I'm going to read my text from
Philippians 2. I'd like to begin reading with
verse 9. This is the text for the message,
the Lordship of Christ Jesus. In Philippians 2.9, Paul writes,
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. Now, there is no preaching as
important, and I believe in this day, no preaching as neglected
as the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The Lordship of Jesus Christ
is salvation from sin. In Romans 10, verse 9, Paul writes,
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." This is salvation from sin, a knowledge of Christ
the Lord. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who
saves. We sing a hymn, Jesus saves,
and in a sense it's true. But it's the Lord Jesus who saves. It is not only the man Christ
Jesus, it is the God-man Christ Jesus. It is the Lord Jesus Christ
who saves for his deity, makes his work in the flesh effectual. And where he is not Lord, he
is not Savior. Where Jesus Christ is not Lord,
he is not the Savior from sin. And then The Lordship of Christ
is not only salvation from sin, but the Lordship of Christ is
the source of all true peace. Paul wrote in Romans 8, 28, and
we know that all things work together for good to them who
love God, who are called according to his purpose. This is the comfort,
this is the peace, this is the rest of the believer. Our Savior
is the sovereign Lord who controls all things in our lives. Our
Savior is the sovereign Lord, and He is the first cause of
all things. And nothing, absolutely nothing,
great or small, good or bad, comes to pass in the life of
a believer. that is not under the absolute
sovereign control and will, either permissive or directive of his
Lord. Turn to Job chapter 1. Now Satan
appeared before God to charge Job. And he said in verse 9 of
Job 1, Doth Job fear God for nothing? Now note verse 10 carefully. Hast thou, hast not thou, made
a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that
he hath on every side? Hast thou not made a hedge about
him, and his house, and all about him on every side?" And Satan
couldn't get to Job. He couldn't afflict Job, he couldn't
hurt Job, he couldn't touch Job without God's permission. Now,
my friends, this is the source of true peace, true comfort,
the Lordship of Jesus Christ is the source of peace and how
anyone can have any comfort or any rest or any peace at any
hour of the day, not believing that Christ absolutely controls
everything in his life. I don't know. The Lordship of Jesus Christ
is not only salvation from sin, it is not only the source of
true peace, it is the basis of true worship. Turn with me to
Matthew 14. It is the basis of true worship. Men will debate, they will bargain,
they will reason with a little God. But before a sovereign God,
men will worship. They will have Him in fear, awe,
and reverence. And they'll truly fall down at
his feet and worship him. Look at Matthew 14, verse 33. Matthew chapter 14, verse 33. Then they that were in the ship,
what happened? Well, you know, the Lord Jesus
Christ was out there walking on water. The disciples were
in the ship, and they saw him walking on the water. And Peter
said, Lord, if it's you, be it me, come to thee on the water.
And the Lord said, come on. Peter stepped out on the water,
and he started walking, and then the scripture says that when
he saw the wind, strong, boisterous, he was afraid, and he began to
sing. And he cried, verse 30, Lord,
save me. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of
little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were
come, Peter and the Lord Jesus, both of them walking on the water,
when they came into the ship, the wind stopped. And then they that were in the
ship, they had seen the power of the Lord. They had seen his
power to walk on water, his power to enable a human like Peter
to walk on water. They had seen his power to still
the sea and stop the storm, and then they came and worshiped
him. Now, men may meet together to
argue religion, and they may meet together to reason about
how they can get to heaven and how they can escape hell. But
when they come head-on, face-to-face with an absolute sovereign Lord,
that is when they fall down and worship. And that's the only
time they fall down and worship. This is no mere prophet. This
is no mere miracle worker. This is no mere man. This is
God Almighty. And it's the only basis for worship.
People wonder why in churches today there's so much flesh and
so much disturbances. And people talk and write notes
and chew chewing gum and laugh and pay no attention to the minister
preaching the Word. You know why? The God that's
preached from the average pulpit does not demand worship. or reverence
or fear. He's a powerless God, he's a
frail God, he's a defeated God, he's a disappointed God. But
when the God of the Bible in all of his holiness and majesty
and power and might is preached, men will fear him, and they'll
worship God, and they will in his presence let their words
be You go through the Bible and
read what happened when these men met God. They fell at his feet in silence
and fear. This is the source of true worship,
the sovereign Lordship of Jesus Christ. Then turn to John 13,
verse 13. This is the only way to please
God. is to bow to the Lordship of Christ. John 13, verse 13,
this is the way to please Christ. This is the way to receive from
Him a well done. He said in John 13, 13, You call
me Master and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. How would you like for the Master
to be pleased with your approach? How would you like for the Master
to say unto you, after you have prayed, after you have preached,
after you have worshipped, you said, well, would you want me
to tell you how to receive from him a well-spoken? Call him Lord. That's what the disciples did.
