All right, let's turn back to
Philippians 2. I see frequently on television
and newspapers and other places where they're having large religious
gatherings And oftentimes there's a great
big sign up over the speaker's head back here, Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Well, that's my
subject this morning, Jesus Christ is Lord. And I don't think that all of
those people who have those signs mean what what the word means when it says,
he is Lord. I don't think they really believe
that he is Lord, that the Lord thy God reigneth. I really don't
think they know what is included in that statement, Jesus Christ
is Lord. I hope when I finish speaking
this morning that you and I both have a better understanding of
what The Lord God says when he declares in this scripture, verse
9, Philippians 2, "...wherefore God hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow." every knee. All things is in italics, just
leave it, leave it out. Every knee should bow in heaven,
that's every knee, except him who made him Lord. That's what
Paul said in 1 Corinthians. Angels, seraphims, cherubims,
every knee in heaven. In principalities, powers, whatever,
and under their satanic unbelievers, satanic powers, every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He's Lord in the glory
of God the Father. Now, could I ask you a question? I'm going to ask you a question
which demands your careful consideration and thought. Here's the question.
Now think about this very carefully. In this matter of your relationship
with God, spiritual things, your relationship with God Almighty, what three things are you most
concerned about right now? I'm not talking about your concern
for your children and your house and your family and your job.
I'm talking about in the spiritual realm where God Almighty is concerned. What three things are you most
concerned about? Well, let's see if we can work
that out together. I would say number one, number
one, it occupies my spiritual mind and thoughts and heart to
the exclusion of so many other things. Number one, I want to
be a child of God. I want to be saved. I don't want religion. I want
to know God. That's what, that's my main,
I want to be forgiven of my sins. I want to be able to rejoice
that my name's written in heaven. Not only that I know God, but
He knows me. He knows me. In that first, I
want to know God, in saving faith, in saving faith. Secondly, I want peace. Peace of heart, peace with God,
don't you? Peace of heart, peace of mind. Peace in my spirit and my soul. I don't want to talk about rest. I want to rest. Don't you? I don't want to believe there's
a rest. I want to cease from my labors and get in it. That's
what I'm talking about. Turmoil, doubt, fears, all these
things. Be done with them. There's such
a thing as foolishness. full assurance, confidence in
Christ. John said, he said, I know I'll
pass from death unto life. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. John said, we know we're in God. That's not it. We know that all
things work together for good to them that are left of us.
I want to rest. I know a lot of the Calvinists
feel like doubts and fears are part of our armor. No, you're
wrong. as a part of our evil nature.
That's what they are. There's no credit or praise to
God for you to run around doubting Him. Talking about uncertainties. I want peace. Thirdly, I want
to worship God. I want to worship God. I want
this to be a worship Not a place where we go to hear
doctrines that we believe, but a place we go to worship God.
I want to worship God, don't you? Come before his presence
with joy and thanksgiving and praise. Come here for no other
reason but to worship God, to meet with God, to commune with
God, to give thanks with God, to come before him with the right
spirit. Our Lord told the woman at the
well, He said, true worshipers worship God in spirit and truth,
for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit. They that worship God worship
him in spirit and truth. I think that the majority of
our gatherings together are for social purposes, doctrinal purposes,
and duties and responsibilities. I make very little in this day
worship, sitting at the feet of Christ and just adoring him
and praising him and worshiping him and thanksgiving and praise
and spiritual gifts and sacrifices of praise and adoration. And that's it. And I don't believe
anybody here can can improve on those three things. That's
my main concern and thought, is to be saved and know God,
to enter into his rest and peace. Peace. My peace I give unto you,
sir. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Peace. and to worship God. Worship God,
worship Him, commune with Him, like Olena, walk with God. Well,
I tell you this, what's that got to do with His Lordship?
