In Romans chapter 4, verse 24,
the Apostle Paul, writing by inspiration of God the Holy Spirit,
declares to us that if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, then God's salvation is ours. The righteousness
that God imputed to Abraham shall be imputed to us if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Free, complete,
absolute justification by the grace of God. Justification from
all things. Forgiveness of all sin. Perfect
righteousness is ours if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead. Believe on him. Believe on him. Believe on him that raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead. God give you grace to believe
on him. Jesus our Lord. What a wonderful
statement. What a tremendous subject. I
take these three words found in Romans 4 24 for my text and
my subject. Jesus our Lord. It is my heart's desire that
you who hear my voice will this hour be made to know Jesus Christ
your Lord. and be able to leave this place
calling him Jesus our Lord. He who is overall God blessed
forever is rightfully called Jesus our Lord by every sinner
who trusts him. His name given to Joseph before
he was born is Jesus. Thou shalt call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. I'm fully aware
that men today use the name of our Savior, Jesus, as a byword,
banded about with irreverence. And folks speak lightly using
his name, Jesus, speaking of him. And I encourage you, I encourage
you always to speak of our Lord with reverence. I seldom ever
use the name Jesus by itself. That name was given to him as
his name as a man. His disciples always referred
to him as the Lord, the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in doing so, we speak reverently
of him, I hope. But certainly we ought to make
it an effort. On our part, whenever we speak
of our Savior to one another, Whenever we speak of Him in private
conversation, whenever we speak of Him before men, to reverence
and honor Him. But don't be bashful about speaking
of Him who is Jesus. Jesus the man, that's His name. It means Jehovah saves. He is Jehovah, our Savior. Jesus who laid down His life
for us. There's no other name under heaven
given among men whereby you must be saved. Save the name of Jesus. Jesus Christ, the God-man. This is our Savior. Jesus. Oh, how sweet the name. Every day the same. There's no name like this. Jesus. He who came into this world to
suffer and die in our room instead to save his people from their
sins. He who has redeemed us is Jesus. And he has this title, Lord. Lord is our great Savior's position
and it is his power as the monarch of the universe. the position
and power he earned as Jehovah's righteous servant by his obedience
unto death in our room and in our stead. Turn to Philippians
chapter 2. I want you to see this. Philippians
chapter 2. The Greek word that's translated
Lord in the New Testament is a much stronger word than the
word Lord. When I was in England last time
one of the dear older ladies in the congregation jokingly
referred to me as his lordship. And some may take offense at
that, but she was speaking reverently at the same time jokingly with
regard to a person she respected. But the title in English is nothing
more than Mr. or Sir or Don in Spanish or Senor
in Spanish. It's nothing more than that.
As a matter of fact, the word translated in the Spanish Bible
is Senor. And so the scriptures in the
Spanish, whenever you hear Brother Cody speaking or translating,
when I say Lord, he'd say Senor. And that's the word that's used.
That's all it means in the English usage of the word. But as this
word is given in the Greek text, it has a much stronger meaning.
It's much more than just a title of respect or a title of honor. The word Lord is that, but it's
much more. He who is Jesus, our Lord, is
Jesus, the man, God supreme. supreme one, our sovereign, our
controller. He is that one who is David's
son, whom David called his Lord. But the exact expression, Jesus
our Lord, is very unusual. It's very unusual. It's only
found one other time in the New Testament. Only one other time.
