I want to speak to you this morning
on the subject, the truth of all truths. Jesus Christ is Lord. And I have four texts that I'd
like to share with you. The first one is found in Luke
2, verse 11. When the angels of God came down
to announce to the shepherds the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ,
this is what they said in Luke 2, verse 11. Behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which
is Christ the Lord. This Savior is none other than
the Lord himself." And then when the Apostle Peter preached that
first message at Pentecost in Acts, the second chapter, verse
36, This was the very heart of his message. This was the very
foundation of what he was proclaiming to those religious people who
had gathered in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven. He said in Acts 2.36, Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. And then the Apostle Paul, writing
in the book of Romans, chapter 10, where he expresses his desire
for the salvation of Israel, and he says they have a zeal
for God, but not according to knowledge, and he says they're
going about to establish their own righteousness and would not
submit to the righteousness of God. He came down to this description
of true salvation. He says in Romans 10, 9. that
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved, Jesus as Lord." And then in Philippians 3, verse
11, the Apostle Paul, talking about our Redeemer, declares
this. He says, every knee should bow
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to the glory of God the Father. Now all four of these texts have
one thing in common. They identify Jesus Christ as
being Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. Not only Savior, not only Redeemer,
not only the Messiah, he is the Lord. The Lord of Lords and King
of Kings. Jesus Christ is Lord. That's
the truth of all truth. That's the foundation upon which
all hope rests. That's the rock upon which everything
else is built. Jesus Christ is Lord. Occasionally
I see a sign on the back of a card, Jesus is Lord. What does that
mean? Occasionally you go in a place
of business and you'll see this sign, Jesus is Lord. What does
that mean? You know what that means? Let
me give you four things that the scripture tells us That's
the fact that Jesus is Lord, what it means to be Lord. First
of all, if he is Lord, if Jesus Christ is Lord, and the scripture
says he is, then as Lord, he has all authority in heaven and
earth. If he's Lord, Jesus Christ is
Lord, then he has all authority in heaven and earth. He said
that in Matthew 28, verse 18, when he was sending his disciples
forth to preach after he had risen from the tomb. And before
he ascended back to the Father, he said to his disciples, all
authority, all power, all dominion is given unto me in heaven and
earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. All authority is given unto me. And then in John 17, chapter
2, when he was praying that great priestly prayer, He said, Father,
glorify thy son, that thy son may glorify thee. Thou hast given
him all power, all power, not a limited amount of power, not
a degree of power, but all authority, all power. Our Lord is omnipotent. He has all power over all flesh,
not just a degree of power over some of the people on this earth,
but he says, I have all authority over all flesh. that I should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me." Now,
this fact is established in the Scripture. Jesus Christ is Lord. The angel says this Savior who
will be born is Lord. And Peter said this Jesus whom
you crucified is Lord. And Paul said if you want to
be saved, you'll confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And then
in Philippians 3, he said, God has decreed that every knee is
going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. Now, as Lord, he has all authority,
all authority in heaven, earth, and under the earth. Now, secondly,
what does it mean, Jesus Christ is Lord? He has all authority.
Secondly, all men, as Lord, all men are his subjects, all people,
all creatures. All providence is subject to
him, all things. Listen to Romans chapter 14,
verse 8 and 9. Whether we live, we live unto
the Lord. Or whether we die, we die unto
the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we are the Lord. For to this end, Jesus Christ
died and rose again, that he might be Lord, both of the dead
and the living. both of the believers and unbelievers,
both of those in heaven and those on earth. Jesus Christ died for
this purpose, that he might be Lord of the dead and the living. He's supreme Lord. And as Lord,
all men are his subject. He said this, you call me Lord,
and you say, well, for so I am. All things are subject unto him.
All people are subject unto him. All creatures are subject to
him. As Lord, he has supreme authority in heaven and earth.
And as Lord, all creatures are his subject. Thirdly, as Lord,
he has no rivals. He has no rival in heaven. He
has no rival on earth. He has no rival under the earth.
Philippians 3.9 says, God hath highly exalted him. Now listen,
Jesus Christ he's talking about. given him a name which is above
every name above Gabriel above Michael above Moses above Avon
and the sons of Levi Jesus Christ has a name above every name that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in Colossians 118
listen to the Word of God all things were created by him and
Him and He is before all things by Him all things consist that
in all things He might have the preeminent. It matters not whether
we're talking about principalities or powers or rulers or thrones
visible and invisible whether in heaven earth or the seas or
under the earth or in hell or wherever. Jesus Christ has no
rival. He is the supreme King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. He has a name which is above
every name that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Now I know this is contrary to most preaching today that tries
to get you to feel sorry for Jesus and talks about sweet little
Jesus boy and poor little Jesus and he wants to do this and folks
won't let him and he wants to do that and folks won't let him.
