Turn with me now to 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1. We are going to be in verse 9
one more time. We were in verse 9 for all three
messages last Sunday and we're going to be here one more time
because the last phrase is so heartwarming to me. This is so
heartwarming to me. I sincerely got a hold of this, and I hope
that we all can tonight. I hope that you will be able
to. I want us to not just read this and acknowledge this. We're gonna read this and say,
yes, that's right, but I don't want us to just acknowledge this.
I want us to enter into this. I pray the Lord will let us really
say this from the heart. Verse nine says, God is faithful. by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord. The title of this message is
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Jesus Christ, our Lord. That
is his name. That is his office. That is his
lofty position. That's who he is. That is who
he is. And tonight we're going to focus
on the word hour. That's the whole focus of the
message. Our, our, like David said, the
Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Jesus
Christ is our Lord, Lord, God, sovereign. How many times does
the scriptures say Jesus Christ, the Lord? Honestly, how many times does
it say the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ? Everybody can say that.
Every soul on earth must say that. There is not a soul on
this earth, there never has been, and there never will be, that
will not say, Jesus Christ is the Lord. I thought about that. All through time, all of these
different religious gurus and people who are known for these
different beliefs and these different gods who have all died and gone
on, every one of them has said, Jesus Christ is the Lord. Every
one of them. Some though, some souls on this
earth, some select privileged souls. I believe that's what
I got a hold of in studying this. You talk about privileged. Oh
my goodness, how privileged. Some privileged souls get to
say Jesus Christ, our Lord. And you know how privileged that
is. Most people do not. Many people
are going to hear me saying this and they're going to not understand
what I'm talking about, but. It's so it's so rare, it's so
few. Sincerely. Like the apostles
asked the Lord after he said these things to them, and they
understood what he was saying, they said, Lord, are there few
that be saved? Broad is the religious way that
leads to destruction. Many there be that go there at. Straight and narrow is the gate
that leads to life. Few there be that find it. It
is such a rare and privileged soul that can honestly say, Jesus
Christ is my Lord. Jesus Christ, our Lord. Not just the Lord, everybody
can say that. But our Lord. Our Lord. Our means, the word
our, means possession. It means belonging to. It means of us. This is the definition of the
word our. It means of us or among us. It means credited to us. On our side. in our favor. Can we fathom the glorious thought? Jesus Christ is our Lord. He's our Lord. We are His. He is ours. We belong to Him. He belongs to us. We are of Him. He is of us. We are among Him. He is among us. I believe in my
soul because of His Word that cannot fail, that He is in this
room right now. You know, Elisha prayed to the
Lord, Lord open my servant's eyes and he saw those mountains
full of Horses and chariots of fire. Well, if the Lord God would
be pleased to open our eyes right now, do you know what we would
see right here in the midst of us? Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is with us. He is among us. We are among him. He's among
us. We are credited to him. He is
credited to us. That's the substitution of the
cross. We were credited to Him. He was
credited to us. We are on His side. We are in
His favor. He is on our side. He's in our
favor. If the Lord be for us. If the
Lord be for us. That's just so humbling to me.
We don't say that arrogantly. We say it thankfully. So gratefully. Humbly, if the Lord be for us, Jesus Christ is our Lord. Verse
nine says, God is faithful by whom you were called unto the
fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Let's take a quick stroll through
the scripture and focus on this word, our, for a second, okay? Go with me to Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32, the scriptures
are constantly referring to the Lord God as a rock. Quite often
he is referred to as a rock. The Lord is our rock, our foundation,
our, you know, the cliff to the rock mountain. And either men and women in this
world are worshiping the true and living God. the rock, or
they're worshiping no God at all. And that's what Moses said
right here. Notice the lowercase R and the
capital R, the uppercase R. Okay, look at Deuteronomy 32,
verse 31. He said, for their rock is not as our rock. Their little r-rock is not like
our capital R-rock. Samuel's mother, Hannah, she
prayed in 1 Samuel chapter 2. She said, there is none holy
as the Lord, for there is none beside thee Neither is there
any rock like our God. There's no rock like our God,
none like ours. Turn over to Psalm 48. Some of these verses are just
so wonderful. Psalm 48, verse 14, it says, for this God, the
God that was just described throughout Psalm 48, this God is our God
forever and ever. He will be our God even unto
death. This God, as opposed to all the
little g-gods who are no gods at all. It's what I wish I could
tell men and women. Your God is no God at all. No
God at all. But this God, the true and living
God, He's our God. Forever and ever. He will be our God even unto
death. We will look to Him. We will
follow Him. We'll trust Him because He's
ours. Look with me at Psalm 115. Verse 1 says, Not unto us, O
Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy
and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Doesn't that thrill your heart
to know that? That really does thrill my heart. I can't tell
you how many times I have read Psalm 115 verses 1 to 3. And that thrills my heart like
it's the first time I read it. David said, you want to know
where our God is? He's seated on the throne. Ours is. Yours is not, but ours
is. Right here, Psalm 116, look at
verse 5. Gracious is the Lord, and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. Ours
is. Gracious, righteous, and merciful. Ours. is, ours proved it to us
by shedding his own blood to show us grace, righteousness,
and mercy. Go to Isaiah 25. I'm telling you this. I love
this verse. This is so so good. Isaiah 25. Look at verse 9. It says. And
it shall be said in that day. Low. This is our God. We have waited for him. And he
will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited
for him. we will be glad and rejoice in
his salvation. That was said on the day of the
cross. And that will be said on the
day of his return, his return for his chosen redeemed people.
