Lordship of Christ | Part 2

From the Love Worth Finding studios in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm Byron Tyler, here with the CEO of Love Worth Finding, Kerry Vaughn. Kerry, God wants us to live with kingdom authority, but there can be no reigning in His life until we confess three words, Jesus is Lord. That is true, and I've examined this in my own life.

You know, believing in God and then yielding to His Lordship are two different things. And I think when we reflect on this, and I love this sermon, you know, is He the Lord of our thoughts? Is He the Lord of our tongue? Is He the Lord of our temper, our time, our testimony?

I mean, some of those questions are hard to answer. They really are. And Kerry, connecting the kingdom authority that we all long for with the Lordship of Christ, Adrian Rogers says it best this way. Well, I really believe without being simplistic that it is the source of all true spiritual power and the secret to living victoriously.

I say that after much thought. If you would just take this one statement, Jesus Christ is Lord, then the thing that follows as night follows day is kingdom authority that comes from Him and is to be exercised by Him through us. And our Lord did not save us to make us helpless pawns of the world of flesh. And the devil. So there's not anything in the Christian life. I mean, absolutely nothing that does not find reference to kingdom authority. And yet, having said that, I believe the world is saturated with ignorance on the subject of spiritual authority and even the church. It talks about you cannot serve two masters.

You will love one and hate the other. We've heard that many times. But think about that. There can be no other king in our lives.

You know, Kerry, we must ask ourselves that question. Have we surrendered to the Lordship of Christ? Is He Lord of all that you have and do, Lord of your thoughts, your tongue, your temper, time and testimony? All those things are so very important when we talk about the Lordship of Christ in our lives. And you know, the best thing about our ministry are the people we hear from.

We have a listener response that said it this way. Your broadcast is a stronghold for me in my walk with God. It teaches me how and what is required of me to be a servant of the Lord. You know, if you're a servant, Byron, you can never be a rebel. Dr. Rogers talks about the kingdom authority is never given to rebels.

And if you rebel against the king, you'll never know the king's authority in your life. That's why I love the new Adrian Rogers Legacy Bible that's being revised a little bit, and it's available real soon for our listeners. Oh, it's our best resource. It's a beautiful leather Bible that has his commentary. It has Adrianisms, treasures from the word.

I mean, you want a Bible for yourself, but you also want it as a gift to hand off to somebody else. So please go to LWF.org, find out all the details and be a part of the new and improved Adrian Rogers Legacy Bible. Well, with today's message, The Lordship of Christ Part 2, here's Adrian Rogers. God has made us kings and priests. And the Bible says, thanks be unto God who causeth us always to triumph in Christ Jesus.

But there can be no dominion. There can be no reigning in this life until we submit to the authority that God has placed over us. And that authority is summed up in these words, Jesus is Lord.

Amen. Jesus is Lord. Now, what does the word Lord mean? It means the one who has absolute power, absolute authority, the one who is the owner, the master, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The foundational truth in the New Testament is that Jesus Christ is Lord.

To understand that is the fundamental key to knowing and exercising kingdom and authority. May I ask you two questions? Question number one, do you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord? Question number two, have you surrendered to the lordship of Jesus Christ? Is he Lord of all that you have and all that you do?

I want us to think about three things. First of all, I want you to think about the redeeming claim of his lordship. How does he claim to be Lord? Because he died for us.

Look in verse nine. For to this end, Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. Jesus died to claim us as Lord. Now, when he died for us, he was redeeming us. He was buying us. Why is he Lord? Verse nine says because he died for us. Bloody Calvary says that he is Lord. He has purchased you. You are not your own. He has redeemed you with the silver of his tears and the gold of his blood. Let this thought get into your heart. Jesus Christ has purchased you.

Now, here's the second thing I want you to notice. Not only the redeeming claim of his lordship, but the resurrection conquest of his lordship. Go back to our text again and look at it in verse nine. To this end, Christ both died. He died to claim us as Lord and rose. He has risen to control us as Lord. There is the redeeming claim and the resurrection conquest of his lordship. He is shown to be the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. You see, when he died, he gave himself for us. But when he rose, he gave himself to us. And now he now lives in us as Lord. Now, what does that mean to you?

