority of someone if you're not under the authority of our Lord. And you're going to be under the authority of the prince of this world. Yeah, and there's only one master you can serve, one or the other. Absolutely.

You know, I look at this and think of the time, and I guess the thing that I'm looking at, this is a being in subjection to authorities. Think about in this time and what's going on. You think it's bad now, and whoever we have, depending on your political persuasion, who and what and where, and you think this is just absolutely terrible. Well, think about in these times.

What about when Nero was running the show? And they're telling him to be under authority. I know that, and we'll get into the spheres when you obviously are slaying people and doing things, but you know, this is a really tough thing in some of these times to say you're under the authority of somebody. It's like for now, I wasn't thrilled about the election results, but am I to be under the authority?

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I don't like it, but I know God put that person in. And we'll get into when you don't, because if there are certain things, like if he says, you know, disown Christ, you know, and go out and, you know, slay babies or whatever, are you under that authority at that point? No. I'll get into the criteria when that authority steps out and when you can disobey or be not under that authority. OK, so what about this one? And he'll love this one.

What about in 1 Timothy 5, 17? The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. I thought I'd get an amen for me on that one. Hebrews 13, 17. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls and those who will give an account.

So again, that's another sphere of authority as elders, elders of a church. That's another sphere of authority that we are under that God has shaved off to give some structure to how the body functions and some authority to function under. So elders are another one. So under this body of believers here, you're under the authority of the elders here.

So again, when that happens, whether they're in accordance with scripture or something that you just don't like, they want you to all wear blue shoes. So is that something that they could say? Do they have the authority to say that? Yeah, they have the authority, but you have the authority to find it ridiculous. And that's the thing. But if you're here and they say blue shoes, it's not scripturally wrong, right? You can wear blue shoes.

But, you know, one of those things where you then choose to either be under their teaching or not. And if you're not, then you either step out of that authority to someplace else or you're under that authority. And it's again where it's one of these things where if they do something unscriptural, absolutely, you're not, you know, and you show them it's scripturally wrong, then you're not under that authority.

But if it's something that, you know, it's just, we all have to wear a coat and tie. You know, there's some of those things. I think with, I don't think, not with government, but I think with husbands and parents and elders, it's important to understand to the Lord, to love those that they have authority over. I mean, you think about it, if you desire to become an elder, you're going to have to answer to God, the souls that you care for. And care for is the key word.

It isn't an authoritative thing, you're a servant. Parents that are the right kind of parents are really servants. And so is a husband, and so is a wife. and you love one another and it's a design for harmony. And harmony doesn't come from authoritative dictatorship. It comes from love.

And that's the point, what I try to make with Paul and the liberty. When he says about eating meat or you have to combine those with the other things. Remember I said last week, combine that with love is the greatest thing and 1 Corinthians 13 and all that. You have to combine that with that. Because these are all principles that we function under grace.

I have utmost liberty to eat or do whatever I want. We talk about that with Randy having a beer or whatever, things like that. I have freedom to do that. But if I do it out of, you know, and I know you're an alcoholic or you just really, really don't like that, and I'm going to show you, I'm going to drink that beer right in front of you. Am I doing that in love? No. So, even though I have the freedom to do that, I'm still under these principles. And if I'm not acting under those principles, then I'm not acting in grace. So, I mean, we have all this freedom, but you still function under all these principles.

I also think that, like with a parent and a child, over time there's think they're king and they have territories and they bump into the parents. The parent has a responsibility to teach the child how to listen under. And the reason that that's so important is at some point in their life, Christ is going to show up. And if they haven't been taught to submit, they won't submit to him. Or it will be a long time as the Lord teaches them to submit.

It's like a manner of building trust. I guess. That's right. But whether it happens or not, I know some horrible parents that the kids have come to know the Lord and it's not a prerequisite, it just helps if you teach them. All these things are meant, if you do it, and that's why I guess the whole purpose of this is, if these functions are the way God structured them, things go really well. in a marriage, in parenting, in subjection to government, under the elder's rule. If it functions the way God set it up, guess what? It works really, really well. All the authorities are still under the authority of Christ.

