Is Jesus My Lord?

The most important question one could ever ask is, what must I do to be saved? We call the answer to this, The Gospel. Reading in Romans, chapter 10, this morning, the answer to that question is given in a very clear and concise form.

Romans 10:7-9
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);  because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

That is written with complete clarity and needs no interpretation.

Confess with your mouth. Believe in your heart.

But what are we to confess?

Jesus is Lord.

What are we to believe?

God raised Him from the dead.

Last week, churches filled up for one of the two busiest days of the year, Easter Sunday, or as some insist, we call it, Resurrection Sunday. Most of you who attended a church probably heard a sermon about Jesus and His death on the cross which resulted in the opportunity for all of us to be saved and thus spend eternity with God. You must believe that Jesus was resurrected to be saved, as we just read. While that seems crazy to some, it doesn’t require any action other than to believe that the Bible is true when it states Jesus rose from the dead.

But the second part of the answer of how it is we are saved, does involve us in a more active, physical role. It says we must confess Him as Lord.

Do we?  Is He Lord of your life? Do we really understand what Lord means? The Greek word used is Kurios. It speaks of sovereign power and authority. The Strong’s Dictionary defines it as the one who has complete control and mastery over one. It means your lord owns you and is in complete control over you. A lord is the one who is sovereign. That means you do everything He says.

Based on that definition is Jesus really our Lord? Is that the confession we have made with our mouth? Because if it is not, then we are not saved.

I’m not trying to judge anyone’s salvation, that is between you and God. But we ought to read our Bibles and we ought to take seriously, the commitment we are saying we have made by truly seeking to give all control over our lives and how we live to Jesus, if we expect to be saved.

This simply is not preached to us enough. Listen to these Biblical facts.

In the Book of Acts, only two times is Jesus referred to as Savior, but He is called by the title Lord, ninety-two times. Let me say it again. Jesus is referred to as Lord 92 times.

In the entire New Testament, He is called Savior, about ten (10) times. But guess how many times Jesus is referred to as Lord? Around seven-hundred times. 700 times Jesus is spoken of as Lord. 700. Let that sink in.

What must I do to be saved?

Romans 10:7-9
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);  because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Jesus is Lord. That is without question. Is He your Lord? If He is, then think about what that means in terms of how you live, what you think, and how that changes everything.

 

Great Is His Faithfulness

 

Have you ever just felt like everything is against you? Life gets so hard and it just seems like even God is not listening or if He is, He is just letting you drown in a sea of troubles. Those around you let you down. You even let yourself down. The temptation is to think even God has let you down. When this happens, it becomes unbearable and you just want to give up. I can tell you this, you are not alone. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

We simply must endure in these times and remember that people will let us down. They are human and humans fail. We are human and humans fail. But God? No, He is not human, and He does not fail. We cannot place our faith and hopes in others, nor in ourselves, but in God.

In the difficult days of despair, we must look to the scriptures to find our hope. The Book of Laminations has a wonderful picture of these times. Open it to chapter three, where we find Jeremiah, lamenting the sorrows of the results of sin of his people and nation. Sometimes it is the sins of others that bring us troubles and sometimes it is our own sin. Listen to the cries of Jeremiah.

Lamentations 3:1
 I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath.

Lamentations 3:3-7
 Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day.  He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones.  He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.  In dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead.  He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.

Lamentations 3:8
 Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer.

Things are so bad; it seems God is no longer listening.

Lamentations 3:14-18
 I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day.  He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood.  He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.  My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness.  So I say, "My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD."

Have you lost your hope from the Lord?

If so then you must return to God’s Word and listen to the truth of who God is.

Lamentations 3:21-23
 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:  The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;  they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Our hope can only be in God. His love never ceases. His mercies never fail. They are new every morning. Great is the faithfulness of the Lord.

Lamentations 3:24
 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Put your hope in Him, not in any other, even in yourself. Our love, our mercies, and our faithfulness, will fail us. But not His.

But wait a minute and see this important truth.

Lamentations 3:25-26
 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.  It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

We have to wait on God.

Lamentations 3:28
 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;

We have to sit in silence.

Lamentations 3:31-33
 For the Lord will not cast off forever,  but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;  for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

Lamentations 3:40-42
 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!  Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:  “We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.

Therefore, we must take time to sit in silence and listen for Him. We are sinners who daily rebel and transgress against Him. We must examine ourselves and then repent and confess for as we see in 1 John 1:6-10 that reminds us that if “we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

Repent, confess and be cleansed. Let His Word be in us. Pray for those who, in their sin, bring sorrow to our souls and let God be the one who handles them.

