the truth of all truths, Christ is Lord. Let's turn, first
of all, to Luke, chapter 2. The truth of all truths, Jesus
Christ is Lord. In Luke, the second chapter,
verse 11, the angel of God in announcing the birth of Jesus
Christ had this to say, For unto you is born this day in the city
of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Christ the Lord. And then in the second chapter
of Acts, Brother J. Wembley read from Peter's sermon
at Pentecost, and this is the way he closed the message. In
Acts 2.36 he 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. Then in Philippians, the second
chapter, Beginning with verse 9, the Apostle Paul, writing
to the church at Philippi, chapter 2, verse 9, speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the fact that he thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon
him the form of a servant and being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. Now verse 9, 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
in heaven, and in earth, and under the earth. The word things
is in italics, you may leave it out. And every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father. In Romans 10, Romans chapter
10, the apostle is talking about folks who are ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own would
not submit to the righteousness of God which is Christ. And then
he says in verse 9 of Romans 10, if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and correctly translated, and in
most of the new translations that are accurate, it says, if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. This is the truth of all truths. This is the rock upon which all
else rests. Jesus Christ is Lord. As Lord,
he has all authority. He said to his disciples in Matthew
chapter 28, when he gave them the commission to preach repentance
and remission of sins to all nations in his name. He preceded
it with this remark, all authority, in Matthew 28, 18, all power
is given unto me in heaven and earth. As Lord, he has all authority,
absolute power in heaven and earth. When He prayed in John
17, He said, Father, the hours come. Glorify Thy Son that Thy
Son may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him authority, power
over all flesh, not over those that believe, not over those
who trust Him only, over all flesh. Thou hast given Him absolute
authority. As Lord, Jesus Christ is Lord. He's not going to be Lord. He
didn't used to be Lord. He is Lord, always has been Lord. And as Lord, He has all authority
and all power in heaven and earth over all flesh. As Lord, all
are His subjects. The Scripture says He died that
He might be Lord of the dead and the living, of the saved
and the unsaved, of the believer and the unbeliever. He died that
He might be Lord. He purchased the world. It belongs
to Him. Every creature in the universe
is under his sovereign majesty and under his reign, and all
are subjects of his and under him. As Lord, he has no rival. He says in Philippians, God has
given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, every tongue, tongues of angels and
men, devils, demons, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
There is none other name above His name. And as Lord, He owns
all things. Turn with me to Colossians 1.
In the first chapter of Colossians, beginning with verse 16, it talks
about our Lord Jesus Christ being in the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. In verse 16 of Colossians 1,
the Scripture says, "...for by Him were all things created that
are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible." All things
were created by Him, visible and invisible. Well, what's visible
here today? Well, the trees, and the mountains,
and the stars, and the moon, and the sun, and the valleys,
and the river, and the people. What's invisible? Angels, spirits, powers, principalities. These
things are invisible. Well, they were created by him.
The forces, the force of gravity, all of these different, the electricity
in there, the power to transmit things,
voices, signals, visible and invisible. For by Him were all
things created, all things that are in heaven, that are on earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones. Satan has a
throne, throne of evil, throne of deception. He has no power
at all except delegated authority, delegated power. Whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him. Even the wrath of man, shall
praise the Lord, shall work the purpose of God. There is the
directive will of our God and the permissive will of our God,
the secret will of our God, the revealed will of our God, but
all things came from God. He said, I am the Lord. I create
light and darkness. I create good. I create evil. You have to figure out how that
can be consistent with the holiness of God and with the righteousness
of God, but you can rest assured that it is, because all things
were made by Him. We leave nothing out from under
His authority, in His own time, in due time, in His own purpose. He shall bring all things to
pass for His Ultimate eternal glory. All things. That's what
he's saying here. And by Him were all things created. He was first, in the beginning,
God. There were no powers or principalities
or dominions or thrones or creatures. Only God. And all things came
from Him. And He, look at verse 17, and
He is before all things. Who are we talking about here?