He said, you call me Master, you call me Lord. And you say,
well, for that's exactly what I am. And you turn to Matthew
15. Here was a Canaanite woman who
came to him about the healing of her daughter. And the Lord
Jesus Christ, for reasons known only to himself, ignored her
upon her first request. And then he told her that he
was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and she
worshipped him, verse 25, Matthew 15, and she worshipped him, and
she cried, Lord, Lord, help me. And verse 26, he answered and
said, It's not meat to take the children's bread and cast it
to dogs. And she said, True, Lord, And
yet the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. I wish we could use language
like that. I believe we could if we had an attitude like that.
I believe it'd just naturally come out. If a man really had
the fear of the Lord in his heart, I believe he'd speak the language
of one who feared the Lord. Out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh. That's true, Lord. But even the
dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And
then said Jesus unto her, how would you like to hear this?
O woman, great is thy faith! Be it unto thee, even as thy
will. Peter said to him, the Lord Jesus
said, Peter, whom do you say that I am? He said, Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. And the Lord Jesus said,
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. Blessed art thou. Oh, how blessed
is the man whose eyes have been opened to see the Lordship of
Christ. How blessed is the man or woman
whose eyes have been opened to see the authority and the sovereignty
and the power of the Christ of glory. Blessed are you, Simon
Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood did not reveal
that to you, but my Father which is in heaven. The Lordship of
Jesus Christ and the acknowledging thereof is the only way to please
Christ. And then the Lordship of Jesus
Christ, that's the theme of the Bible. Turn to John chapter 20,
that's the very theme of this book. It says in John chapter 20 verse
31, but these are written, that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ. That's why this book's written. the Son of God. That's what it's
all about. That's the theme of the Bible.
Moses wrote of me, Christ said. Every type, every ceremony, every
sacrifice reveals Christ. That's the theme of this book. I'll tell you this, I'm not going
to make any, I hope, rash statement. I fear for people who will not
acknowledge because they have not seen the Lordship of Jesus
Christ. I don't care how much Bible they
memorize or how much law that they give agreement unto, if
they have not seen the Lordship of Christ, they have not read
the Bible right. For these things are written
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. That's what it's all about. And
this is the design of all creation. Turn to Colossians chapter 1,
the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Colossians chapter 1, let's begin
reading with verse 14. This is what creation is all
about. This is the design of creation. In Colossians 1 verse 14, Paul
writes, "...in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sin." who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. Listen, for by him, from that
Christ, our Lord, our Savior, were all things created that
are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible. Whether
there be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things,
and by him all things. And he just got through saying
even the angels, the things that are in heaven, the things that
are on earth, whether they be visible, such as trees and mountains
and valleys and people, or whether they be invisible, such as even
demon spirits and righteous spirits and powers, and thrones and dominions
and kingdoms and nations. They were made by him and for
him, and by him they all consist, and he is the head of the who
is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
he, Jesus Christ the Lord," not the firescape from hell, Jesus
Christ the Lord, not the weak superstar, Jesus Christ the Lord,
"...might have preeminence." This is it. A man cannot take
part in the kingdom of God who does not recognize the King of
the kingdom. A man cannot share the inheritance
of the Lord who does not know the Lord. A man cannot enjoy
the glory of the King if he doesn't acknowledge the King of glory.
Turn to Psalms 24. Listen to David. In Psalms 24,
Verse 1, the earth is the Lord's. It's His. He bought it, He made
it, He bought it as a twofold possession. It's His by creation,
it's His by redemption. It's the Lord's earth and the
fullness thereof, the world and all they that dwell therein.