So if they're not acting as they are supposed to under their authority, what effect or benefit or use as their authority if they're acting outside of that. They're diminishing what God put them there to be in their position of authority. If a husband's just a schmuck, he's not functioning as who he should be. That marriage is not going to function as God wanted it to be. But if he is functioning as sacrificing himself to his wife, as Christ loved the church, guess what? That's going to make it a whole lot easier for that wife to be submissive. It's not a prerequisite, but if all that works together, it should function a lot, lot better.

The point that Mike made, I think is worth emphasizing. I love the scripture where it says, let this mind be in you. which is in Christ Jesus, and goes on to talk about who came and acted as a servant, and then when he washed the disciples' feet at the Last Supper, he illustrated, he kept trying to hammer home, I didn't come to rule, I came to serve, to live out the law, and to be an example of this, he submitted to Well, basically what you're saying is we're conformed to the image of Christ. A lot of this, again, it's a life. It's not a set of rules. It's a life.

And we've grown the grace and knowledge of Christ. As we grow in the knowledge of him, we know who we are, then we begin to manifest that life, because we know who it is, we know what it is. And as we manifest that life, are we going to be a schmuck husband? Are we going to be a tyrannical elder?

Are we going to be... no. It was an example, it was just not specific. You know, you're not going to do that as you manifest the life of Christ. You're just not going to do that. As that life is manifesting you, it's not a set of rules. It's who you are.

And as you understand, that's all the importance of identification, is that we've been placed in Him. And then all those truths, you know, we have the mind of Christ. We're being conformed to Him. All those things that point us to, as we understand that, we begin to manifest that. And all these other issues, which are old man stuff, that we want control, or we're doing it in anger, or we're doing it out of want to control. Those are old nature things. But as you manifest more of the life of Christ, Christ wasn't that way. Christ didn't lose anything by submitting either. No. What was His ultimate submission? He endured the cross. That's the ultimate submission. For sinners. Under the government. For us. For us. you know, stinky sheep. Right. You know, we weren't sparkling things to go after. And he wasn't going like, oh, this is a great government, you know.

No, no. I mean, yeah, I mean, you know what I mean? That whole process. So, yeah, I mean, it's I mean, that's the ultimate submission. I had a friend who used to go to a church where the elders would keep They would go to their homes and check up on them. Not in like a sweet, how you doing kind of thing. Are you towing the line kind of thing. I think there is that. It exists sometimes. Yeah, I mean there's tons. And again, you have to combine all these things in love.

Are you doing it according to scripture? Actually, we'll get into the next one. Question 3. How would you define any human authority as defined by the Bible? So, you know, I'm trying to get on a little bit so we can get through a couple of these. I want to get to a couple of the questions down below.

So, first we must establish that God is the only one with total authority. From that we have shown through Scripture that God shaves off or designates some authority to some humans or human agencies. And then based on that, I'd say there are three characteristics of human authorities. And basically I said every one of the authorities is limited, number one. It's not all-encompassing. Very, very limited in their sphere of authority. The second is the authority must be designated by God through the Bible. You can't make up your own authority. I have the Courtney Hemingway sphere of authority of I'm going to go out on the street and tell everybody that they have to wear blue shoes. I don't have that authority. I can't make that up.

So the authority has got to be designated by God through the Bible. I've given you several examples. Elders, parents, governments, husband and wife. All these are described in the Bible. Third one is every legitimate authority has its authority derived by God. You know, it's not that you make up your own authority, it's derived by God. Okay? And again, as we say, the ultimate authority is God, so that's derived by Him.