We're talking about Him who redeemed us by His blood. We're talking
about Him who is the image of the invisible God. We're talking
about Him who is the firstborn of every creature. We're talking
about Jesus Christ. That's who we're talking about. And He, Jesus Christ, created
all things, and He, Jesus Christ, is before all things, and by
Him, Jesus Christ, all things consist. In Him we live and move
and have our being. By Him all things continue. I breathe this morning by the
permission of Jesus Christ, Charlie. I lift this hand by the permission
and power and will of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he, he might have the preeminence. Jesus Christ is Lord. Lord, I
mean in every sense of the word. As Lord, he has all authority
in heaven and earth over all flesh. As Lord, all are his subjects. The devil is God's devil. He
couldn't touch Job without God's permission. When he turned to
Peter, our Lord said, Satan hath desired thee, that he might sift
thee. He couldn't touch Peter without
our Lord's permission. All are his subjects, all are
his subjects, the living and the dead. He died that he might
be Lord of the dead and the living. As Lord, He has no rival. As
Lord, He owns all things. All things were made by Him and
for Him. By Him they exist. In Him they
live, move, have their being. And all things will ultimately
work together for His glory and the good of His elect. As Lord,
His will shall be done. Turn to the book of Daniel. Daniel
chapter 4. There was a ruler by the name
of Nebuchadnezzar who was proud, lifted up in his heart. He talked
about great Babylon that he had built, great things that he had
done. And the Lord God put him under
judgment. He lost his mind. He went out
into the fields and lived like an animal. His fingernails grew
like bird claws. And his hair grew like the coat
of an animal. He lost his reasoning. Lost his
mind. He lost his understanding. And he stayed out there for seven
times, whatever that means. Seven days, months, weeks, or
years. But he stayed there. In verse
34, Daniel 4 says, At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up mine eyes to 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? As Lord his will shall be done. He said, I declare the end from
the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not
yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand. And I will do all
my pleasure." They said, David, here is our God. Our God is an
idol. Our God is a statue. Our God
is a picture. Here is our God. Some of you
have your gods on your walls at home. You call Him Jesus.
You got a picture of Him. And we have gods everywhere.
Some of you have your gods around your necks in the form of crosses
and crucifixes. Some of you have your gods in
other places. And they said, David, here is our gods. Now
where is yours? He said, our gods in the heavens.
Our God's in the heavens! Our God's not sitting on pedestals
in human temples. Our God's not hanging on walls
in lovely pastel shades. Our God's in the heavens! And
He hath done whatsoever He pleased, whatsoever our God pleases. That's what He does in heaven
and earth, in the seas and all deep places. That's my God! The earth is His footstool, and
every creature His subject. And all the universe sings His
praises. And all shall one day bow and
confess that He's Lord, to God's eternal glory. Jesus Christ is
Lord, not ought to be, as some say, not should be. He is Lord. That's what the Scripture says.
And this is a truth that's misunderstood by friend and foe. Men do not make Christ Lord.
Turn back to my text in Acts 2.36. Men do not make Christ
Lord. I hear preachers saying that,
and I wish they wouldn't say it. Won't you make Jesus your
Lord? Men do not make Christ Lord.
I beg your pardon. Men bow to Christ who is already
Lord. whom the Father made Lord. Read Acts 2.36. And Peter said,
therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that
God hath made that same Jesus whom you crucified. God hath
made Him Lord. God made Him Lord. He is Lord
by decree. Lord, by eternal sovereign decree,
God already 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. He is Lord. Not ought to be,
should be, could be. Is. He said, all authority is
given unto me in heaven and earth. I have all power over all flesh. He is before all things. The Lordship of Christ is not
an idea. It's a reality. It's a reality. It's already His. The Lordship
of Christ is not a theory. It's a fact. Just like Christianity,
this is where Our whole concept of Christianity in this day has
been influenced by Phineas and Moodyism and men like Billy Sunday
and Sam Jones and the high-pressure Hollywood television evangelists
are carrying it right on today. Christianity is a way of looking
at life. I beg your pardon. Christianity,
Jay, is not a way of looking at life. It is life. It is life. It's not a way of looking at
life, it's not a way of living life, it is life! And any man
who has not Christ has not life! Christianity is not a philosophy,
along with other philosophies such as Buddhism and Mohammedism
and Confucius, followers of Confucius or some other philosophy. Christianity
is a principle. It's the nature of God. Christ
said, out of your belly, out of your innermost being shall
flow rivers of water, living water. Christ dwelleth in you. Paul said, I prevail till Christ
be formed in you. Christianity is not a philosophy.
