Trinity Baptist Church

Unto You

Christ the Lord

Luke 2:8-11

 

I want to ask you this morning to again turn to Luke 2:11 where we read,

 

Luke 2:11

 

We began a study of this amazing verse two weeks ago by looking at the significance of the City of David. It points us toward the fulfillment of a Christmas prophecy that was made over 700 years before the birth of Christ. 

 

Then we looked at the word “Savior”.  There we find the Christmas provision. What is the Christmas provision? A Savior.  Isaiah said it this way:  Unto us, a child is born; unto us a Son is given”.  And Luke reminds us He is a Savior. It has well been said if our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent an economist. But our greatest need was salvation and forgiveness, and God sent a Savior.  That's the Christmas provision: “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior.”

 

Next we come to the Christmas profession: “...Which is, Christ the Lord.” I think it safe to say we are much more familiar and comfortable with the idea of Jesus being our Savior than we are Him being our Lord. 

 

 

We acknowledge His lordship in a theological sense.  We believe it as a Biblical teaching, we sing about it in our hymns and choruses, but if we are honest, we don’t live under His lordship. 

 

It’s one thing to acknowledge it academically or theologically or philosophically but quite another thing to live it in a practical, day by day lifestyle.  And in that regard, the question of the hour becomes this: Have you crowned Him Lord of your life?

 

Now don't answer that lightly or carelessly. Have you crowned Him Lord? When I say that, I mean is He Lord of all that you are, all that you have, all that you do? Is He? Are you gladly, freely, openly confessing Him as Christ, the Lord?  

 

Is he the Lord of your tongue? Is He the Lord of your thoughts? Is He the Lord of your time? Is He the Lord of your temper? Is He Lord of your treasure? He is a Savior, but that Savior is Christ the Lord. It's one thing to sing, “Bring Forth a Royal Diadem and Crown Him Lord of all.” It's quite another to live it out in our lives.

 

And just to be real honest about it, it is the Lordship of Jesus that separates the crowd at Christmas.  Anybody can be sentimental about a baby in the manger.  The most cynical among us will tear up as the children do their Christmas play and celebrate the birth of Christ. 

 

But the Bible says, “Unto you is born a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” And unfortunately many of the same ones standing around the manger singing carols will be falling down drunk in a few days to celebrate the New Year!

 

So obviously not everyone who celebrates the savior honors the Lord!

 

I’m afraid some of the problem is we have mistakenly believed that Savior and Lord mean the same thing.  But to belive that is to be in error.  The distinction is made right here in our text.  The announcement was that a Savior had been born and that that Savior is Christ, the Lord. 

 

Back then, when they said Jesus is the Lord, it meant something. From a Jewish perspective to say Jesus was Lord was to assign to Him the same qualities and characteristics as God.  IT was saying Jesus was coequal and coeternal with God the Father.  In fact, it was to profess His deity. 

 

In the Old Testament, the name Lord is really Jehovah. It's translated over 7,000 times in our Bible as “Lord”, but it is Jehovah. So holy and reverent was that title to a Jew, if he were reading the scripture, when he came to that word, Lord, he wouldn't even pronounce it with audible terms. He would simply close his eyes and bow his head and worship.

 

If a scribe was writing Scripture, when he came to that word, Lord, he would use a different quill to write that word.  The name was too holy to use the instrument that had written common words. 

 

That's the one that was born on Christmas day. “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

 

 

 

 

From a Gentile perspective, you need to remember at the time of Christ, Caesar was Lord. He was not only emperor, He was god and it was demanded that they confess that Caesar is Lord.

 

That was the reason many of the early Christians were martyred.  They refused to confess that Caesar was Lord.  Instead, they went to their dath confession Jesus as Lord.

 

And I am convinced very few, if any of us, see Him and confess Him in that way.  Do you see Him as Lord to such a way that no matter what the cost, you will confess him as Lord?

 

Vernon Grounds wrote, “It is amazing therefore to consider what the followers of a certain homeless, jobless, penniless carpenter did. They took the loftiest title in their culture and ascribed it to their ignominious leader who had died in shame as a condemned criminal on a Roman cross. They went everywhere defying Caesar's lordship in order to proclaim the Lordship of their discredited master. They did this at the risk of death and the possibility of martyrdom.”

 

We read in Acts 2:36, the preaching of the Apostles, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ.”

 

And I just wonder, do we confess Him in that way?  Is the One we call “Savior”, in reality and action, our Lord? This Christmas, can you say it and mean it?

 

 

 

If you can, and if you do, I want to share with you some things you can expect, things that will radically, dramatically change your life and make you count for God. Not only are you saying, He is my Savior and I believe he is Lord, but I confess Him as Lord and live in demonstration of that fact.

