Our Sin, the Ultimate Question - Part 1

Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. Once you trust in Christ for forgiveness, you are freed from the power and penalty of sin. So do you wonder why it's so hard to make God-honoring choices? Think about who's really in charge of your life as today's podcast continues exploring the truth about sin.

We hear a lot today about rights, and there is a spirit of independence that prevails in our society where some people or some groups of people want to live to themselves and have their own thing and act independently of and exclusively of other people. But when you open the Word of God, you don't find any of that, but rather the fact that we're dependent upon each other. And when it comes to rights, you don't find in the Bible where God says you are to exercise your rights here and your rights there. You don't find that in the Word of God.

And I want you to open your heart today and listen to what God has to say and see if you are willing to be open and honest about an issue that all of us have to deal with every day of our life. We've talked about the character of sin and God's answer to the problem of sin in our life, but what is the ultimate question when it comes to sin? The ultimate question is very simple.

And to put it in today's lingo, this is it. Who is going to be the boss in your life? That's what the whole question of sin is all about.

Who's going to be the boss? Because you see, in essence, sin is acting independently of and exclusive of the will of God. Anytime you and I ought to make a decision in our life, we make it independently of God, exclusive of him and his will.

We decide we're going to do our own thing. What we're doing is we're disobeying God. Because you see, the Bible says that he has the rightful position as being the boss. Sin, in essence, is deciding that I'm going to get my needs met when I want to met the way I want to met, regardless of what the boss says. Sin, in essence, is acting exclusively and independently of the will of God no matter what God thinks. So I want you to turn to Romans, chapter 14, verses 7, 8, and 9 deal with this problem. Now, right in the middle of a passage that deals with judging each other and our relationship to each other, Paul makes this very clear beginning in verse 7 when he says, For not one of us, not a single one of us lives for himself or unto himself. Not one dies for himself or unto himself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Jesus Christ came.

That is, Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. So that nowhere does God imply that exclusive island type living and I mean by that that we live to ourselves. We do our own thing. We have the right to live private lives to the exclusion everybody else is concerned and being unconcerned about everyone else that I'm going to be on my own business do my own thing. I don't want anybody interfering with me, myself and I.

The only problem with that is this. You have somebody might be a friend to whom you're accountable. And the Bible says that he is the Lord. And it's interesting that the declaration of scripture concerning the Lord Jesus Christ is that he's the boss.

The Greek word kurios. He's the Lord. And if you recall in Peter's sermon in Acts chapter two, he's ending up that Pentecostal message and right before he gives the invitation, this is the way he ends the message. Therefore, in verse thirty six, let all the house of Israel know for certain that all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ or Messiah. This Jesus whom you crucified. He didn't say we made him Lord. He said God the Father has bestowed upon the Lord Jesus Christ the majestic position of Lord.

He is the boss. That's not a question of whether I accept it or not. It's not a question of whether I experience it or not. It's not a question of whether I acknowledge it or not.

That hasn't got anything to do with it. Jesus Christ is the sovereign ultimate absolute ruler of the universe and everything and everybody within it. And you'll notice what he says in this passage. Back to Romans chapter fourteen, he says, If we live, we live for the Lord or unto him. If we die, we die for the Lord or unto him. Therefore, the whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. And the truth is, he's Lord over the righteous and he's Lord over the unrighteous. There's not anything that is out from under his supernatural, omnipotent lordship, not anything. So when the Bible has declared that Jesus Christ is Lord, that isn't something that man decided to acknowledge or that man decided, yes, we're going to lift him to the position of lordship. God Almighty, who created it all, said, Jesus Christ is Lord.

In American lingo, that means, brother, he is the boss, period. And there is none other higher than him. The question is, is he the boss in your life? Oh, yes, yes, I believe Jesus Christ is Lord.

I didn't ask you that. I said, is he the boss? Have you submitted to his divine authority? Are you following his will? Are you obeying his commands?

And so I want to repeat what I've said again and again, because this is a point of great misinformation, misunderstanding. If God tells you to do something, if the Word of God tells you to do something and you don't do it, it's disobedience. If God tells you to do something a certain way and you do it your own way, it's still disobedience. If God tells you do something a certain way at a certain time and you do what he says, the way he says it in your time rather than his, it's still disobedience.

You see, if he's the boss, you do what he says, when he says, the way he says with the right motivation. Now, this passage says, for to this end, Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Now, Jesus Christ is the Lord and he possesses everything that is in existence. He's the Lord of your life. My friends, you may be living in sin, living like the devil.

