-
Well, we're moving this morning still deeper
-
into Romans 10.
-
We'll read through the first 13 verses
-
as we try to lay a bit of a
-
contextual foundation here for what we want to look at.
-
Primarily, this morning, I am going to be taken up
-
with the first half of verse 9.
-
And you'll see as we come into it,
-
what that's all about.
-
Verse 1
-
Chapter 10.
-
Romans.
-
"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God
-
for them (that's the Jews)
-
is that they may be saved.
-
I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God,
-
but not according to knowledge.
-
For being ignorant of the righteousness
-
that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own,
-
they did not submit to God's righteousness.
-
For Christ is the end of the law
-
for righteousness to everyone who believes.
-
For Moses writes about
-
the righteousness that's based on the law,
-
that the person who does the commandments
-
shall live by them.
-
But the righteousness based on faith,
-
(you see his comparison...
-
he's comparing righteousness based on the law
-
with righteousness based on faith)
-
Verse 6, he says, "but the righteousness
-
based on faith says,
-
'do not say in your heart
-
who will ascend into heaven?'
-
That is, to bring Christ down.
-
Or who will ascend into the abyss?
-
That is to bring Christ up from the dead."
-
Now if you weren't here last week,
-
we looked back at Deuteronony 30
-
where this came from.
-
The interesting thing is,
-
Moses is speaking about the commandment.
-
He's speaking about the Law.
-
What Paul does is everywhere Moses
-
speaks about the commandment,
-
he takes it out and he puts in "Christ."
-
What he's doing is he's showing us
-
that the righteousness based on the law
-
speaks law. It speaks commandment.
-
But he's taking Moses' own words,
-
he's stripping it of Law and commandment,
-
and he's putting Christ in.
-
And he's saying,
-
the righteousness that is based by faith
-
doesn't speak like Moses anymore.
-
It speaks, you remember,
-
the law came through Moses;
-
grace and truth, they come from Christ.
-
The speech of the righteousness which is by faith
-
speaks different than Moses spoke.
-
So if you wonder, what are all
-
these words about the abyss and about heaven?
-
Well, it's simply the words that Moses
-
used in Deuteronomy 30,
-
and Paul uses them to his purposes
-
to apply to Christ,
-
and he's saying it's near us.
-
You don't have to go to heaven,
-
You don't have to go into the abyss.
-
It's right here.
-
And as verse 8 says,
-
What does it say?
-
"The word is near you.
-
In your mouth, in your heart."
-
Again, Moses was speaking about the law
-
that you had to do.
-
Paul is tearing that out of it, and he's saying,
-
that's not what I'm talking about.
-
I'm not talking about a law you do.
-
I'm talking about a word of faith;
-
a word you believe.
-
That we're proclaiming.
-
Verse 9, "Because if you confess with your mouth
-
that Jesus is Lord..."
-
That's what I want to deal with today:
-
confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.
-
"...and believe in your heart that God
-
raised Him from the dead,
-
you will be saved.
-
For with the heart one believes,
-
and is justified;
-
with the mouth, one confesses, and is saved.
-
For the Scripture says everyone who believes in Him
-
will not be put to shame.
-
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.
-
The same Lord is Lord of all.
-
Bestowing the riches on all who call on Him.
-
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
-
will be saved."
-
Now, what Paul is explaining here...
-
I know, we've got some people in here today.
-
We've got some visitors.
-
Maybe you're not familiar with this concept.
-
I want to bring you up to speed real fast.
-
There's a reason
-
that so many Gentiles
-
are being saved;
-
why most Jews are not.
-
This is Paul's theme that he started
-
back in Romans 9.
-
He's answering the question.
-
Because as we look,
-
we say, hey, why are the churches
-
mainly filled with Gentiles?
-
When the Jews were God's people
-
in the Old Testament.
-
Why is that?
-
How can that be?
-
And Paul doesn't say,
-
well, you're wrong if you think that's how it is.
-
He says, no, you're absolutely right.
-
There aren't many Jews being saved.
-
Mostly it's Gentiles that are filling
-
the church.
-
And he says, there's reasons for that.
-
In Romans 9, he says it has to do with
-
the purpose of God according to election.
-
But here, at the very end,
-
the last four verses in Romans 9,
-
and how all the way through these first
-
13 verses in Romans 10,
-
he's leading us to another reason.
-
Not election anymore.
-
Now he wants us to look at something else.
-
Look, no matter who we're talking about,
-
whether it's Jew and Gentiles,
-
you and me, the guy down the street -
-
it doesn't matter.
-
There's always a reason why some
-
are being saved,
-
and others are not.
-
In Romans 9:30, Gentiles attaining righteousness -
-
a righteousness that is by faith.
-
Romans 9:31 shows the Jews
-
they're trying to get righteousness in other ways.
-
It's not by faith.
-
Not by faith in Christ.
-
It's rather by keeping the Law.
-
They were determined to be good enough
-
by their own efforts.
-
They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
-
you see that in verse 32.
-
That stone is Christ.
-
Look, this is what was happening.
-
The Gentiles, they're finding some street preaching guy
-
by the name of Barnabas or Paul
-
or Silas or Timothy - whatever.