 

When you do that, the very first thing it'll do is,

 

 

Listen to what we read in

 

Romans 10:9-10

 

Now listen very closely: if you're not willing to openly, publicly and gladly confess Christ as Lord, don't try to convince me that you're saved. You might tease yourself, but the Bible makes it very clear that our salvation is undeniably connected to our profession of His Lordship. Therefore, if He's not your Lord, He's not your savior.

 

It is Biblical ignorance to talk about getting saved, and somewhere down the line “making Him Lord”.  I’ve got news for those who have pinned their hope of heaven on some decision they made 40 years ago and in the meantime they live like the devil and give no evidence of a life changed by the blood of Christ:  They are going to split hell wide open. 

 

The heart that is saved will have a desire to live under the Lordship of Christ. One of the greatest preachers that ever lived was Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

 

 

 

Spurgeon said, “If the convert declares that he knows the Lord's will, but doesn't mean to attend to it, it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved.”

 

Did you hear that, those of you who are living double lives thinking you're going to heaven? Listen again to what Spurgeon said, “If the convert declares that he knows the Lord's will but doesn't mean to attend to it, it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Don't imagine that the gospel is magnified or God- glorified by going to worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment simply by accepting Christ as their savior while they are wedded to their idols and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so, I tell them a lie, I pervert the gospel, I insult Christ, and I turn the grace of God into lasciviousness.”

 

Amen!  I’m so sick of backslidden Baptists who have their name on a church roll who never serve the Lord, who never give a penny to His work, who never show up for a worship service, and when they die, I’m supposed to stand over their dead body and talk about their hope in heaven and the sweet bye and by and try to comfort a family when there is nothing there. After all, they were of the Baptist faith! 

 

And by the way, I’m not talking about going through  a difficult time or straying away for a little while or getting involved in some ungodly behavior and feeling the guilt and shame of that.  I’m talking about a lifestyle that gives no evidence of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, but pretends it is a Christian.   

 

Listen:  we do not have a salvation that says to the Savior, “You come on in” and says to the Lord, “you stay out!”  Our faith is built on a confession that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the Lord Jesus Christ, “unto you is born this day, in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

 

By the way, did you know that He is called Savior only twenty-four times in the New Testament? He is called Lord four hundred and thirty-three times. Now this confession of Christ as Lord, what does it do? Well number one, it just seals salvation. I'll tell you what else it does,

 

 

Listen:  If there is anybody in the world that does not want you to learn to confess and believe that Christ is Lord, it is Satan.

 

Does Satan ever bother you? Do you ever sense His nearness? Di you hear him whispering in your ear?

 

You may be like the little boy in Sunday School who had been misbehaving and finally his teacher have heard of the Sunday school teacher just lost it and she grabbed him and shook him as hard as she could and she said, “Billy, I think the devil’s got a hold of you.”

 

And through chattering teeth Billy said, “Yes, ma’am, I think he does too.” 

 

Ever feel like the devil’s got a hold of you and in spite of all the good intentions and hard work, you still do and say the wrong?  How do get victory over that?   

 

Listen to what we read in

 

Revelation 12:11

 

 

So what is the “word of our testimony”? I am convinced it is nothing other than the confession of our faith and that is Jesus Christ is Lord. If there is anything that strikes fear in the heart of

Satan it is the testimony of a saint of God who understand that Christ is Lord!  He is conquered by that confession.

 

When you take the name of Jesus Christ, boldly, gladly and fling it in the face of Satan, he cowers at those words, that Jesus Christ is Lord.

 

The name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ has a way of silencing Satan and he does not want you to understand the power of that testimony.

 

When you’re having a bad day, when your spirit is sour, when you are acting more like Satan than Christ, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Tell him, “Lord, I belong to you.” Tell others, “He is Lord.” Tell others that you belong to Jesus. Keep it on your lips, “unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

 

And not only does it seal salvation, and not only does it silence Satan, I'll tell you what else it does,

 

 

 

If you want to be a strong, victorious Christian, then learn to confess openly and verbally that Jesus Christ is Lord. If you want your faith to be strong, then put your faith in your mouth and begin to articulate it.

 

 

 

What good does that do?  It will grow your faith.  The more you assert a thing, the stronger power it holds in your own life. 

 

It will increase your love for Jesus. When you confess the Lord Jesus Christ it'll cost you. And whatever we sacrifice for, we tend to love.

 

It'll cause you to be a separated Christian when you start confessing Jesus Christ as Lord, because the worldly crowd will turn on you. As a matter of fact, you can tell whether or not you're getting worldly if you fail to want to openly and publicly confess Jesus Christ as Lord.  But remember, this is good news of great joy to be shared with all people.