It's His. He has founded it upon the seas
and it on the flood, it's His. Read verse 7, Lift up your heads,
O ye gates, and lift up your everlasting doors, and the King
of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? It's
the Lord Strong and Mighty, the Lord Mighty in battle. Lift up
your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King
of glory? The Lord of Hosts. He is the
King of Glory. The Lord is come, the heavens
proclaim His birth, the nations learn His name. A single star
directs the road of Eastern kings to their God. All ye bright armies
of the skies, go and worship where the Savior lies. angels
and kings before him bow, gods on high and gods below. Let idols
totter to the ground, and their worshipers all confound. But Judah shout, and Zion sing,
and all confess our sovereign King." He's Lord. He's Lord. He's not a way to
heaven. He's Lord. He's not an effort God made to
save somebody, he's Lord. And the Holy Spirit teaches every
believer the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area. But I believe tonight, especially
in the following six areas, we recognize the Lordship of Jesus
Christ. I'm going to say this, and I'm
going to say it as quietly and calmly as I can, and I hope the
Spirit of God will reveal to you what I'm trying
to say and not be misunderstood. I seriously doubt, I seriously
doubt whether a man, woman, boy or girl could be effectually
and a child of God who does not see, to some extent, the Lordship
of Jesus Christ in the following six things. First of all, Jesus Christ is
Lord, the Scripture says, in all things. In Matthew 28, verse
18. Now listen to it. Matthew 28,
18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power,
all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Do you
believe that? Or do you question that? Do you
believe that all authority has been given into the hands of
Jesus Christ, all authority? in heaven and in earth. That's
what he's saying. And Paul, writing about him,
says in Ephesians 1.11, he worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, beginning with the small things.
Listen to this. Let me read it to you. Matthew
10.29. are not two sparrows sold for
a half penny, and one of them shall not fall to the ground
without your father? And the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. If God so clothed the grass of
the field, and God so cared for the sparrow, We're talking about
the most insignificant things. We're talking about hair on the
head or the arms of the body, hairs that are numbered and are
under the control in their growth and in their fall of our Lord. We're talking about flowers that
are here today and tomorrow cast into the fire and burned up,
being clothed. by the power and authority of
our Lord. We're talking about little old
birds that flit and fly through the air, not being able to land
on a branch without the sovereign control and power of our Lord.
That's what the Scripture says. He is sovereign in all things.
Turn to Genesis chapter 20. Abraham was traveling across
the country. He had a beautiful wife named
Sarah. There was an evil king who fell in love with his beautiful
wife, Sarah. And Abraham was afraid of this
king, so he told the king that Sarah was his sister. So he sent
and fetched Sarah, and she stayed in his house for a certain length
of time. Then God came to him and told
him, the king, that he was good as dead, and he wanted to know
why. And he said, this woman that you've kidnapped, that you've
taken away from Abraham, is his wife. Why, he said, Lord, she
told me that she was his sister. Now listen to what the Lord said
in Genesis 6, verse 20. And God said unto him, I know
that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart, for I also withheld
thee from sinning against me, therefore suffered I thee not
to touch her. My friends, you talk about all
things being under the sovereign control of God Almighty, even
the thoughts and desires of the hearts of men and women are under
the control of our Lord. Then the scripture says in Psalms
110, Thy people shall be willing in the day of what? Thy power. God is not the author of sin.
I'm saying that God's will is done either directive or permissively. But everything, even the thoughts
of men and the desires of men, are under the absolute sovereign
control of our Lord. Turn to Proverbs 21. Proverbs
21. The man who sits on the throne
as the king, who makes decisions to attack nations, or invade
islands, or sign peace agreements, the man who sits in the dictator's
chair, who makes war, who brings in bondage whole nations, that
king's heart is in the hands of the Lord. As the rivers of
water, he turneth it with us however he will. Do you believe
that? King's heart. The decisions made
at Geneva, Potsdam, Yalta, Appomattox, you just go on naming all the
eventful decisions that have been made down through the years,
could never have been made without the permissive or directive will
of our Lord. He has power over the seas. He
has power over the trees. He walked up to a tree and cursed
it and said, You won't bear any more fruit. And it did not. At his command, diseases come
and go, the blind see, the lame walk, and the dead are raised. He is sovereign. He has all authority
in heaven and earth. Do you believe that? That's what the Bible teaches
now. You might as well make up your mind. You can't have just
any God, you've got to have the God or no God. You can't just
have a God who does what you will and what you please and
what you let him do. He's either the sovereign Lord
or he's not Lord at all. He's sovereign, he's Lord in
all things. That's what the Bible teaches.
When he paid taxes, he sent Peter down to the ocean and he said,
catch a fish and then go pay my taxes. And Peter went down
there and there were ten thousand fish in that sea. And Peter caught
one, took it out of the sea and opened its mouth and there was
a coin. Sovereign Lord, all authority. That's the God I fear, that's
the God I worship, that's the God who saved my soul, and that's
the God of the Bible. But I don't have any respect
for any God but a sovereign God. I wouldn't waste my time worshiping
a God who was not sovereign. Secondly, I believe in this area,
Romans chapter 9. Turn to Romans chapter 9. Romans
9, verse 15. Our God, our Lord, is sovereign
not only in all things, he's sovereign in mercy. Look at Romans
chapter 9, verse 15. He said to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, it's of God that shows mercy. Brethren, let me tell you something.
