Friday, May 29, 2009
Pastor Brian Cook

Acts 10:9-15 :  “On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.”

There are many ways in which a Christian can deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ over their lives. Some deny His Lordship in their behavior, others in their attitude & still others deny His Lordship by their flat-out refusal to obey His clear commands. In Acts chapter 10, The Lord gives Peter a clear command in to rise up and eat, and Peter says “Not so, Lord” or “No, Lord” because he had an aversion to eating unclean animals.

Poor Peter always seems to be the one whom we can point to in the Scripture when it comes to saying the wrong thing. It’s not that Peter was any better or worse than the rest of us it’s just that he had a terrible case of foot in mouth disease. So often we use Peter as this kind of illustration, simply because he’s given us a lot of material to work with. But the point is, Peter, as a Jew had a natural, ingrained aversion to eating ANYTHING that wasn’t kosher so he immediately reacts and says “No, Lord”.

You know, we Americans have our own ingrained, natural aversions. As Americans we don’t like the idea of anyone telling us what to do. We don’t like the idea of kings, and lords ruling over us. And ever since the American Revolution we Americans have had no use what-so-ever for a monarchy of sovereign rulers of any kind.

We have a natural aversion of being told what to do. Since we have a form of government which is a Constitutional Republic with elected representatives, we have it ingrained into our psyche that WE THE PEOPLE and no one else are the final authorities when it comes to the governing of our lives!

But, the Bible says that Jesus is the KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS. What does that mean? It means He’s the final authority and not us. The word “Lord” appears in the Bible over 6000 times. Sometimes it appears in all capital letters. When it’s in all caps then we know that that refers to the name of God, which is Jehovah or Yahweh. But, when the word “Lord” appears with a capital “L” and lower case “-ord”, then we can know this refers to a title not a name. When this title “Lord” appears it speaks of the supreme authority of the one who is called Lord.

Romans 10:9-13 says  “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

When the Apostle Paul says “the Lord Jesus” the word he used for “Lord” is the Greek word kurios, and that word is a title which means “supreme in authority, a master”. What is the Apostle saying that we must confess? He’s saying that we must confess our belief and acknowledgement of the supreme and absolute authority of Jesus Christ. You see, it’s our belief and confession of the Lordship of Christ which is an evidence for genuine faith. This isn’t head knowledge of the Lord Jesus; Paul says it’s got to be heart knowledge of the Lord Jesus. This is faith and obedience based upon a relationship with the Lord.

Too many people think of the Lord Jesus as the name of the Savior, but this is His title and then His name. Too many people only want to claim Jesus as their Savior and give lip service to Jesus as Lord because they refuse to obey Him as Lord.

In verse 9 Paul calls Jesus by the title of “Lord”, but in verse 13 he quotes a passage from the prophet Joel and says that Jesus is also the LORD (in all caps) which was the name Jehovah which is the name of the self-existing eternal God. Paul’s saying that Jesus is the Lord God and whosoever would call upon His name shall be saved.

Paul often referred to himself as “a bond servant of Jesus Christ”. The word for bond servant in the Greek means a voluntary slave who is so devoted to their master that they disregard their own interests.  During biblical times someone could choose to become a permanent voluntary slave (Exodus 21:2-6 & Deut.15:15-16). You might wonder, “Why would someone want to do that?” The Law stated that all slaves in Israel had to be set free after 6 years of service, but sometimes when someone had a particularly good master, or if the slave had come to love his master, he might choose to serve that master forever.

This is how Paul pictured his service to the Lord, it was permanent and it was voluntary because he was Christ’s willing slave. As far as Paul was concerned Christ was all in all and everything he had before Christ was dung compared to knowing Him. Paul understood the Lordship of Christ. I wonder how he’d view our service to the Lord today.

In Luke 6:27, Jesus said to love your enemies and to do good to them that hate you. In verse 28 He said to bless those that curse you. In verse 29 He said that when someone strikes you, you’re to turn to turn the other cheek. And after saying all of these things Jesus asks this question of His disciples in verse 46: “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”

Jesus asked them this question because He wanted to point out to them a glaring contradiction in their lives. He said that they call Him “Lord” but aren’t responding to Him as Lord. They’re not responding to Him as the One Who has supreme authority over them. The truth is that there are direct commands that we’re given by the Lord that we all ignore. Too often when the Lord tells us to do something our answer is a glaring contradiction of “No, Lord”.

How many times has Jesus said “Go tell that person about me” and our answer was “No, Lord? How many times has Jesus told us to give an offering and our answer was “No, Lord”? How many times has it been shown that we’re to suffer for His name’s sake and we say “No, Lord”? How many times has He told us to forgive someone and we said “No, Lord”? How many times have we called Him Lord and yet remained unwilling to do the things which He said to do? How many?

Recognizing Christ as Lord is a total surrender of self to the authority of God. It’s a message of allowing Christ to Lord over our lives and this all begins at salvation. Whenever Christ has been clearly presented not just as the Savior Who provides “fire insurance” for the fearful, but as a Savior Who also requires submission to His ways, then and only then can people make a genuine decision regarding the acceptance of Him or the rejection of Him.

Too many people in the church and outside of the church are walking contradictions. How long have you been saying “No” to the Lord? Men, how long have you been looking at that pornography and the Lord said “Put it down” and by your actions you’ve said “No, Lord”? Ladies, how long have you been a gossip and the Lord said “Stop running your mouth” and by your actions you’ve said “No, Lord”? Young people, how long have you been rebellious and disobedient to your parents and the Lord said “Honor thy mother and father” and you’ve said by your actions, “No, Lord”?  How long have you been saying “No” to the Lord?

Philippians 2:5-11 says “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, 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 was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.  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.”

The time’s coming when every one of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). Jesus said that there will be many people who in that day will say “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then He will I say “unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” These are people who merely had a head knowledge of Christ and not a heart knowledge. You do not want to be among that crowd on that day.

Jesus also taught that some people will be judged unto rewards because of their obedience which was based on their love for the Lord and they’ll hear the words “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord”. Too many Christians are not experiencing the joy of their salvation because of their refusal to let Jesus be Lord in their life.

In Luke 6:46Jesus asked the question “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”  And He went on to say: Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”

Jesus talked about two groups of people in these verses, those who hear His words and do them and those that hear His words and do not do them. I want you to notice that both groups hear His words, but only one group has truly acknowledged that He is Lord.

Whichever category you fall into just remember that every one of us on the day of judgment will stand before the throne of the Lord & at that time, at that moment we will have to acknowledge the reality of just Who we’re standing before and every one of us believer and unbeliever alike will bow down before the throne of Jesus Christ  and confess Him as the KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS!

And some will do unto the joy of their Lord and others will do it but only as a stark reality of just Who they’re facing and they will realize that just as they wanted nothing to do with Him during their life, He will want nothing to do with them in their after-life. You do not want to be among that crowd on that day.