Our Lord is called our Lord Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus our Lord,
the Lord Jesus, Christ the Lord, but only one other time is he
called Jesus our Lord. Peter speaks of grace and peace
being multiplied unto us through the knowledge of God and of Jesus
our Lord. But this unusual expression is
such a delightful expression, for it speaks of that position,
that high honor, that majesty that Jesus Christ earned by his
obedience unto death as our substitute. Now understand this, as God,
Jesus Christ our Lord is forever Lord over all things. As man,
as our mediator, he earned the right to have dominion over everything. By his obedience unto death,
he earned the right to hold this position with this power as our
supreme, our sovereign, the controller of the universe. Look at the
scriptures here in Philippians chapter 2, verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Wherefore, that is for this reason,
because of his obedience unto death, even the death of the
cross, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the
earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. I pray that God will give me
grace to convey to you a little bit of the delight and comfort
and joy and reproof and instruction he's given me in studying and
preparing for this message. First, let me show you that Jesus,
our Lord, is the humble acknowledgment and the joyful, confident claim
of faith in every heaven-born soul. This is the humble acknowledgment
and the joyful, confident claim of faith every heaven-born soul. Turn back to Luke chapter 14,
Luke chapter 14. Salvation in the experience of
it, in the experience of God's grace begins right here. Salvation begins with the sinner
bowing to Jesus Christ as his Lord. Salvation is not saying, I believe
in Jesus. Salvation isn't saying the sinner's
prayer, as it's called. Salvation is not walking down
a church aisle or getting baptized or joining the church or reforming
your life. Salvation, faith in Christ, is
nothing less than surrender to Christ the Lord. Now let's see
if that's what it says. Luke chapter 14, verse 25. There went great multitudes with
him. And he turned and said unto them, If any man come to me,
and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot
be my disciple." What strong language. What strong
language? What does our Lord mean? What
does he mean? A man must hate father and mother
and brother and sister, son and daughter, and his own life also,
or he cannot be Christ's disciple. What does he mean? He means exactly
What is meant when the Lord God says, Jacob have I loved, but
Esau have I hated. God did everything and God does
everything for Jacob. God does everything for his elect. Esau, the reprobate, are not
considered. Not considered. Not considered. Our Lord Jesus is saying, if
you would come after me, if you would be my disciple, you must
not consider mother or father or son or daughter or husband
or wife or your own self. Only me. Only me. Everything must be surrendered
to Christ. everything. Our lives in the
totality of them must be surrendered to Christ. Now this is not a
once for all thing, this is a continual struggle. Believers are continually
compelled by God's grace to bow to Christ and say to him, not
my will, thy will be done. Thank God for grace that sweetly
forces us dust before his throne. Nothing less than surrender to
Christ is faith in Christ. Look down in verse 33, so likewise,
or verse 27, and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after
me cannot be my disciple. Take up your cross and follow
me, the Savior says. Take up your cross and follow
me. Follow Christ regardless of cost,
regardless of consequence, giving no consideration to self. Follow Christ. Look at verse
35, 33. So likewise, whosoever he be
of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath. cannot be my disciple. Spurgeon put it this way, either
we will be servants under the dominion of King Jesus, voluntarily
giving up all to his claims, or we cannot be saved. And Spurgeon was exactly right.
Either we will be servants under the dominion of King Jesus, Voluntarily
giving up all to his claims or we cannot be saved You see the
issue Between you and God is his son The question is not do
you want to go to heaven when you die? Everybody does Not a
matter of whether or not you want to go to hell when you about
die Nobody does not a matter whether you want to live in peace
or live in turmoil. Everybody wants peace Now, no
matter whether you want a good life or a bad life, everybody
wants a good life. The issue is, who is Lord? Who controls you? Who controls
your life? Who rules you? Who rules your
life? If Christ is your Savior, Christ
rules. If Christ is your Savior, Christ
is your Lord. If Christ is my Savior, Christ
rules. If Christ is my Savior, Christ
is my Lord, and that's the way I want it. That's the way I want
it. I want you, my Lord, to have
your way, and I want you to keep me from my way. I want you, my
Savior, to have your will and keep me from my will. I want
you to control me. Oh, Son of God, control me. in every aspect of my life. I
gladly yield control to you. Force me, force me by your grace
ever to do so. This one who is Jesus, the Son
of God, is our Lord. And faith bows to Him. Faith
bows to Him when He came into this world Lay in the manger
and we worship him like the wise men and shepherds of old bringing
our gifts to him Saying this one is born this day King King
of Kings and Lord of Lords He was born King and he came here
to himself king and lived as our Lord Jesus Christ while he
walked on this earth and showed himself Lord. Showed himself
God Almighty in all the details of his life throughout his humiliation
while our Lord Jesus walked on this earth. Have you ever considered
how he showed himself master of creation? Master of diseases? He caused the blind to see, and
the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk, and the dumb to speak. He caused the dead to be raised
up, just as the prophets said that Christ would. He took loaves
and fishes, just a couple of fish and a couple of pieces of
bread, and broke them, and broke them, and broke them, and broke
them, and broke them, and broke them, and broke them, and broke
them, and broke them, until he fed 5,000 men. He is Jesus our
Lord when he was tempted in the wilderness. He showed himself
master of Satan even in his flesh and in his humiliation. When
he was in Gethsemane's garden, He bows to his father's will
he shows himself Jesus our Lord and says father Glorify thy name
for this cause came I unto this hour father Glorify thy name
and when he hung upon the cursed tree He so demonstrated himself
Jesus our Lord that one hanging on his side said to him Lord
Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom and he said
this day thou shalt be with me in paradise. He showed himself
Jesus our Lord when he said it is finished and bowed his head
and gave up the ghost. He showed himself Jesus, our
Lord, when he rose from the dead, triumphant over death, hell,
and the grave, ascended on high, and took his seat at the right
hand of the majesty on high. And God the Father said to him,
thou art my son. This day have I exalted thee. Sit thou on my right hand until
I make thy foes thy footstool. And yonder on heaven's throne,
he sits. Jesus, our Lord, ruler over all
things. king over all things, having
power over all flesh, ruling all providence, all creation,
all grace, all events, all men, all angels, all devils, to give
life to whom He will. He is Jesus our Lord. Turn to
Acts chapter 2. This has been the confession
of faith from the beginning. Here in Acts chapter 2, this
is just after the day, or on the day of Pentecost, Peter is
speaking. And folks thought these men were
drunk with wine. And Peter says, oh no, oh no,
this is not what you think. Look here in Acts 2, 22. You
men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know.