It's a principle. It's a source of righteousness. Holiness is God in a person.
Christianity is not a set of morals. I hear preachers all
the time trying to get people to quit this and quit that and
quit that and start doing this and start doing that and start
doing that, giving them a set of morals to live by, and these
sets of morals usually change with the countries. It's called
geographical ethics or situation ethics. It changes with the situation. I remember back years ago it
was sin to watch television. Now preachers own television.
When radio first came out, radio was a sin. Now everybody's got
a radio, even in their cars. I remember back when a woman
showed her elbows, she was sinning. Now they show their shoulders.
I remember back when you saw a woman's ankle, it was sin.
Now you know how far that's gone. But all these morals keep changing,
you know. You go to this country, that's
right. You can drink a glass of wine in France, but you can't
in Kentucky. You can go mix bathing in the
north, but you can't in the south. I don't understand all these. They're all different. You go
to one denomination, I'm telling you, Christianity is not a set
of morals, it's a nature of godliness. It's a nature of godliness. It's Christ in the heart who
produces love, which is a fulfillment of the law. Joy, faith, peace,
meekness, temperance, temperance, that's what the Word of God teaches.
Meekness, gentleness, goodness, humility. A love for God, a love
for others. Righteousness, honesty, integrity. Our Lord said it's not that which
you put in your mouth that defiles you. It's that which comes out
of your wicked heart. That's what defiles you. It's
the envy and jealousy and hatred and bigotry and malice and prejudice
and tradition. That's what's rotten. Somebody
said alcohol ruined this country. No, this country ruined alcohol.
Drugs are the ruination of our young people. No, they ruin drugs.
I was in the hospital last night and there's a dear lady operated
on and the operation causes pain. I thank God for drugs. I thank
God she can take something and make that pain go away. But here
some fool takes it to make his troubles go away. Well, drugs
didn't ruin him. He ruined them. I wish we could get our heads
on straight. Jesus Christ is Lord! Lord! Sovereign Lord! Eternal Lord! Everybody's Lord! And this thing
of salvation is a submission to His Lordship. bowing, worshiping,
submitting, surrendering, unconditional surrender to the Lordship of
Christ, to reign over me, to live in my heart, to sit on the
throne of my heart, to dictate my talk and walk and thoughts. That's Christianity. Not joining the Baptist church
and doing what the Baptists do, or joining the Catholics and
doing what the Catholics do. It's submitting to His Lordship.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus to be Lord, believe
in thine heart God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. Turn to Luke chapter 11. Now let me show you something
here that's of great importance in Luke the 11th chapter. And I'm saying something different. I know it's different. And I'm
saying, I believe, what a lot of folks either can't say or
at least won't say. In Luke chapter 11, Christ's
Lordship was not established by conference. His Lordship,
His reign, His rule was not established by a conference or only by a
decree. But His Lordship was established
by a costly conflict on a cross, a costly action on a cross. He came to grips on that cross
with sin. and destroyed its power. He came
to grips on that cross with Satan's power and evil, and the prince
of this world is cast out, he's subdued. He crushed the head
of the serpent. He came to grips with judgment
and wrath and death and hell, and he arose the conqueror. But
he conquered them by suffering. Though he were a son, yet he
learned obedience by the things he suffered. And he's not only
Lord by decree, he's Lord because he purchased the right. And he
conquered the forces of evil and he drove them out. And the
same thing is true of the Lordship of Christ in a man's life. It's
not something that comes to pass by decision. It's something that comes to
pass through conflict and a costly conquest and a costly action
and the establishment or the erecting of a cross in that man's
life. Let me show you that in Luke
chapter 11. You say you're a believer? You're a Christian? How did you
come to be a Christian? I just decided to be one. Oh,
you did. Is that the way it took place?