-
And they hear this guy,
-
and Christ is being set forth,
-
He's being proclaimed to them.
-
They say, "Yes!"
-
I want that!
-
We believe that!
-
And they attain to the one and only righteousness
-
by which men can be accepted by God.
-
Christ is proclaimed on the other hand to the Jews,
-
Paul - wherever he went, he'd go into
-
those synagogues,
-
most of them are saying,
-
"No thanks. We have a Law."
-
"We're going to keep our law."
-
So the Gentiles attained by faith righteousness.
-
What does that mean?
-
Very quickly.
-
To attain righteousness means this:
-
The very moment,
-
I mean the exact instant -
-
now catch these two words,
-
the moment someone truly and biblically
-
believes in Jesus Christ,
-
at that very moment,
-
their sins are gone.
-
Forgiven. They're washed away.
-
They're declared 100% absolutely righteous
-
in the sight of God.
-
Look, do you know what that means?
-
That means that if you came in here today,
-
you know you're not a Christian.
-
You're filthy, you're vile, you're full of sin.
-
You're guilty of more wickedness
-
than you can even remember.
-
This is what this means.
-
You don't have to go on this agenda
-
to start cleaning up your life.
-
You don't have to come to this church for five years
-
before you can ever get right with God.
-
What this means is you can believe
-
on the risen Lord Jesus Christ this very hour.
-
And the moment you do, something absolutely
-
tremendously wonderful happens.
-
You deserve suffering and death and wrath
-
and hell for your sins;
-
but the moment you believe in the Lord Jesus,
-
all your sins are washed away that instant.
-
By the blood of Jesus Christ.
-
And then, God looks at you
-
as though you have never sinned.
-
And in fact, as though you have only
-
and always kept His Law perfectly.
-
Not because of a single bit of law keeping
-
on your part.
-
Not because you tried to clean up your life.
-
Not because you own a Bible.
-
Not because you came to this church for five years.
-
You say what do I have to do?
-
Obviously to become a religious person.
-
To become somebody right with God,
-
I've got to go through all this stuff.
-
I've got to start doing good.
-
That's not what the Scriptures teach.
-
Perfectly righteous.
-
In a moment.
-
You can be the most ungodly sinister wretch
-
that's ever come through that door.
-
You can be sitting there with a guilty conscience
-
in all your shame and disgrace,
-
and in a moment,
-
if you will look to the risen Lord Jesus Christ,
-
in faith,
-
in that moment,
-
you can attain righteousness.
-
How?
-
By believing the truth God has revealed to us
-
about His Son.
-
And that's what I want us to look at today.
-
What must we believe in order to be saved?
-
And this won't be only important for us
-
as far as what we proclaim in our Gospel message.
-
This will hit home with us.
-
This has to do with a test of our own professions as well.
-
You see, folks, mark this:
-
Christian faith.
-
True faith.
-
True, saving, Christian faith has specific content.
-
It matters what we believe.
-
It's not enough for somebody to simply say,
-
Oh yeah, I believe.
-
You believe what?
-
I believe there's a God.
-
Well, that's nice.
-
The devils believe that.
-
Where's that got you to?
-
True saving faith has very specific content.
-
We need to ask people,
-
what do you believe?
-
We need to be concerned about what people believe.
-
Listen to this,
-
the Bible backs me up on this,
-
we're going to see this in just a second.
-
There is no salvation;
-
you cannot be saved,
-
unless you are clear about
-
who Jesus Christ is.
-
The Gentiles were finding salvation for this simple reason:
-
They were clear about who Christ was.
-
They saw Him to be Lord of all.
-
They believed God has raised Him
-
from the dead.
-
They saw Him as He was.
-
You can see Paul's very thinking
-
about this in verse 9.
-
What does the heart do with Christ?
-
That's what Paul's concerned about.
-
What does your heart do with Him?
-
It believes.
-
What does the mouth do with Christ?
-
It confesses.
-
That's what hearts and mouths are for.
-
Hearts believe.
-
Mouths confess what the heart believes.
-
And the pathway to salvation
-
that opens the door wide to the Gentiles
-
is that they believed in the heart
-
what is true about Christ
-
and then confessed with the mouth
-
what the heart believes.
-
That's what was happening, clearly.
-
If you guys do a quick litte study here,
-
you'll see what?
-
Romans 9:30 - what happens there?
-
Gentiles attaining a righteousness.
-
How are they attaining it?
-
By faith.
-
Verse 32, the Jews did not attain it.
-
Why? What does verse 32 say?
-
They did not seek it by faith.
-
You get down to verse 33.
-
It says somebody there's not going to be
-
put to shame.
-
Who is it?
-
Believers.
-
You get down to 10:4,
-
and who is it that Christ is the end of the Law for?
-
Everyone who believes.
-
You get down to verse 6.
-
What is it that's speaking there?
-
A righteousness which is according to faith.
-
You get down to verse 8,
-
and what is it that Paul's speaking?
-
Is he speaking Law?
-
Is he speaking things to do?
-
He's speaking a word of what?
-
Faith.
-
It's something that must be believed.
