Our Lord

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, December 20th. The celebration of Christ's birth is just a few days away. And today's podcast reminds us that He's much more than a helpless baby in a manger. Today's lesson from Luke Chapter 2 helps you see Him as Lord of all. When the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ our Lord, what does that really mean? And I think one of the reasons that we are so prone to sort of tolerate a little sin here and a little disobedience over here is that most of our emphasis is on the fact that Jesus Christ is our Savior. And most sermons at Christmas time relate around Jesus Christ as being our Savior, that He came to save sinful mankind. And that He did, He came as the Savior, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies as the Messiah, but He came as the Lord of heaven and earth.

So I want us to see the full impact of what that means. And so I want you to turn with me in a few moments to a number of scriptures, but the first aspect of His Lordship I want us to see is this. And that is that the Lordship of Jesus Christ was a position, now listen, a position divine ly bestowed upon Him by the Father.

I want you to see several scriptures. If you'll turn first of all to Acts chapter 2, and remember Peter's sermon at Pentecost, he concludes this sermon with this verse in the 36th verse of chapter 2. Having preached this tremendous sermon, he comes to the end and he says in verse 36, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him, that is Christ, both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. That is, God the Father has bestowed upon Him, has given to Him, has assigned to Him the position of Lord in this earth.

In Ephesians chapter 1, as Paul is describing who we are in Christ, and His prayer for us, how our eyes would be open and what we might see, part of that is found in verse 20. He says, Christ, that is when God the Father raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. That is Christ, His name above every name, Christ above all. And He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him His head over all things to the church. That is, the Lord Jesus Christ has been given the position of ruling, reigning, sovereign Lord over all things.

All things have been placed in submission to Him. Turn over one more book in Philippians chapter 2. In verse 5, Paul admonishes us to have the attitude that Jesus had, but I want you to see a different aspect of this passage today. He says, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 6, who, although He existed in the form of God, that is Jesus Christ was God, is God, forever shall be, God never has been a time when He was not, but He came into this world as the God-man, taken upon Himself there in Bethlehem on that Christmas Eve, the form of flesh had always been God, but now clothing that deity with flesh. Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. That is, Jesus Christ was willing to lay aside part of His glory as a person of the deity.

Not all of it, but part of it. Having laid a part of it aside, He emptied Himself, taken in the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. That is, He did not grasp and hold on to, listen, His deity and His full glorified form. While He never laid down, never laid down His deity, always God, He laid down, He laid aside part of His glory in order to take up His humanity and live among us as the God-man. Verse 8, being found in appearance, in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. Obedient to whom? Obedient to the Father.

Obedient to death, even death on the cross. Now, having laid down His life on the cross, listen to what He says, therefore, also God the Father highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That is, the confession will be, Jesus Christ is Lord.

And in the process of confessing that, God the Father will be glorified. God the Father has given to Jesus Christ the Lord. He has given to Him the position of sovereign Lord over everything and every person. Jesus is Lord, period. He is the sovereign of this universe with no exception.

There is not anything that is not subject to the Lord Jesus Christ. But you see, we have this idea that He's Lord over some people's lives, not over others. Some may not respond to His Lordship.

Some may not submit to His Lordship. But my friend, He is the sovereign Lord of this universe, whether recognized or not recognized, that does not in any way affect His Lordship. He is irrevocably, indisputably given by God the Father the position of being the sovereign Lord of this universe.

But there's a second aspect of this that I want us to see here in Luke. And when the angel said, for unto you is born this day, has been born for you in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And that is the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The Lordship of Jesus Christ involves an authority, a power that is sovereignly executed.

That is, here is the supernatural power of all of the universe wrapped up in one person who was born like any other baby except born of a virgin, conceived of the Holy Spirit in a mother's womb and brought to birth like all other children are brought to birth. That was God. That was the sovereign of the universe who, listen, who has all power. Before He ascended, He said to His apostles in the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28, He said, all authority, listen, all authority. It's interesting that He didn't just leave them and say to them, as you go, but He prefaced the Great Commission, which was their call and which was their signal to go.

Listen to what He said. Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, all authority, not some authority, not earthly authority, all authority has been given to me, Aries tense, given by God the Father, has been given to me. God the Father has made Jesus Christ Lord. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

On the basis of that, He says, here's your commission. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that I've commanded you. And based on what I told you in the beginning, that all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, I will go with you. I will be with you until the end of this age. Jesus gave His Great Commission to the church and with the Great Commission, listen, came the assurance that He who has called us and commissioned us is the sovereign Lord of this universe with all of His omnipotence.

