The Absolute Importance of Submission to Authority

A couple of Sundays ago I spoke on the subject of sacrifice. Do you remember the verse I quoted? 2 Samuel 24 verse 24. Let's look at that once again. 2 Samuel 24 verse 24. Where David said to the Lord, not to the Lord but to Araunah where he was offering a sacrifice. When Araunah offered to give him everything needed for the sacrifice freely, David said, no I'll pay for it. And he said, I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing. That's how Jesus gave himself on the cross. The same principle, I will not offer to my father that which costs me nothing. That's what Abraham did when he offered Isaac. 10,000 sheep would have been easier. But his principle is, I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing. That's what David said. And every true servant of God through the years who has been useful to the Lord has followed that principle. I will never offer to the Lord my God anything cheap or that which costs me nothing. It must cost me something. Otherwise I don't have the Spirit of Christ. If you offer to God that which is cheap, you do not have the Spirit of Christ. And sacrifice is the principle by which the Lord runs this universe. Jesus spoke about a grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies before fruit can come out. You know all the food that we eat comes from grains that have died. Whether it's wheat or rice or anything, there are grains that have died. Even the fruit trees and everything else, there's something that goes into, you plant into the ground, something dies there. It cracks open and life comes out of it. The principle of death and resurrection is found in all of creation. And the food we eat, you probably don't realize that. So the principle of sacrifice is one thing God has put into the universe and demonstrated on the cross of Calvary. He runs this world by the principle of sacrifice. Those who understood it come into fellowship with him. If you want a happy home, you've got to fall into the ground and die. You show me a home where the husband falls into the ground and dies and a wife falls into the ground and dies. That home will be the closest to heaven on earth. But even many Christians haven't understood it. They think it's just a question, oh let's have family prayer. We read the Bible and pray and that's it. No. Where a father and mother fall into the ground and die, children will absorb that principle. They'll grow up to learn to fall into the ground and die to their own will and their own choice. So the principle of sacrifice is one of the very important principles to build a church. It's a principle on which God runs this universe, I told you. There's another principle which I want to speak on today and that I call the principle of submission to authority. Submission to authority is another principle by which God runs this universe. We read that Jesus was submitted to the Father. The greatest example throughout his life, he said, I will never do my own will. The secret of Jesus' life, the happiest life that any man ever lived on this earth, it was not wealth. Jesus was not wealthy. He was not a beggar. He was not like blind Bartimaeus begging on the street. He didn't have to depend on anybody for money. He didn't have to beg for his food. He worked and he earned his living. But he was completely dependent on his father and the secret of Jesus' life we read in John chapter 6 and verse 38 is the principle of submission. If you've understood it, you've understood along with sacrifice. I told you sacrifice is one principle. The other is a principle of submission to authority and Jesus authority was his heavenly father and he said in John 6 38, I came from heaven never to do my own will. That is submission to authority. But the will of him who sent me. Now many people do the will of God when it is convenient. That's not submission. Submission is whether it's convenient or inconvenient, I do the will of my father. That's how Jesus lived and if the will of the father was that he should be a carpenter up to the age of 30, he was a carpenter up to the age of 30. That's it. And when the father told him to leave, he stepped out. So he never did his own will and if the truly spiritual man is the one who comes closest to this, never do my own will in any situation. None of us are perfect there. Very often we do our own will. We don't seek the will of God. That's because we are imperfect. But I hope you're pressing on to perfection where every year this area of your life which is coming under the will of God is increasing. That's how it should be. When one day we are born again we know very little of what God's will is for our life. But as we walk with the Lord that area increases. It's like occupying the land of Canaan, bringing all of the land of Canaan under the authority of God, bringing all of my life under the authority of God little by little by little. They didn't occupy Canaan in one day and you will not be able to bring all your life under the authority of God in one day. But if you work at it, if you're going to sit lazily in Jericho and say we conquered Jericho, let's sit here. You'll never conquer anything more. But if you say Jericho is only the beginning. We got to conquer the whole land. You say okay I've come to Christ and I