-
It's all about faith.
-
Unless you believe certain truths
-
concerning Jesus Christ, you cannot be saved.
-
Listen, yes Paul says,
-
if you believe in Him,
-
you won't be put to shame.
-
He says that.
-
But to believe in Him.
-
What is that?
-
Do you guys know what the word "abstract" is?
-
Non-definable.
-
Sort of foggy, fuzzy feeling.
-
Look. Faith in Jesus Christ means something.
-
A lot of people say, well, I had this feeling.
-
No, that's not what we're talking about.
-
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is not all
-
indistinct, uncertain,
-
"Well, it doesn't really matter..."
-
This foggy thing - no real detail,
-
no pinpointed truth to believe.
-
He doesn't do that at all.
-
He's very specific.
-
He says, this is the Christ who died.
-
This is the Christ who was buried.
-
This is the Christ who on the third day was risen.
-
The Gospel is about a distinct and a certain Christ.
-
Whoever believes in this certain Christ
-
labeled in the Scriptures is saved.
-
There are fixed certainties.
-
Concrete, actual, objective realities
-
about Christ.
-
That your faith and my faith
-
must lay hold of,
-
to believe in Christ is to believe very
-
specific, hard facts about Him.
-
You can't say you believe in someone,
-
unless there is something you
-
expressively believe about him.
-
That's everywhere true.
-
We've got people running all over the place
-
who say, "yeah, I believe in Jesus."
-
Ask a Jehovah's Witness if they believe in Jesus.
-
Certainly they do.
-
Often what people mean by it,
-
is no more than they acknowledge
-
that a guy by the name of Jesus
-
did actually live about 2,000 years ago.
-
He's a true, historical, real person.
-
Muslims believe that.
-
Mormons believe that.
-
JW's believe that.
-
All these lost Jews we've been reading about,
-
they believed Jesus was a real person.
-
They knew it.
-
For the most part, all these folks
-
are willing to admit that Jesus was a
-
true, historical figure.
-
Oh, but let's begin to define this
-
real, historial Jesus -
-
who He is,
-
and then you find, none of these folks
-
are talking about the same
-
Jesus that we find defined in the pages of Scripture.
-
By the time Paul gets to Romans 10:9,
-
he says enough.
-
Enough about speaking vaguely about
-
believing in Him.
-
Let me tell you about Him who you must
-
confess and believe in.
-
And you look there at verse 9.
-
"If you confess with your mouth
-
that Jesus is Lord,
-
and believe in your heart
-
that God raised Him from the dead,
-
you will be saved."
-
If you don't believe this,
-
you will not be saved.
-
Do you see that?
-
This is a serious matter.
-
Those last three words
-
ought to catch your attention.
-
You will be saved.
-
This is something that is on the caliber
-
of whether or not you have eternal life.
-
Paul doesn't say, well, because you've looked at
-
this effeminate looking picture of a long-haired,
-
weepy-eyed Jesus on the wall somewhere,
-
and you say, yeah,
-
I believe that's a picture of a real person.
-
That's not what saves you.
-
What saves is seeing Christ -
-
what does Paul say?
-
Seeing Christ in all His powerful majesty,
-
as the Lord of Glory
-
ruling, reigning, sovereign,
-
able and willing to rescue any poor sinner
-
who calls upon Him for help.
-
Having paid for sin, defeated death,
-
busted the grave wide open,
-
now living and reigning victoriously.
-
That is the Christ you must believe in
-
if you would be saved.
-
He is Lord.
-
He is.
-
When the Philippian jailer cries out in Acts 16:30,
-
"What must I do to be saved?"
-
Paul and Silas didn't say,
-
"Well, pray a little prayer.
-
Accept this long-haired, weepy-eyed,
-
effeminate Jesus into your heart."
-
You know what? They spoke these timeless truths.
-
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
-
and you will be saved.
-
In 2 Corinthians 4:5
-
Paul says, "For what we proclaim..."
-
Paul, what are you proclaiming?
-
He's going to tell us.
-
He didn't proclaim that we need to go
-
all around the world and show our little Jesus movie.
-
That's not what he's proclaiming.
-
He's not proclaiming that
-
you've got this impotent Jesus at the door,
-
and he's knocking and he's helpless and can't do anything,
-
and he's weak and he's pathetic,
-
and you better open the door and let him in
-
or he can't do anything.
-
That's not what he's proclaiming.
-
What's he proclaiming?
-
He says it's not ourselves.
-
It's not our own imaginations.
-
It's not our conjurings.
-
That's not what we're doing.
-
We're not proclaiming ourselves.
-
We're not proclaiming our own little message.
-
We're not proclaiming our own little deal.
-
He says this,
-
"We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord."
-
When John sees the living Christ
-
in Revelation 19,
-
I'll guarantee you what he saw,
-
shook him to the core,
-
just like what Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6.
-
This was no pushover. No pathetic weakling.
-
He saw the very embodiment
-
of power and authority and mighty majesty.
-
Just listen to how John describes what he sees.
-
Revelation 19:11
-
"Then I saw heaven opened,
-
and behold, a white horse.