The key to that is His Lordship. The key to those three things
is who is Lord. Who is Lord. That's the key to
salvation, peace and worship. I'll show you that now. First,
there's no salvation except in His Lordship. Turn to Romans
10 and listen to the Apostle Paul over here. Romans chapter
10, verse 9 and 10. There's no salvation without
His Lordship. Where He's not Lord, He's not
Savior. He's our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. Where He's not Lord, He's not
Savior. The world is going around and
the preachers are saying, you know, accept Jesus as your personal
Savior. No, my friend, bow to the Lord
Jesus Christ as your Lord and Master. That's where you start
whether He saves you or not. He doesn't have to. He doesn't
owe us anything. He's due our reverence and worship
and praise whether He saves us or not. Whether he blesses us
or not, he's still Lord, isn't that right? That's what the leper
said when our Lord came down from the mountain. The leper,
the unclean, crusty, dying, withering mass of flesh came and fell at
his feet and said, Lord. He hadn't done a thing for him,
but he's still his Lord. Hadn't done a thing for him.
but put him in misery, but he's still Lord. That's where
he started. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean, but if you don't, you're still Lord. That didn't change
that. That's why he made him clean,
because he meant it. Isn't that right, see? That's
why he made him clean. because he knew who the boss
was. That's what this says in Romans
10, 9, that if you and I shall confess with our mouths to who? The Lord Jesus, Jesus to be Lord. Can you confess that? Every knee
is going to bow, every tongue is going to confess. Someday. I confess it now. He's Lord. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean, you can give me rest, you can give me peace, you can
put away my transcription, you can make me a child of God, you
can bring me home, but if you don't, you're still Lord. That's
where you start. That's key. If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, not your personal Savior, he
may be and he may not be. But He's still your Lord. He's
every man's Lord. Let me tell you something. He's
Lord by God's divine design. He put the kingdom in His hands
before there was a kingdom. He's Lord by God Almighty's decree. God hath exalted Him and declared
He's Lord. He's Lord by death. He died that
He might be Lord of the dead and the living. He has on his vesture this writing,
King of kings and Lord of lords. That's what I'm saying, he's
Lord. That's where you start. Thou shalt confess with thy mouth
Jesus to be Lord, and believe in your heart God raised him
from the dead. Why'd God raise him from the
dead? Because he accomplished all that the Father put in his
hands as Lord to accomplish. He defeated all the enemies,
even death. Turn to Romans 14, 8 and 9. Listen to this. I just quoted
this a moment ago, but let's read it. Romans 14, 8 and 9. It says here, whether we live
or whether we live unto the Lord, whether we die, we die unto the
Lord. Whether we live, therefore die,
we are the Lord's. We're His. But to this end, Christ both
died and rose again and revived, that He might be Lord of the
dead and the living, of the saved and the lost, of
the whole universe. He bought this world. He bought
the universe. It's His by death. And Acts chapter 2, I want you
to look at this. We sit here and we say, Lord,
above all things, I want to be saved, all right? How does a
man save? By recognizing, owning, and receiving,
and bowing to Christ as Lord. Acts chapter 2, verse 36, Therefore
Peter closed the message of Pentecost with these words, Therefore let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom you crucified, Lord in Christ. If you look at that verse, it's
got three names. That same Jesus, that's his name
of humiliation. That's the prophet, that's the
man, Christ Jesus, who came preaching the gospel, declaring the gospel.
Lord, that's the King, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. And Christ,
that's the Prince, that's the Messiah. He's the Lord Jesus
Christ. And let me tell you, a part Savior
won't save you. A part Savior. He's all free
or He's nothing. You see, no man on this earth
ever held those three offices. You can go through the Scripture,
and Moses was a prophet, Samuel was a prophet and a priest. David
was a king. Elijah was a prophet. Aaron was
a priest. All these are pictures and types
of Christ, the Redeemer. When He came, He came as that
prophet, like Moses. And that priest and Aaron was
not good enough as a type. So God raised up a special type
called Melchizedek, a priest forever, having no beginning
or ending, and no ancestry or heritage, neither father and
mother, but a priest forever, a king, and king of Salem, king
of peace. He's prophet, he's priest, he's
king. And there's no salvation, no salvation except in recognizing
and receiving and owning and bowing to him. as all three. I prophet to know God's word,
my priest to bring me to God, my king to reign over me." See, this is what baptism pictures. It's death, it's burial, it's
resurrection. And it doesn't only picture the
death of Christ on the cross and his burial and his resurrection,
it pictures my death and my burial. my resurrection to walk in newness
of life under the banner of Christ, under the lordship and kingship
of Christ. And whatever mark of rebellion
I wear or mark of rebellion I have against him just designates me
as a person who hasn't yet bowed to Christ as Lord. Oh, I accept Jesus as my personal
Savior. That's fine, but that won't save
you. He's bowing him as Lord. He's
Lord. He's Lord. That's just so. And we'll keep on coveting that
relationship until there is a broken, he's known to them of a broken
spirit, of broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou wilt not
despise, but the proud he rejects. That's right. Pride goeth before
destruction, and a haughty, unbending, unbroken spirit leads to the
fall. A terrible fall, an eternal fall. But he lowered them. And that's salvation. And the
reason we don't have that peace is because we haven't yet bowed
to that Lord. Haven't yet bowed to him. This
bowing to Christ as Lord does not prevent you from having surges
of resentment and surges of rebellion and surges of unbelief and these
things. But his Lordship and his presence
on the throne and his presence in your heart dispels that. It doesn't. This is when you
judge a man by continual spirit. by continual rebellion, by nature
of resentment and rebellion against him. He gets in a pattern of bad attitude. A believer has a bad attitude
occasionally, but he doesn't have it all the time. Now, that's
where the people miss it. He's my Savior, but he hasn't
conquered me yet, and he's not your Savior. We don't get completely
conquered in this life. You understand what I'm saying?