I mean, you are really living in absolutely total disobedience to God. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is your Lord. He is the sovereign boss of this universe. And one of these days you're going to stand before him and you're going to have to give an account whether you believe the Bible, whether you believe in Jesus, God, whether you claim to be the worst atheist in the world and happen to be watching or listening out of pure curiosity, you will stand before him. There will come a time when you will bend your knee before the Lord Jesus Christ and with your lips, you will say this, Jesus Christ is Lord.

Now, it may be on the other side of the grave, which will be to your eternal dismay, but you will acknowledge him as Lord. You see, it's not a question of whether I think he is or not, whether that's my theological belief or not. The issue is, is he and God has declared him the Lord. That means he's the boss. Now, if Jesus Christ is the boss, what is he boss over? He's boss over everything that is in existence, including every single human being so that there is absolutely no legitimate grounds for exclusive, independent decision making or living exclusive and independent of the will of the living God. And this in itself is sin.

Sin is acting independently of God, getting my needs met my own way and my own timing to the exclusive will of the living God. Why is the church powerless? Here's the reason it's powerless.

Many reasons, but one of them, in essence, is this. We talk about our Lord, and then we just do exactly what we please, as if he does not even exist. He's Lord over the obedient. He's Lord over the disobedient.

He has chosen to allow man in his own will to go so far in this life and to make decisions that will ultimately wreck and ruin his life, destroy nations and bring havoc, revolution, bloodshed of the world. That does not mean that Jesus Christ has given his throne to someone else or has stepped down from his place of authority. Now the question is, have you and I submitted to his authority as the boss? You know what the Bible says? The Bible says the Lord Jesus Christ is your boss. Now, if he's the boss, the idea is that you do what the boss says do the way he says do it.

Now, let me ask you a question. Why does Jesus say that he came and he was crucified and he rose in order to be the Lord of our life? Why does Jesus Christ want to be the Lord? Is this because he's egotistical? Does he have some ego problem that Jesus Christ wants to be the Lord of everything?

No. He is the Lord. He doesn't have to want to be, he is. But why did God make him the boss?

Here's the reason. Jesus Christ desires to be the Lord of your life, that is by experience. He is in reality by experience. He desires to be the Lord of your life.

There are two reasons. Number one, he knows it's for your best interest. Anytime you and I are obeying the Lord Jesus Christ, we always come out better. Any and every time we fail to obey him and we act exclusively of him, we always come out a loser. So first of all, his desire to be boss in our life, Lord of our life is because he knows it's for our good. Secondly, it is always glorifying to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the Father. When you and I are walking in obedience to him and following him, it glorifies him, it magnifies him, it points others to him. So his purpose is for our good and for his glory.

Can you think of a reason for disobeying the Lord? Can you think of a reason for acting exclusively of his will? You see, this is his plan.

His plan is very simple. To this end Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Now he is Lord. What he's referring to here is that by personal experience, you and I voluntarily acknowledge him, submit to him, yield to him as the Lord of our life. Now sometimes we don't want to do that.

We'd prefer to have our own way. And so the Bible says we sin against the Lord. We sin against him when we act independently of his will and his purpose and plan for our life. So in God's great design of the Christian life and of the spiritual life of humanity, he said he sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sins so we would not have to bear the guilt of it.

And likewise, he sent him in order to be Lord of our life. I want to talk about this matter of the replace of lordship and salvation. And you'll hear people say, in order to be saved, you must accept Jesus Christ as your savior and as your Lord. Well, let me quote two or three verses here. He says, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, then you'll be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. So I want to say first of all, in no way will I diminish or in any way want to take away from what I've just been preaching on a few moments saying that Jesus Christ is the Lord. Whether people accept it or not, he is Lord period. God made him so. But to say to someone now, in order to be saved, you must accept Jesus Christ as your savior and your Lord.

Well, let me give you an example of something. Salvation is an act of faith whereby you and I accept Jesus Christ's sacrificial, all sufficient atoning substitutionary death at Calvary for the full payment of our sins. So we don't question that. We say, Lord Jesus, I do accept you as my savior. That means that he atones for our sin.

No question about that. But to say to someone, you must accept him as your savior and your Lord to be saved. Let me give you an example of something that many of you would identify with, because it's reality. And sometimes we mix up this matter of the experience of salvation with a maturing process. When I was saved as a 12 year old boy, I'd been reading the Bible for years.