-
The one sitting on it is called
-
Faithful and True.
-
And in righteousness, He judges and makes war."
-
This is the Christ who makes war.
-
And wins.
-
"His eyes are like a flame of fire.
-
And on His head are many diadems.
-
And He has a name written,
-
that no one knows but Himself.
-
He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood."
-
His own blood, no doubt.
-
Or possibly the blood of those
-
He's slaughtering in His conquest.
-
"And the name by which He is called
-
is the Word of God.
-
And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen,
-
white and pure, were following Him on white horses.
-
From His mouth comes a sharp sword,
-
with which to strike down the nations,
-
and He will rule them with a rod of iron.
-
He will tread the winepress of the fury
-
of the wrath of God, the Almighty.
-
On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written."
-
There's nothing in this name that is pathetic or weak.
-
"King of Kings, and Lord of Lords."
-
This is not the dead Christ of the Catholics.
-
This isn't some lesser prophet of Islam.
-
This is the Almighty Lord of Lords,
-
and you must bow your heart to,
-
I must bow my heart to
-
if we would be saved.
-
It is at the name of this Jesus
-
that every knee shall bow,
-
whether you believe on Him
-
and bow to Him in this life or not,
-
the day is coming when every knee will bow
-
and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
-
Maybe you don't bend to Him now.
-
Maybe you're in rebellion against Him now.
-
Maybe you hate His people now.
-
You hate His message now. You hate Him now.
-
But I'm telling you one day, you will bow to Him.
-
You may not acknowledge Him as Lord now.
-
You may say, I'm going to run my life,
-
I'm going to rule my life. I'm going to do my thing.
-
I don't want to be told what to do.
-
But in that day, you will bend the knee to Him.
-
And you will know He's Lord.
-
And when they come to command those angels
-
to cast you away,
-
they will obey Him.
-
They obey their Master all the time.
-
And you will go in that lake of fire.
-
But if you bend the knee now...
-
Oh, you'll find Him a gracious Master.
-
His burden is not heavy.
-
He's kind and He's good.
-
But He is Lord.
-
And oh, it's a fearful thing to resist Him.
-
But to submit to Him, you find Him -
-
Not one of us that have submitted to Him
-
have ever found Him to be a hard taskmaster.
-
He is the greatest Lord.
-
It says Pilgrim in Pilgrim's Progress,
-
when he's confronted by Apollyon,
-
he actually liked the service of this Lord.
-
And so do we who have had taste of it.
-
Every tongue will confess
-
that Jesus Christ is Lord
-
to the glory of God the Father.
-
Now listen to me very carefully,
-
if the Jesus that you believe in
-
or the one that you have a notion of,
-
or the one you heard about,
-
and this is your concept of,
-
if that Jesus falls short of being Lord of all,
-
Lord of Glory, Lord of Lords,
-
maybe more importantly,
-
falls short of being Lord of you...
-
then your faith is in another Jesus.
-
Not the true one.
-
And you cannot be saved.
-
Hear me out on this.
-
This happens far more than many realize.
-
Most men love to construct in their minds
-
an image of a Jesus that is impotent.
-
Men love to see Christ as a baby in a manger,
-
but stop right there.
-
No more than that.
-
Put the brakes on.
-
He's harmless enough there.
-
Little baby.
-
Don't have to deal with it.
-
But I'll tell you what, you remember something,
-
when those angels came to those shepherds
-
out in the field,
-
they said, "Unto you is born this day in the
-
city of David, a Savior.
-
It is Christ the Lord."
-
Even as a baby, He is the Lord.
-
Oh, how men love to imagine Christ
-
frail, weak, harmless, pathetic.
-
Men love a Jesus like this.
-
He's no threat to them.
-
The problem is
-
a Jesus like this can't save.
-
And the devil is more than happy
-
to give us a Jesus like that.
-
Listen to the Apostle Paul:
-
He says to the Corinthians in 2 Cor 11:3-4,
-
I'm afraid that as the serpent (that's the devil),
-
just as the devil deceived Eve by his cunning,
-
I'm concerned, I'm afraid, that your thoughts
-
will be led astray from a sincere
-
and pure devotion to Christ.
-
What's he mean there?
-
Well, he gives some explanation.
-
For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus
-
than the one we proclaimed,
-
you put up with it readily.
-
Folks, not everyone talking about Jesus
-
is talking about the true Jesus.
-
Paul says, the one we proclaim to you,
-
that's the true one.
-
Others are coming who are proclaiming one
-
who is not true.
-
Here's Paul's fear.
-
He fears the serpent, the devil.
-
He fears that just in the same way
-
as Eve was deceived and led astray
-
to her death,
-
so Paul fears lest we be led astray
-
by one of the devil's people coming
-
and proclaiming another Jesus.
-
Another one.
-
Not the true one.
-
But another one.
-
How often the other Jesus is proclaimed
-
by Satan's emissaries this way:
-
"Well, he's a savior.
-
He doesn't demand anything of you.
-
Just believe. Just believe. Just believe.
-
We wouldn't want to say that you have to repent,
-
or that you have to turn and be like
-
a little child, or you have to submit.