We don't get completely conquered. But we know who the boss is.
And our path may walk for a while, but not very long. No, sir. No,
sir. I beg your pardon. I beg your
pardon. Let not the sun go down on your
wrath. That's what he's talking about. It ends pretty quickly. The Lord's presence won't let
you hold those feelings. He won't let you keep that rebellion.
He won't let you keep that haughty spirit. He won't let you, because
when he lives on the throne of your heart, when he's there as
Lord, and you come in from your exposure to the world, the things
of the world, and you're upset, he says, now my child, settle
down. I'm in charge. That brings me
to the next part about the peace. What's the source of peace? His
Lordship. Peace with God. Abraham believed
that what he promised, he'd do. He was able. The Lord was able. Peace in mind. Paul knew this.
He said, I know all things work together for good to them who
love God and who are called according to His purpose. And when I get
alone with Him and with His Word, He soothes my spirit, quiets
my heart. My heart meets with a shock,
or meets with a resentment, and meets with a special attitude,
and I get up, up tight over it. And then I come back to his word
and read it, and back to fellowship with him, and he just throws
it away. Not worth being disturbed about.
That's right. For all things are going to work
together for good to them who love God, who are called according
to his purposes. And Joseph's brethren, you know,
they betrayed him, they mistreated him, they sold him into slavery.
And while he was sitting in jail, you know, he had to think about
them. And when he was being whipped and lashed and mistreated, he
had to think about them. But he thought about one greater
than his brethren. And when they finally came before
him, he said, you meant this all for evil. That's what you
meant it for. It was in your heart to do evil
to me. But don't be afraid. God meant
it for good. And I have no problem with you
at all. That's what he told them. I don't have a problem. My problem
is not with you at all. Because he's in charge. That's
the thing. He's in charge. And there's a
scripture over here that doesn't let enemies off the hook. And
over here in Matthew, there's a verse of Scripture. I'm not
certain where it is in Matthew. It says here that the Son of
Man, yeah, Matthew 26. Look at this a moment. Matthew
26. This will help you to see something
here about this peace matter. The people of God have enemies.
Our Lord said that. Men will hate you. They hated
Me before they hated you. And the people of God have enemies. But really and truly, look at
this verse, Matthew 26, 24. The Son of Man goeth as it is
written of Him. It's written of Him. He's going
that way. But woe unto that man by whom the Son of God, the Son
of Man, is betrayed. It would be better for that man
if he hadn't been born. Now listen, the Lord Jesus, from all eternity,
His path, His steps are altered by the covenant of God. He's
going to be betrayed. He's going to be denied. He's
going to be beaten. He's going to have false witnesses.
He's going this route. He has to go this route to redeem
His people. He's going to the cross. He's
going as it's written. But that doesn't justify those
who cause His pain and trouble. That's what He's saying here.
And you've got a path to walk. And you've got troubles on every
hand, and people who trouble you, and acts of people who trouble
you, and you go on that path. God raised them up for that purpose.
to them by whom you go, but you're going His way. So this is what,
to have peace, we've got to get a hold of this, that He is Lord,
and He reigns, and He's on the throne. And though people mean
things for evil, God means them for our eternal good, our eternal
well-being. So don't be taken up with second
causes, because that will destroy your peace. Don't be taken up
with It's like the Apostle Paul who called himself, when he was
put in prison, he called himself the prisoner of Jesus Christ.
And he said, I endure these things for the elect's sake. I endure
what I endure for the elect's sake, that they might come to
the knowledge of God. Oh, and here's the third thing.