So, every authority has those three characteristics. At least those are the ones I... Dave, any others? Any other authorities? I think a good explanation of limited authority is like, wives are to be submissive to their Or children obey their own parents? That's one of the questions I want to get to. Because that's exactly right. And that's where I think a lot of troubles come. A lot of trouble comes from that. Is when we get out of what that limited authority is.

Go on here, read Romans 13.1 and Ephesians 5.22. What do they say about the origin of human authorities?

And this is in Romans 13.1. Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.

And then for what? For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Pretty clear. Pretty clear who establishes. Any of the human authorities are established by God. Not by us coming up with a new structure, a new authority. Every one of them is established by God. Okay, so when you come up with something that is not established by God, should we be under that authority? No. Okay? So, all of the human authorities that are derived by God are designated by Him. Therefore, we reject the authority as designated by... Therefore, when we reject authority as designated by God, who do we reject? God.

So again, under husband and wife, all these different authorities. Employers like one, like masters of slaves? You can take that in the masters, be subject, you know, slaves be subject to your masters. You can equate that to an employer. But again, very limited. And if he tells you to, you know, Whatever. Sure. Cook the books. Yeah, cook the books. You know, any of that stuff.

You don't have to be under that authority. That authority is stepped out of being scriptural or being, you know, it goes against scripture, so that authority is not, you don't have to be under that authority at that point. Okay? So, why do we subject to these authorities? Why do we do it? Order. Order? Obedience. Obedience? Others? They paid my bills. Well, the scripture says that whatsoever you do, you do all for the glory of God. And so, once again, you trace it back not to that immediate authority that you're obeying, but back to where that authority ultimately rests. Exactly.

Ephesians 5.22, for wives.

Ephesians 5.22, wives submit what? As to the Lord. It doesn't give the criteria on the husband's behavior as to the submission. Again, you're doing this as unto the Lord, not as unto your husband. That's why the criteria is that the husband, it's linked to him, it's linked to the Lord. Your submission is based on submission because the Lord has established this. Again, children, be obedient to your parents in all things.

And this is Colossians 3.20. Children, be obedient to your parents in all things. For what? For this is well-pleasing to the Lord. Again, it goes back to the ultimate authority. If you're under this structure, this authority, and again, we have utmost liberty under grace, but we're functioning under this structure, it's pleasing to the Lord if you obey. Why is when you're submissive? It's to the Lord that you're submissive. You know, it probably then is showing that, let's say, children who are submissive to their parents... Oh, I think I'm losing my thigh as I'm talking. Train ran off the tracks. That they're trusting their parents, which ultimately is showing that you're trusting God because it's in God's plan. Maybe I did stay with it. That is, and that's the point.

And that's where I think, I think we try and, I made this somewhat controversial, I don't know. I think, you know, we try and put stuff that, you know, the husband wasn't quite right, so we don't have to submit or anything. Unless he's being scripturally incorrect or making you do things that are scripturally wrong, You're supposed to submit to Him. If He's beating you or that kind of stuff, you obviously don't. That's going against Scripture. It's even going, and it's just because of my job, I'm hearing all these supposed to and should words and stuff, but it's more that you want to, right?

Because you're ultimately, as you say, you're ultimately under the authority of God. And so submitting to your parents or obeying your parents is ultimately submitting to God. That's the beautiful part of it. And you want to and it's not you're doing it because you should, you're doing it because you love your husband and you love God.

And actually when you look at even some of the scripture where it talks about husbands and wives and unequally yoked, your submission is to win them over. An unequally yoked one is to win him over because your submitting shows you're under the authority of God and that's to win him over if you're unequally yoked. So I think it's the same thing. In an equally yoked, your submission glorifies God. And that wins the husband over too. Again, God set it up when we function the way he set it up. It's a wonderful thing. It's really, really good. Okay, I want to get on this one, this five.

From these same passages in Colossians 3.18, what do they say about the sphere of that authority, or any authority? So, like with the parents. You know, children obey their parents because it's a well-pleasing Lord. Not because they're really swell parents, or on the contrary, you don't obey because they're terrible parents in the child's eyes. So, when do you, what is this sphere of authority? These verses say authorities are very limited.