Is that the way Jesus Christ became Lord? He just decided
He would be? He bought the right. He drove
out those who professed to be Lords. He drove out those who
were trying to take the Lordship that didn't belong to them. He
drove out the squatters. He drove out the parasites, he
drove out the forces that had supplanted him, the rebels, the
traitors, he drove them out. And when he comes into a man's
heart, let me tell you something, somebody else sneaked in and
occupied the throne of your heart one day in the Garden of Eden. His name's Satan. He said, we're
children of wrath even as others. We do the will of Satan, even
as others. We follow, we walk after the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit of wickedness. We
do the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life. That's our program. We're programmed to that. He
sneaked in and took over and made us rebels. Now, when Christ
comes to sit on that throne, He's got to unseat that fellow
and say, it ought not be there. He has. He's got to drive him
out. And he doesn't go out easy. You just don't decide that you're
going to change management. Somebody's got to be conquered
and driven out. Now watch this, Luke 11, verse
21. When a strong man, armed, that's Satan, armed with lies
and deception and evil, armed with foolish things like this
pleasure in sin for a season, armed with lies like this, you
take this fruit, you'll be like God. Armed with lies like this,
God won't punish sin. Armed with lies like this, heaven's
a beautiful place that everybody's going to just traveling different
roads. Armed with lies like this, that there is no heaven and there
is no hell, that this is all there is to it. Armed with, when
a strong man armed with lies and deception and subtlety and
craftiness keeps his palace, his goods are in peace. And there's
a peace that the wicked enjoy. It's a false peace. It's a phony
peace. It's a peace of materialism,
and it's a peace of false security. And it may be the peace of a
false religion. It's like the rich young man
that said, I'm going to tear down those barns over there tomorrow
and build me some bigger barns because I'm in good shape. And
that's Satan. Satan will give a man a false
hope, false refuge, false peace, because he dictates the thoughts
of people. He dictates the mind. He's come
in, and he reigns, and he rules in wicked hearts. He sits on
the throne of evil men's hearts. But when they're stronger than
he, who is that? That's our Lord. That doesn't
mean the preacher, because no preacher's stronger than Satan.
That doesn't mean an angel. Gabriel said himself to the devil,
he said the Lord rebuked faith. That's not my business. Gabriel
would not take Satan on one-on-one. And you better not try it either,
or you'll wind up the loser. Peter couldn't handle him, did
he? Gabriel couldn't handle him. There's not but one who can.
Satan's powerful. He's not all-powerful. He's mighty.
He's not all-mighty. He's strong, he's not omnipotent. So there's one stronger than
he, and he comes upon him, and he overcomes him. You think he
doesn't put up a battle? Huh? You think he doesn't wage
a warfare? You don't think that Satan puts
forth some effort to hold his territory? Sure he does. Sure he does. But our Lord conquers
him and takes from him all his lies and deception and craftiness
and armor wherein he trusted and divided his spoils. That's
what our Lord said. That's the way he becomes a man's
Lord. He drives out this false lord,
this false king. He conquers him, and overcomes
him, and divides his spoil, and takes away his armor, and runs
him out, and Christ comes into reign, supreme lord and sovereign
master. And then our Lord said, he that's
not with me is against me. He that gathers not with me scattereth. Here's modern day religion. Here's
a decision. Listen to this, verse 24, when
the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, now he wasn't driven
out, he wasn't overcome, he wasn't conquered, he wasn't defeated.