But you won't find that in God's Word. Our Lord is sovereign. Even the seas were subject to
him. He stood on the ship and said, Peace be still in the sea.
The rough, storm-driven seas lay down at his feet like a shepherd
dog. When they came to collect his
taxes, he sent one of the disciples down to fish and pull the fish
out of the sea, and it had a corn in its mouth, and he said, Go
pay the taxes. Blindness fled from his sight. Dumb the dumb
spake. The blame walked. The dead came
forth. The storm ceased, our Lord has
all authority. He is Lord. And that's when you
say Jesus Christ is Lord, this is what you're saying. He has
all authority, omnipotent. All are subject to Him, and He
has no rival. And then fourthly, as Lord, His
will shall be done. Now you think about this alone.
He's the Lord. All are subject to Him. Even the demons are subject
unto Him. You remember when the devil appeared
with the sons of God in the presence of God in the book of Job, and
God said, have you considered my servant Job? There's none
like him, an upright and righteous man that fears God and hates
evil. And Satan said, well, does he fear you for nothing? You
put a hedge about him, you blessed everything he touched, you prospered
him, you've done all these things, and he said, reach forth your
hand and touch him, and he'll curse you to your face, and the
Lord said, all right, Satan, he's in your hands, only don't
harm his body. In other words, Satan is in subjection
to King Jesus. He's Lord of all, and everyone
is subject to him, and in his own due time, he will Ultimately
and eternally put Satan away in his own time, but he's Lord. He has no rival There's no power
greater than his and his will shall be done now. Listen to
Ephesians 1 verse 11 He worketh all things and that's all things
great and small all things past present and future all things
involving his people and unbelievers and governments and nations and
the weather, he worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will. He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of this earth, and none can stay
his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? Nebuchadnezzar built
the great Babylon, you know, and then he began to brag about
it, and God judged him, and the Lord told him that he would lose
his understanding and lose his mind, and the great Nebuchadnezzar
that built the great Babylon would be out in the field with
his hair growing long like bird feathers, and his claws, his
fingernails growing long like bird claws for seven times will
pass over him before his reason came back to him. And Nebuchadnezzar
was cast out into the field. And that happened to him. He
lost his reasoning. He lost his understanding. And
he said, after those days, when the judgment of God was fulfilled,
he said, my understanding returned to me. And I praise the Most
High that ruleth in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. God's will
shall be done. Jesus Christ is Lord, and his
will is going to be done. Now, that's what we mean when
we say Jesus Christ is Lord. And that's what the angel was
saying when they announced the birth of Christ, that the one
who is to be our Savior is also our Lord. And Peter said, this
one whom you crucified is Lord. And Paul said that the gateway
into the kingdom of God, the way into the mercy of God, is
to confess and to believe in your heart that Jesus Christ
is Lord. And as Lord, he has all authority. As Lord, all are his subjects. As Lord, he has no rival. And
as Lord is will. They said, David, where is your
God? Now we know where our gods are. Our gods are where we have
them. Our gods are where we place them.
Our gods are where we permit them to be. Our gods do what
we permit them to do and what's expected of them. David, where's
your God? And David wrote in Psalm 115
and Psalm 135, our God's in the heaven. He hath done whatsoever he pleased. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven, earth, and the sea, and in all deep
places. Our God is Lord. Now Jesus Christ,
my friend, is Lord now. He's Lord now. Not he ought to be Lord, he is
Lord. Not he should be Lord, He is
Lord not he will be someday during the millennial reign. He's Lord
right now Jesus Christ is Lord and this truth is misunderstood
not only by enemies, but by friends alike I Hear preachers often
exhorting their congregation in a very pitiful. Please won't
you make Jesus your Lord? Won't you please make Jesus your
Lord now listen to me my friends, and I'm not being harsh. I'm
being truthful Men do not make Jesus Christ Lord. The Father
beats you to it. He's already made him Lord. He's
Lord by decree. He's Lord by divine purpose.
