We Should Submit To God Because We Are Saved

Romans 10:3, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Amos 4:12, “Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.”

As we see in our text passages, we are saved by submitting to God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. We don't surrender to live for Jesus to be saved, we submit to God's righteousness through faith in Christ. Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” I was saddened the other day when I heard heresy on Unshackled, which is a radio program broadcast by the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. The Unshackled announcer said that to be saved you must "follow Jesus." No Sir, that is not how you get to Heaven! You don't surrender to be saved, you surrender because you are saved.

When the Bible says to “Submit yourselves therefore to God” in James 4:7a, it is speaking to believers. One day at the Judgment Seat Of Christ, every saint will have to give account to God for our: TIME, our TALENTS, and our TREASURES. We will all be required to stand individually before the throne of judgment, and give account for the GOOD and the BAD done in the body. 2nd Corinthians 5:10-11, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.” Carefully notice that the Bible does not say we will be held accountable for our “sins”; but rather, for the bad and good done in the body. Jesus Christ bore the full weight of our sins upon the cross of Calvary.

Americans were horrified recently, having to relive the monstrous crimes of the Golden State Killer (Joseph James DeAngelo - born 1945), a career police officer who was sentenced in August of 2020 for committing 13 first-degree murders, 51 brutal merciless rapes and 100 home burglaries, over approximately a 12 year time span in the 1970's and 1980's. DeAngelo evaded capture for 42 years, but through DNA family genealogies on the internet, detectives were able to find him in 2018. Many people, especially victims, are frustrated that DeAngelo was able to avoid prosecution for 42 years. Many of his victims have already died. DeAngelo will likely be dead within 10 years. The creep deserves 10,000 years in prison! Thankfully, the Word of God assures us that justice will still be executed. No one ever gets away with sin. No one ever gets away with their crimes. The infamous Zodiac Killer has never been caught, who brutally murdered at least 7 known victims in California, bragging anonymously to police that he did it. Hebrews 4:13, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

All sin must be punished. Thankfully, Christ paid for everyone's sins on the cross. Therefore, eternal life is a free gift to anyone who wants it, but you MUST accept it by faith in Jesus. No one ever went to Heaven who knowingly rejected Jesus as their Savior. The Bible teaches that GOD's GRACE that brings salvation has appeared unto all men. ...

Titus 2:11-14, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

I don't know exactly how, nor do I claim to understand it all, but I do know that everyone has some light from God. ...

Romans 1:20, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”

God's obligation is to give some light to every man, to draw him to the truth. John 12:32, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” Man's obligation is to receive that truth. That is what Bible repentance is—acknowledging (changing your mind) concerning THE TRUTH! John 3:21, “But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” 2nd Timothy 2:25-26, “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

Salvation is a matter of submitting to THE TRUTH—the truth that we are a guilty sinner in need of redemption (Romans 3:19-20), which compels us to believe the truth that Christ died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and physically resurrected three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Salvation does not require turning from one's sins to be saved; but rather, turning to Jesus Christ by faith, so that He will save and cleanse us from our sins (Matthew 1:21). We are saved by being persuaded to trust in the facts of the Gospel. Anyone who receives Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for their sins is saved. 

Every Christian is expected by God to live a righteous life. But we don't live the Christian life in our own strength. Galatians 2:19-21, “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” We are not saved by works, but we were “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10b).