There was no battle, he just made a decision. The unclean
spirit who dwelt within this man, the spirit of pride and
evil and jealousy and hatred, this is a man reforms and turns
over a new leaf. The unclean spirit just decided
to go out. He decided to leave, and he walked
through dry places. He didn't find any rest, so he
said, I'll return to my house. It never did cease to be his
house. The throne never ceased to be his throne. The den never
ceased to be his den. He just voluntarily left it for
a while. You see a fellow, He gets upset
over the fact that he's drinking too much, so he decides to quit.
Everybody says, well, he's got religion. The fellow's mistreating
his wife and family, and he decides, well, he ought to be a nice daddy
for a while. So he changes and turns over a new leaf. The fellow
says, well, there's a heaven and a hell, and I don't want
to go to hell. I'd like to go to heaven. So he starts to church, and he
starts giving. He may even teach a Sunday school
class, but he's decided to do better. The unclean spirit went
out. But the unclean spirit wasn't
conquered, he wasn't overcome, he wasn't driven out. Christ
didn't come in to reign and to rule and to sit upon the throne.
It was an empty house. Empty. Empty. And he said, I'll return to my
house. And when he came, when he got
there, he found it swept, not washed with the blood of Christ,
not cleansed by the atoning sacrifice, swept. swept with human effort. And sweeping, you women know
sweeping just takes the dust from here and puts it over there
on the chair. Sweeping just picks up the cobwebs here and puts
them somewhere else. It just makes it look good. The
only way for anything to be clean is to wash it, wash it, purge
it. And he found this house swept,
he found this fellow that quit all these different things, and
he found it garnished. You know what garnished means?
Decorated. He had him lapel pin up here that says, I'm glad I'm
saved or it's fun being saved or something like that, you know.
And he had him a big old Good Samaritan Bible with red letters
and pictures of Jesus in there, you know, and Samson and Moses
and great big thing. And he carried it around and
he had a bumper sticker that said, You love Jesus? Honk! He
just had all these decorations, all these, he garnished it. The
house, one account in the Scripture says it was empty. He wasn't
filled with the grace of God, or the presence of Christ, or
the glory of God. He wasn't filled with a love
for Christ, a love for people. He wasn't filled with a hunger
and thirst for righteousness. It was empty. Oh, he wasn't doing
anything, but he wasn't loving anybody either. He wasn't breaking
any laws, but he wasn't producing any holiness either. It was just
empty, that's all. Empty. Just like a sound in gong,
you know, boom! If I do all these things and
have not love, I'm like a sound in brass, just holler echo, empty,
swept and garnished. So the old demon said, I'll tell
you what I'm going to do, verse 26. He goes and takes to him
seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter
and dwell there. And the last state of that man
is worse than the first. Have you seen this happen over
and over again? The church has a revival. They invite a preacher
in. He employs techniques. He employs
gimmicks. He employs pressure. And he talks
about heaven and hell and mother and death and all these things.
And the people talk to each other. And don't you want to be saved?
And they get folks to talk to them. And they go out and bring
them in. They come down the aisle and make a profession. And they
give up different things. And they sweep the house. And
they decorate it, you know. And they join a Sunday school
class. And they get baptized. And they become church members.
And they take up these little eccentricities of religion and
this outward piety. And they're just getting along
so good, the evil spirit just voluntarily went out. Of course,
he had a little help. We urged him. And he didn't mind. He didn't care if you get religion
just so you don't know Christ. He doesn't care if you make a
decision just so he's not conquered and overcome and driven out,
just so Christ doesn't sit on the throne. He doesn't care if
you get fixed up, you know. But after a while he quits walking
around out there and he says, I'm going home. And he comes
back and he finds that fellow all religious, you know, all
garnished and empty and swept, and he goes out and gets him
seven more devils, religious devils, and they're the worst
kind. And he brings them in, and that fellow becomes a thorn
in the church's side. He becomes a thorn in the pastor's
side. He becomes a thorn in everybody's
side. He's unhappy, they're unhappy.
