My Lord and My God
John 20:28
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/MyLord.html
Jesus Christ is God. And Jesus Christ is Lord!
This is the central theme of the NT. "Lord" is used 747 times. And just as often you hear the phrase, 'Make Jesus Lord...' Well, God beat you to it!
Acts 2:36
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
We don't make Him Lord by calling Him Lord. We recognize His Lordship and submit to His Lordship when we make Him 'our' Lord!
2 simple questions:
1. Do you believe Jesus is Lord?
2. Are you submitted to Him as your Lord?
Is He Lord of your thought life?
This is an area no one knows about, not even your spouse. But He does.
Your tongue? When away from church?
Your temper? When others push your buttons...are they truly in control? It's ok for you to be out of your own control...if only you are in His!
Your time?
Your testimony? When He opens up a door for you to witness, do you obey Him as Lord?
Your treasure? Do you obey His voice in your tithes [10%] and how about the use of the other 90%? If He is not Lord OF all then He is not Lord AT all!
3 reasons to surrender to His Lordship:
1. His Redeeming Claim.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
He owns you! He purchased you at the high cost of His blood!
Ephesians 1:14
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
ill.--little boy who made a boat from a kit, lost it in the lake, saw it in a pawn shop, and bought it. He said, "You're my little boat - you're mine twice! Because I made you and because I bought you!"
You are God's twice. Once by virtue of His creation and again by virtue of His redemption. You are His not only because He made you, but also because He bought you back!
For this reason alone He deserves to be recognized as your Lord!
The moment you got saved you might as well have hanged a sign around your neck, "Under New Management".
Do you remember when you chose to let Jesus save you?
That was the last legitimate independent decision that you made! Because from that day forward you are to take into account, "What would Jesus want me to do?"
Time out. Why does Jesus want us to submit to His Lordship, anyway? Is He on a power trip?
No, He already has all power in heaven and earth. He can do whatever He wants whenever He wants...and doesn't need our permission!
Is it because He wants to make life miserable?
No, the Bible is all about having the joy of the Lord!
Does He 'need' our praise, worship, and obedience?
No, He 'needs' nothing. He is the self-existing, self-sustaining God of the universe - and if the word 'need' can be said at all, it should be stated clearly how desperately we 'need' Him!
So, why does He want to be Lord of my life?
Because He loves you even more than you love yourself and He knows better than you the path to true joy, peace, and fulfillment.
He knows your present situation, and He has a plan which maps out your future. We say often, "I know God has a plan." So why do we act like His plan is 'something to consider', like as if we are weighing our options? "Hmmm, there's pros and cons to both what I have planned and to what God seems to be leading me to do. Hmmm, what shall I decide then?"
God doesn't reveal His plan so we may consider it...but so we may obey it! And often, He doesn't reveal it at all until we are willing to 'work without a net.'
"I have no backup plan, Lord! I trust your way, 100%!"
ill.--if a train had emotions, when would it be most happy? When it has the freedom to frolic thru fields in any direction it wants to go, where it gets stuck in mud or is destroyed on the rocks...or when it is on the tracks for which it was intended?
Why does He want to be your Lord? Because He loves you!
Jesus came to save us. From what? Sins. Hell. And one more thing: Ourselves! I have an enemy that I am forced to see each and every day - His face is in the mirror, and his plans for my life will mess me up big time!
ill.--lifeguards are trained in how to immobilize a drowning person, even to the point of knocking them unconscious if need be, because of their tendency to thrash against the very person trying to save them. So it's a generous, loving act for the lifeguard to take full control away from that individual - why? Because they can't make their way on their own!
Our nature is bent toward self-destructive behaviors. Deep down we know it is best not to put things into our bodies that do harm...but we do it anyway! We know that we need a job long-term, but we tell off our boss anyway...and boy that felt good! Yeah, take that! See if I ever have to deal with you again now that I'm - uh - unemployed.
We love ourselves a whole lot...but it's wildly misguided! Jesus loves us far more than we love ourselves, and He desires to save our lives, rather than wreck them!
ill.--when do you take better care of a car: When you own it or rent it?
Romans 8:32
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
He gave His 'own' Son. He has a lot invested in His 'own'ership of you. He's going to take care of His purchased possession!
1. His Redeeming Claim. He owns you!
2. His Resurrection Conquest.
Back to our text.
When Thomas realized it was the resurrected Jesus standing before him, what was his immediate response? My Lord and my God!
In other words, Only God could conquer death. And if He can do that, then He deserves to be my Lord!
Dying on the cross didn't make Jesus Lord. Two others did the same on that day. But only Jesus came back to life on earth!
Will God accept any sacrifice? Not Cain's. Not Nadab and Abihu [strange fire]. Not a rich man's, trying to buy his way in.
Away with this idea that "I can worship God however I want." No, there's a proper way for us to give ourselves to the Lord.
How do we know that God the Father accepted the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross? He raised Him from the dead!
And He is the firstfruits, meaning, the first of many of us who can beat death with His help.
His resurrection proves that He is Lord, and His resurrection is further reason why He DESERVES to be Lord of our lives!
1. His Redeeming Claim.
2. His Resurrection Conquest.
3. His Regal Crowning.
Philippians 2:9-11
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Every living creature, whether in heaven [angels], hell [lost people, even demons and the devil himself], or on earth will one day proclaim Him to be Lord...one day. Why not today?!
ill.--Adolf Hitler - we assume he is in hell today. One day he will bow before a Jew - the King of Kings - Jesus Christ - and proclaim Him to be Lord! [ISIS, Iran]
Lost sinners will be forced to bow the knee and proclaim Jesus to be Lord. Better than being forced to do so is to choose to do so!
4 things this will accomplish:
1. Conquers the devil.
If you will publicly, openly state that Jesus is Lord, unashamedly, then He promises - since you aren't ashamed of Him before men, that He will not be ashamed of you before His Father in heaven.
And you will have spiritual power in your life.
"Who is on the Lord's side?" Make it clear that you are a Christian soldier, and not embarrassed to admit it. God doesn't have a secret service!
2. Confirms the Christian.
The more we assert the truth to others, the more it grabs a hold of us! The more I preach against abortion the stronger my conviction about it becomes. It increases my fortitude.
It also increases our love to talk about the truth. We talk about what we love and we love what we talk about.
3. Convicts the sinner.
Many of us have said the following, with a sincere heart. "I believe in just being a good example of a Christian, so others will see my life and want what I've got." It's a good thing, but shouldn't be ALL that we do. [lifestyle evangelism]
This is a good prelude to our witness...and adds validity to our witness...but only once we actually open our mouth and witness! People don't get saved by watching our good life. They get saved by accepting His sacrificial death! If you never tell them about where you get the power to live that good life, then you are accepting praise under false pretense! [God gets the glory when we proclaim Him as Lord!]
4. Controls your decisions.
Once you really get a handle on Jesus being Lord of all of your life, it narrows your stress drastically! You don't have to decide what you are going to do. You only have to decide what Jesus would do.
Make Him Lord of all your life, and you'll never again have to decide whether you are going to church. Because Jesus is Lord! [tithe / hang with bad crowd / choose to sin] "I'm praying about dating this lost person...maybe God will use me to reach them!" [you don't have to pray about what God has already said about that]
Jesus is Lord! Millions have died for making that confession! How dare we give less importance to the fact that He is Lord?!
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/MyLord.html