If we look at Colossians 3.18, wise be subject to what? Your husband as fitting in the Lord. And from 5.22, to your own husbands.

Ephesians 5.22, you're submitting to your own husbands. So, human authorities are limited in their sphere of authority.

So, do I as a parent say You know, your kids should be reading five times a day because my kids, my kids read ten times a day. Your kids should at least be doing five. Do I have that authority? I mean, it's a really cool thing. You know, your kids should be coming to Sunday school. My kids do. You should.

Do I have that authority? No. But a lot of times we get into this where, boy, you know, I've got the best answer and I'm going to put it on you. I am outside my authority. My authority as a parent are my kids. Yeah. Let's say I'm a Sunday school teacher of kids and one of the kids is misbehaving. Do I need to go and ask the parents for the authority to discipline them?

If they give you that authority, yes. Because that, again, their authority is to, and they can delegate that. So yes. They know what you want to do to them too. Discipline them. Yeah. Don't go there. He'll train you like he does his dogs. You'll be tied to a tree. It's so easy to get into that though.

When I was young, a young Christian, and had no wife or children, how they should raise their children. Once I got four children, I had much less to say. See, but that's the whole point. If we function according to the scriptures, with this fear of authority, it works. When I step out and I start getting out of my authority and start delegating this stuff, Husbands and wives. I think I got jumping ahead a little bit, but you know You know just different things Do I have any right you know with my wife?

What let me look at my example? I had oh Yeah, there's the example I had a couple of men. I didn't want to step on any toes Yeah Why should you stop now? Why should I change? I'm still here. You're up for the next two weeks. I'm going to be the piñata for the next two weeks. Getting pounded. It's like, and we're getting to the next question actually, that's where I had the example. My wife, I want her to wear a dress and a hat for head covering each week. You can't wear... Why are you wearing pants? Why are you wearing pants? My wife wears a dress and that's the way it should be. Why are you...

Do I have any, any ability to say that? My question would be, do you have the authority to tell your wife to wear a dress? Actually, you know, I could ask her, in loving way, to wear a dress. Ask her? Yeah, I mean, I could... You have the authority to force her. You know, I don't... She could lovingly live with you. Exactly. You know, that's a tough one.

I mean, well, in strict adherence, I would say if you as a husband say that, I would like you to wear it. She lovingly should say yes. Because it's not unscriptural. I think I would lovingly say, show me in the Word of God where it says that I should do that. I would say under wise be submissive though because I would like you to do that. Where does it say not that I don't have the authority to say that? By the flip side I would say just the opposite to that. Where does it say I can't ask that? should not wear men's clothing.

And some of those are cultural and all that. That's a whole different thing about adorning yourself in hair and head coverings. But I guess the thing is, if it's done in love, it should be responded to in love. And I don't think there's an authority.

Again, that's why I brought up this example in pants. I don't think there's a scripture that says, women thou shalt not wear pants, or thou shalt wear a dress. This is in a loving relationship. If I, as a husband, say, you know, I'd like you to wear a dress, I would say, I would have the authority to ask that. And then whether, you know, she lovingly responds, okay. And then, you know, if I truly understand that that's irritating her, I lovingly should say, okay, I don't want you to do that because I know that that's offending you.

You may have a motive. Let's say you were invited to be an elder, and he said, look, as elder now, we have to look a little better. We have to dress a little nicer. Can't dress nice in pants? Yeah, that would be fine. In other words, I don't want you wearing jeans anymore.

And then the wife, if she loved her husband, would probably say, yeah, that's good. But again, the point is that in love and not being tyrannical. Sorry to interrupt, but on a national level, this is kind of like how the United States thinks that every government should be a democracy. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And we'll go to war for it, right? Yeah, we do. Yeah, but is that how... I mean, it's always like obeying other people's...