He's tired of church, and he's tired of religion. And he didn't
have any life or reality anyway, and he's trying to live a Christian
life without Christ. He's trying to put on a show
that's not in here. He's trying to do what he can't
do in the strength of human flesh. And after a while, he'll either
get to be the worst example of hypocrisy, or he'll quit church
altogether. And that's the way most of them
do. You wonder about the turnover all the time in churches? There
it is right there. There it is right there. But
let me tell you something, there's no way of salvation, true salvation,
true redemption. And I'm not being harsh, I'm
not being narrow-minded, I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling
you what's wrong with all of this come-down-the-isle and all
of this make-up-of-fashion and all of this telling people they're
saved, when they're not saved, they're not delivered, they're
not redeemed, they're not Christian. They're religionist. That's all
they are. And I'll tell you the folks that
make those folks are folks that are just like them. A preacher
can't tell what he doesn't know anymore and he can come back
from where he hadn't been. He can't preach repentance till
he's repented. He can't preach the Lordship
of Christ till Christ is enthroned in his own heart. He can't tell
a man what salvation is till he's been saved. He can't tell
a man what a relationship with God is until he has that relationship. And what they're doing is making
converts just like themselves. Our Lord said in Matthew 7, you
beware of false preachers. They're everywhere. There are
many of them. They're ravening wolves in sheep's clothing. They
profess to be what they're not. And He said, you know how you
can tell who they are? You can tell them by their fruits.
They produce what they are. Apple trees produce apples. False
preachers produce false converts. There's no way of salvation apart
from an unconditional surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord. Saul
of Tarsus was smitten down on the road to Damascus. He didn't
raise his hand. He didn't walk an aisle. He didn't
make a profession. He bit the dust. And his reply to our Lord's words
was, Lord, what will you have me do? Lord, what will you have me do?
The thief on the cross. Now you stop and think about
this man a minute. He has now what I want. He is
where I long to be. He's with Christ in paradise.
How'd he get there? He found out that Jesus Christ
was Lord. That's right. Now, men have it
backward today. They say, make Christ your Savior,
and then if it's convenient, you make Him Lord. That's backwards.
You'll find out something about, and I'll tell you the truth,
and you'll find this out. I don't know when, but you'll
find it out. That's backward. You acknowledge Christ as your
Lord. He may be your Savior. That thief on the cross turned
and said, Lord, you're coming into a kingdom. You're not going
to stay dead. I'm getting what I deserve when
you come into your kingdom. Would you remember me? Bless
your heart. Our master turned to him, and
the only one on that hillside, the thousands of people, he said,
today shalt thou be with me in prayer. When that trembling Philippian
jailer came to Paul and Silas, he said, what must I do to be
saved? And Paul said, believe on whom? The Lord, Jesus Christ. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord. Our Lord does not demand admiration
only, sympathy, interest, approval. He demands surrender. Surrender. What happens to folks that come
in the church and sit a while and leave, make all kind of professions,
all kind of noises, all kind of clings, and then leave? They
never surrendered. They never surrendered. Christ
never occupied the territory. He never raised His flag. He
never occupied the throne, or they'd still be there. John said
if they had been of us, they no doubt would have continued
with us. I'm telling you what the ills are in religion. Christ
is our friend. He is our counselor. He is our
example. He is our God. But first and
before all things, He is our Lord! I don't have any place else to
go. He's my Lord. I don't have any rights. He owns
me. You say, what are you preaching?
I'm preaching slavery. Slavery! I'm a bond slave of
Jesus Christ. He's my Lord. You know, just
one kind of Lord, and that's one that reigns. It's just one
kind of Lord, and that's one who has total, complete control. It's just one kind of Lord. To be a Christian, to be a Christian
is, first of all, to understand that Jesus Christ is your Lord,
to do with me what He will. And that comes before any assurance
that He's my Savior. I'll to the gracious King approach. Who? The King, whose scepter
mercy gives. Perhaps He will admit my touch. And then the sinner lives. He
doesn't have to. I can but perish if I go, I am
resolved to try, for if I stay away I know I shall forever die. The gospel, I beg your pardon,
the gospel of God's glory, the gospel of Christ's Lordship,
the gospel of redemption confronts men, not primarily with an offer
to heal their ills or solve their problems. The gospel is a message,
first of all, for rebels who have taken up arms against King
Jesus to lay them down. Lay them down. Lay them down. I read a story about a king of
England. He was a king of justice and yet compassion. I forget
his name. But there were six men who were convicted of some
sort of rebellion, some sort of uprising against his power
and reign. And they were to be heard by
the king. They were in prison. They brought
him in. And to his amazement, as he sat
on the throne and they brought in those men, every one of them
had somehow gotten hold of a rope. Each one of them had a rope individually.