-
None of that. If we say that,
-
that's adding works to salvation."
-
Oh, it sounds good, but it is a
-
deceptive slant on the true Gospel.
-
It comes being spoken by the serpent's slithery voice.
-
Anytime someone comes along and says
-
that you can take Christ as Savior,
-
but not as Lord,
-
it is the foul breath of that serpent, guaranteed.
-
Folks, this happens often.
-
Listen, Jesus knew the deceiver.
-
He knew the tempter well.
-
Here's how He describes him.
-
Well, you know what, let me say this...
-
This seems to come up
-
again and again and again.
-
What does Jesus as Lord demand of us?
-
Is it just belief?
-
Is that stated anywhere?
-
Oh, I know Luther liked to write,
-
"faith sola."
-
In fact, that's the way it is in the German Bible.
-
Are we saved by faith alone?
-
I think if we know our Bibles well enough,
-
we'd have to say yes.
-
Right?
-
Looking outside of myself,
-
finding my total help in Christ
-
is exactly how a sinner,
-
helpless, wretched
-
is saved.
-
But what the Bible does over and over and over again,
-
is asserts that true faith,
-
which does save,
-
which is only a looking and trusting in Christ,
-
it's always attended by things.
-
True saving faith is identifiable.
-
It's recognizable.
-
Think about it, Paul's speaking to Titus,
-
said things like this,
-
They profess to know God.
-
Ok, so they say they believe in God.
-
But what did they do?
-
They denied Him by their works.
-
Isn't that interesting that if somebody says
-
I believe in God, yet at the same time,
-
they can deny Him. What does that mean?
-
That means they're not trusting Him.
-
They just denied Him.
-
Christ says things about
-
"if you deny Me, I will deny you."
-
We're talking: not saved.
-
This isn't some kind of Christian denial.
-
This is proving that whatever they said they had,
-
it's not true.
-
Beloved, this is why texts like 1 John 2:3-4
-
are everywhere in our Bibles.
-
What do they say?
-
It says this:
-
"By this we know that we have come to know Him."
-
What does that mean? Know Him.
-
That means true faith.
-
Know Him.
-
I realize that's relational.
-
But the fact is, you never enter into that relationship,
-
that saving relationship with God,
-
unless there's true faith.
-
If I say I have true faith, and I say I know Him,
-
and I say that by that true faith,
-
that I have come to a real saving knowledge of Him.
-
John says, by this we can know...
-
By this we can test our faith,
-
if we keep His commandments.
-
Now, that has everything to do with His Lordship.
-
Everything.
-
If we say we know Him,
-
but we're not keeping these commandments,
-
it says we're a liar and the truth is not in us.
-
Here's the thing,
-
those who are masters, those who are in charge,
-
they give commandments, and they expect
-
them to be followed by the ones
-
that are subordinate to them.
-
Jesus gives commandments.
-
He says, it validates whether you truly
-
know God or not.
-
Jesus Christ said, "If you love Me, you'll keep My commandments."
-
It validates whether your love for Christ
-
is true or not.
-
Now this is the Lord.
-
I had some guy, I was pressing some guy
-
with this recently, because there was a certain
-
gentleman who we were both talking about,
-
that had lived in
-
masturbation and pornography
-
for the last 13 years.
-
And I said, this guy is in the grips of the power of sin.
-
You have no right telling him he's a Christian.
-
You have no business doing that.
-
Whatsover.
-
And the guy pressing me on the issue said,
-
"Well, what percentage of the time do we
-
have to obey His commandments?"
-
I said, look, you are walking on dangerous ground.
-
I said I am not talking perfection here.
-
But what you're not doing is taking God's Word
-
for what it says.
-
I'll tell you this,
-
the life of the Christian is radically different.
-
The Scripture says this,
-
that as a lost person,
-
our righteous deeds are filthy rags.
-
The Scripture says there's none that does righteouss,
-
not one.
-
When we're lost, it's not just a matter of
-
whether we ever sinned or not;
-
or sinned occasionally, or some of the time.
-
What the Bible describes is the lost man sins
-
all the time.
-
What the Bible teaches us,
-
is that when we truly come to Christ,
-
when we come to the Lord,
-
what the Lord does,
-
is He graciously gives us the ability
-
to bow to Christ.
-
That's what the New Covenant is.
-
We sang it on Wednesday night.
-
We were singing the New Covenant, what,
-
from Ezekiel 36?
-
He says, He's going to write those laws
-
those commandments on our heart,
-
and He's going to cause us to keep them.
-
And John says they're not grievous.
-
This is the glory of the Gospel!
-
It's not that we find ourselves moved
-
under this mean, harsh, taskmaster.
-
It's that suddenly, my heart has been opened up.
-
I hunger, I thirst after righteousness.
-
I don't keep it perfect all the time.
-
It grieves me.
-
But even when I tend to fall,
-
and even when my heart may grow calloused
-
towards the Lord,
-
and I may shrug off something.
-
He so kindly and graciously
-
comes back to me over and over and over again,
-
and breaks me and makes me resigned.
-
Oh, if there's ever anything that brings
-
peace and joy to the Christian,
-
it's when they feel total resignation
-
to Christ.