Peter said, now the things I'm talking to you about, you're
fully aware of. These things weren't done in
a corner. Everybody heard about Lazarus being raised from the
dead. Everybody heard about the widow's son being raised from
the dead. Everybody heard about the blind being made to see and
the lame to walk. Everybody heard about the loaves and fishes.
Multitudes gathered around him because they wanted to see more
miracles. These things you know. Verse 23, him being delivered
by the determinant counsel, and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken by wicked hands, have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised
up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible
that he should beholden of it. For David speaketh concerning
him. I foresaw also the Lord always before my face, for he
is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my
heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad, Moreover, also my flesh
shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou
hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full
of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, Peter says,
let me now freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that
he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto
this day. being a prophet and knowing that
God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his
loins according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit
on his throne. He said he was going to raise
up Christ to sit on his throne. Now I have to pause and say this. He is not talking about some
future day when Christ is going to set up an earthly kingdom
and come down here and set up a throne over Palestine. Oh,
no, no, no. A thousand times no. That One
who sits on the throne of David forever is Jesus our Lord. And
He entered into His kingdom and sat down on His throne as the
King of Israel on the day He ascended back into glory and
sat down at the Father's right hand. Look what Peter says now.
Verse 31, He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of
Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his
flesh see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and
hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Set
thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God
hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord
and Christ. Oh, faith delights to acknowledge
this glorious fact. With adoring reverence we call
him Jesus our Lord. Unbelief is always presumptuous
and irreverent. Faith is always humble and reverent. And the more you know Christ
as your Savior, saving you from sin by His blood
and by His grace, the more you will rejoice in and reverence
Christ as your Lord. He who redeemed me, he's Jesus
our Lord. He who saved us, he is Jesus
our Lord. Now second, turn to Matthew 16,
Matthew chapter 16. We know our Savior as Jesus our
Lord only by the revelation of grace. Here in Matthew 16, our
Savior speaks when He came to Caesarea Philippi and asked His
disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I am? Verse 14, And
they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, and some,
Elias, others, Jeremiah, are one of the prophets. He saith
unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered
and said, Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. We rejoice to call our Savior
by this title because he is a man, the man Christ Jesus, bone of
our bone, and flesh of our flesh. Jesus our Lord, says the Apostle,
was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. We worship him all the more reverently
and affectionately because he is one of us. He's man. A real man. A real man. One as truly man as you. truly
man as me, a real man. He who sits on the throne of
glory holding the reins of universal monarchy is bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh. Oh how that ought to delight
our souls. Jesus our Lord is a title we use by which we distinctly
appropriate Jesus Christ, our God, to ourselves. We can actually
say to the angels, He is your Lord. He created you. You serve Him. He preserves you. But you can never say, He is
Jesus, our Lord. For He took not on Him the nature
of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham to give eternal
life to the seed of Abraham. He didn't redeem angels with
His precious blood. He's no near kinsman to angels,
but He is Jesus our Lord, the man Christ Jesus. God in our
nature, He made Himself to be that He might make us to be partakers
of the divine nature in Him. It's delightful for me from all
over the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ sits on His throne and
His kingdom is a kingdom without limit. How boundless, how vast