I want to get to something else before I quit. Now, this is where worship is
born. Worship is not just worship,
it's whom we worship. It's whom we praise. True worshipers
worship God in spirit and truth. The Father seeketh such to worship
Him. Him. So it's not a a church,
or a pastor, or a leader, or a denomination, or a doctrine,
or these things that brings us together, it's Him, the person. And that's when men will debate
with an equal, they'll argue with an equal, they'll bargain
with an equal, they'll reason with an equal, but when men come
before a sovereign, they silently Isn't that right? For example,
let me show you something. Over here in Job, Job chapter
1, when all these things had come the way of Job, and oh how
he suffered, how troubled he was, how troubled he was. And yet it says in Job chapter
1 verse 20, Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his
head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped. Whom did he worship? Well, let's
see. He said, here is his worship.
Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return
thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord
as he's worshiped. Lord, blessed be the name of
the Lord. Lord of my possessions, Lord
of my house, and Lord of my children, and Lord of my friends, and Lord
of my life. That's worship. In all of this, Job didn't sin
and charge God with foolishness. Let me read you another scripture
over in Matthew 14. Matthew 14. Matthew 14, verse 31. Matthew 14, verse 30. This is
when Peter stepped out of the boat to walk on the water, and
it says in verse 30, strong, moisturous. He was afraid and beginning to
sink. He cried, Lord, save me. And immediately, Jesus stretched
forth his hand and caught him and said to him, O thou of little
faith, wherefore did you doubt? And when they were come into
the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship
came and worshipped him. saying of a truth, Thou art the
Son of God." I know worship is not something
confined to a building or a place or a designated service, but
that is worship. That is worship, and if we can
remember whom we've come to meet and whom we've come to worship
and in whose name we gather, whose presence we seek, whose
blessings we desire, it'll have some influence upon how we worship. But that's got to be realized
first, whom we worship. Back to the text, and I'll give
you a couple of things and let you go. Philippians 2. But you see, those three things
that are uppermost in our desires and concerns, salvation, peace
and a relationship with God in worship. His Lordship dictates
those things. Because, watch this now, here's
four things, write these down, look them up later. Number one,
by his exaltation, the gospel is complete. By his exaltation,
our gospel is complete. Now, we may preach who Christ
is, Look at verse 6, Philippians 2, he thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. We may preach how Christ came.
Verse 7, he made himself of no reputation, took upon himself
the form of a serpent. We may preach what Christ did,
his death. Verse 8, being found in passion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death,
even the death of the cross. But a gospel which does not include
his risen, exalted, enthroned glory is no gospel. That's what
completes it. If he's not where he is, what
he did is not complete. Isn't that right? If he's not
where he is, I don't want to go there. Our forerunner has
entered in. His Lordship, that's what completes
his gospel. He's enthroned and seated to
carry out what he accomplished. Number two, by his exaltation,
he is shown to be Lord in Christ. By his sinless life, he has power
over evil. By his resurrection, he has power
over death and the grave. By his exaltation, he has power
over all things. Let me show you one verse, I
Peter 3. You've got to turn to this. A
few moments ago, I was sitting there looking over the message,
and I turned and read this again. 1 Peter 3. You see, His exaltation
didn't make Him Lord. It declared Him to be Lord. He's
already Lord. In 1 Peter 3, verse 22, look
at this. He's gone into heaven. He's on
the right hand of God. Authorities and powers being
made subject to Him. When we really see Christ, where
He is, enthroned, exalted, everything about Him is clearly seen. His eternality, His incarnation,
His death, His resurrection, His sovereignty, everything. When we see Him where He is,
He's at the right hand, He's on the throne of God. His Lordship completes his gospel. His Lordship reveals him to be
who he is. Thirdly, if we rightly preach
and believe and receive Christ, it will be as Lord. Barnard said one time, when he
first came to Ashland 45 years ago, to preach to us pagans,
religious pagans. One time in a service we sang
a song, Jesus Saved. I never will forget it. I think
I led it. And he got up and he said, that's
not so. That's not so. Jesus does not
save. that Jesus is all over this world
that can't save. It's the Lord Jesus who saves. Jesus as Jesus as a man can't
save, but as God He can save. You see what he's saying? I saw
it. I wasn't so wrapped up in my
orthodoxy that I couldn't see truth when it was preached. It's
not Jesus who saves. And you don't accept Jesus as
your personal Savior. You bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that true? He's Lord. If He's not Lord, He can't save
a flea. It's the Lord. He's saying, well,
He touched me. Who touched you? Jesus? Just a man? Wouldn't do you any
more good than if I touched you. But the Lord touched me. The
King! The Master! Before whose touch
the demons run, the devils run, diseases run, death runs, the
grave runs, hell runs! He's powerful! He's my Lord. You see what I'm saying? If you
don't see what I'm saying, come back tonight. Let's see if I
can say it again. And keep coming back until you
see it, because if you don't see it, you'll perish. That's
just so. It's the Lord Jesus who's saved. There ain't no peanut, impotent,
frustrated, defeated reformer running around here hoping you'll
let him in your heart. If he wants in, he'll take it.