-
No agenda of their own.
-
Just, Lord.
-
And He alone can bring the sinner to a place
-
where we just joyfully say,
-
"Oh, Lord, we love Your ways."
-
"They're good. They're righteous."
-
"We see. We want to be led by You."
-
"We want that."
-
"Lord, we hate when we're self-willed."
-
"We hate it!"
-
"Lord, deliver us from such things."
-
But I'll tell you what,
-
Satan's right there all the time.
-
"No. That's not required."
-
"That's not part of it."
-
I'll tell you what,
-
if there was some psychopathic killer in a room
-
with your child and he had a butcher knife
-
in his hand, you'd be terrified.
-
You'd be concerned.
-
Well, let me tell you about the greatest
-
psychopathic killer on the face of this earth.
-
It's the devil.
-
And I'll tell you what his meat cleaver is...
-
it's another Christ.
-
He butchers men with it.
-
He means to murder.
-
He means to kill.
-
Christ described this killer in John 8:44.
-
He says this, "He was a murderer from the beginning."
-
Who did he murder?
-
Adam and Eve.
-
And how did he do it?
-
He says, "He has nothing to do with the truth,
-
because there's no truth in him.
-
When he lies, he speaks out of his own character,
-
for he is a liar and the father of lies."
-
Don't you dare think
-
that when somebody comes through the doors
-
of this church,
-
or when you meet them out there
-
supposedly from another church
-
when we're doing evangelism,
-
you cross paths with them,
-
and they're speaking of a Christ
-
who you don't have to bow down to
-
and submit to.
-
Who basically will save any sinner
-
and then let them go on and live their life however.
-
Anybody that comes along like that,
-
speaks that way,
-
you better deal with it as serious,
-
because another Jesus kills.
-
And I'll tell you what, that Satan
-
as he prowls about like a roaring lion.
-
He's seeking someone to devour.
-
How does he devour?
-
He does it through deception.
-
Why do you think
-
that when we think about Islam,
-
we think about Catholicism,
-
we think about Buddhism,
-
Hinduism, the cults...
-
why is it that it's always Christ that's attacked?
-
For that very reason.
-
These religions are satanic deceptions.
-
Christ is Lord.
-
And I'll tell you what,
-
when you see these things in false religions,
-
what you see is Christ being slandered
-
by the devil,
-
and you see the devil murdering the multitudes.
-
And if that doesn't stir your heart
-
to take the true Christ out...
-
He's not a subordinate prophet
-
underneath Muhammad.
-
He is Lord of Lords.
-
He's not dead, pathetic on a crucifix.
-
He is alive and raised from the dead,
-
and He is Lord of the living and the dead.
-
Lord of all.
-
This is the Christ we must set forth.
-
Now listen, we need some definition here.
-
Lord. What does that mean?
-
Kurios in the Greek.
-
It's the idea of master.
-
It's the idea of owner.
-
It's the idea of one to whom other people
-
owe allegiance.
-
It's the idea of: He owns you.
-
And He has the right to tell you what to do
-
and when to do it and how to do it.
-
That's what Lord is all about.
-
I'm going to prove that to you
-
in a little bit here from the Scriptures.
-
Let me tell you.
-
What Paul is saying, "If you confess..."
-
What's that all about?
-
If I confess...
-
I mean, anybody can say, "Jesus is Lord."
-
Can't they?
-
I mean, people do it all the time, do they not?
-
Look, the confession that Paul's talking about
-
is a confession that comes forth
-
from the heart.
-
The confession of the mouth coming forth
-
from the heart that believes what it's confessing.
-
And if you believe Jesus Christ is Lord,
-
you submit to Him.
-
Remember this from Titus:
-
"By their works they deny Him."
-
The way you attest to truly accepting Him,
-
is to live based on what you say you believe.
-
If you tell me you believe something,
-
but you're not willing to rest yourself on it.
-
And I was just telling somebody the other day,
-
and this is what Craig and I remember from early days
-
about the whole wheelbarrow bit.
-
I was telling somebody if there was a line
-
stretched from the top of that building over there
-
to the top of this building over here,
-
and I said, hey, I can walk that and I can do it
-
with a wheelbarrow in my hands.
-
And you say, yeah, I believe that.
-
And then I say, ok, jump in the wheelbarrow.
-
Let's go.
-
And you say, I'm not going.
-
Well, you see, you can say you believe something
-
but if you're not willing to rest your life on it,
-
it's not true.
-
You don't believe it.
-
Faith can be seen
-
and can be tested
-
by its willingness to trust what it says it believes in
-
and act on what it says it believes in.
-
If you believe in the heart
-
that Jesus Christ is Lord
-
and confess that with your lips,
-
you will not then deny that
-
by your works.
-
Did Christ not say,
-
"Many will say to Me in that day..." what?
-
(from the room) "Lord, Lord."
-
They're confessing it, are they not.
-
And yet, He says what?
-
Who enters the kingdom?
-
Those who do the will.
-
There is it.
-
Submission to Lordship.
-
It is not everybody who confesses Lord.