I'm not too sure how much of it I understood. But on this particular given Sunday, when I was sitting on the second row on the end where I usually sat, every Sunday, I went to church, that's where I sat. And the preacher would preach and I don't know that I remembered much of that, but I knew that God was working in my life. But on this particular Sunday, when the invitation was given, I stepped out and walked down and got on my knees.

And I heard the message. And my friends came and gathered around me and prayed for the Lord to save me. Now, my understanding of the Bible was very meager as a 12 year old kid. Nobody ever sat down and explained a lot to me.

In fact, I don't remember anything particularly, a lot of explanation except some things that my mom taught me. But on that day, I knew that I was a sinner. And I was weeping when I stepped out and walked down there and got on my face on my knees and asked crying and asking the Lord to save me, forgive me of my sins. I did understand that his death took care of my sins. Now I received the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior that day. That pastor asked me if I'd get up and give a testimony and I did, just a brief one. I have never doubted one time in all of these years that I've been saved and I was saved in that morning, at that time on my knees, at that moment in my life, I was saved with the grace of God.

Now at that time, I'd never heard anything about lordship. In fact, I didn't even know anything about Jesus Christ necessarily being Lord. I just knew that he had died for my sins. I knew that if I asked him to forgive me, and I understood enough about repentance at the time that it meant change, I didn't understand it all. But I knew at that moment, I was asking the Lord Jesus Christ to come into my heart and to save me. I know I was saved.

Now it's interesting. The pastor didn't say, do you accept Jesus Christ as Lord? He probably blown me away. I wouldn't have known what he meant. But I did know that I was a sinner. I did know what confession and bowing before him and asking him to forgive me because he died for me.

I understood that. Now it's interesting from that moment, from the moment I was saved, I wanted to obey God. I wanted to be what Jesus wanted me to be. I wanted to do what the Lord wanted me to do. And God placed the desire in my heart to obey him and to follow him and to walk after him so that the lordship was not something that I understood the moment I was saved.

I didn't commit myself to anything, but I committed myself to confess and repent of my sins as best I knew how and to receive Jesus Christ as my Savior. The lordship, which was absolutely a vital part of that, was something that God knew, God understood, and God knew from that moment he would begin to work that into my life. It wasn't that I said, Oh, I won't accept him as Lord. If somebody comes and says, Oh, I'll take him as Jesus, but don't give me this Lord business.

Now that's something differently. I'm simply saying to say that a person has to understand fully the lordship of Jesus Christ and must accept him as Lord and Savior to be saved. I'm going to tell you, brother, that's not the way I got saved.

And I don't believe you can prove that. Because most of us didn't understand that. And we were saved by the grace of God. When you are transformed by the grace of God, when you're born again into the kingdom of God, when Jesus works that work, the Bible says the Holy Spirit comes in and seals you, what is the first thing he does, but plants the desire in your heart to obey the living God. So that lordship is an overflow.

It is an outgrowth. It is something that the Lord does in your life. He chooses the place within us a desire to follow him. I say all that to say this, I want you to understand me. This is in no way to diminish the lordship of Jesus.

I've said that again and again. But to put on somebody that in order for you to be saved, you must accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and your Lord when the poor person doesn't even understand what is involved in lordship. And the truth is, if we're honest, when you were saved, unless you were very fortunate to be given a good explanation of what the Christian life is all about, which most of us were not, you didn't understand it either. And as we have grown in the Christian life, as we began to grow immediately upon receiving Jesus Christ as our Savior, we had a desire to obey him.

Then we began to understand and the understanding has grown as the years go by. For example, not only does Jesus Christ desire to be my Savior and my Lord, he wants to be my life. And the truth is he not only desires to be, he wants that experience within me. Paul said, when Jesus Christ who is our life shall appear. If I'm complete in him, I understand him as my Savior. I understand him as my Lord and I understand him as my life. You tell old drunk are here trying to get saved.

He's been down in the bar all afternoon and he's about two thirds shot. You get to get in the gospel to them and he begins to sober up a little bit and he gets sober enough to understand and he begins to realize what kind of mess he's in. And he understands that he can be forgiven of his sins. And then you start pumping with lordship life.

He says what? Life What do you mean by life? I'm already alive. My friend, you're saved by the grace of God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is his goal to be Lord and Master of your life. It is his goal to be your very life.

Anything less than that is less than the goal. He said he died and rose in order that he might be Lord of all. Thank you for listening to our sin, the ultimate question. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or in touch ministries, stop by in touch.org. This podcast is a presentation of in touch ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.