Good to see everyone this morning.
I'd like for you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the
book of Philippians. The book of Philippians chapter
two. Thank the Lord that he's allowed
us to gather together this morning. I haven't heard from Marvin,
so I guess everything's going fine with them down at Nags Head
where they're on vacation. Pray for them that the Lord might
be with them. And we remember all those in
our fellowship that are sick. Brother David, Sister Vivian
Brewer in the nursing home, Brother Gene, and others, all of us,
we all have our troubles. We all have our trials. So let's
remember one another in our prayers. Philippians chapter two, I wanna
read from one text this morning, that's verse nine. I've titled this message this
morning, The Lordship of Jesus Christ. Verse nine says, wherefore 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. Like I said, I wanna speak about
the Lordship, but let's just touch on a few things in this
verse. It says, first off, up here in the first part, God hath
highly exalted him. What does that mean? Well, we
need to put that in context of this word exalted. What does
that mean to us? Now we know that we're all prideful. Man is a creature of pride. And yes, even in the believer,
that pride, although it's suppressed, still exists. And exaltation
within every man exists. But think about it. What is it
that a sinful man loves to be exalted by other
sinful men. What kind of exaltation is that? Solomon calls it vanity. It's
vanity, it's nothing. But yet look here what it says.
To be exalted by God himself, the creator of the universe. That is the highest exaltation. And he exalts Christ with the
highest exaltation. And how does he do that? Well,
look at the scripture. It says that at the name of Jesus,
the very name, the very name of Christ mentioned, every knee
should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under. the earth, every knee. At the very word of Christ, we
all should fall down and confess. And as I was reading this, I
thought, woe, woe unto those men who take the Lord's name
in vain in a blasphemous way and use it as a curse word when
it says that we ought to be on our knees. we hear the word of
Christ, we fall down. It's what we should do. It's
just a word. That is exaltation. Now, this exaltation extends, the scripture says,
that every tongue should confess, every tongue, should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord. Men without exception should
be confessing, falling down on their knees and confessing that
he is Lord. Now, this is brought about in
several scriptures. You don't have to turn, but let
me read this to you. And there's a very important
point made here in this text. Acts 2.36 says this. Therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
this same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. That was written by the Apostle
Peter. inspired by the Holy Spirit,
but notice what it says. Both Lord and Christ. Look how the Holy Spirit worded
that. He says, Lord first, then Christ. Lord first, then Christ. And this is not the only verse.
Look here, 2 Peter 3.18, it says, but grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He's Lord first
and then the Savior. He is Lord above all things. The Holy Spirit emphasizes that,
and we see it over and again in the New Testament, where it
says the Lord, Jesus Christ. He is Lord of our life. He is Lord of every human being
on this earth, whether they believe it or not. And then in Titus
1.4, he says the same thing again. To Titus, my own son, after the
common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, and
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Lord Jesus Christ, first, then
Savior, then the Anointed One. Now the word Lord, this word
Lord means supreme in authority. He is supreme in authority. He has the final say. He has
the final say. I looked up, I looked up this
word, Lord. In the Bible, throughout the
whole of scripture, the word, Lord, is used 7,970 times. In
the New Testament, it's used 705 times. And yet when we read of man,
the word man itself, it's only used 2,700 times. So what is this book about? It's about the lordship of Jesus
Christ. It's not about man. Now men today
have turned this whole thing around. They've made this Bible
to be about man, what man can do, what man wants. not what
God ordains, but what man wants. But here in this, this tells
us that this book is entirely about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Lordship of Jesus Christ
is not up for debate. There is no bargaining with God
over his lordship. Now false religion will say this,
make him your lord and he'll save you. Or they'll say make
Christ your lord as though, well, you're bargaining. What they're
saying is bargain with God, make him lord and he'll save you.
Is that not bargaining? That's bargaining with God. We
do not bargain with God. He does as he pleases and we
have no say in it. Now the question comes to mind
this morning for this world and particularly for us who are believers.
The question is, is he Lord or is he not Lord? We must settle
that question in our minds. What think ye of Christ? Well, I'm gonna go into just
a few things here, and you all know these things. First off,
he's the Lord of creation. We know that as believers. We
know that. We see this with our own eyes.