-
It is those who by their life, submit to the Lord,
-
and confess Lord that are going to be
-
accepted in.
-
Those same people saying, "Lord, Lord,"
-
He says, "Depart from Me. I never knew you."
-
"You're workers of iniquity."
-
"You're not workers that submitted to Me.
-
By your works, you denied Me.
-
By your works, you showed you were lawless.
-
You didn't keep My commandments,
-
which is the very proof that you are not
-
one who truly knows Me.
-
Because if you say you know Me
-
and you don't keep My commandments,
-
you're a liar and the truth is not in you."
-
This is what Lordship is all about.
-
Now look, in Luke 6, I think it's verse 46.
-
Christ says this,
-
"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,'
-
and do not do the things I say?"
-
Do you see what He's saying?
-
If you say, "Lord," if you profess
-
or confess Me as Lord,
-
but then don't do the things that I say,
-
why do you say it?
-
It's a contradiction.
-
And if you go on to read following
-
the next three verses (47, 48, 49)
-
you'll see that He builds this very case.
-
He says, "if you hear My word and do them,
-
you're the wise man."
-
"If you hear My word and don't do it,
-
you're a fool."
-
And the day is coming
-
when you're headed towards ruin.
-
Lordship.
-
Let's just finish up by being real practical here.
-
How does this come out in the life?
-
Just what I was talking about.
-
Membership.
-
Membership.
-
You know what, does Jesus expect you
-
to keep the Lord's supper?
-
He does.
-
As often as you do it,
-
do it in remembrance of Me.
-
Do it.
-
In remembrance of Me.
-
He's calling us to do it.
-
He's expecting that we will do it.
-
Now there are many reasons just to
-
delight in doing it.
-
But if we're dealing with Lordship itself,
-
I look at it and I say, you know what,
-
the Lord wants me to do this.
-
Now My Lord not only has the authority to command me,
-
I've been purchased with a price,
-
I'm a slave of Christ.
-
He not only has the authority.
-
I know this about My Lord as well.
-
He's a lot wiser than I am.
-
And He's a whole lot more good than I am.
-
And He's knows what is for my greatest good
-
a lot more than I do.
-
And obviously, if He tells us that we should not
-
miss the Lord's Supper, there's a reason.
-
He's got some blessing in it for us.
-
It's meant to strengthen you.
-
You remember, maybe you don't,
-
but let me tell you.
-
There is twice, to the Corinthians
-
Paul says the Lord has given us authority.
-
He says, look, we don't exercise it
-
just basically to have dominion over you.
-
We exercise it for your welfare.
-
We exercise it for your strengthening.
-
The Lord has the right to designate authority.
-
If the Lord designates authority to an apostle,
-
or designates it to me as a pastor,
-
and that apostle who has been designated
-
that authority under inspiration can say,
-
The Lord designated the authority.
-
His authority. He gave it to us.
-
Not so that we can come in here
-
and run roughshod over you.
-
He did it for your own good.
-
We get something of the heart of this Lord.
-
He says, "My burden is light."
-
His yoke is easy.
-
He is not a difficult taskmaster.
-
What He wants us to do,
-
He wants us to do for a certain purpose.
-
Let me tell you something,
-
in Luke 19,
-
you've got these folks -
-
this is most men he's describing,
-
out there in the world.
-
And they say, "we will not have this man
-
to rule over us."
-
That's what most men say.
-
Now look, He's kind to those who submit to Him.
-
But don't take that for weakness.
-
Because several verses later, when He comes again,
-
He says, "gather all those enemies before Me
-
who would not have Me to reign over them
-
and slaughter them before Me."
-
He is a fearful Lord.
-
But a good one.
-
So, the only confession of Christ as Lord
-
that's a saving confession
-
is the one accompanied by a heart
-
that believes it;
-
by a life that shows that that faith is real.
-
You get young people sometimes,
-
yes, Jesus is Lord, they'll confess that.
-
But is He Lord of your life when it comes to
-
who you select as a mate in marriage?
-
Well, you get people that run off
-
and they want to do every sort of thing,
-
and overlook the fact that the guy
-
that they're interested in is
-
almost definitely lost.
-
Priscilla threw one at me last night.
-
Women obeying their husbands.
-
What a text that is!
-
Women are supposed to obey their husbands
-
as unto the Lord, who has the right.
-
And women come along
-
and they buck against that.
-
They don't want to obey their husbands.
-
Before any of you husbands get on that kick,
-
you need to remember that you're
-
supposed to love your wives
-
as Christ loved the church.
-
You've been commanded to do that
-
by the Savior as well.
-
Again, don't forsake the assembling together of yourselves.
-
This is a command of the Lord.
-
And yet, people want to float around.
-
They don't want to assemble with the church.
-
They don't want to come pray with the church.
-
They don't want to break bread with the church.
-
Listen to me.
-
Here's something.
-
When a person savingly believes in
-
Christ as Lord,
-
suddenly life becomes an altogether different thing.
-
I may need to offend family,
-
not to offend Christ.
-
I may have to get fired from my job,
-
not to offend Christ.
-
I may have to make radical decisions in my life to cut things out
-
that I always thought they defined my life.
