From John MacArthur's Strength for Today
“God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name . . . that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”, Philippians 2:9, 11
The Jesus who is Savior cannot be separated from the Jesus who is Lord.Scripture never speaks of any human being’s making Jesus Lord. It is God who made Him Lord (Acts 2:36). Yet we often read statements such as this: “It is imperative to trust Christ as personal Savior and be born again. But that is only the first decision. Trusting Christ as Savior and then making Him Lord are two separate and distinct decisions. The two decisions may be close or distant in time. Salvation must always precede lordship. But it is possible to be saved without ever making Christ Lord of your life.” In effect that is saying Christ isn’t Lord unless we give Him permission—a completely unbiblical assertion. To be saved you must confess Jesus as Lord.
Jesus is called Lord throughout the New Testament. To omit the lordship of Christ from invitations to salvation would result in the elimination of numerous passages of Scripture. Peter’s sermon in Acts 2—“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21)—would need to be modified. Paul and Silas’ method of presenting the gospel—“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31)—would need to be corrected.
The centrality of the lordship of Christ is clear in the New Testament gospel. The Jesus who is Savior cannot be separated from the Jesus who is Lord. God cannot be separated from His authority, dominion, rulership, and right to command. When we acknowledge that Jesus is God, we mean He is all that God is.
Suggestions for Prayer:
Worship the Lord Jesus Christ, using Psalm 8, a Messianic psalm, as the basis of your prayer.
For Further Study:
Jesus is called Lord over 700 times in the New Testament. Use a Bible concordance as a handy way to check some of these many references to Christ as Lord.
Great post, Justin! With your permission, I'd like to re-post it in my blog.
ReplyDeleteThe Lordship of Christ is a forgotten/lost/untaught doctrine in so many churches. What's incredible is I've probably written the quote you used to describe the fallacy of separating the Savior from the Lord before my own conversion! I would have said that before being truly born again.
It is even now that I still wrestle with this truth. Can Jesus really be a Savior, but not the total and complete Lord of our lives?! I just don't believe that to be true at all. Not at this point in my walk with Him. I wish someone would have taught me about this truth long ago.
But God always brings the Truth in His timing and I praise Him over and over for teaching me and not leaving me in my disbelief. All glory to God! Worthy is the Lamb!
God bless you, brother.
--Joy
Absolutely, Joy - you never need permission to repost, but thanks for asking. :)
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it is the very Gospel that is lost among most churches today and the confusion and deception is widespread on the internet.
There is one thing I know for sure - there is a marked difference in my life before and after March 9, 2009, which is the day God wrought godly sorrow in me. 20 or so years went by as I claimed to be a Christian, but a nominal one at that. Since He caused me to surrender my life to His lordship, He has been working His salvation through me in a marvelous way. I stand amazed at this work, and can only thank Him for His love, mercy, and patience towards me as I defamed His name all of those years. Soli deo Gloria!
May you and your family be richly blessed as we enter 2011, dear sister.
Justin
Awwww, thank you so much. Yes, we have so much in common. Our testimonies are very similar! Thank you for your kind words and I wish to you and your family as well that Jesus reveals more and more of Himself to all of you in the coming year...
ReplyDeleteMuch love in Christ,
Joy