Well, good morning. It's got
a slim crowd here today, but that's still a good thing that
we're here. You know, this time of year,
everybody gets so excited, and there's a whole lot to look forward
to at this time of year. It's Christmas time, and we all
agree it is a time to be thankful and excited, and we have so much
to be thankful for. And this is the time of year
that we celebrate our savior's birth. We celebrate the life
of Christ and we can be thankful that we live in a country where
we can share the gospel and worship and celebrate the birth of Christ
and the life of Christ without being oppressed or censored by
our government. And what I'm going to do today
is give you a message of hope. Because on December 25th, we
do celebrate our Savior's birth. We celebrate Christ coming into
this world. And I know everyone understands
what they always say, the reason for the season, and don't forget
that. But Bill said it right last week,
I think it was last week. We need to celebrate Christ all
year round, not just this time of year. And I feel like we celebrate
and honor Christ here at this church each and every week and
each and every day. But there are a lot of people
out there who celebrate or at least acknowledges or knows about
Christ and his birth, and they only celebrate and acknowledge
him during this time of year. And here's the sad part. Most
people don't know the true Christ. They don't know Christ the Savior.
Christ the Redeemer, the righteous one. They don't know the ever
powerful Christ. They reject and ignore his saving
power. But let me tell you this, this
is a time to be happy and this is a time to be thankful. We're
happy for Christ's birth and we are so thankful and so grateful
for the sacrifice that he made when he willingly laid down his
life as that perfect substitute. Be thankful that God the Father
sent his son to be born to live here and die here. Just be thankful
for that. I've never gotten up here and
said this, but this is something that's really been on my mind
lately, and I thought I'd share it with you. I hear this all
the time from people out there. And I just wanted to share it
with everyone these days wanting to be politically correct about
everything. Some people I know that I work
with or that I socialize with, some what they call Christian
friends of mine, and it's more and more common these days, I
hear people, and I want to quickly clarify, it's not people from
here, But I'm around some that say
there are many religions, and they'll start talking about Buddhist
and Hindu and Islamic faith, and the list goes on. But there
are a lot of people out there that say that all of these religions,
everybody's just going down their own religious path, and they'll
all get to some destination, and they'll all get to heaven,
And someone actually told me that earlier this week. And it
really, it really, really bothered me. Because that's not the truth. It's not like we're all headed
to Atlanta or some other destination on a trip. And we've got all
these different ways to get there, you can take this road or that
road, or you can go by car, airplane. But that's what false religion
has taught people. And Christianity has been watered
down. That's not Christianity and that's
not the true gospel. That's so far from the gospel.
The only way to salvation is by the blood sacrifice of Christ
the Lord. No other way, no other path. It says it right there in John
14, six. And this is Christ himself talking.
He said, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the
life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. There is no other way. Saying
that there are other ways is certainly not honoring the sacrifice
that Christ made with his life. If there are other ways, then
why did Christ have to die? I thought I'd say that because
it's just been on my mind lately and that's just something that's
really been bothering me. with all the watered-down talk
that I hear now. The title of today's message
is Christ is our Lord, and in today's message I'll share with
you scripture that will clearly identify Christ as the Savior
and Christ as the Lord. If you would, turn in your Bibles
to Luke 1, 26 through 37. It says, And in the sixth month
the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named
Nazareth, to a virgin, a spouse to a man, whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art
highly favored, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among
women. And when she saw him, she was
troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation
this should be. And the angel said unto her,
fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God, and behold,
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt
call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the son of the highest, And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be
no end. Then said Mary unto the angel,
How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered
and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee, Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God." This scripture right here describes in detail the
truth of all truths. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. In Luke 2.11, the angel of God
announces the birth of Christ saying, for unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the
Lord. And in Acts 2.36, it says, therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
the same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. And in Philippians 2.9, Paul
wrote to the church at Philippi, he said, 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 the Father. Jesus Christ is Lord. Christ
is the rock upon which all else rests. I breathe this morning
by the grace of God. I got up this morning only by
the grace of God. I certainly don't deserve it.
And I know where I would be if God gave me what I deserve. Bill says it all the time. Where
would we be? if we really got what we deserve
as a sinner. And I can promise you this, it
is nowhere good. Jesus Christ has all authority
in heaven and earth. In Daniel chapter four, scripture
talks about Nebuchadnezzar. He talked about how great Babylon
was, and he talked about all the great things that he had
done. And the Lord put him under judgment.
Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind. He went out into the fields and
lived like an animal. His hairs grew like eagle's feathers
and his fingernails grew like bird claws. And he was in very
bad shape. And listen to what it says in
Daniel 4, 34 and 35. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven and mine understanding
returned unto me. and I blessed the most high,
and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation. And 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, or say unto him, what doest
thou? Jesus Christ is Lord, not ought
to be or should be. He is Lord. That's what the scripture
says. And this is a truth that is misunderstood
by so many people. And listen to this, man doesn't
make Christ the Lord. Have you ever heard false preachers
say this? I want you to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior. Just make Him your Savior. Let
me say this, man doesn't make Christ his Lord. Man bows to
Christ, who is already Lord, whom the Father made Lord. Read
in Acts 2.36, it says, therefore, let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have
crucified, both Lord and Christ. God the Father made him Lord.