-
I need to do that.
-
You don't understand.
-
I need to do that.
-
Oh wait.
-
The Lord does not share His throne with anyone.
-
He comes in, and He says, in Luke 14:33,
-
"Unless you forsake all that you have,
-
you cannot be My disciple."
-
This Lord comes in and He says, "I will be Lord of all."
-
He is Lord of all.
-
Let me tell you something too.
-
We don't make Jesus Lord.
-
God declared that He made this Christ
-
both Lord and Christ.
-
He made Him.
-
We don't make Him so. He is so.
-
I can remember as a new Christian,
-
suddenly being confronted,
-
the Lord wants me to obey
-
the governmental authorities.
-
He wants my taxes paid,
-
He wants me to drive the speed limit.
-
I remember being confronted by those things.
-
He wants me to only find a wife who is saved.
-
He basically has say.
-
He wants me to not forsake the assembling together
-
of myself; He wants me to be involved with the church.
-
I see that He is reigning in my life.
-
That no longer do my agendas and my will,
-
my plans take the day.
-
He's got plans for me.
-
He comes in and says,
-
"I want it all forsaken."
-
"Lay it down."
-
Resignation.
-
There are folks on every hand that will tell you
-
about a Christ who doesn't demand
-
everything from you.
-
I'll tell you why.
-
Because men want to hold on to their sin
-
and be spared death and wrath and hell.
-
And so in one hand, they hold their sin.
-
In one hand, they want to create a Christ
-
that will take them to heaven without
-
letting go of all the sin.
-
Christ marches in there and He says,
-
"I'll save you, but you've got to receive Me as Lord."
-
"You've got to abandon everything to My Lordship."
-
When He says, "Follow Me,"
-
that's exactly what He's calling you to do.
-
Forsake it all.
-
Whatever agenda you had in life
-
to make money, to be famous, to be well-educated,
-
whatever it is, He says, "Lay it down."
-
That's not to say as Lord He may not let you go to school.
-
That's not to say that as Lord, He may not
-
give you a lot of money.
-
I'll tell you what, one place
-
that men's hearts can be tested in this area is money.
-
He comes in, He says, "I want it all."
-
Lord, it's 10%!
-
He says, "I want it all. I am Lord."
-
"I am Lord of Lords."
-
"I am Lord of all."
-
"I am Lord of you."
-
"I'm Lord of all you have."
-
He says, "I want it all."
-
"And I'll explain to you how I want you to use it."
-
Again, this isn't harsh. This isn't torturous.
-
You know what He's saying to us?
-
"I want to show you how to use it
-
for your greatest eternal benefit."
-
Men say, no, I'm going to use my money
-
the way I want.
-
Christ comes in as Lord, and He says,
-
"Don't lay up treasure on this earth."
-
Oh, but I've got my retirement;
-
I've got my deal.
-
Certainly, He wouldn't want that.
-
Oh, how culturally, we can just dismiss
-
the words of our Lord.
-
He's Lord.
-
You say, well, what would He have me to do
-
with my money?
-
Take care of your family? Yep.
-
Provide for your needs? Absolutely.
-
Provide for those who preach the Gospel?
-
You'd better believe it.
-
Give it to those who are widows and orphans?
-
Absolutely.
-
Does He say that you've got to have this
-
big surplus for a future day?
-
He doesn't say that.
-
Scripture says, "My God shall supply all your needs."
-
This is what it's all about.
-
Trusting the Lord.
-
I can say, "ok, Lord, I'm going to give it all away."
-
Haven't we seen that as a church?
-
Ok, Lord, we're going to give it all away.
-
In fact, Lord, we're going to commit to giving even more away
-
than we even have or ever have had.
-
We're going to give it away.
-
And we're looking to Him. "You're Lord."
-
Cattle on a thousand hills. They're Yours.
-
All the money, all the silver, all the gold, it's Yours.
-
I mean, He's Lord.
-
If He tells us to do it,
-
we're not going to be losers for doing it.
-
He's Lord.
-
Folks, I want you that visit,
-
I want you that are members of this church,
-
let's talk that way.
-
Hey, let's go back to the book of Acts.
-
That's our pattern.
-
That's our blueprint.
-
How many times do you think in the book of Acts
-
they called Christ Savior?
-
Twice.
-
How many times do you think they called Him Lord?
-
92 times.
-
In the New Testament, Jesus Christ
-
is called Lord 747 times.
-
You can remember that, right?
-
747 just like the aircraft.
-
You've got it down.
-
I took that number from MacArthur who counted them.
-
Or at least read somebody who did count them.
-
I knew he said something about that.
-
I looked at the back page of
-
"The Gospel According to Jesus"
-
and I found 92 times.
-
I went through and counted in Acts.
-
I had 91.
-
Then I opened MacArthur; he said 92, so I took 92.
-
And maybe the translational difference. I don't know.
-
Folks, the early church and the Holy Spirit
-
who inspired those early church writers
-
wanted us to know
-
the Christ we set forth,
-
the Christ we proclaim to men,
-
the Christ we must believe on,
-
He is Lord.
-
Amen.
-
You're dismissed.