I don't want justice. I want mercy. I want mercy. I want the forgiveness of sin.
I want mercy for my iniquities. Who has it? The Lord Jesus. Who
gives it? The Lord Jesus. And I've got
to go to him as a broken-hearted, bankrupt, repentant, seeking
sinner and say, Lord, like the leper who came to him covered
with leprosy, impossible to heal himself or to find healing, and
he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. And that's
where you are tonight. If he wills, he can save your
soul. When one obligates the giver,
mercy ceases to be mercy and becomes a debt. But saving mercy
is sovereign mercy, and saving mercy is in the hands of the
Lord of mercy. And God is obligated to none
of his creatures, not a one of them. Cannot I, the Lord, do
with my own what I will?" Now, you can believe that your
relationship with God depends upon your own will, if you want
to. But the Bible says, "...to as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, who were born, not of the will of man, not of the will
of the flesh, but born of God." I'm here to tell you that you
can't get up and go down to the church and get saved anytime
you want to. And I'm here to tell you that
you can't will yourself into forgiveness, into the kingdom
of God, into the family of God, into the heaven of God. That's a gift. And it's in the
hands of the Lord of mercy. And he'll save whom he will.
That's what Scripture teaches. He's the Lord of mercy. Mercy
is in his hand. Now turn to John 17, verse 2. I'm sparing no punches tonight.
I'm telling you the truth. I'm saying that the key to salvation,
the foundation of salvation, is the Lordship of Christ. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth, Jesus to be what? To be Lord thou shalt be saved."
Brother, I want God to imprint that, stamp that, embed that
upon my heart, write it with a pen of a diamond and a stone
forever. He is my Lord. He said in John
17, too, Thou hast given me power over all flesh. that I should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. All that my Father giveth me, he
said in John 6.37, shall come to me. Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out." Christ is the only one who can save,
and Christ saves the most unlikely, and all whom he calls will come,
and no power is able to take them out of his hands. He said,
My sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me, I give
them eternal life. I give it to them. Eternal life
is in the hands of the giver who bought it and who gives it
to whom he will." John Job, turn to Job 14. I'm saying tonight
that the believer is one who is persuaded that Jesus Christ
is Lord in all things, that he's the Lord of the rain, he's the
Lord of the snow, he's the Lord of the flood, he's the Lord of
mercy, he's the Lord of salvation. He's the Lord of eternal life,
and he's the Lord of death. In Job 14.5, man's seeing, man's
days are determined by whom. The number of his months are
with thee. Thou hast appointed his bounds,
he cannot pass. Our Lord appoints life. He said
to Jeremiah, Before I form thee in the belly, I knew thee." Who
formed him? There are no accidents in birth.
God gives life, and only God can give life. God Almighty appoints
death. God kills and God makes alive. Jesus Christ is the resurrection. I want you to turn with me to
John 10. I think I saw something this week that I've never seen
before in the Word of God, and we ought to see something every
week because We certainly know so very little. John 11 it is.
I want you to listen while I read this. I read this with a new
dimension this week. Most people seem to think, and
probably I think the thought the same thing, that the Lord
Jesus Christ came to the grave of Lazarus. He allowed him to
die, he permitted him to die, and then he came to the grave
to show his power, and he did show his power. He came to the
grave to convince the gamesayer and so forth, and I suppose he
did, but I want you to listen to the way he answers these girls,
these ladies whose brother died. Now, get this picture. The Lord
Jesus was away, and Lazarus had died. And when he came back,
the sisters were so downhearted and so disappointed because Lazarus
was dead. and they wanted him back. They
didn't want him to die. They looked with the wrong attitude
upon death. And Jesus Christ the Lord, our
Lord and our Savior, knew that Lazarus had left this valley
of tears, this veil of suffering, this journey of burdens and trials,
that he had gone to be with the Father. that Lazarus had left
this earth with all of its unhappiness and sin and corruption and cesspool
of iniquity. Paul wanted to leave it. The
Savior was glad to leave it. And here were two people weeping
because their brother was in heaven. Now I want you to listen
to how Christ talks to them. Beginning in John 11, verse 21,
Then Martha said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had
not died. But I know that even now, now
here's what she's saying, I want him alive. I want you to raise
him. I know whatever you ask of God,
God will give it to you. And Jesus said to her, now listen
to his words, our brother will rise again. Don't you believe
that Martha? He's going to rise again, his
body's coming out of the tomb. Martha said, I know he'll rise
again in the resurrection at the last day. Christ said, Martha,
I'm the resurrection. She seems to separate this thing
from Christ. She's talking about what's going
to happen out there. He said, Martha, I'm the resurrection,
I'm the life. Lazarus is in me, he's not dead.