will every part of my life must come under the authority of Christ. That is the person who's making spiritual progress. Where in every area I say Lord I want to do your will and not mine. Now many people are afraid of that. Oh dear me I have to do God's will in everything. Do you know that is the most beautiful and most wonderful life you can ever live. The most perfect life was the life of Jesus and the secret of it was that he never did his own will but always sought the will of his father. Now if you say you believe that the life of Jesus was the most perfect life that anybody lived and you don't seek the will of the father in everything, you're a hypocrite. You're just saying one thing but you don't really believe it. I believe with all my heart that the most wonderful and most perfect life that anybody lived on this earth was the life of Jesus Christ. And as I've sought to understand the secret behind it, it was very simply this. In everything he yielded his will. Father somebody's just called me the devil. What should I do? Yield your will. Love him. Forgive him. And don't wish any evil for him. He called you the devil. That's okay. Nobody, you don't become the devil just because somebody called you the devil. We got to be foolish. I mean do you become a prophet if somebody calls you a prophet? No. Well neither will you become the devil if somebody calls you a devil. Forgive them. So Jesus' attitude was always this. Always forgive, forgive, forgive. And sometimes it had to be action. Where the father said, see those fellas making money in my temple? Go and drive them out. Oh, that's going to make you unpopular. To get up in a church and act with strictness. All the carnal people sitting in the church will get offended. Let them get offended. Do you know how many people are offended with Jesus when he drove the money changers out? People could have gone up to him and said, Lord you could have done that more gently. Tell them please take your tables away. He didn't do that. He whipped the sheep and turned the tables and that was divine anger against sin. I wish there were more people anointed like that to speak God's word in that spirit. Not to physically turn tables but to stand against the love of money and the love of honor and the all types of sin that's found in the lives of many, many people in the church. The pride and arrogance and rebellion and all types of things. And I wish there were more people who would get up and preach against sin, preach against anger and sexual lust and the love of money and all that. That's the equivalent today. Now I want to show you a verse in Matthew chapter 8. If you read it carefully you'll find it's an amazing verse. You know there are a few times when Jesus commended people. He once looked at Nathanael and said, there's a man in whom there is no hypocrisy. That's a tremendous commendation. Jesus said that in the last verse of John chapter 1. There's a man in whom there is no hypocrisy, zero hypocrisy. I remember when I read that I said, Lord I want you to say that about me. He didn't say he was perfect. Nathanael was not perfect but he didn't pretend. There was no pretense in him. He didn't pretend to be spiritual when he was not. And there are very very few people even in churches about whom Jesus can say there is a brother, there is a sister in whom there is no hypocrisy. They are not pretending to be spiritual when they are not. They are at the same level. In other words they're not pretending to be in the 10th grade when they are in the first grade. That's all it means. It's not a sin to be in the first grade but it is a sin to say that you're in the second grade when you're in the first grade. That's hypocrisy. And the church is full of hypocrites. Most churches. I hope this church will be free from hypocrisy. Nathanael was. It's a commendation. There's a man in whom there's no hypocrisy. Dear brothers covet it. Let me show you that verse from John chapter 1. It's a very lovely verse. I remember it challenged me as a very young man. John chapter 1 verse 47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him, there's an Israelite in whom there is no hypocrisy. Amazing statement. Dear brothers and sisters, eagerly desire that Jesus will say that about you. Not that you're perfect but that you say you're in the first grade when you're in the first grade. You don't pretend to be in the second grade. That is hypocrisy. You know in many times I ask children, well son or my girl what class are you studying in? Let me tell you a testimony. In 60 years no child has ever told me a lie as to which grade they are studying in. I've never found a child studying in the second grade saying he's in the fourth grade. Not even once. But I've seen a lot of believers who pretend that they are in a higher grade than they really are. Oh I've seen lots and lots of them. But I'm not fooled. In my younger days I was fooled but I'm not fooled today. God's given me grace to behave because it's part of my responsibility to gauge where a person is. They can't fool me anymore. You can't fool me that you're in the second grade when you're only in the first grade. Don't pretend brothers. God loves you just as you are. The less pretense there is in your life the quicker you'll grow spiritually. The more you pretend to be spiritual