You know, you don't have authority over somebody else's wife. We as a country may think that we have authority to tell other countries how they should be run. I guess my point is, you know, I can tell my wife that we can argue about that as far as whether it's under my authority.

I think it would be if I lovingly ask that and she lovingly responds, it works, it's great. you know, if it's an ulterior motive, bad motive. I have another great example. Let's say you work for Aramco and they transfer you to Saudi Arabia and you tell your wife, I'd like you to wear a burka just to keep you from being killed.

Yeah. I mean, that's practical. That's, you know, I mean, there's, there's something. Yeah. Well, but we don't, I guess the point is we don't have that in the scripture. There isn't, there isn't a, I guess, you know, there's lots of things. I mean, you know, there's... I could use some, but I don't want to go there, because there's things that other people do that I don't typically agree with. But I can't say to them, I don't agree with that. I really don't agree with that. Why do you do that? You can say that? Sure you can. No. You could say, I mean just out of curiosity. Yeah, I mean you could ask the question, but if I say why, you know, and say you should, you should.

That's where all of this system gets whacked out, is when I step out of my authority and say, and I think we would, you know, like how you're saying with the kids, you know, you were great telling the kids and all this until you have your own. You shouldn't have been in the first place telling all the kids, because that's not your sphere of authority.

You're just setting up laws. Laws, laws, laws. But it doesn't matter. It's the sphere of authority that you have. You're stepping outside of what God set up. And I think our body would function so much better if we stayed within the framework that God set up. We get into all sorts of things because we step out of that. You know, when we start getting in other people's business, you know, you can as a friend say, Hey, you know, I think, but that's just my opinion and walk away.

But, but, you know, as a friend, you know, I think your kids are, you know, you know, breaking windows or something, you know, Hey, I just want to let you know. Or, you know, whatever, or they're being disruptive in class, you know, can I discipline them? Sure. But it's when, you know, I raised my kids and they could not watch any TV and you let your kids watch TV?

What do you think you're doing? I've just blown through all the sphere of authority that I have and I am outside and I am completely wrong. But we think we're doing right. because it was right for me. So it's got to be right for you. Absolutely the wrong thing. We stepped out of our sphere and everything gets cattywampus at that point.

I don't think people should train their kids how to use guns. You just said it earlier. But can you say that to me? You can say that. You can't make me. And you shouldn't make it an issue. You can say it, but whether I do that or not is up to me as a parent.

It shouldn't be the basis of the relationship. The basis of the relationship is to love a person and get them to... But see, most of our stuff gets out of the love and it's suddenly selfish. I want mine on you. I'm more comfortable than you do. Yeah, and we get out of that love and it's because I did it this way, you have to do it my way. You know, and again, husbands and wives. You know, again, when we step out and we start telling other people's wives or husbands what they should be doing, totally out of character.

Yeah. Get a big government. When you get into doing all of that, then where is your focus going back to? It's going back to your ego and what you think is right, when your focus is supposed to be on Christ. Absolutely. And your concern is for their focus to be on Christ.

Like it says in Romans, don't put a stumbling block in their way for their walk of Christ. It's a religion, it's not a religion. Yeah, I mean, it's a life. As I put it, it's a life. And if we're manifesting the life of Christ, a lot of these issues go away. If I'm focused on Christ, I'm not worried about all these different things. I'm not. But that stumbling part, that's a specific thing, that's about bringing somebody back to a sinful behavior. But I may offend somebody, and that's a difference. We want to make sure about that.

Again, the real thing is we still have a lot of liberty under these things in parenting. I mean, there's not a whole lot of Christ's training up to here. we have a lot of latitude under grace, a lot of liberty. I have the ability to raise my kids in the way that the Lord has directed me. You have the liberty to do it in your way.