His kingdom. Our Lord Jesus is Lord over all. A young man asked me this week
about the other planets and galaxies. creatures there, I have no reason
to suspect there's any life elsewhere, not according to the book of
God, but if there are a thousand more worlds just like this one,
Christ is Lord of all. He's Lord over all by right of
redemption, and yet He bears special relationship to us, special
relationship to poor, fallen men and women. relationship to
you and me, sinners washed in His blood and saved by His grace. He is Jesus our Lord. I'll say more about this in a
minute if the Lord is willing, but when you read the Scriptures
and you find personal pronouns, personal possessive pronouns,
referring to the Lord Jesus, referring to God always use them
personally. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Imagine that. Imagine that. He is my property, my possession,
my shepherd. He made himself such. He is my
Lord, our Lord. We call him Jesus our Lord with
delight because he loved us. and gave himself for us. Every
drop of his blood is a diadem of beauty in his crown. Every
scar on his blessed body is a token of true royalty to all who know
him. Everything he endured, even the
wormwood and the gall All offer us tokens of grace, magnificent
grace in our sovereign to whom we gladly yield ourselves. Don't you know you're not your
own? You've been bought with a price. The price of the precious
blood of Jesus our Lord. How can I stick this in your heart? Oh God, stick this in our hearts. Here's the motive for everything. Here's the inspiration for everything.
For every sacrifice, for every service, for every deed done
for Him, done in His name, for every act of worship, of devotion,
for the consecration of our lives, for devotion to Him. Here it
is. You're not your own. You've been
bought with the price of the precious blood of Jesus our Lord. Oh God, give me grace to live
continually With this awareness, I'm not my own. I belong to my
Redeemer. I'm not my own. I belong to my
Savior. We rejoice to call Him Jesus,
our Lord, because He's made us new creatures by His grace. We're
His church. He's the head. He's the Savior
of the body who is the head of the body. He's the head of the
body who is the savior of the body. We acknowledge no other
head. We're members of his mystical
body, the body of which Christ alone is the head. And we wouldn't
have it otherwise. That means that in his house,
his word rules. He's the Lord. That means that
his example is the pattern we're to follow. That means that his
love is the law by which we are governed. The love of Christ
constrains us. He makes some in his house to
be under shepherds of his flock, but he's the chief shepherd.
And when he appears, we shall receive a crown of glory which
fadeth not away. He makes us his spiritual house. The church is called the house
of the living God, and he dwells in his house. Lord and Master
by his infinite love mercy and grace he's united us to him in
the sacred ties of matrimony in the sacred ties of matrimony
of which our marriages are but pictures read the fifth chapter
of Ephesians Paul speaks about husbands loving their wives and
wives obeying their husbands And he says, now, I'm talking
about Christ in the church. I'm not just talking about your
relationship with your wife, your relationship with your husband.
Oh, no, I'm talking about Christ in the church. Don and Denise
Ranere have this marriage, this sacred union, sacred because
it pictures what we have with Christ. He married us to himself. He married us to himself, the
husband is the head of the wife. That's Christ as head of the
church. Let the wife see that she reverence her husband. Let the wives be in subjection
to their husbands. Women obey your husband. But that's just a picture. That's
just a picture. It's a picture of something far,
far greater. We are to be in subjection to
Christ. If He's our head, we are. If
He's our husband, we are. We are to reverence Christ. If He's our husband, if we're
married to Him, we do. We're to obey Him. We're to obey
Him in all things. Not just where we want to, not
where we pick and choose, but in all things. That's called
a sacred bond of matrimony. We are married to the Son of
God. We anticipate the day when we shall be raised with Him. Raised now we are spiritually
with Him. Raised we were representatively
with Him. Soon we shall be raised up to
glory with Him. And we will embrace Him who is
Jesus our Lord when we are made to be in our glorious bodies
even as He is in His glorious body. When we sit together at
the Lord's table Tonight we'll come together again and we'll
break the bread and wine. And we're set together in sweet
communion. Communing with one another and
communing with Jesus our Lord. He's at the head of the table.