Well, number one, it means your entire submission. There can be no other king in your life. No man can serve two masters. Jesus will not be a moonlighting king, a part-time king with a duplex for a throne. It means that you are committed to Jesus Christ only.

Somebody has said it well. He must be Lord of all. If he's to be Lord at all. Second thing it means, it means his absolute ownership of all that you possess. When a man owns the slave, he owns all the slave owns.

And we're slaves of Jesus Christ. And by the way, I have noticed what a man does with his possessions is a good mark as to whether or not Jesus Christ is Lord of his life. You say, well, he's Lord of my life. I give him 10 percent. Then he's not Lord of 90 percent. Friend, he is Lord of all.

He doesn't own 10 percent. He owns everything that you have. Now, when you bring your tithe to God's house, when you give what God has laid on your heart, that's only a tangible expression of the fact that he owns it all. Do you know what you're giving is today when you give? You're saying, Lord, this gift is a tangible, visible expression of my total surrender to you. It represents my brains. It represents my blood. It represents my ability. It represents my time, my intellect.

That's what it took to get this. And so when I am giving this, when I'm returning this to you, it only illustrates that it all belongs to you and that I am your steward. For Jesus Christ to live to control you means unquestioned obedience. Jesus asked a pertinent question in Luke chapter 6, verse 46.

Here's the question. Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say? That's a contradiction in terms. We are to yield to the Lord Jesus Christ, our reading, our recreation, our time, our friends, our vacation. All that we do is under his control. You say, oh, Pastor Rogers, you've just ruined life for me. No, tell him what he'll do to me if I say that. He'll ruin me. Listen to me.

He wants for you what you would want for yourself if you had enough sense to want it. Suppose you had a son and that son comes to you and he's just entering into teenage and he says, Mom and Dad, I have been doing some thinking. In my prayer time, in my quiet time, I realized several things.

Number one, I realized that you have far more experience and more maturity than I have. And also, I know that you love me very much. And I know that you would lay down your lives for me. And I've been thinking about it, Mom and Dad. Because of your wisdom and your experience and because of your love for me, I just want to say to you, as an obedient son, God helping me, I want to obey you as best I know how and bring honor.

To you. Well, suppose he said that. Now, would you and your wife go into a back room and say, did you hear what he said? Have we got him now? What can we do to make his life miserable?

How can we make him suffer? Boy, will he be sorry that he said he's going to yield everything to us. You think your parents would do that? No, they'd go back and with a tear in their eye, they'd say, thank God. Thank God. Mom, you know, we were thinking about getting him that bicycle.

I think we better do it, don't you? And you would delight to show your love to this child. But the Father says, like as the Father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

Don't you ever be afraid to trust your heart, your life, to the one who loved you enough. He loves you enough to die for you. He is Lord. He is absolute Lord.

Now, here's the third and final thing I want you to see. Not only is there the redemptive claim of his Lordship, and not only is there the resurrection control of his Lordship, but there must be the regal confession of his Lordship. Paul goes on to say in this chapter nine, and we're all going to bow and confess to him. Look in verse 11, for it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. You are going to confess Christ as Lord, you know. If you don't do it in this world, you'll do it in another world. Put in your margin Philippians 2 verses nine through 11.

I love this. It speaks of Jesus, who left earth, walked the dusty shores of Galilee, hung in agony upon a cross, and then it says in verse nine, wherefore, wherefore, now listen to this, 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. That's the angels. That's things in earth.