And when we start hitting these things together is when problems happen. When husbands and wives are in subjection to governments or elders, all these different things, if we just understand keeping our focus on Christ and love and all the other principles that we live under grace, this system really works well because God created it this way. And that's the beautiful part. If we follow the scripture, it really works.

If I love my wife as Christ loved the church, do you think she's not going to want ultimately to be under my teaching or under my submission and to respect me if I'm loving her as Christ loved the church? Absolutely. I'm not required to. I'm not required to, nor is she required to have him do that to be submissive. But there isn't a divorced woman in the world. Maybe that's an exaggeration. There are very few divorced women that when you say that your husband is under Christ and he treats you the way that, you know, whatever. I mean, we'd be like a little puppy dog. It'd be, oh, great, wonderful. I'm glad to follow what you say. Then this is the tough part. Wise be submissive.

Now, does it say, because your husband is a swell guy? Does it say that? No. It doesn't. You're supposed to know that before you get married. I mean, you can't. I mean, this is serious. I mean, I think a lot of things, you know, an unequally yoked, you know, that's where I went back to that one.

And an unequally yoked, you're to win your husband over by your submission. So he's not even a believer. And you're to win him over by that submission. Well, he was a believer. But again, I think, you know, the latch is not It's not under the law system. If I do this, he'll do that. Or I'll do that if he does this. There's no lapse there.

But you have to assume that people are going to be as serious about all those things as you are. Last week when I said, you know, this next verse I like about parents, you know, don't provoke your children to anger. very strict, very authoritative parents who may be very much under God's authority, but still are too strict and so forth, are not very likely going to be the people who are won over by the submission of their wives. They take advantage of everything. But again, again, again, who is the one who is going to be ultimately responsible and stand before the Lord? Is it going to be the kids or the parents? who have to be, who are going to be looked at for that behavior. Both of them. I'm just saying that if they can't provoke the kids to anger, that kid under there is not very likely to be won over by a submissive wife. Yeah. Maybe.

But we're not responsible to the ultimate good by your side. Yeah, we're not responsible to that, you know. And that's the thing. If we do things accordingly, if everything works perfect, the machine works really well. Yeah. But it doesn't say if this half isn't working, I am not responsible to do what I'm supposed to do in the scripture because this half didn't do it. So I'm not responsible.

Well, the reason that you're responsible is because you're responsible to the Lord. To the Lord. That's the key. That's the thing. satisfied that you're doing the right thing before the Lord, then that's right, but you might as well be in ready for disappointment that it's not necessarily going to be right. But you're not disappointed if you're doing it as unto the Lord. Wives be submissive, what, as to the Lord. You have to be there. It's a forgiving, loving God.

But, you know, unless it's scripturally wrong, that's where I think a lot Because it is as unto the Lord. His behavior is not predicated on your side of the equation, even though you want to. That's what I'm saying. The old man is the one wanting quid pro quo. If I do this, if he does this, I'll do this.

I disagree with that. I absolutely disagree with that. Because if a husband is unfaithful to his wife... That's not scriptural. He's out of authority. But the point is that you can't Then what I've done is I've set up a criteria in which I don't have to submit to him. If he's broken the marriage bond by being unfaithful to me, then do I have to submit to him? No, that's exactly what I'm saying.

He's outside of his authority and not being scriptural. Outside of his authority can be a very small thing. He doesn't treat me with respect. But I guess if scripturally he's unfaithful, that means he has broken the authority. He can't be. He can't be. I guess the thing is, my point is that a lot of times, he leaves his socks on the floor. I don't have to do anything in submission or under him.

That's the kind of stuff that... Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. Father, we thank you again just for your word. Father, we thank you again just for the system that you've set up. And Father, we thank you for just the operating system of grace, again, in which we function, which is unlimited blessings and it's unmerited. It's not what we do or anything related to us. It's you providing all things to us. And Father, we rest in that fact and we love that fact. Father, we just thank you now and just pray for Vern upstairs as he gives us the message and prepare our hearts to receive it. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.