 

And you never know how your profession will bless someone else.  Not only will your confession strengthen you, it will strengthen others!

 

Have you ever been blessed by someone else’s testimony?  Sure you have!  You’ve rejoiced in God’s faithfulness and goodness shared with someone else as they’ve testified of that. 

 

Well why not determine that you will be that person who is a blessing as you confess the Lord? 

 

I did that this week at a basketball game.  I eavesdropped on a conversation that was taking place behind me as a man told about their church reorganizing its Sunday School and how they were meeting resistance to that.  I just took a moment to confess that I had listened in, and offered him my encouragement. 

 

 

There was an instant bond there between two people that love and serve the same Lord!  Hopefully, he was strengthened in his attempts to reach people for Christ!

 

I'll tell you another thing that will happen when you confess Jesus is Lord:  Not only will it seal salvation, not only will it silence Satan, not only will it strengthen saints, but

 

 

Now obviously God hasn’t called us all to be preachers in the formal sense of the word.  However, we can all share the good news of great joy that has been shared with us! 

 

Listen: if these shepherds did it, anybody can do it!

 

Wouldn't it be wonderful if everybody in this congregation would just determine that tomorrow dn the next day and for the rest of our life, we are going to go out into our communities and confess “Jesus is Lord!”

 

This is our Christmas confession. And at this time of year, everyone is greeting and speaking to everyone else, even people we don’t even know!  Merry Christmas! Let me just challenge you to add to your Christmas greeting your confession of faith. 

 

When someone says, “Merry Christmas”, just respond by saying, Merry Christmas to you as well, and remember, Jesus is Lord!”

 

 

 

Someone says, “Well pastor, that's just too invasive!  I’ll just keep my mouth shut and let people watch my life and that will cause them to want to be saved. May I tell you that is the epitome of arrogance!

 

Chances are, if they watch long enough, they’re going to see something in your life that causes them to question your faith, especially if you’re doing Christmas shopping at Wal-Mart!

 

Besides that, they're not saved by your life, they are saved by his death. And if you do happen to live a good life, the only way that you've been able to live it is Jesus Christ has been living it in you. And if you take the praise without giving Him the glory, you're taking that praise under false pretenses.

 

There are people who are lost and they need to know the way. In fact, they deserve to know the way and we have good news of great joy which shall be to all people.  There is born not only unto you, but unto them in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” How shall they know, if we don't tell them? Oh we need to get bold.

 

Michael Card tells the story of a man named Joseph in Africa who came to Christ out of a Muslim background. One day walking down a hot dirty African road, he met someone who shared Christ with him. Then and there he accepted Jesus as his Savior and the power of the Holy Spirit overwhelmed him with such joy that the first thing he wanted to do was go back and tell his own village.

 

He went from door to door telling of the cross and the forgiveness for sin. He expected their faces to light up as his had when they discovered this wonderful truth. To his amazement they became violent: the men seized him and held him to the ground while the women beat him with strands of barbed wire. Dragged and left to die alone in the bush, he eventually revived and made it to a water hole where he spent days recovering. He was confused and finally decided that he must have left something out or not told the story correctly. After rehearsing the message he returned.

 

He stood in the circle of huts and began to proclaim Jesus. he was again grabbed by the men and beaten by the women, reopening the wounds that had just begun to heal. He was dragged, unconscious outside the village and again left to die. To have survived the first time was remarkable but to survive this beating was a miracle.

 

Days later he awoke and determined to go back. This time he was attacked before he even opened his mouth. Before he passed out the last thing he saw was that the women who were beating him had begun to weep. This time he awoke in his own bed, the ones who had beaten him were now trying to save his life and eventually the entire village came to know Jesus Christ.

 

Why would a man do that?  Only because Jesus Christ is Lord!

 

Let me share with you one more thing confessing Jesus as Lord will do.  

 

 

If you want to simplify your life, let me suggest two verses of Scripture for direction. 

 

The first few verses of Acts 8 tell us the story fo the conversion of the Apostle Paul. in the course of his meeting with the Lord, Paul asks two questions that are the epitome of what it means for Jesus to be Lord of your life. 

 

In Acts 9, verse 5, Paul asks, "Who are you, Lord?"

Jesus answers by giving His name. 

 

Now watch this:  Once Paul figures out who Jesus is and the power He has, he is astonished.  In fact, he begins to tremble.  He is overwhelmed by the presence of Jesus and he asks another question that is at the very heart of Lordship. 

 

In verse 6 he asks, "Lord, what do you want me to do?" 