That's the humans, and things under the earth. That is the devil and demons, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It is a fact of future history that every created being will one day announce him and confess him as Lord. That doesn't mean they're going to be saved, but one day they will confess him as Lord. The saints of all of the ages will bow the knee to Jesus Christ. Noah will say, Jesus is Lord. Moses will say, Jesus is Lord. Abraham will say, Jesus is Lord. Isaac will say, Jesus is Lord. Jacob will say, Jesus is Lord. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel will join the chorus and say, Jesus is Lord. All of the kings and potentates who have ever lived will bow the knee and say, he is King of kings and Lord of lords. One day Satan himself will finally bow his head and say, Jesus Christ is Lord. Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

But here's the wonderful thing. We don't have to wait until we die to say, Jesus is Lord. If they were going to perform an operation on me and say, Adrian, we're going to cut out your tongue. If you have anything to say, you better say it now. You only have strength for three words before we cut out your tongue and you'll never say another word in this lifetime. I've already thought about what those three words would be. Jesus is Lord.

Jesus is Lord. If I could somehow broadcast to all of the world just three words, that's all I could say. I wouldn't have to hesitate.

I wouldn't have to think about it. I would want to confess that Jesus is Lord. What is this confession? What does it do? May I tell you what confessing Christ Lord does?

Not only does it seal salvation, but what does it do? Listen to me very carefully. This confession of the lordship of Christ will conquer Satan. Satan does not want you to say it and mean it. Christ is Lord.

The devil does not like you to say that openly and publicly to confess it with your mouth. Now, I never shall forget the first time I met John Bramlett, or I've been around him for just a few moments. That was back in 1972. John had just been saved. You know, John was one of the premier athletes in our modern society, played professional football, was a stellar athlete at Memphis State, but known for a wild and wicked and lascivious lifestyle and was a terror both on and off of the football field. And then Jesus found him, bought him, saved him, redeemed him, transformed him, but he was a brand-new Christian. And I'd met him there at gate number four at Liberty Bowl Stadium.

We were talking, and I could just see the glow of Jesus on this man's face that they call Bull Bramlett. And about that time, about five of his old friends came up. They had whiskey bottles. They had hooch.

They had the devil in liquid form in a bottle. And they looked at him, and they said, John, John Bramlett, hey, John. And they held up that battle and said, come on, man.

I never will forget that day. John turned to him, and he said, hey, did I tell you what Jesus Christ has done for me? He began then to confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

I mean, a crowd of people. He got that big voice. He said, did I tell you what Jesus Christ has done for me? And, boy, I saw the devil turn heels and run. I saw Satan defeated.

Why? Because of a bold, clear, open testimony that Jesus Christ is Lord. Confession and conquest are linked together. Keep saying it when Satan gets on you. I am the Lord.

He is mine. I belong to Jesus Christ. Satan Christ is Lord in my life. It conquers Satan. I'll tell you what else it does. It comforts saints. It confirms saints. When you make a practice of confessing the lordship of Christ, it'll help your faith to grow. Confession strengthens faith, and faith strengthens confession, and you get a reciprocal thing going there. You see, the more we assert a thing to others, the stronger hold it gets on ourselves. Not only will it help your faith to grow as a saint, but it will help your love for the Lord Jesus to grow.

What we love, we talk about, and what we talk about, we tend to love. It will help, friend, your separation from the world. When you get into a habit of openly, boldly, publicly confessing Jesus Christ as Lord, you're going to find out the things of this world are going to fall away from you more and more. People are wondering, what am I going to do with my old friends? You begin to confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You won't have to get rid of those old friends.

They'll get rid of you. You're going to confess Christ as Lord. It will help your faith to grow. It'll help your love to grow.

It will help your sanctified, separated life to grow. When you openly, boldly, plainly, unashamedly, unapologetically confess Christ as Lord. Confess Him as Lord in times of joy. If joy comes, remember it's Jesus who is the source of your joy, and say, Jesus is Lord.

If sadness comes, remember that nothing comes to you but what it comes through Him first. And in the midst of your sorrow, remember that joy cometh in the morning, and that Jesus is Lord. When a loved one dies, and you go to the graveside, remember that he's Lord, both of the dead and of the living, and say that Jesus is Lord. And when somebody gives you an honor, you have some success, and you get some award, in the middle of it, take the crown from your head and put it on his head, and say that Jesus Christ is Lord. And when you're faced with a decision, and you don't know what way to go, this or that, say, what would Jesus do?