and particularly in a church like this where the standards are so high it can be such a lust. I call it a lust. To pretend that you know more. That you are more spiritual than you really are. That you have a far better home than you really have. There's nothing wrong in acknowledging. I'm not saying that you confess your sins in public. No that's wrong. All I'm saying is don't pretend. Get rid of it. And if you recognize that I start my, I have hypocrisy in me as a child of Adam. We start with loads of hypocrisy. We've got to unload it, unload it, unload it. And come to the place where there is zero hypocrisy. Make that a goal in your life. Okay that's one thing. But what I want to share with you right now is you know Jesus sometimes would commend people like he told Peter, blessed are you Simon Barjona because my father in heaven gave you revelation. That's another thing I've longed for. Revelation from heaven. It's a great thing to get commendation from Jesus. Seek for that more than the commendation of elders or the commendation of men or women. The commendation of Jesus. Here is an amazing commendation that Jesus gave to a non-Jew, to a Roman soldier. And remember these Roman soldiers had fought in many battles and killed many people. A man who knew nothing about the Bible, who knew zero about the old covenant, who knew nothing about Moses. But he had a respect for God. He had a respect for the Jewish God whom he did not know. And when he heard about Jesus he had a great respect for him. And one day we read he was a centurion. Means he was a Matthew chapter 8 verse 5. He, a centurion mean a man who had a hundred soldiers under him. He was a man with some authority, some type of captain of a hundred soldiers. And he came to Jesus and said Lord. He calls him Lord. It's amazing. He, a Roman captain would not usually call anybody Lord. He had a respect for Jesus Christ. He said my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented. And Jesus said I will come and heal him. Why did he come to Jesus? Because he had heard Jesus had the power to heal. And he had faith that Jesus could heal his sick servant. Now this is a servant. You see most, I know most military people, they don't care much for their servants. They may care for their fellow soldiers or someone like that. But to a servant, it's like a slave. Very few people care for their slaves. And when a slave is sick, to walk a long distance to go and find Jesus to come and heal your slave. I mean really he's got some humility this man must have had to go and ask Jesus to find where Jesus go walk all that distance. I don't know how many miles in order to ask him to come and heal his servant. And it says here he implored him. Don't miss one word in it. Implored. He didn't just ask. He didn't ask casually. In other words he pleaded with him. Implore is a very strong English word which means he pleaded with Jesus. Please come and heal my servant who's paralyzed at home and he's tormented. And Jesus said I will come and heal him. Verse seven. And now listen to the centurion's reply. Lord. Again the word Lord. I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. How would you feel if Jesus said to you I'm going to come to your house? Sure sure Lord come. But not the centurion. He said my house is not worthy to have a holy person like you. To come there. Do you feel your house is worthy? Or do you have the spirit of the centurion? This centurion got so much from the Lord because of his humility. You know sometimes just because we have accepted Christ as our savior. We think all of heaven belongs to us and we hear preaching like that from the charismatics. Everything is yours and there's that and the other and I'm seated with Christ in the heavenly places and we begin to think that we are very important people. And that's why we miss out on so much in the Christian life. This centurion said I'm not fit Lord. My home is not worthy for you to come there. I don't know whether you feel that way yourself. I'm not worthy. You know once Jesus said when you have done everything that you have been commanded. Maybe I should show you that verse. We'll come back to Matthew 8. Luke 17. Jesus said in verse 10. Luke 17 10. Please remember this verse all your life. There are some important verses in the bible that Christians must remember all their lives. Luke 17 10 is one of them. When you have done every single thing that you've been commanded. Anybody who has done every single thing that the Lord has commanded? When you have done everything the Lord has commanded then you get a certificate. You get a title. The title is unworthy slave. When do you get it? When you have done every single thing the Lord has commanded. Then you get the certificate you are an unworthy slave. I've only done what I should have done. I haven't done anything extra. That's a very important verse. I would encourage all of you to keep it in mind always because very often we do something for the Lord and our head gets swollen saying oh I did something or we brought somebody to Christ and all of a sudden our head gets swollen. Dear brothers and sisters that's why we do not grow spiritually. That's why year after year after year we are defeated Christians. That's why year after year after year we are in the same spiritual level because