As the king presiding in his palace, he sits at the head of
his table. And his spouse, dearly beloved,
we are, and we can truly say, My beloved is mine and I am his. And yet he's still the king and
would come to the table to worship him, to commemorate his death,
to remember him until he come. Now, let me say something else. Brother, my sister, Let us never yield this title
to any other. Jesus Christ alone, our Savior,
is Jesus our Lord. Many, many years ago, when I
was just a young preacher, preaching in a Bible conference over in
Appomattox, Virginia with seven other men, and most of them old
enough to be my father, some of them old enough to be my grandfather,
I had I tried to preach from Lamentations 3, 21, I believe,
23, 24, the Lord is my portion. And I did best I could. And I
kept coming at it from every angle I could. And one of the
older preachers, as soon as I got done, Brother C.O. Jackson, he
was old enough to be my grandfather. He pastored down in Austin, Texas. He came up and took me by the
hand and shook my hand firmly. He said, young man, you milked
that text good and fed my soul. Brother Jackson never knew how
encouraging he was, that young preacher. But that's what I'm
trying to do today. I want us to suck all the sweet
we can from this text. Never yield this title to any
other. Jesus, our Savior, is our Lord. Isaiah gives these words, O Lord,
our God, Other lords beside thee have had dominion over us. But by thee only will we make
mention of thy name. They are dead. They shall not
live. They are deceased. They shall
not rise. There was a day when sin had
dominion over us. But now we're crucified with
Christ. And we're risen with Him. He's our Lord. There was a day when Moses had
dominion over us. And we were terrified by Moses,
cursed by the law, and yet trying our best to work our way to heaven
by something we would do. And that's what every man does.
He thinks that somehow by something he does, by some obedience he
performs, he's going to win God's favor. But we understand now
that we're dead to the law, and we're redeemed by Christ Jesus,
and He rules over us now. Free from the law, O blessed
condition, Jesus hath bled, and there is remission. Now I charge
you, children of God, let none be lord over your consciences
except Jesus our Lord. What do you mean, pastor? Let
no church, no creed, no confession of faith, no tradition, and no
preacher determine what's right for you. Let no one be lord of
your conscience. Now, don't misunderstand me.
Be sensitive. Be very sensitive to your weaker
brothers and sisters in Christ. Don't use your liberty as a license
to offend weaker brethren. Don't use your liberty as an
occasion for your flesh, but let no one dictate to you things
binding to your soul and binding to your conscience that God hasn't
given in his word. Jesus Christ alone is our Lord. I hear people say, well, I believe
this is a sin. I believe that's a sin. Who are
you to decide that? Who am I to decide that? If God
hasn't written it in His Word, we have no right to think it
in our minds. Understand that? And we have
no right to attempt to be Lord over others. In all things, seek
grace to know and follow, obey, and honor Jesus our Lord. Seek to have no will but He is. No will of your own. All to Jesus
I surrender. All to Him I freely give. Now you won't do so unless He
forces you to, Mark. You wouldn't have done so in
the beginning and you won't today unless He graciously forces it.
And yet, when He by His grace forces us to bow, we gladly bow. For His is compelling not by
force of power over our arms, but by force of grace over our
hearts. All to Jesus I surrender, all
to Him I freely give. We want Christ to be Lord in
everything. Is that not so, my brother? Is that not so, my sister? We
want Christ Lord over all. I see a lot of you young children
here, grandchildren visiting us. I've got two of my own. Would to God, oh would to God
He conquer your heart and graciously make you willing, willing, willingly
surrender to Him as Jesus our Lord. You see, faith can do that. Faith can commit life to Christ. Faith can dare to follow Christ. Faith can dare to obey Christ
because Christ is Lord. I trust Him. Merle would trust Him because
He's Lord. If He weren't Lord, you couldn't
trust Him. If He didn't have absolute power. You couldn't
trust it. But he who is our Redeemer, our
Savior, he is Lord. Oh, my soul. Son of God, use me as you will,
but I beg you, use me. Use me where you will, but oh
my Savior, use me. Use me as you will, but I plead
with you, use me. Use me for what you will, but
oh Lord, use me. I'm yours, I'm yours. Look at Philippians chapter 3,
Philippians 3. Verse 8, I count all things but loss for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them
but dung. Now don't try to make it a prettier
word than it is. I just count everything except
Him. Worthless manure. Everything. Everything but Him. Everything
but Him. I do count them but dung. that
I may win Christ 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, that I may
know him. I want to know him in the power
of his resurrection, in the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death. How is that? Oh, my father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, thy
will be done. Child of God, redeemed sinner,
consecrate yourself. All that you are, all that you
have, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment, consecrate
to Him who loved you and gave Himself for you, Jesus our Lord. Now, one last thing. Look at
this cherished fact. Listen to the text with emphasis
on the middle word. He of whom I speak is Jesus our
Lord. The Christ of God is our Lord. You can't say our Lord until
you said my Lord. David spoke of him as my Lord. Thomas said my Lord and my God. our delight. Christ is our Lord. And this is our uniting point.