He says, I will be with you each step of the way until the end of this age. It is the sovereign Lord whom you and I have accepted. It is the sovereign God whom you and I serve. All through this book, there's one message that God wants us to get, and that is that Jesus Christ is the sovereign Lord of heaven, earth, and beneath the earth, and He is executing and exercising that lordship in His sovereign omnipotence. There's a third thing I want you to see back in Luke chapter 2. For today is born to you and born for you in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord, a position divinely bestowed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, an authority divinely executed by His sovereignty, His sovereign omnipotence.

But then it is a personal relationship that is to be experienced. We sing Jesus is Lord. We pray about Jesus being Lord. We call Him our Lord. We read the scriptures about His lordship.

But let me ask you a question. Would you say that your life is governed, controlled? Would you say that your decisions in business, in your family, with your friends, in your relationships, are decisions governed and controlled by the Lord God who indwelled you?

Or would you have to say, well, you know, some of my decisions are, but some of them are not? Now, once in a while, somebody says, well, Jesus Christ is either Lord of all or He's not Lord of all. He's Lord regardless. Whether you submit to Him or not is not the issue. He is Lord whether you submit to Him or not. He said His goal is to be Lord in our life.

And here's what that means. I surrender all that I am and all that I have. And from this moment on, Lord, you're in charge of my life.

You're in control. To have Jesus Christ as Lord means I give up trying to run my life. Now, many of us are calling Him Lord, but I want you to be reminded of a scripture. Look if you will in Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7, the Sermon on the Mount, what Jesus said about us calling Him Lord. Verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then will I declare to them I never knew you.

Depart from me you who practice lawlessness. Now, listen, it isn't enough just to say, Lord, because you see, in essence, if Jesus Christ is freed within me to exercise His Lordship, here's what that means. It means I bring everything for His consideration.

There's some things you and I know. We know absolutely and unquestionably what to do, but sometimes we don't. We bring everything under His submission, everything under His power to say, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? What would you have me to do in this situation? What decision am I to make here?

How am I to respond? That is acknowledging and being submissive to the Lordship of Christ in your life. But when you say, my friend, oh, I know what the Bible says.

I've heard that before, but here's what I'm going to do. What you're saying is, He may be Lord, but I'm going to act independently of Him. My friend, do you know what the consequences are of acting independently of the Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus says it much better than I. Look, if you will, in Luke chapter 6.

I want you to notice something here. He said, if you're a person who calls Him Lord, Lord, and does what He says, you're like a wise man who builds his house upon a rock, and the winds come, and the torrential rains blow, and the floods come up, and they beat harshly against your life. But you stand immovable, dauntless, changeless, fearless, because Christ Jesus, who is the sovereign Lord of this universe, is Lord in your life, and He is in control, and nothing will defeat you.

But if you happen to be one of those persons who parades the name of Jesus around and calls Him your Lord, oh, yes, Lord, but you do not submit to His lordship. He says, you're like a man who builds his house upon the sand. Same floods are coming. The same torrential storms are going to beat, and the winds are going to harass your life.

Storms, the winds, the torrents of life. And he says, when it happens, because you simply talked about it, but you didn't practice it, he said the consequences are going to be ultimate failure and disappointment. Why do you think Jesus desires to be Lord? Because he wants to dictate over your life and tell you what to do?

That's not to reason. Do you know why He came as Lord? He came as Lord because He loves you. He wants to be Lord because He knows that submitting to His lordship, listen, is always, not sometimes, but always, always, always, always, always for our best when we submit to His lordship.

Always for our good. So He came not only to be my Savior, He came to live within us as our Savior, our Lord. We have the divine guider on the inside, the divine provider on the inside. We have omnipotence living inside of us, God himself living inside of us.

He came to be the Lord of our life. In that big house of yours, have you opened all the doors to all the rooms so that Jesus has access and full authority in every area of your life? Oh, my friend, is there one room that you've locked? My dear friend, do you realize that a room like that in your house could ultimately destroy the whole house?

So let me ask it again. Is there any room in your life to which you're still holding the key? If it is, you need to lay it down today. Tell the Lord Jesus Christ, you've unlocked the last room and there's the key. And He can have it and you don't ever want it again because you want no area of your life in which He is not to rule and to reign as a sovereign Lord. Did you know that as long as you have one room still locked, that it affects the atmosphere of the whole house? As long as you have one room locked up so that the Lord is not welcome there, that all that God wants to bring upon that house in blessing will always be limited until the last room is unlocked? Do you realize that all you want that house to become, that is you, will always be limited until you unlock the last room? You see, it's the same Jesus who wants access to that room, my friend, who already knows what's in there. My plea to you, my friend, is get the key out. Unlock it by faith.

Lay it down and walk away and let Jesus have access as the Lord to every area of your life. Thank you for listening to today's podcast, Our Lord. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.