What would he have me to do? And confess it and say, Jesus is Lord. And when you confess it and say it, Jesus is Lord.

He alone is worthy. I'll tell you what else it'll do. Not only will it conquer Satan, and not only will it comfort saints, it'll convict sinners when you say that Jesus Christ is Lord. Do you know what is the problem with many of us today? Many of us today say, well, I'm not going to be an open, bold soul winner, but I'll tell you what I do want to do. I want to so live that they'll see my life, and I want to be a Christian.

Well, come up close. I want to tell you something, friend. They're not saved by your life. They're saved by his death. And unless you tell them the gospel, they're not going to get saved. As a matter of fact, if they see your life and don't understand why you're living that life, you are accepting praise under false pretense, and you're getting the glory rather than giving him the glory. But when you say to your friends, Jesus Christ is Lord, and Jesus is the one who's transformed me, and the secret of my life is Jesus Christ in me, hey, friend, people are going to come under conviction. I'll tell you what else it'll do. Not only will it convict sinners, it'll control service. So many of us are faced with decisions. When you say that Jesus Christ is Lord, a lot of your decision-making is drastically narrowed. Did you know that?

I mean, drastically narrowed. When I go to a hotel room, when I'm by myself on a trip, I don't have to keep asking myself, am I going to watch an R-rated film or something? I don't have to ask myself that. Why? Because Jesus is Lord. You understand what I'm talking about? If there's something there that doesn't belong to me, I don't have to ask myself, am I going to take it or not?

It's not mine. Jesus is Lord. When you make that decision, so many other decisions are made. The best advice that anybody ever gave to anybody was the advice that Mary gave to the servants that day at the wedding feast of Cana when they'd run out of wine, and Mary said to those servants concerning Jesus, whatever he saith unto you, do it.

Do it. Jesus is Lord. Now listen, folks. Do you want kingdom authority?

Would you like for God to be pouring his life and his strength into you? I want to tell you that authority is not for rebels. You will never be over until you're under, and you must come under the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ. And don't be ashamed of that.

Don't be afraid of that. And if one of these days, every knee will bow and every tongue confess him, don't you think it's time right now that we confessed him? Would you like a coronation service? Wouldn't you right now in your heart and in your life want to bow your knee, bow your heart and say that Jesus Christ is Lord? In every man's life, there's a throne. If self is on the throne, Christ is on the cross.

If self is on the cross, Christ is on the throne. Wouldn't you like to have a coronation service today and say Jesus Christ is Lord of my life? And then, friend, when you get sick, and when it's time to die, and those chilly waters of death start to come around your feet, won't it be wonderful to say Jesus Christ is Lord? And then when the trumpet sounds, and the graves are giving up their dead, and the skies split asunder, and the Lord Jesus comes in all of his glory, won't it be wonderful to rise in the resurrection and say Jesus Christ is Lord? And when the redeemed of all of the ages are around that throne, and angels and principalities and powers are bowing before him, won't it be wonderful, won't it be wonderful to join all of those redeemed and look up at the one with the nail prints in his hands and say he is Lord? He is Lord. He is risen from the dead, and he is Lord. Let angels heal the power of Jesus' name.

Let angels prostrate fall. Let's all bring forth the royal diet in. Let's crown him Lord of all. Do you believe he is Lord? He is Lord. He died to claim us as Lord. He rose to control us as Lord. He lives to be crowned as Lord. He is Lord. Indeed, he is Lord. And today, if you have questions about who Jesus is or what he means to you, how to receive the forgiveness he's freely offering, go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio. You'll find resources there and materials that will answer questions you may have about placing your faith in Jesus Christ. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover. Have you surrendered to the Lordship of Christ? Is he Lord of all that you have and do, Lord of your thoughts, your tongue, your temper, time, and testimony? We're so glad you joined us for today's study. Be sure to tune in next time for more Real Truth That Never Changes, right here on Love Worth Finding. . . . . .