Men do not make Christ Lord. They bow to Christ as Lord. They
submit to Christ as Lord. They worship Christ as Lord. But God Almighty already has
made him Lord. Christ said in Matthew 28, 18,
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth. The fact that Christ is Lord
is not just some idea or some theory. Christ is Lord, and that's
a fact. And any person without Christ
as their Lord, as their surety, doesn't have life. And you see
it all the time. Someone gets upset or has something
happen negative in their life. They've been drinking too much
or you fill in the blank. They decide to quit or change
their ways. What does everybody say? They
found religion. They got religion. Have you ever
thought about this? A lot of churches. Somebody was
just telling me a few weeks ago they had a revival and they invite
preachers in and they talk about heaven and hell. And they ask
people, don't you want to be saved? Well, of course they do. What do I have to do? That's
what they ask. Do this or do that. Work your
way to heaven. I met a guy at the gym maybe
about a year and a half or two years ago. He started explaining
his life story to me. In and out of jail all of his
life, he found Christ, cleaned himself up, This guy accepted
Christ as his Lord and Savior, made a profession of faith. He
let Christ into his heart. Now this guy says he's been out
saving souls. Listen, man can't save anything. Only Christ can save souls. And for any man to state that
he's out saving souls is blasphemy. Anyway, these churches say this,
come on down and accept Christ as your Lord and Savior. They
make that decision right there. They give up something here.
They give up drinking. They start working. They work
for their salvation. They get baptized, join the church,
give their money. Then over time, life happens. They start going back to their
old ways because we're all sinners. And I want to make myself very
clear. It's great to be a good moral person, and I think we
should all do good things, but we shouldn't do good things as
a condition of salvation. It's not because we want to be
saved. We do these things because sinners that have been
saved by the Holy Spirit, sinners saved by the blood of Christ
alone, do those things out of grace and gratitude. It's a different
motivation. You see, we don't do good things
to gain salvation. We do good things because we
have salvation, which was secured by a perfect substitute. But
I'm still a sinner. And as good as I try to be, I
sin all the time. Man can't make a decision for
Christ. Christ makes the decisions. Man will believe in the day of
his, God's power. It's right there in scripture.
No one will be or ever has been redeemed by walking an aisle.
God's sheep, the elect, were redeemed at the cross when Christ
shed his blood. Most people that walk down that
religious road saving themselves will after a while just give
up. because there is no redemption in a profession of faith. Redemption
is in Christ the Lord, by His blood. Christ said in Matthew
7, 15, Beware of false prophets, which
come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves. Most people would ask, well,
how can you tell who those false prophets are? And Christ goes
ahead and answers that in verse 16. He said, you shall know them
by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? What he's saying is what do apple
trees produce? They produce apples. And what
do false preachers produce? False converts. There's no way
of salvation apart from the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Think about the thief on the
cross, sitting up there next to Christ. That thief is with
Christ in heaven, and it's all because of the blood of Christ. Christ is our friend. He is our
counselor. He is our example. He is our
God, and Christ is our Lord. Here's what most people say.
One day I'll get it right. I'll make it right with God.
and I'll let him into my heart, and I'll accept Christ as my
Lord and Savior, and I'll turn over a new leaf. That's not how
things work. God is not in your hands. Christ
is not in your hands for you to do and to manipulate him whenever
and however you choose to do so. If Christ was in the natural
sinner's hands, he'd nail him to the cross. because that's
exactly what happened over 2,000 years ago when Christ walked
this earth. That's right, and if anyone tells
you different, they're misleading and deceiving you. The question
is not what will you do with Jesus. We all know what scripture
says unregenerate sinners will do. They'll crucify him. That's
it, because that's what every natural man would do with Jesus
Christ of the Bible. That's what they will do with
the Savior. This is the same Christ that said in John 1030,
I and my father are one. And this Christ who said in John
521, for as the father raises up the dead and quickeneth them,
even so the son quickeneth whom he will. And the Christ who said
in John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And
him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Listen,
Christ was here on earth. This is what they did to him.
They spit in his face and said, nail him to the cross. But here's
the good news. Christ is on a throne. In Hebrews 10, 11 through 13,
it says, And every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
It's talking about the works of a sinner's hands. They can
never take away sins. But here's the good news. Verse
12 says, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. He
offered his life for those that were set apart." Listen, all we can do is be thankful
for that blood sacrifice. Be thankful that Christ came
into this world and established a righteousness that we could
never produce and be thankful that when he died on that cross,
that he paid the sin debt owed for the sins of his sheep, his
elect. Because without Christ the Lord,
we would spend an eternity in separation as lost sinners. So this time of year is a wonderful
season. But let's not only celebrate
the birth of Christ, let's celebrate all of his life. Let's celebrate
all that he did and all that he came and accomplished. It
is so much to be thankful for.