Do You Call Jesus Lord?
I want to start out tonight by asking you a question. Do you call Jesus Lord? Is Jesus your Lord and Savior? Are you really saved? Have you truly surrendered your life to Him? Do you call Jesus your Savior and just stop there or is Jesus truly your Lord and Savior?
I’m asking you these questions because I read 1 Corinthians 12:3 the other day and the verse really grabbed my attention. It says Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
If Jesus is not truly Lord of your life, then He is accursed to you. Oh you may curse us and Him, but it’s more than using Jesus’ name as a curse word. If Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, then He is detestable to you .You cannot stand to hear the name of Jesus lifted up in the open. We experienced this last Friday when three different crazy, drunk or demonic people came up to oppose us and the first one did so while we were just singing hymns.
You have made yourself an enemy to Jesus if you have not bowed your knee and confessed with your tongue that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is Lord. He is Lord of all. But if you are still fighting against God, then you can’t stand the name of our blessed Redeemer.
James 4:4 states: Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 1 John 2:15 says: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. The precious name of Jesus is foolishness to the Gentiles and a stumbling block to the Jews.
Abortion is Child Sacrifice
Everyone who supports abortion has made themselves an enemy to Jesus. Abortion is child sacrifice and it’s just as abominable today as it was in Old Testament times. And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name (Leviticus 20:3).
People who have never surrendered their lives to Jesus hate Him, because He is the Light of the world. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life (John 8:12). Some people hate Jesus because they love their sin. They don’t want to give up their sinful ways. They love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil.
Is this you tonight? Do you love the darkness rather than the light? Do you love your sins and refuse to repent and put your faith in Jesus. Have you made yourself an enemy to God? Do not be deceived, God is angry with the wicked and their wickedness. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11).
Haters and Enemies
Have you made yourself God’s enemy? Do you curse Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God? If so, then it shouldn’t surprise you that you are still spiritually dead in your trespasses and sins. You have never surrendered your life to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. You do not have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Instead, you are still a slave to sin and a slave to the devil. No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed.
If you hate Jesus, if you hate the Light, if you hate the sinless Son of God, then you do not have the Holy Spirit residing inside of you and you are still living for the pleasures of the flesh. Your life is consumed by what you can do to please yourself. You have foolishly placed yourself on the throne of your life. You are still resisting God and rejecting the only Savior of the world – Jesus the Christ.
The Lord Jesus
But maybe you are out here tonight and you say well I did that religion thing years ago. I asked Jesus into my heart when I was a kid. I’m sealed, baptized and good to go. I can live like Hell because I’m going to Heaven. If this is you tonight, then you are sadly mistaken. Oh you may very well claim Jesus as your Savior, but if He is not Lord of your life, then you are still a Hell bound sinner. You are still lost. You are still dead in your trespasses and sins. You are still on the broad road to destruction. You are deceived by Satan and you are deceiving yourself.
You can only say that Jesus is Lord and truly mean it if He is LORD of your life. You can only do this if you have repented and put your faith in Jesus. If you say that you are saved and yet you are the same old dirty rotten sinner that you’ve always been, then you missed salvation. This shouldn’t shock you if you are the same old wretched sinner that you’ve always been. This is because you missed the Lord Jesus Christ.
You may have made some sort of profession of faith. Maybe you walked an aisle and even shed real tears. But unless the Holy Spirit drew you to Jesus, then you missed Him. No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Do you call Jesus Lord? Is He truly Lord of your life? Have you repented and surrendered your life to Him? If not, then you are not saved. You are still lost and on the road to Hell. Do not foolishly die in your sins someday and find yourself in the torments of Hell. A saved life is a changed life. Jesus said: If ye love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15). And why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46)
If Jesus hasn’t changed you, then He hasn’t saved you. When you understand (through the power of the Holy Spirit) that the Sinless One took your punishment that you deserved, then there’s no way that you can stay the same. When you realize that you are a sinner, that you are a liar, thief, blasphemer, adulterer at heart, a murderer at heart, a covetous person, a self-centered person who only seeks the pleasures of the flesh and that God is angry with you over your sins, then you cry out for God to save you.
The Sinless Son of God
When you understand that Jesus never sinned one time, yet He died as a guilty criminal; that He died for guilty criminals like you and me, then you want to cry out to Him for mercy. God made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Oh when you see this through the power of God, when you see your wretchedness and God’s Holiness and that the only bridge between this monstrous gap is Jesus Christ, you can never be the same.
You fall broken at the feet of Jesus and beg Him for mercy. You cry out O God, have mercy on me, a sinner. You weep over your sins. You cringe at all the evil that you have done toward God over the years and you cry out for Him to save you through Jesus Christ alone. Oh when you truly see this through your spiritual eyes that have been opened by the Holy Spirit, you can never be the same old rotten sinner that you were before.
Once you’ve been washed, cleansed by the shed blood of Jesus, you no longer desire to wallow in the mud of your previous life. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 tells us: Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
New Person
When you’ve been justified and sanctified through the Lord Jesus, you no longer want to go back to the vomit of your previous sins. You are changed. God has given you the earnest deposit of everlasting life. Jesus Christ lives inside you through the Holy Spirit. You are no longer the same. You’ve been bought with a price. You are a new person. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).
When you truly appreciate such a great of salvation, when you understand that you could have died at any point earlier in your life and you would have been suffering the torments of Hell right now, you are filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. You can’t help but surrender your life fully to Jesus. You know that not only is He your Savior, but that He is Lord of your life and deservedly so. You truly submit to His Lordship. You hold nothing back. You give your all to the One who gave His all for you.
Do you call Jesus Lord tonight? Is He truly your Lord? is He Lord of your life? Have you really surrendered your life to our Lord Jesus Christ? Are you a changed person? Do not be deceived tonight. If Jesus hasn’t changed you, He hasn’t saved you. Don’t foolishly die in your sins and spend eternity in Hell. If the Holy Spirit is convicting you over your sins and God’s righteousness, come to Jesus tonight.
Call On Jesus
Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. Call on Jesus Christ and be saved. Repent and put your faith in Jesus. Come to Him. If God is drawing you to Himself through the Holy Spirit, then come. Confess and forsake your sins. Turn from your sins and turn to Jesus. Call upon His blessed name and be saved. 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 (Romans 10:9-10).
Don’t just mouth the words Jesus is Lord. When you truly see Him as Lord you can do nothing else except bow down to Him. Bow and confess with your tongue. Oh is the Holy Spirit drawing you tonight? Is the Holy Spirit convicting you over your sinfulness and God’s Holiness?
If so, then there is hope for you. A man has to realize that he’s lost before he’ll cry out for help. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Cry out to Jesus. Do this tonight and be saved. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Repent and believe the Gospel. Surrender to Jesus Christ our Lord. Be saved. Be saved tonight. Repent and believe the Gospel. Call upon the Lord Jesus, believe on the Lord Jesus and be saved.
(This message was proclaimed on the square in downtown Springfield, Mo on July 8, 2016)