Can you imagine that moment? Okay, we're all gonna be marrying
and giving in marriage. Life is just going to be rolling
on the same day, you know, after the next. Life is usual. And
all of a sudden, the trumpet's going to resound. The clouds
are going to part. Heaven is going to empty. Heaven
is going to pour down. And we're going to say, there
he is. There he is. We've been telling
you about him. The one we've been telling you
about. Do you see Him? This God is our
God. I know that Jesus everybody's
preaching and talking about. I understand all the religious
mumbo-jumbo that's going on. But this is the one we were talking
about. This God is our God. He's not everybody's God. But
He's ours. Those of us who love Him for
who He is. Love Him for who He is. Everybody
thinks they love this man Jesus until they hear about who He
really is. And only God's people stay in
love with Him and grow more in love with Him after hearing who
He really is. Those who love him for who he
is. Those of us who love him for
being the almighty sovereign God that he is. Those of us who love his preeminence,
as the scripture words it. Loves his lordship, his high
and holy kingship. Those of us who love him receiving
all the glory for salvation. and love Him receiving all the
credit in salvation. All the credit. He did it all. You mean He didn't leave us anything
to do? Nope. Nothing. This God is our God. He's ours by grace. He was given
to us by the Father. He gave Himself to us. He's ours by redemption. He was
given for us by the Father. He was given to us. He was given
for us. He gave Himself for us. as a sacrifice payment to God.
He's ours by birth, spiritual birth. We were born from his
spirit above. Because he lives, we live also.
He's ours by adoption. We were accepted in the beloved
to be members of the family of God. In him, joint heirs with him.
He's ours by marriage. In union with Him, we've been
given His name. We bear His name. I'll put my name on them. He's ours in every way that He
can be ours. We are His, and He's ours, and
we love Him. We love Him. Oh, we're so glad
He's ours. I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved's
is mine. How good it is to say he is ours. We get to claim him as our own. When we were in Africa, Christoph
is a big guy. You all know, you've seen him.
They came here. When they were here in April,
I picked them up at the airport. And that was my first time physically
laying eyes on them. And I was shocked at how tall
he was. I was kind of taken back by how
tall he was. I was expecting me to be that tall. I just wasn't
expecting him to be that tall. Anytime I see a tall person,
it just kind of like, whoa, you're tall. I'm always looking this way.
I don't look this way, so I'm not used to seeing me. Anyway, he's a tall guy, but
he's very muscular, unlike wiry me. He's tall and muscular. He's a big guy. He was a rugby
player all of his life. He played through college. He
got a scholarship to play rugby in college. And he's a big guy. And when we were over there,
he was joking about his size. And I guess he was complaining
about it. He said something like, I'm just
a big lug of a guy. And Karina wrapped her arms around
him and said, yeah, but you're my big lug of a guy. I claim you. I claim you. I love you. I claim
you happily. I claim you gladly. I claim you
rejoicing, rejoicingly. You claim me. I claim you. I love you. I love you for who
you are. You're mine and I'm glad you're
mine. Thank God you're mine. Can we say that? Thank God he's
mine. Thank God I am his and he is
mine. He's mine. Our Lord Jesus Christ made us
to be His, and that's what made Him to be ours. Jesus Christ, our Lord. Our Lord. Look with me at John
20. Our Lord here has just risen
from the grave. And in John 20, verse 19, it
says, Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week,
when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled
for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said
unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them, again,
peace be unto you. As my father hath sent me, even
so send I you. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins you remit, they
are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other
disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord, But
he said unto them, except I shall see in his hands the print of
the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust
my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight
days again, his disciples were within and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being
shut and stood in the midst and said, peace be unto you. Then
saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands,
and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side. And be
not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, My Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. You know,
no child of God will be able to say that until they see those
prints in his hands, feet, and side. The gospel becomes good news
when the gospel becomes my gospel. That's when it becomes good news. It becomes good news when the
Lord becomes my Lord. The God becomes my God. The gospel becomes good news
when Christ becomes Not just the Savior of sinners, but my
Savior of me. He's my Savior of me. My Lord and my God, my salvation,
my all. May Christ become that for all
of us. Really, may he become that for all of us. Paul said
that I might know him. I want to know him, that he might
know me, that I might have him because he has me. God is faithful. by whom you were called unto
the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. May that honestly
be said of all of us.