Hebrews 1.10 says this, and thou, Lord, in the beginning has laid
the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works
of thine hands. Notice he said, Lord, Lord, you've
done this. Ephesians 3.9 says, and to make
all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things
by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ created all things
in this world. He is Lord. John 1.3 says this,
excuse me, all things were made by him and without him was not
anything made that was made. It's just simple, he made all
things. There's nothing that's been made that he didn't make. That's what the scripture says
here. Listen to this, and this is a
very important scripture here in Isaiah chapter 40, 14. Let
anybody that doubts this answer this question. Isaiah 40, 14,
with whom took he counsel? And who instructed him? And taught
him in the path of judgment? And taught him knowledge? And
showed to him the way of understanding? And when I read that and I think
about here, here is the holy God, Jesus Christ. In the beginning
was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God, John
1.1. Here is the self-existent one
who taught him knowledge. How can How can such a being
as the Lord Jesus be who's not Lord? But yet people don't want
him as Lord. The world doesn't want him. Oh,
they want his salvation. Men want salvation. They've heard
of this thing called hell and they want to escape that, but
oh no, we'll not have this man to rule over us. That's the consensus
of this world. And as I stand here along with
myself, I'm looking out here at a group of people whom the
Lord has personally made. Now you think about that, just
meditate on that. Meditate on that a lot. When
you go to bed at night, think about that. That he made you,
he made me personally. He personally made me. I'm standing
here talking. You're sitting there listening.
He made you. Why did he make you? How did
he make you? Well, he made you because he's
Lord. He does as he pleases. Acts 17 says this, in him, that
is in Christ, in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
in him we live, we move, We have our being. We're moving
this morning, we're getting up, we got ready, we come to church,
we move, we talk. All these things are because
of creation, because of him. He has done it. Is he not Lord? Who would deny that? Who could
deny and say, well, he can't be Lord when he made us who we
are? King David says in Psalm 139,
14, he says, I will praise thee, O God, for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made. Isn't that something? And when
you think about it, that's true. I'm fearfully and wonderfully
made. You think about this body and
the intricate workings of this inward part of our body, why
we move, why we think. I'm fearfully and wonderfully
made, marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right
will. I see that, he says, I can see
that. And that's a believer, a believer believes that. I live
and move by his will, he keeps me alive. Well, in light of this
creation of us and everything we know about creation, what
we see, what should be our response? What should be the whole world's
response, actually? Well, it's to bow and confess
that he is Lord. Secondly, we come to providence,
God's providence, God's workings in his world. In the book of
Daniel, the heathen The heathen king, Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, said this. And after he said this, he went
on with his heathen ways. He still worshiped idols. But
he was put under great affliction by God, and he had to confess
this. He said, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. Now this was an unbeliever. All
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he
doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, were
saying to him, what doest thou? He's Lord, you question him? Who art thou, old man, that replies
against God, Paul says in Romans chapter nine, who art thou? Why should a living man complain
for the punishment of his sins? Lamentations chapter three says
that. Isaiah 46, nine, back on this
thing of providence, remember the former things of old. For
I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like
me. If there's none like him, then
he has to be Lord. And we don't make him Lord, that's
for sure. Oh no, he was Lord from the beginning
of the earth. He was Lord from everlasting. He says, declaring the end from
the beginning. He knows all things. And from
ancient times, the things that are not yet done, saying, my
counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure." That is
lordship. That is lordship. You know, I
was thinking about this. Can you imagine, you have a captain
in the army and he gives a recruit an order and that recruit says,
now wait a minute, Captain, I think, no, no. That captain's a boss, that captain's
a lord, you do what he says. And then third, as lord, he is
the author of salvation. Hebrews 12, two says this, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the beginning and
the end. I am the alpha, and I am the
mega, I am the first and I am the last. And then I love this
scripture here in Philippians 1.6, being confident of this
very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you, there's
the authorship of salvation. He's begun the good work in you,
will, no question, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. That is the Lordship. He cannot,
brothers and sisters, he cannot and will not fail his word. Now I read years ago this statement. Now listen to it carefully. A
man said, and I don't remember what preacher it was, it was
one of the Puritans. Might have even been Spurgeon,
I don't know. He said this, doctrine without practical application
is lame. Preacher can stand up here and
preach doctrine all day, but if he doesn't apply it to the
people's hearts, cause the people to see the fullness of that doctrine
and what it means to them, what it means to me and what it means
to you personally, then it does no good. It does no good to have
doctrine in the head and none in the heart. And that's what
the gospel is aimed at. It's aimed at the heart, not
the head. Yes, we have to have it in the
head. We have to believe it. But it causes an effect you have
in the gospel and the salvation of God's people, a cause and
an effect. The cause is the preaching of
the gospel. The effect is the Holy Spirit
taking that gospel and applying it to men's hearts. Plan it to
his elect. So, In the preaching of this
doctrine of the Lordship of Christ, what is it that I learn? What
is the practical teaching for me? What should I do? Am I just a spectator that sits
back here in the pew and listens to Marfan preach Sunday after
Sunday? Is there a cause and effect in
that preaching? If there's no effect, it does
me no good. Lord says to the Pharisees, he
said in one place, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not
the things that I have commanded you? There's his reasoning of
cause and effect. I've preached to you, why don't
you listen to what I'm telling you? Does no good. So this cause and effect in the
believer, in you who believe, This bowing and confessing is
not just a one-time deal. I've had people tell me that.