He's Lord by divine power, and he's Lord by purchase. He purchased
the right to be Lord. He ascended the throne by the
way of the bloodied tree. Our Lord Jesus Christ bought
his throne with his own precious blood. He bought the right to
have authority. He conquered sin and Satan and
death and hell, and that lordship belongs to him. You don't give
it to him. You don't make him lord. It's
not by your permission that he reigns. He reigns by decree,
by the decree of the Heavenly Father. He's lord. God hath made,
listen to Peter preach at Pentecost. Let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you crucified
to be Lord. God made him Lord. God hath highly
exalted him. God hath given him a name above
every name. God hath decreed that all authority
and all power should be vested in the Son. God hath committed
all judgment to the Son. That's what the scripture says.
You don't make Jesus Christ Lord. He is your Lord. You say, well
brother man, what do we do? We do what the scripture commands
us to do. We bow to his Lordship. We bow to his Lordship. God made
him Lord. God has made this same Jesus
both Lord and Christ. Thomas recognized it. He fell
on his face and cried, my Lord and my God. We claim to be so
smart. We claim to be theologians and
preachers and Orthodox and fundamentalist the thief on the cross knew more
than we know in this generation. He knew Christ was Lord Listen
to that thief on the cross dying there in shame and anguish But
he turned to the Son of God and he said I'm getting what I deserve
But you're not gonna stay there yet. You're coming into a kingdom
because you are a king and He saw through that crown of thorns.
He saw through that mockery of the soldiers. He saw through
those things as the Holy Spirit gave him eyes to see, and he
said in a loud voice, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
You don't make him Lord. God made him Lord. You bow to
his Lordship. You worship Christ as Lord. You
submit to Christ as Lord. You receive Christ as Lord. But
God made him. Lord, listen to Paul on the road
to Damascus. Hear this heathen fundamentalist,
this heathen theologian, this fellow that claimed to know God
and didn't know God, was a stranger to grace and an enemy of salvation
by grace. And he fell on his face before
that great light. And when he heard that voice
speak to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? He answered,
who art thou, Lord? When our Lord identified himself
as Jesus of Nazareth, the Apostle Paul said, what will you have
me to do, Lord? And my friends, that's it. And
I'm saying this to you, and this is a very important point here,
and I want you to be a little quieter, and I want you to be
a little more attentive, and I want you to listen to what
I'm about to say. Our whole concept of Christianity today, popular
modern Christianity In this day is influenced by the preaching
of high-pressure famous evangelists of the past Who called upon men
to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior? While they ignored his
lordship his kingship and his sovereignty This thought teaching
is the foundation of most evangelism today and most preaching today. You hear it all the time. Won't
you accept Jesus as your savior? Never mind about his lordship.
Never mind about submitting to his reign in your life. Never
mind about submitting to his rule in your life. Just accept
Jesus as your savior from hell. If you don't want to bow to his
lordship, that's all right. Just accept Jesus as your Savior
from hell. If you don't want to submit to
his reign and rule in your life, that's all right. Accept Jesus
as your Savior. If you don't want to glorify
him in your life, and you don't want to worship him, and you
don't want to bow before him, that's all right. This is totally
false. My friend, I say unto you, and
I'm being as candid and plain as I can be, from the Word of
God, if Christ is not your Lord, he's not your Savior. If Jesus
Christ is not your king, he is not your savior. If you do not
submit to his scepter, you will not receive his salvation. You
cannot. It is an impossibility. Know
Jesus Christ the Savior and reject Jesus Christ the Lord. He cannot
be divided. His offices cannot be divided.
He is prophet, priest, and king. He is not just prophet and priest.
He's prophet, priest, and king. He is all that God requires of
us. He is all that God expects of
us. He is all that God demands of
us, and we're complete in Him. Now, you listen to some scriptures.
I read this one to you. Paul said in Romans 10, 9, If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and shalt believe
in thine heart God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. Nothing there about accepting Jesus as a Savior from
hell while you reject His Lordship. Listen to this scripture. He
that taketh not up his cross, and followeth after me, cannot
be my disciple." What is the cross? It's a symbol of death.