And they had made that rope into a hangman's noose, just a short
rope. And each one of them had a rope
around his neck. And the noose was hanging here,
right down in front. And they all came before the
king. There were six of them, every
one of them with a rope about his neck. Not a word did they
say. But they were saying this, guilty,
unworthy, You have our lives in your hands. You can do with
us what you will. We deserve to be hanged, but
we'd sure like some mercy. And that's the way the sinner
comes before Christ. He's Lord, Sovereign Lord, Sovereign
King. And that's the gateway to the
Kingdom of God, is to bow to the Lordship of Christ. Let me
show you one thing more, and I'll quit. In Acts, the second
chapter. I suppose what you'd call the
opening sermon of the Apostles' ministry. Wouldn't you say this
is the beginning of the missionary effort to take the gospel to
all the world? What did Peter begin with? The
Apostles' preaching began with the Lordship of Christ and worked
backward to the cross. That's right. Now today's preaching
is in opposite direction. We start with the cross. And
we've given men the impression, this is the impression that I
get from the average preacher, just listening to that, I get
the impression that Jesus Christ came down here and put forth
an effort to do something that can't be accomplished without
your cooperation, that Jesus Christ is powerful, but he's
not all powerful because we really hold the final word. And that he went away up to heaven
and he's there just, he's wringing his hands. He loves some folks,
but he can't do anything for them. He's done all he can do
and that's up to them. He's put salvation out there
as an offer and nobody seems to be willing to take it. Oh,
a few folks are picking it up here and there, but they're not
paying much attention to it, you know. And it doesn't occupy
a great deal of their time. They just want Him as a fire
escape, you know, or as an insurance policy. Hang around, Lord, when
I need you, I'll call on you. Hang around Jesus. They don't
call Him Lord. Hang around Jesus, we'll call Him. I get that impression.
But the Scripture, the disciples, when they came preaching, they
didn't come preaching this type of Jesus at all, this weak, feminine,
defeated Reformer. frustrated Messiah, this little
fellow, sweet little Jesus boy, that's gone to heaven and just
crying his eyes out because you won't let him in your heart.
Like one preacher said, leaning over the banisters of heaven,
wondering if you'll let him come into your heart. But the disciples
came here on Pentecost and they said, we got something to tell
you folks. And we want all Israel to know
assuredly that that one whom you nailed to the cross, Jesus
of Nazareth, who walked this earth, who went about doing good,
who healed the sick and the blind and the lame and raised the dead,
and whom you, with wicked hands, nailed to a tree." And Peter
said, I want you to know this first, you did it, but God willed
it. He said, you did it, Verse 23, but he was delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You did what God determined
before to be done. You did it, but God willed it.
It pleased the Lord to bruise him. You nailed him to a tree,
but God sent him to the tree to redeem a people. And that
same Jesus whom you crucified, God has made him Lord, sovereign
King of the universe. And he's given everything into
the hands of Christ. He's vested everything in the
person of Christ. He has given everything over
to the rule of Christ. He's now Lord! And they said,
what in the world are we going to do? We're in a mess. What are we going to do? You
reckon there's any hope for us? But you know what? When preachers
get through preaching today, Everybody switches his gum from
one jaw to the other, you know. He wasn't paying any attention
to him anyhow, because he's just saying what they've heard a half
a dozen times. And they look at their watch
and wonder if they're going to get out in the next few minutes.
And they're tired and weary. And he begins an invitation.