Well, I remember back when I was saved and that was it. No. With the believer, it's a minute
by minute, an hour by hour, a day by day, month by month, year
by year, bowing and confessing. that Jesus Christ, our Savior,
is first our Lord, and we bow to that. Now, the question comes,
what are some of the ways that we bow and confess? What are the actions of this
bowing and confessing? In Proverbs 3, 6, and this is
one I've thought a lot about. I mean, this is on my mind constantly,
Sandy's probably tired of me hearing me say this to her. I
say it all the time. It says, in all thy ways, acknowledge
him. In all your ways, and he shall
direct your paths. And I thought a lot about that
over the recent years. And this is a very simple illustration,
but let me just give you one small example. I'm 78 years old,
and I'll be the first to admit that I'm slowing down. I can't
do what I used to do. When I mow the grass at the house,
it takes me a couple hours. That's riding a mower and push
mowing and trimming and weed eating and yada yada, you know,
all that. And when I'm done, I go in and
I'm tired and I sit down and I think, I often think, Lord,
thank you. Thank you for allowing me to
do that one more time. And I don't say that to my credit
that I'm saying that, but I'm saying that's the simpleness
and the very heart of, in all thy ways, acknowledge him. We
all rose up this morning. We ate breakfast. Who provided
that breakfast? We put our clothes on. Who provided
our clothing? Who brought us here? In all our
ways, in all thy ways, acknowledge Him, even in the smallest of
things. As I said earlier, in Him we
live and move and have our being. What do we owe God for our lives? What do we owe Him? And then
Psalm 37, four, here's another one, it's very good. And I wished I could enter into
this more and I thought a lot about it. He says, delight thyself
also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine
heart. You want more faith? You want
more love for Christ? You want more love for the Lord
God himself, the triune God? You want more desire, more zeal,
more fervor in reading his and studying his word? It says, delight
thyself also in the Lord. Well, how do I do that? There's
an old nature within me that resists that. I try to pray,
and I struggle with it. I try to
witness and I struggle with it. How do I delight myself in the
Lord? It's gonna take a lot of prayer. Remember Martin talked the other
night, look not, seek, you'll find. Pray, pray, Paul says,
I would that men pray always. Constantly pray. There's an old
nature in this that resists everything. Oh, this old nature loves the
things of this life. Question is, do we love the things
of this life more than we love the seeking after the Lord? James 4.10 says this. Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Humbleness. The problem with
humbleness is sometimes people take pride in their being humble. That's not an uncommon trait,
even among believers. How humble I am. Hebrews 1 says,
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. You want these things that's
in your heart? You want to delight yourself
in the Lord? It's gonna take work. It's gonna take work. But I go back again that in ourselves,
in this old nature, that's not gonna happen. It resists. It's gonna take prayer. Prayer
and more prayer. Constant prayer. Asking God to
help us in our weakness. It's not done in the strength
of the flesh. And you as believers, you know
that. We've all been there, we know it's a struggle. But yet we do know that because
Christ is Lord, he is able. Scripture says his arm's not
shortened, that he cannot save, that he cannot do these things.
But what keeps us from it, he says, are sins. confess our sins,
repent. The very first thing that our
Lord Jesus Christ preached when he started preaching was repent
and believe the gospel. Believe, believe. Now, this is kind of brief. I'm gonna close this, but to
know that Jesus Christ is Lord. Let's fix that in our minds.
Let's be obedient to his word, obedient to him. If you love
me, he said, keep my commandments. But remember this, Jesus Christ
is still Lord where there is no salvation. That's a fact. He's Lord of the
whole earth. He's Lord of every man, woman,
Creature being creation that exists right now. Jesus Christ
is still Lord where there is no salvation, but there is no
salvation where there is no Lordship. And that's the way of the world
today. They will have the salvation, but they will not have this man
to rule over them. And so the scripture says, my
last comment, scripture says, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He was Lord yesterday. He is
Lord today, right now. And he will be Lord forever. Amen. That will close. Pat, you come lead us in a song
and you dismiss us. I pray that that might be a help
to