 

I'll tell you what the Lord wanted him to do - whatever He told him to do!  In fact, the greatest advice that anybody ever gave anybody on the face of this earth was the advice that Mary gave to the servants that day at the wedding feast before Jesus turned the water into wine, when Mary said to those servants, concerning her son Jesus in John 2:5 , “Whatever he says unto you, do it.”

 

What do I want you to do Paul?  Whatever I tell you to do! Oh how that simplifies things. It simplifies service. It just gets it down to where you don't have to go through a lot of questions. You just simply say, “Lord what do you want me to do?”

 

I heard of a young preacher who was called to a church that had been known for its divisions. One of the ladies came to this young preacher and said, “I'm afraid you are going to have a very difficult job here.” And he said, “And why is that?”  She said, “Well, I just think it would be hard for to please all of the different folks here.” He said, “Madame, I'm not here to please all the different folks.  I am here to please only one and that is my Lord, Jesus Christ. And if I please Him, that ought to be good enough for you.”

 

Amen! See how it simplifies things to confess Jesus as Lord? If we please God, it doesn't matter whom we displease. And if we displease God, it doesn't matter whom we please.

 

And how can we please God? There is but one way to please God, to say it and mean it without stutter, stammer or equivocation, Jesus Christ is Lord. It simplifies service.

 

Dr. David Livingstone was one of the greatest missionaries who ever lived, an erudite, cultured, God-fearing, Christ- honoring man, who left culture and pleasure and home and wealth, went down to Africa to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the heart of darkest Africa.

 

David Livingstone had stayed in Africa weeks, months, years, they didn't even know whether he was still alive or not. They didn't know what had happened to him. A newspaper commissioned H.M. Stanley to go down into Africa and see if he could find David Livingston. Stanley didn't even know where to start.

 

He went to Africa, began to ask questions, got an expedition, deeper, and deeper, and deeper into the heart of Africa he went until that one day, when by the providence of God, Stanley and Livingstone met and those immortal words where Stanley put out his hand, and said, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

Out there in the in the in the jungles. And these two men met and they became fast friends and close friends. The time came for Stanley to go back to civilization, he said to David Livingstone, “Dr. Livingstone, you've done a good job here in Africa, but you're sick; I want you to come home.”

 

He said, “You may not realize it, but your books have sold so many copies that you're a wealthy man. You can come back home to wealth. And you can come back home to the accolades that you deserve. And besides that, now Livingstone, we have some doctors and some medicine that can deal with this jungle fever that you have. You're getting old. It's time for you to come back to England. Come back to your people. Come back and share and tell us what God has done here in Africa.”

 

Livingstone excused himself and said, “I must pray.” He went into his tent that night and spent the night in prayer and then he told Stanley, “I cannot go. I promised God I would serve Him here and I promised God that I would die here.” Stanley shook the hand of his friend Livingstone and turned and got on that steamer boat as it steamed away. Livingstone waved at him as he went back to civilization.

 

This was David Livingstone's last contact with the civilized world. The old missionary went back to his little fire, and he took out his diary, and he wrote these words that you can read in David Livingstone's diary; he said this, “My Jesus, my King, my life, my all, I again dedicate the entirety of my life to thee.”

 

And he stayed there and he died there and they came and got his body and carried his body back to England and gave it a burial, but before they could, the Africans took the body of David Livingstone and cut the heart out and buried his heart in Africa. Because, they said, his body may belong to England, but his heart belongs to Africa.

 

But England and Africa were wrong; his heart belonged to Jesus.

 

If you want to simplify your life and your service, just place Jesus at the top of the list in your life.  Then when somebody says, “do this,” or “do that,” “come here,” or “go there” all you've got to do is just ask, "Jesus what do you wnat me to do?"

 

Now, come all the way awake, and let's talk business for a minute. I want to ask you, not as a 19th century missionary, but as a 21st century Christian “Is Jesus Christ Lord of your life?”

 

And before you answer, i want to insert a second question.  What right do you have to call yourself a Christian if He's not? The Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will saved.” “Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is,” what? “Christ the Lord.”

 

One final thought and I'm through. What is at issue is not whether or not you will acknowledge Christ as Lord.  It's going to happen.  The question is, "When will you acknowledge Christ as Lord?"

 

Are you listening? Listen to what the Bible tells in

 

Philippians 2:9-10

See, it's not a matter of if, only when. If you'll confess him as Lord now, he'll confess you as saved and as his child. But if you'll deny him, he'll deny you, and if you don't meet him in salvation, you'll meet him in judgment, but one day, you'll bow the knee to the babe who was born in Bethlehem because “Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”

 

Let's pray.