Lamentations 3:52-66
 “I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause;  they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me;  water closed over my head; I said, ‘I am lost.’  “I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit;  you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’  You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’  “You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.  You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge my cause.  You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.  “You have heard their taunts, O LORD, all their plots against me.  The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long.  Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts.  “You will repay them, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.  You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them.  You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O LORD.”

 

To those who seek Him with a heart of repentance and confession, His mercies are new every day. To those who reject Him and plot against His people, His curse will be upon them.

Take time to sit in silence and wait on the Lord. Great is His faithfulness. His love and mercies never end.

Us? We will fail each other, and we will fail ourselves. More importantly, we will fail God.

Put your faith in Him. Trust Him to be God over all people and over all things.

Great is His faithfulness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finding Hope Even in the Midst of Evil

Easter Sunday, the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. It is the pinnacle of the yearly calendar to the Christian. Even many of the unsaved will flock to churches today in response to the holiday, not because they believe in Jesus or in His resurrection, but for varying reasons, such as, Mom asked them to, they go. Why is Easter Sunday so popular? Because whether we are avid followers of Christ or merely go to church to keep mom happy, humans need hope and if nothing else, there is hope found in this concept of resurrection.

It seems appropriate that my morning reading and study this morning finds me here.

Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

It is easy on Easter morning to have hope while sitting in a church, wearing your Sunday best clothes, next to your family who loves you, with a nice ham in the oven at home, where all will gather for a nice meal and a fun day watching your children hunt down little plastic eggs filled with candy on a beautiful spring day.

But what about all those out there this morning who just lost a loved one to addiction? Or whose little boy went missing last week and whose little body was dragged from a lake Saturday morning? Or whose body is made weak with cancer that has spread into parts of their body that will not only inflict severe pain, but will at its peak, take the life of someone who is only in their thirties? The truth is, this world is filled with all sorts of horrible and terrifying events. There is evil and there is suffering all across this world. How do we live with any sense of peace and hope in the midst of such dreadful suffering?

The answer is found in Romans 8:28.

Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

First of all, we see that the promise is only for those who love God. We also see that it is for those who are called according to His purposes. The truth of the words that tell us this are deeply theological and profound. Maybe you do not understand them. Maybe you misunderstand them. While it is important to seek the deep theological aspects of knowing God, that is not the necessary requirement of salvation. Faith is what saves us. Ephesians 2:8 tells us that “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

Maybe you are reading this and not sure that you are called by God to have this saving faith. But I offer that if you are reading this and even asking this question, then you are being led by God, through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, to seek to know Him. As long as you have breath, you can reach out to Jesus and call on His name. Jesus said this in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” If you call on His name, He will never cast you out.

This is where the great promise of Romans 8:28 kicks in for those who love God. It tells us that “for those who love God all things work together for good.” This might be the greatest promise of the Bible. If you hang around with me long, you will find that it is a verse I hold dear to me heart. God has made an unbelievable promise here. He has promised that if you are His by faith in His Son, Jesus, then every single thing that ever occurs in your life, He is working out for good.

The death of Christ is the perfect example. Imagine the wonders and joy of having Jesus as your friend and teacher who you spent every day with for three years and then is suddenly arrested for doing nothing wrong, given a bogus trial and is wrongly convicted, and sentenced to death, and then killed in the most excruciating way possible, hung on a cross to die a slow death. What could be any more devastating than that?

Yet, the death of Christ was the means by which sinful, evil people, could be saved from the penalty of their own sins and would result in eternal life spent in the presence of God, where suffering and pain will no longer exist. God worked it all out for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. This is the hope of Easter Sunday. We. Like Christ, can be resurrected to new life.

That new life never promises an earthly life of ease, no it actually promises Christians will face suffering, persecution, and difficult circumstances. But the promise God in Romans 8:28 is that no matter what we face on earth, He is working it out for good.

Everything. Bad or good is being worked out by God for good. Everything.

So, this morning if you are Christ’s, if you have been led to call on the name of Jesus, then you can know that whatever has happened, whatever is happening, whatever will happen, is being worked out for good by our God.

If you are not Christ’s but you feel Him calling you to reach out to Him, then He will use all these things in your life for good as He causes you to call on His name, even in desperation and a sense of hopelessness, for there is hope in Him and that hope is a sure hope.