They couldn't keep him out of Jericho. They couldn't keep him in the
grave. They couldn't keep him on the cross. Where he wants
in, he'll come in. And who he wants, he'll conquer
and he'll call. If He wants you, He'll call you.
Maybe He doesn't want you. That's right. But He's still
Lord. He's still Lord. He's King. And that's the character. Now,
stay with me a moment. I'm going too long. Stay with
me a moment. This is important. The office
and character in which the world rejected our Lord. What was it? Think a minute now. They didn't reject him as the
healer. I hear these preachers running, he still heals, that's
not the problem. That's not the problem. He still
can keep a man from drinking, all these things, that ain't
the problem. They brought him to Pilate, and this is what they
said, I'm going to read it to you, don't you turn to it, I
can flip right here, Luke 23, 2. They accused him before Pilate
and said, We found this fellow perverting the nation, forbidding
to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ, a
king. That's why we brought him to
you. He claims to be king. You know what they did? They
said, he says he's a king. And Pilate looked at him and
said, are you a king? Are you the king of the Jews?
So they turned him over to the soldiers, and how did the soldiers
mock him? As king. They said, oh, we've
got us a king. Well, a king needs a crown, so
they got a crown of thorns and shoved it down on his head. And
a king needs a scepter, so they went out and got a reed and stuck
it in his hand. And a king needs a robe, so they went and got
an old purple robe. and threw it across his shoulders
that they'd beaten and made bloody. And then they backed off and
they said, Hail to the King. That's the character in which
you're going to bow and I'm going to bow and mean it. Hail to the
King. That's right. This world was
willing for him to be a puppet king, put him on a throne where
David sat. It was willing for him to be
a healer. It was willing for him to be a nice fellow. It was
willing for him to feed them and clothe them and make their
bones straight, but they said, we will not have this man reign
over us. So they took him out and nailed
him to a cross and the final humiliation mocking, they put
a sign over him, this is the King of the Jews. And they laughed while he died. And I'm telling this whole world,
and these preachers go right on talking, come down every Sunday
and they keep coming down, whispering in the preacher's ear and shaking
their hands, they keep coming down, they keep accepting Jesus
as their personal Savior. And I'm telling this whole world,
a man cannot take part in a kingdom who does not know the King and
worship and bow to the King. A man cannot take part in the
inheritance as a joint heir if he doesn't know who the heir
is, who it all belongs to. A man cannot take part in the
glory of heaven who does not know who gets the glory. Oh, every smack dab A smidgen
of it is his. And my generation, and I hope
you're not part of it, I hope this crowd here has saved themselves
from this perverted generation, this perverted religious generation
that's going to hell, swearing on a stack of Bibles that they're
alright because of what they've done. Christ Jesus is Lord. And fourthly, His Lordship is
my hope. Turn to 1 Timothy 1. His Lordship
is my hope. 1 Timothy 1, verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ,
which, or who, is our hope? Our sovereign, almighty, omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent, eternal Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
He touched me on purpose. He's my covenant surety. He's
my incarnate representative. He's my perfect righteousness.
He's my crucified substitute. He's my buried scapegoat. He's my risen justifier. He's
my enthroned, exalted Lord. He's my Lord. Totally, completely. And that
way I have hope. Hope of forgiveness. Because
the Father will hear Him. He won't hear me. But He'll hear
Him. And He'll praise for me. And
you. That's how I have peace. What
comes or what goes. I react momentarily. Like we all do. But when I finally
realize who's in charge, that peace comes, doesn't it? Rest.
And when I come before Him to worship God, it's in His name. His name. Number 42, if you'll
turn with me. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. that angels prostrate fall, bring
forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord. God hath made this
same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.