He talks about this poor little helpless Jesus, done all he can
do. And he wonders if you'd patronize
the Son of God. If you'd be willing to let Him
in your heart. I wonder if you'd be willing to do something for
Jesus so He wouldn't be a total failure. Would you do something
for Jesus, you know, so He'd do something for you? You let
go and let God have His way? He can and will if you let Him,
all this sort of thing. And men stand in their pride
and rebellion and they laugh, you know, and they say, one of
these days I'll get right with God. One of these days I might
be obliged to let God have His way in my heart. One of these
days I'm going to quit my rebellious ways and turn over a new leaf
and join the church. Let me tell you something. And
Paul went to Corinth and said the same thing. God's not in your hands. Christ
is not in your hands. God has not given Him over into
your hands. He did one time, and you nailed
Him to a cross. God sent him into the world.
He was in the world. The world was made by him and
the world knew him not. He came to his own. His own received
him not. God gave him into the hands of men one time. He was
a man. Mary held him in her arms. Joseph held him in his arms.
John held him in his arms. And people all over this world,
they had an opportunity to embrace him, to touch him. The woman
with the issue of blood touched him. But they nailed Him to a
cross. God gave Him into the hands of
men and they nailed Him to a cross. And that same Jesus whom you
crucified, God has made Lord. And now you're in His hands. You're in His hands to do with
what He will. That's right. And anybody tells
you anything different is misleading you and deceiving you. The question
is not what will you do with Jesus. You've already done what
you will. You crucified him. That's what you'll do with Jesus.
That's what every natural man will do with Jesus. Not his Jesus,
but Christ of the Bible. The Christ who said, I and my
Father are one. The Christ who said, the Son
quickeneth whom He will. The Christ who said, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. The Christ who said, destroy
this temple and in three days I'll raise it up. The Christ
who said to Pilate, you have no authority over me at all except
it be given you from above. The Christ who turned to the
women who weeped and lamented on His way to the cross and said,
don't cry for me, cry for yourselves and for your children. No, He
was in your hands. There was a time when Pilate
said, what will you do with Jesus? And they told him what to do
with him. They said, as they spit in his face, nail him to
a cross, but he ain't in your hands anymore. He's on a throne. That's what it says in the book.
Wherefore God hath made him Lord. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
him, and God hath set him down on his right hand, expecting
till his enemies become his footstool." And you find that out, you'll
quit debating whether or not you'll let Jesus do something
for you, and you'll begin to cry like the publican in the
temple, Lord, be merciful. That's right. And we'll go on
having our revival meetings and getting the same folks saved
again, and getting the same folks rededicated again, and witnessing
to the same old rebels again. But when God Almighty is pleased,
one of these days He's going to raise up some preachers with
backbones and with hearts. and with an understanding of
what the message is and who the message is about. And he's going
to confront some folks with that message. And some of them are
going to say again, we'll not have this man reign over us.
But some of them are going to say, Lord, what would you have
me do? Somebody is. And that somebody
is going to reign with him when he finds out Christ is Lord.
Christ is not his Savior. Christ is his Lord, and bowing
to him as his Lord, he finds out Christ saved him, Bob. His
Lord saved him. And that's what I'm going to
preach on tonight, the Lord, our Righteousness. Our Heavenly Father was trying
to be true to the souls of men, honest, preach the truth, the
glory of our Lord. He is Lord. He's sovereign. He can do with his own what he
will. None can stay thy hand. How foolish we are to talk about
God is on the throne and God's almighty and then saying God
can't do something. God wills to do this and he can't
do it. But the little old flimsy, weak,
foolish will of man has thwarted the purpose of a sovereign God.
We know better than that. The most unreasonable thing we
can think of is God without power. Thou art almighty and our Lord
Jesus Christ is Lord. You brought us to see it with
dim eyes through a glass darkly in part, but we see it. And we
bow this morning. Oh Lord, God, what will you have
me do? Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. Lord, Be merciful to me, a sinner. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. For Christ's sake, we pray.