Today is Easter Sunday. It is Resurrection Sunday. Call on Jesus. He will resurrect you to new life and cause you to be born again. The promise of scripture will be yours and you can live in joy no matter the circumstances you find yourself in.

I leave you with this wonderful description of the life of the Christian as we are led by our Great Shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

Happy Easter!

The Sins of Self and What it is Doing To Us

The paragraph to follow was written by John MacArthur in 1991 in his commentary on Romans. As you read it, consider how each year our culture, our people grow deeper into this life of self. Self-desire is the antithesis of the Christian faith.

"It should not be surprising that, as the world more and more advocates self-love and self-fulfillment, the problems of sexual promiscuity, abuse, and perversion, of stealing, lying, murder, suicide, hopelessness, and all other forms of moral and social ills are multiplying exponentially."

MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The - MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Romans 1-8.

Just look at the news these days. Sexual promiscuity, abuse, and perversion is rampant and there is even a great movement to normalize it. Stealing and murder? It's out of control. Almost every day, someone in St. Louis is carjacked at threat of death by gunpoint. Murders are a regular occurrence. Maybe the most heart breaking of all is the increase in suicides, especially amongst our youth. Suicides result from hopelessness.

As he predicted in 1991, this nonsense of self-love and self-fulfillment has been the impetus that has pushed God and His Word farther and farther from our society. The result is clearly seen in the mess we have made of our society.

Revelation 6:10 comes to mind.

"...and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

The church in America keeps preaching this soft "feel good" message of salvation. It's time we wake up and begin to preach as Jesus did. We need to preach repentance. We need to take a stand against our own sin. We need to crucify it.

1 Peter 4:17-18

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

We are scarcely being saved people. The word used there means "with difficulty." If we, the elect of God is scarcely being saved, then what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?

Training Like A Navy SEAL For God

The Navy SEALS are arguably the world’s greatest fighting force. SEALS are often tasked with the most difficult and important missions. Yet, they are very small in number compared to the rest of the American military power. There are only eight SEAL teams and each team consists of sixteen men.

Why are the SEAL teams so effective and vital in our military operations? The answer is simple. They are the best trained. To receive the Trident badge that a SEAL must earn, he must pass five training courses that involve seventy-one weeks of training and testing. Upon graduating as a SEAL, there will still be another eighteen months of pre-deployment training before they ever deploy. They only do six-month deployments, so the other half of the year is more training, more practice, more experience with using their weapons. I read a book about the SEALs that said they expend more ammunition in training in a year, then the entire Marine Corps does. Put that in perspective; the 186,000 active Marines use less ammo practicing, then the 128 men in the SEALs do. The result? SEALs don’t miss their targets. They are deadly with their weapons.

The life of a Christian is the life of a warrior. The Bible is replete with analogies of war. In scripture God is called the “Lord of Hosts” some 242 times. The word in scripture used for hosts means army of war. The references to war and battles in our life are clear. Ephesians 6:10 – 19 tells us the battles are spiritual in nature and instructs us that we have been provided with everything we need to fight against the devil and his schemes. We are commanded to put on the full armor of God.

The armor of God allows us to stand in the battle and protects us. Most of it is defensive in nature. But there is mention also of a sword and that sword is the Word of God. It is the Bible, God’s Holy Scriptures. It is always to be used in conjunction with prayer, making it the only weapon provided in the equipment God gives us to fight with. It is called the Sword of the Spirit.

Jesus has won the war. It was fought at Calvary where He gained complete victory over Satan and the forces of evil. But there are still many battles to fight until the day Jesus returns and completes the destruction of the devil. Until then, we must fight.

How proficient are you with your weapon, your sword? Have you trained like a Navy SEAL with your sword? Can you accurately wield the Sword of the Spirit? Can you use it to defend against the attacks you come under in your daily Christian life? Do you constantly train and retrain with it between your battles? Do you understand that your sword is like a rifle that also needs the power of the ammunition as a rifle or pistol does? That power is prayer. Sprit led prayer. It is the gunpowder that provides the power behind the weapon. Or have you allowed your sword to get rusty? Or have you never even gotten to know your sword and learned of its power and its effectiveness?

We need to be Navy SEALs for God. We need to live as they do, with a complete commitment to training ourselves to be masters of our swords. We must wield it with the power and authority God has given us, when and wherever. We must use it to fight and when we are not fighting, we must be ever training with it until it becomes an extension of our bodies.

We must become master swordsmen.