one little thing we do for the Lord and it swells our head. Please remember this verse. When you have done everything the Lord has commanded you then you become an unworthy slave. I'll tell you and really humble you if you take it seriously. So this man had that spirit even though he never heard that verse. He said I'm not fit for you to come to my roof under my roof but back to Matthew chapter 8 verse 8. Lord you don't have to come to my house. I'm not worthy to have you in my house but you can stand right here and speak the word and the paralysis in my servant who is 10 miles away will go. It'll go like that. I know that and I said and he says I'll tell you I know my servant will be healed if you just stand here and say a word. That word will have power 10 miles away from where my house is. His paralysis will go that moment. His torment will disappear in that moment and he says Lord I'll tell you why I know that. I am a man under authority. He was a centurion. He had a major or a colonel or someone over him and he says I have a hundred soldiers under me and when I say to a soldier go he doesn't say wait sir. There's no such thing as wait sir in the military. You'll be in prison the next moment. I know that. I've been in the military and I know and I say to another come. He comes immediately. To another I say do this. He doesn't wait. He does it. He drops what he's doing and he does it. This is how it is in the military in every country in the world. They teach you to act immediately on a command. That's why they do so much of military drill in the parade grounds. When you say left turn you can't wait a second. You got to turn left. When you say right turn you got to turn right. I remember you know there was a certain country. It was in England some years ago during the war. They were selecting some people to be commandos. Commandos are the most highly trained people to go into the enemy camp and fight for the enemy and blow up the enemy's equipment and things like that. And one training one part of that and not the only one but one part of that training was all these soldiers were asked to they were you know quick march. When you get a word quick march you march, march, march until you hear the word halt. You don't stop. So they were taken to a boat jetty you know a long pier that was jetty that was sticking out into the sea and they were asked to march on it and quick march and they left and they marched, marched, marched, marched, marched. When they came to the end of that jetty and it was a sea in front of those who had some common sense stopped. And five or ten of them kept marching. Those five or ten were selected to be commandos. That when you're in the military you don't use your common sense you just obey orders. Whether there's a water in front of you or a sea in front of you you just keep marching. I've never forgotten that. I heard that story when I was a young man in the military that is obedience. I wish the lord had people like that in his army who so eager to obey that they will not they do not lean upon their own wisdom. The bible says don't lean upon your own wisdom. Trust in the lord with all your heart and don't lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him. Proverbs 3 verse 5 and 6 and he will direct your paths. The people who obey like that who obey the lord like that without questioning are the ones who accomplish the most for the lord in this life. Who when the lord says something they do it. I know the lord's tested me in things like that where he says something and he tests me whether I do it immediately or not or whether I'll reason it out and say but this and but that and but the other thing. I've seen people who question all these things and they are the people you see them 20 years later they are still in the kindergarten. They're still in the kindergarten after 20 years of being born again Christians. I've seen a lot of people like that. I know the reason is they lean upon their reason but not upon they don't believe in saying not my will but thine. But here he said when I tell a slave to go he does. When I tell him to come he comes. Why is that because he says I also verse 9 don't forget the first part. I am a man under authority when my colonel tells me hey you captain come here I come. I don't question it. When he tells me captain go there I go or do this I do it. Because I'm a man under authority when I tell a person under me they listen to me. This is another principle in this universe submission to authority. In the beginning sin came into this universe because one angel refused to submit to authority. Remember this sin did not come through adultery. Sin did not come through murder. Sin did not come through somebody telling lies. Sin did not come through somebody hating somebody. Sin did not come through somebody being a hypocrite. These are all sins. But have you realized that the number one sin that was committed in this universe was when a person did not submit to the authority of God. We must never forget that's the root from which all other sins came. And that was the area where Adam was also tested in the garden of Eden. What was God testing Adam and Eve about? Not how clever they are. They were very clever. You know Adam could give a name to all the animals. I've thought about that. I say by the