He's just in a better place. I'm the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Don't you believe this? Can't
you see this? I'm sure the Lord would come
to us the same way in some of our attitudes towards death.
Oh, if my brother, if my daughter, if my son, if my wife, if my
husband just had not died, the Lord said, well, he'll rise again.
I know he'll rise again at the last day in the resurrection.
I'm the resurrection. I'm the life. Now, it wasn't
enough. Here Mary came in on it in the
32nd verse. Then Mary came. It was Christ
still there. And she saw him. She fell down
at his feet and worshiped him. She said, Lord, if you'd been
here, my brother's not dying. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jew's weeping which came with her, he groaned
in spirit and was troubled. What do you suppose is troubling
the Master? I'll tell you, the attitude of his people, the blindness
of his people, the inability of his people to see in him life
and salvation and resurrection. They were adding that he had
been led from all members, that he no longer existed, and Christ
mourned in his spirit. And he said, Well, where have
you laid him? And they said, Lord, come and see. And the Lord
wept. There's no time with Christ. He is in all places at all times. In a sense, he never left heaven.
Lazarus was in him, with him. He knew Lazarus to be with the
Father, Lazarus to be in glory, and here are these people wanting
to bring him back, put him back on this earth, put him back in
the trials and heartaches of this earth, because we're creatures
of the flesh. We're materialistic creatures.
What we can't see, we don't believe. What we can't touch, we forget.
And the Lord just wept over it. And the Jews misunderstood the
whole thing. They looked at him and said, Oh, how he loved him.
And some of them said, Well, couldn't this man, which opened
the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not
have died? Jesus therefore again groaned
in himself, all the blindness, all the ignorance. And he came
to the grave, and it was a cave, and a stone was laid on it, and
he said, take away the stone. Israel demanded a king, and God
gave them one. Mary and Martha demanded the
resurrection of their brother, and he gave it to them. And it
was with the same attitude. All right, he said, take away
the stone. And he stood there in front of
that open tomb, and he cried in verse 43 with a loud voice,
and he said, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus came forth, and Jesus
set loose him and let him go. And he went. Death can't win the victory,
because my Lord is sovereign over death. And then our Lord
is sovereign in judgment. Turn to John 5. John 5, verse
22. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment to the Son. And Paul said in
Hebrews 4.13, all things are naked and open under the eyes
of him with whom we have to do. Now, my friends, I don't care
who you are here tonight, you're going to deal with Jesus Christ
the Lord, the Lord. You're going to deal with him
as a broken, repentant, bankrupt sinner who seeks mercy at his
hand. The Lord, the sovereign Lord
sitting on a throne. I'm not talking about you going
to sit around and debate whether or not you'll let Jesus come
into your heart. You can swallow that stuff if
you want to. I'm not talking about you going
to sit around and debate whether or not you'll serve God or serve
the devil, whether or not you'll go to church or stay home, whether
or not you'll let God put away your sins or not let him, whether
or not you'll let him save you and take you to heaven or you
won't let him. I'm telling you this. All things are naked and
open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Jesus Christ
is going to be met by every son of Adam. He's either going to
be met like Saul met him on the road to Damascus, blinded, broken,
smitten, unhorsed and crippled in the dust, crying, Lord, what
will you have me do? Or else he's going to be met
at the judgment. And then you're going to cry
for the rocks and mountains to fall on you and hide you from
the face of him who sits on the throne. But men are going to
deal with them the line. And then Christ is Lord in eternity,
and that brings me back to my text. In Philippians chapter
2, verse 9 and 10. Verse 10, that at the name of
Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, in earth, and under
the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is
what? My personal Savior is Lord. Lord. There's a happy land far, far
away where saints in glory stand bright, bright as the day. Oh, how they sweetly sing, worthy
is our Savior King. Lord, let thy praises ring. Praise, praise, praise to Thee. He's Lord. He's Lord. Our Father in Heaven, break our
proud hearts. Humble us in the dust as you
humbled the ancient king, whose understanding returned to him.
And he said, The Lord reigns in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and giveth it to whomsoever he
will. Lord, grant that we may meet
Thee now in mercy before we meet Thee in judgment. Grant that
we may be able with the right attitude and spirit with a broken
heart at thy worthy throne to exclaim, Jesus Christ is Lord,
my Lord and my God, and we shall not be forced to cry, He's Lord,
with the damned in hell. Be merciful unto us, O Lord,
be merciful unto us, and grant unto us the redemption from all
our sins. In his worthy name we pray. Amen.