Death to my will, and bowing to his will. Death to myself,
and bowing to his reign. Death to my own desires, and
my own ambition, in making Christ the Lord of my life. If any man
love his mother, father, husband, wife, brother, sister, even his
own life more than me, he cannot be my disciple. That's pretty
plain. That's lordship. That's kingship. That's not accepting a fire escape
or a fire insurance policy to keep you out of hell. That's
bowing. That's submitting to the reign of Christ. Listen to
this. He that puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not
fit for the kingdom of God. When that Philippian jailer came
trembling and fell on his face before Paul and Silas and cried,
sirs, what must I do to be saved? Paul didn't say accept Jesus
Christ as your personal savior while you reject his lordship
and his kingship and his sovereignty and his reign. He said to that
man, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Men today have it backwards. They have it completely backwards.
They say, make Jesus your Savior, and if you choose later on, that
is, if you feel so obliged to do so, you can make him Lord. But that's not what the Scripture
says. The Scripture says, bow to the claim of King Jesus. The Scripture says, submit to
the Son of God as your King of kings and Lord of lords. The
old hymn writer captured it this way. He set out to the gracious
King approach. whose scepter mercy give, perhaps
he will receive my touch, and then the sinner lives. I can
but perish. If I go, I am resolved to try,
for if I stay away, I know I shall forever die." What are you saying,
preacher? I'm saying this. There is no
way of salvation open for any sinner apart from unconditional
surrender to Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. as his Lord
and say, our Lord does not demand admiration. He's admired by all
the angels. Our Lord does not demand only
an interest or sympathy or approval. He demands surrender. That's
what scripture teaches, unconditional surrender. If Jesus Christ sits
upon the throne of your heart, every other God is going to abdicate. If Jesus Christ reigns in your
life, Every other God is going to leave your life, and he's
going to be supreme Lord and Master. Christ is our friend. He is our counselor. He is our
example. He is our guide. But he is, first
of all, our Lord. And he reigns in virtue of his
Lordship. None other name. What is his
name? He's the Lord. You know, the
scripture says there's none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. The Scripture tells us this,
that whosoever shall call on the name of the Son of God shall
be saved. What is this name? Well, this
name is given us in Philippians 3. 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 and every tongue confess
that he's what? He's Lord. That's his name. There's
none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. What is that name? Lord, the
Lord Jesus. The disciples called him the
Lord Jesus. You won't find anywhere in the
epistles the disciples referring to their master only as Jesus. They called him the Lord Jesus.
They called him Master. They never addressed him and
said Jesus. They said Lord. They always called
him Lord. They always called him Master.
And that's his name. His name is Lord. And to be a
Christian is not just to believe some facts about Christ. It's
not just to believe some theology. It's not just to turn over a
new leaf. It's not just to start another way of life. The first
thing about a Christian is if he bows the knee to Jesus Christ,
to his word, to his will, and to his lordship. And the gospel
that we preach does not confront men primarily with an offer to
heal their ills or solve their problems. You know what the gospel
of the Word of God confronts men with? It confronts rebels
who have taken up arms against the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords to lay down their arms and surrender. The battle started
in the Garden of Eden, and men have said since that day, we
will not have this man reign over us. We'll let Him save us
from hell. We'll let Him heal our bodies.
We'll let Him feed our bellies. We'll let Him clothe our bodies.
But we will not bow. We will not submit to His Lordship. You will if He ever saves you.
Yes, you will. I'm not being harsh and I'm not
being narrow-minded. I'm just saying to you truthfully
that the Bible knows nothing about a doormat named Jesus.
The Bible presents Him as Christ the Lord. The Bible knows nothing
about a firescape named Jesus. The Bible presents him as Christ
the Lord. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, how? As King of
kings and Lord of lords. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you appear with him in glory. My
friends, read the messages of the apostles. The apostles of
our Lord began their messages with the lordship of Christ.
Where is he? He reigns at the right hand of
God. Heaven, the heaven of heavens
won't contain him. The earth is his footstool. He
holds the nations as a drop in the bucket and considers the
inhabitants thereof as grasshoppers. He's the king. And as a king,
he will be worshiped. And that's the way men, that's
the way men worship him. In what character did the soldiers
mock him? They put a crown of thorns on
his head and a scepter in his hand. and a robe on his back,
they mocked him as king. In what character did Pilate
try him? He tried him as king. He said,
behold your king. What was the sign over his cross?
The king of the Jews. How shall he return? King of
kings and Lord of lords. In what character will you believe
on him if you are saved? The king Jesus. The disciples'
favorite term for themselves Servants of the Lord their favorite
position was at his feet their favorite occupation was to glorify
him and their favorite Pastime was to serve him and their favorite
prayer was thy kingdom come I will be done on earth as it is in
heaven