time I... I've got to invent names no? He was inventing names all the time. And by the time I come to the hundredth animal and say well I forgot did I give this name before once? He had to have a pretty good memory to say no I never gave that to anyone. Otherwise he'd have called two animals an elephant or something like that. He had such tremendous intelligence but that was not good enough to serve God. He had to learn submission to authority. And it is a very easy command. Out of the 10,000 trees in the garden Adam, there are lovely trees there, mangoes and apples and all types of fruit. Take anything. One tree out of 10,000 don't ever eat from it. Is that a difficult command? It was a test of will you submit to the authority of God. And that's how God tests us also. In different things. And you can't say I obeyed God in 10 other things or 100 other things or 10,000 other things. If God tells you one thing and you don't do it, that's the area where your obedience is tested. Not in the other areas. So Adam's obedience was testing the same principle in which years ago the angel was tested. Submission to authority. Like that's why Jesus said to this soldier. Do you know what Jesus replied to the soldier was? Amazing. The commendation. Amazing commendation when he said that. Matthew 8 verse 10. Jesus when he heard this, he said to all the Jewish people who are well versed in the laws of Moses etc. He said, hey fellas, this guy who's never read anything about Moses knows nothing about the Old Testament. He's got more faith than the whole lot of you who've been going to synagogues for 30 years and know everything about the Exodus and Deuteronomy and Numbers and all the law. He's got more faith. Bible knowledge is not enough. These guys had Bible knowledge but this man had faith. And ultimately you will discover it is faith which is more important than Bible knowledge. You know you come to CFC churches long enough and you listen to my videos long enough, your head will begin to ooze with Bible knowledge. Enough to teach so many people but it doesn't mean you got faith. Faith is a completely different realm. You don't grow with Bible knowledge. Bible knowledge is good but faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The purpose of God's Word is to give us faith and if I don't have faith I'm not growing. And this man with so little knowledge had faith and he says I've never found such faith with anyone in Israel. Israel was full of scholars who knew the Bible backwards but none of them, not one of them had the faith that this Roman who had killed so many people in wars, who had never read the Bible had. He recognized submission to authority. You know I've discovered that military men usually can recognize other military men. There's something about the bearing of a military man which you recognize in another and the language etc of a military man. And this military man, the centurion saw Jesus and said hey he is some type of military man. I don't know which army but he's he's some type of military man because he seems to be so a man with authority. I see him as a man with authority which means that he must be under somebody's authority. I don't know who's but a man cannot have such authority unless he's under somebody's authority. That's why he recognized in Jesus. I don't know whether you've seen that. I don't know whether you recognize Jesus as a man who was under the father's authority. This man recognized it. He never read John 6 38 which I read to you just now. But he recognized there's a man who seems to be under some authority because he's got authority. And I'll tell you this the important thing in the Christian life is not Bible knowledge that you're recognized as a good member of RLCF. Counts for zero. How much are you submissive to the authority of God in your daily life 24 hours? Then you will be a man or a woman with authority. You'll be able to exercise authority over your children. You'll be able to exercise authority over the devil when he tries to bring confusion into your home. I've told fathers, I say when there's confusion in your home due to any reason get alone in some corner and bind the activities of satan in Jesus name. And you'll see things change in your home. I've done it. But you will have no authority over satan if you're not under authority yourself. What did the soldier say? I am a man under authority. And that's when I tell a soldier to go he goes. I'll tell you something. If you live under the authority of God like this, the authority of Christ, when you tell a demon to go, he'll go. Always. Even if he's bringing confusion. It may not be a demon possessed person. But if demons are bringing some confusion into your home. Do you know that a lot of confusion that's brought into your homes is brought by the devil? It's the devil who creates confusion in a home. It's the devil who's creating all types of problems in home. Problems with children and problems. There is the devil. Who else? It's not the angels. It's the devil. And we must have authority over satan. And you can't have authority over satan if you don't, if you're not under the authority of God. That's what you learn from this soldier. Before the Lord baptized me in the Holy Spirit, I did not know what to do with a demon possessed person. And there are many