Jesus our Lord. If Jesus is our Lord, we're one
with Him and one in Him. We have one Lord, one faith,
one baptism. This term, Jesus our Lord, draws
a circle around us all. All who are God's. We're one
in Him. God's elect can never be separated. Let us never be divided. And
let us never cause division. Never. I can't imagine any reason. I can't imagine any reason for
any believer separating himself from another. I can't fathom
that. I can't fathom that. I've had
folks over the years, preachers and others, say, well, I can't
fellowship with you. My soul. For me to say I can't
fellowship with Lindsey Campbell is to say one of us doesn't know
God. That's beyond imagination. Well, but I don't like the way
he combs his hair. So what? I don't like this. That's got nothing to do with
anything. Bill Raleigh, if Jesus is our Lord, he's our Lord. And we're one in him and one
with him. And there's no separation. One
more text, and I'll wrap this up. Colossians chapter 3. We differ greatly in station.
We differ in abilities. We differ in a thousand other
things. But your Lord is my Lord. That means we're brothers and
sisters in Him. And we join hands around Him
and say, Jesus our Lord. That's what Paul is telling us
in Colossians 3. Look at verse 10. Ye have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him. where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in
all. What's that talking about? What's
that talking about? Well, then Christ is neither
male nor female. There's no men, no women in His church. Yes,
there are. I'm looking this up. I'm looking this up. There's
no black folks, no white folks in the church. Yes, there are.
I know many. There's no educated folks, no
uneducated folks in the church. Yes, there are both. Well, what's
it talking about? It doesn't matter. It just doesn't
matter. It just doesn't matter. Not in
Christ. The only place in this sin-cursed
world where who you are and what you own and what you can do,
what you possess, matter is in Christ. The only place on this
earth where your race, your face, and your place are insignificant
is in Christ. In Christ. Christ is all. And He's in you all. Look at
verse 12. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, longsuffering. When you get up in the morning
and you take your shower and you put on your clothes, be sure
to put on bowels of mercies. You're going to need them because
you're going to run into me. You're going to need them because
you're going to run into your wife. You're going to need them
because you're going to run into your husband. You're going to
need them because you're going to run into your children. You're
going to need them because you're going to run into mom and dad.
You're going to need them because you're going to run into the
devil. put on bowels of mercies and live with bowels of mercies. Look at verse 13. Forbearing
one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel
against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. The example our Savior gave is
the example by which we're to live. You remember what it did
the night Before he was crucified, he got up from supper and took
a bowl of water and a towel and he knelt down at his disciples'
feet and he washed their feet. He washed their feet. Do you
know what he did, Bobby? He washed Peter's feet and because
Judas, that devil, professed to be his, he washed his feet
too. He's one of you's devil. He washed his feet. Didn't he
know he was? Well, sure he did. Sure he did.
But he said, I'm among you as him that serveth. Oh my God, make me servant to
you. He said, now as I've done to
you, you go do to one another. Jesus our Lord compels us. if he is our Lord to serve one
another. What a death blow to our pride
this is. But oh, how comfortable we ought
to be. Jesus our Lord is Lord over all. And Jesus our Lord is our advocate
in heaven. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Our common joy in Jesus our Lord
is a sweet token of grace. Because Christ is Lord, that
means all is well. And I give you to understand
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed,
and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the
Holy Ghost. I read this last week about an
old preacher, many, many years ago, an old, old man, He had
served Christ and his church lovingly and long. He was on
his deathbed. Memory was gone. He couldn't
remember anybody. He couldn't remember those who
were dearest to him, those who were closest to him. He couldn't
remember anybody's name, anybody's voice. His mind was just a blank.
Well, someone leaned over his bed and whispered in his ear,
brother, do you know Jesus our Lord? And with a rapturous voice
the old man said, Jesus, my Lord, I know His name. His name is
all my trust, nor will He put my hope to shame, nor let my
soul be lost. What more could any man desire?
Oh, may God be pleased to make Jesus our Lord. your Lord this
day. Amen.