I close with two scriptures that instruct us on the importance of training ourselves.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

1 Timothy 4:6-10
 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.  Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.  The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.  For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

Godliness and Righteousness. We must be God’s Navy SEALs, trained in godliness and righteousness.

Our Works Prove Our faith

This morning as I continued to study the book of Romans, the words of Paul continue to convict me. It’s popular these days to say, “I am a Christian”, yet live as if that only matters on Sunday. If we think that we can go to church for an hour, sip our coffee, sing some songs, and listen to an entertaining sermon that never strikes fear into our hearts, then we are deluded. The Bible tells of a very different life for those who claim Christ as savior. The Christian life is not just about us “going to heaven” or having the “best life possible”, as one very misguided TV preacher claims.

Be clear on this; We are saved by grace, not by our works. But any complete study of the scriptures will take us to an understanding of God’s Word and His law that warns us of the coming judgment.

I could spend hours preaching about the demands our faith puts upon us. Instead I am simply going to share in this post, fourteen passages from God’s Word that instruct us on the importance of our works. Please, please take time to look at these, meditate on them, and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you what they mean. Maybe take one verse each day and make it your object to think on and seek to employ in your life.  

I will sum them up with this conclusion for you to consider as you read these scriptures. We are saved by grace, but our salvation is proven by our works. How God judges you at the end of your life will be based on whether your works have either proven your faith or whether they have shown that your profession of faith was not real, but they were a careless effort to secure simply insurance against hell, and not from a heart that desired to please God and bring glory to His name.

I am not passing judgment on any of you. That is not my agenda. My agenda is to lead you to do as I am trying to do and that is follow this command in 2 Peter 1:10-11 which says, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.  For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Here are the fourteen scriptures.

Romans 2:6-10
He will render to each one according to his works:  to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;  but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.  There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,  but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.

Revelation 20:12-13
 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

Isaiah 3:10
 Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

Jeremiah 17:10
 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Matthew 16:27
 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

John 5:28-29
 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice  and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

1 Corinthians 3:8
 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

1 Corinthians 3:11-13
 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—  each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

Romans 14:12
 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Matthew 7:16-20
 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.  A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Ephesians 2:10
 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Philippians 2:12
 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

James 2:14
 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

James 1:22
 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

May we not deceive ourselves. The consequences are too important. They are eternal.

 

 

 

Where is Your Rome?

Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Most of us Christians know this verse and most of us probably apply it to ourselves. We memorize this verse and we quote it. We buy t-shirts and put little placards on our desk upon which we declare we are not ashamed of the Gospel.

But are we really living that way?

When the Apostle Paul wrote this verse, he began with the word “for”. That begs the question then, why can he say he is not ashamed of the Gospel? Listen to the verse before this one.

Romans 1:15
So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Paul could say he is not ashamed of the Gospel, because he was eager to preach it. Not only was he eager to preach it, he was eager to preach it in Rome. Why Rome? There were probably many reasons Paul wanted so strongly to go there, but the main reason Rome was important was that it was THE place of the day. And it was a place where the Christian faith was growing. He wanted to share a spiritual gift to the church, and he knew that he, in turn, would be edified by them. He wanted to give comfort to them. Again, Paul knew that he, too, would find comfort from them as well. Paul wanted to go there and bear fruit. He knew that this was a place where he could be faithful in serving His Lord. And he simply wanted to preach the Gospel. He knew that there was a need in Rome for the Gospel. Thus, he was eager to preach there.

When we study the Bible, we must ask ourselves, why are we doing this? What is our end goal in our studies? 2 Timothy 2:15 instructs us that we are to “Be diligent to present [ourselves] approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” This is why we study scripture. There are many benefits to Bible study but at the end of the day, we are learning about who God is and who He wants us to be. As we grow closer to God through His Word, we become capable ambassadors for Christ, as Paul tells us we are in 2 Corinthians 5:20.

The working power of the Gospel isn’t about how elegantly you preach it, or about how pretty you try and package it, it is about the saving power of the Holy Spirit as expressed through the Word of God. Our job in fulfilling the Great Commission is simply about being faithful in sharing the Gospel and in how people see us living by the faith we just told them to place their eternity in. That is why Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel.

Take another look at what Paul says to us in Romans 1:16-17
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.””

It is simple. Believe in the saving power of the Gospel. Live by faith in its power.

Where is YOUR Rome? It may be your in your neighborhood, the breakroom at work, or the sewing or fishing club you belong to. Be eager to preach the Gospel there. Don’t be ashamed of it. It is the power to save and to heal. The people in your Rome need that.