people who don't know what to do with a demon possessed person. Maybe you just carry him out so that when he goes out, the demon goes with him or something like that. But that's not what Jesus did. When Jesus encountered a demon possessed person, he rebuked him and the demon left. But what I saw in India, in many Pentecostal circles, pastors and others screaming and yelling at somebody who's supposed to be a demon and praying and fasting and telling him to come back tomorrow and again yelling and screaming. And I said, boy, I never see this in Scripture. It's like the Roman centurion telling the soldier, go man, go. And the chap doesn't go and go, go, go, go. And yelling at him 45 times, go, go when the soldier doesn't go. What does that prove? It only proves that the centurion doesn't have authority. I discovered that and I said, this is a disgrace to the name of Jesus Christ to try and cast out demons like that. And I said, I'll never do it. Jesus always spoke one word. No demon could stand before him once he said that. And when the Lord baptized me in the Holy Spirit, I suddenly began to encounter demon possessed people in India. And every single time, believe me, I only had to speak one word and the demon would go. I didn't have to say it a second time. In the name of Jesus, get out of this person. Gone. Case after case after case, I've seen it. And I said, Lord, I want to live under your authority all the time. I never want to have to, if I have to speak to a demon a second time, I must stop. Lord, there's something wrong with me. I'm not walking with you. Let me leave him alone. Let me go and spend a few days in prayer and fasting, set my own life right before I try to help other people. I remember here in Loveland at a meeting long in the olden days when charity was running this, the public meetings here. And in one of those public meetings, there was a demon possessed woman who came and the leader who was here could not deal with it. So he asked me to go and speak to that lady. And I did. She couldn't speak the name Jesus. When I told her to accept Jesus, she could say, I can't say the name. Oh, then I knew it was a demon. I said in Jesus name, get out of her, you demon. And for the first time she could speak the name Jesus and she accepted the Lord. It was in some public meeting we had here in Loveland right here. And she was all haggard and dirty clothes that day. She belonged to some type of cult, I think. But the next day she was completely changed, completely different. Her hair was combed, she was dressed up nicely and said, Brother Zach, do you recognize me? I could hardly recognize her. She was a completely different person. What she needed was not counseling. What she needed was deliverance. Dear brothers and sisters, not all may be called to cast out demons, but I say you must have authority when the devil acts and creates confusion in your home or with your children. We must have authority. And you can have that authority if you are under authority. So that's why God has placed the principle of authority everywhere. I mean, we recognize that on the streets. Why do you drive on the certain side of the road? Why do you obey the traffic lights? It's submitting to authority. And it's because you fear the one who will execute that authority, which is maybe a policeman. And God has placed authority in this world. And way back in the beginning, before when the earth was perfect, the universe was perfect and there was no sin, there was one angel who decided to defy God. He was already the head of the angels, but he was not satisfied with that. You read about it in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. Take time to read it sometime. And he said, I will exalt myself. I will make myself like the most high. That's what he said. Let me show you that verse in Isaiah 14. I will ascend, Isaiah 14, 13. Verse 14, I'll make myself like the most high. And God says, I will thrust you down to hell. That is the origin of sin. When an angel in a perfect universe, where there was perfect submission, you see the law of submission in the planets and the stars. Perfect submission for millions of years. These stars and been going around, I don't know how many years, certainly longer than Adam, because the earth was created in Genesis 1. And that could have been many, many years before Adam. But this universe has been running for in perfect timing, not even split second timing. You know, we can set our watches by the stars. They are better than the best clock. Because they submitted to an authority God gave them, you must move around this sphere, in this orbit, in exactly so many years, so many days, so many hours, so many minutes, so many seconds, and so many split seconds down to 000. You've got to keep that. And every star obeys, every planet obeys. That is what we see in this universe, submission to authority. The same way, when an apple seed is planted, you get an apple tree, that's a submission to authority. The apple tree seed can't produce mangoes, sorry. It's submission to authority. Everything in this universe is submission to authority, except demons and human beings. And that's the reason for all the sin and chaos. Wherever there is submission to authority, there is beauty. Look at the beauty in the universe. And that's why God says, when a man and woman get married, though they are equal in God's eyes, yet the wife must submit to the husband, submission to authority. And where you find a wife who is humble enough to submit to her husband, you have a beautiful home. But that's rare to find. There are people who occasionally submit. It's like if a star occasionally submits, can you imagine the chaos that will be in this universe, if a planet occasionally decides to submit, and most of the time does its own thing. That's why there's so much chaos in so many homes. Wives who occasionally submit don't feel like sometimes. And that's the first level. And the next thing the Lord says is, children, obey your parents. They don't know that. They can't read the Bible. A wife at least can read the Bible. But the children can't read the Bible. They have to be taught. Children, obey your parents. Because that's the principle of authority on which the whole universe runs. You disregard that, you bring the chaos of hell into your home, and you've got to blame yourself for that. The principle of, I am a man under authority, and other, my soldiers obey me. And the Lord says, I've never seen faith like this. I hope the Lord will be able to see that in our homes and in our lives. First of all, in our personal submission to the Lord. If there's something that the Lord shows me in scripture, I have to obey it. Whether I like it or not, whatever it may cost me. I've told you once before, I think that one of the first things that I had to, what I discovered when I was born again, was that in my unconverted days, I had not paid all my taxes to the government of India. It was in my unconverted days. But the Bible says, I read in Romans 13 verse 8, Oh, no man anything. And the Bible says in Romans 13, paid taxes to whom taxes are due. I can't say, well, those were days of ignorance. Okay. But still I cheated the government of some money. And I had to sit down and calculate it. And I calculated it and I found that came to a huge amount of money. It was about four months of my salary. I was already a naval officer getting a good salary. And from there to pay a four month salary was a huge amount of money. And it takes so much longer than that to sort of accumulate that money, many months. And I'm trying to figure out now, and you know how we are, we calculate, calculate. And I wasn't sure, is it this figure or this figure? One was 10% more than the other. Oh, sort of, I think about 20% more. And you know how human nature is. I think I'll take the lower figure and pay it back. That day I read in Leviticus chapter 6, that if you have taken something by robbing, when you return it, Leviticus 6 verse 5, you must add 20%. I couldn't get a more direct answer than that. Here I was struggling. Should I take this one? Or this 20% higher figure? Exactly. And that was my daily reading. Amazing how God speaks. So I said, I knew I had to give this. And I saved up that money over a long period of time and gave it back to the government. Because the Bible says, you remember when they showed a coin to Jesus? He said, whose head is this? They said Caesar's. He said, do you remember it? Render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. I don't know whether you've seen that verse. What I ask people is, who comes first? Matthew 22 verse 21. Render to Caesar, that is to the government, the things that belong to the government. And to God, the things that belong to God. Now my question is, who comes first? The government or God? You say God. I say no. Read there. He didn't say first give to God the things that are God. He said no. Give to the government first. Because if you don't give the government the tax that is due to them, what you'll be giving to God is what belongs to the government. I'll give you an example. Supposing I owe you $1,000. And I go and put $100 in the offering box. I'm giving your money, not mine. You understand that? After I've given you your $1,000, then I can put my $100 in there. Then it is my money. So if I did not pay the government, I don't give to Caesar what is Caesar's, then I'm stealing Caesar's money and put it in the offering box and God won't accept it. I realized that. And I'm so thankful that I settled that in 1960, somewhere there. And if I had not done it in 1960, and it's 2021 now, for 61 years, I would have been trying to run the Christian race with a chain on my leg. And I would not have made the progress that I did make. There are many Christians who've got a chain on their leg. And they're running a race. And that's why they're so slow. That's why they're not making progress. Something not settled in the past. Some apology not made. I remember I used to collect stamps when I was a young boy. And I stole a stamp from some friend of mine when he was not looking. And the Lord said, go and apologize for it. He stopped collecting stamps. I stopped collecting stamps. But the principle, I had stolen something. And I tell you, it was more difficult to write that letter of apology than to give money back. But I sat down and wrote it. I said, I'm sorry, my dear friend. Some 10, 15 years ago, when you and I collect stamps, I stole one stamp from you. Please forgive me. I'll tell you something. God honors those who are exact. He'll give you exact authority in your ministry. And that's what I wanted in my life. I said, Lord, I don't want to be a preacher. I want to have authority in my ministry. Authority over Satan. Authority to set people free. Authority to plant churches. Authority to bring your word in anointing from above with the fire of God. And I'm willing to pay any price for it. I wish all of you would say that. It doesn't matter whether you're a man or a woman, young man, young boy, young girl. Learn the principle of authority. Say, Lord, I never want to do any my will at any time. Anything which I read in your word, that's your will. I'm going to do it. Whatever it is. Owe no man anything. I will owe no man anything. God is my witness that in all the 62 years that I've been born again Christian, I have never borrowed one cent from anybody. I will not do it. Because Romans 13, verse 8, I remember the days when my wife and I were very poor. He said, we live with what we have. For years, we lived with very, very little, but we decided we will not borrow. We never believed in buy now, pay later. That's debt. We never did it. If we could not afford a washing machine, we'd wash our hands the way Jesus washed his clothes. How do you think Jesus washed his clothes? Do you know? Not even a tap. There's no running water in their houses. They go to the well, carry a bucket of water, bring it out and wash your clothes. That's how we did it. That's how my wife did it. Later on, we could afford a washing machine. We got it. But never, never buy now, pay later. I want to tell you, my brothers and sisters, it's these little, little things. We say, oh, that's a small thing. Exactly. It's a small thing. And that's how we miss out. You need only one hole in a vessel for all the water to leak out. You don't need a big one. One small hole. And it can be one small hole in your life where you have not submitted to the authority of God. Teach your children to obey you. That's the greatest lesson, more than math and physics and chemistry and geography and all that. You can teach them all that. That's good. But teach them obedience and teach them to speak the truth. Those are two things I taught my children from childhood. Instant obedience and speak the truth and apologize when you hurt, when you speak rudely to somebody. Always, always. Go and apologize to mommy if you spoke rudely to her. Stop all your work. That can wait. And I don't regret it. The principle of submission to authority is so important. The universe runs on it. The principle of sacrifice and the principle of submission to authority. There's a lot more that you can think on that. But I would say this is the reason why the apostles were able to accomplish so much for the Lord and to do something that has lasted for 2,000 years. The apostles started Christianity. This lasted for 2,000 years. They were 12 uneducated people and they turned the world upside down because they had God on their side. And if you have God on your side, that's amazing what God can do through you, my brother. Even if you have failed right until today, I urge you to repent and say, Lord, from today onwards, I want to be under your authority. I want to teach my children the most important lesson I can teach them to submit to authority. Wives, be submitted to the authority of your husbands. That doesn't mean you can't disagree with them, but do it in a loving spirit. Sometimes your husband may be wrong. Sure. The authorities are wrong sometimes. There's nothing wrong in saying, darling, you're wrong there. That's not lack of submission. It's not a blind, shutting your eyes type of submission. We are sensible human beings. It's a spirit more than anything else. Very, very important. But when it comes to children, it's very, very important that they are taught absolute submission to authority because that's the greatest gift you can give them. Look at the number of rebellious children today who are children of born again believers. Numerous. The children of pastors have a reputation for being wild. In India, they have in America too. Children of missionaries have tremendous reputation being wild. Why is that? Because they went to convert the heathen and they didn't bring up their own children properly. I told the Lord, Lord, if my children go astray, I'll stop preaching. Because the Bible says, if you can't bring up three or four children, how can you teach the world about anything? This is so important. It's completely ignored in Christendom today. And that's why there's so little authority in the pulpits. And that's why there's so little anointing and most preaching. And that's why the devil runs rampant in many churches. The gates of hell can never prevail against the church that Jesus builds. Dear brothers and sisters, let's submit to the Lord and say, Lord, we want this church to be a church that prevails over Satan, that Satan's afraid of. This church is a church that Satan must be afraid of. And he will be afraid of it if we seek to submit to the authority of God, contrary to what Satan did many years ago, following the footsteps of Jesus. Let's pray. Please think about anything the Lord spoke to you and take it seriously, Heavenly Father. We pray you'll help us to be gripped by the truths we hear so that there can be lasting results in our life. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.