For our text today, would you turn with me to the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 5. This will be the sixth message in the series of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Today we examine the implications of the Lordship of Christ and the method of gospel preaching. Does a belief in the Lordship of Christ affect the way in which the message of preaching is communicated? That's what we want to look at. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 5. Paul states here, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. The Apostle's concern here is the proper presentation of the gospel message. He states back in verse 1, just an introduction, that the ministry of the gospel is something that has been entrusted to us as a mercy from God. It is a gift from God. And that we do not propagate it, in verse 2, in the realm of cleverness and skill and dishonesty, or handling the word of God deceitfully. We don't try to slip up on people and get them to do things which they are opposed to doing, but we deal with the truth directly to the conscience of every man. We present the truth and leave the truth for God to make the application of it. And then if Paul seems to be anticipating, but Paul, that just won't work. He says in verse 3, if our gospel is hid, if people do not receive it, the problem is not in the message, it's not in the messenger, it's in the receiver. They are lost, and they have their minds blinded by the God of this world, and hence they cannot see the glorious gospel of Christ. But we do not alter the message, we don't preach ourselves, but we preach Christ Jesus and ourselves as men's servants for Jesus' sake. And so I think this is a great pattern for apostolic gospel preaching, that the minister is not called upon to promote himself or to make a display of his own natural or spiritual gifts, or to try to abuse and misuse his he is called by God to give a simple declaration of the truth, commending himself to the consciences of men and leaving the application of that truth with God. And hence, this is why we preach the lordship of Jesus and ourselves as servants of others, not lords over others. Now, in this series of lordship, we have established, I trust, what we mean by lordship from the text in Mark chapter 10 and verse 42, where Pilate and Jesus had their great conflict of interest. And in Mark chapter 10, Jesus defined what he meant by lordship when he said that the Gentiles which rule exercised lordship. over others. Pilate, who was a Gentile lord, confronted Jesus with his right, and he understood his lordship as meaning that he had the right to dispose of Jesus as he determined best. And Jesus reminded Pilate, no, Pilate, you do not dispose of me until God, first of all, disposes of me and of you. And so the ultimate Lord is God himself. Now, what we then mean by lordship is that if anybody is the ultimate Lord, they are the one which holds the options, so that they can dispose of events and people as their wisdom sees best. To be a Lord is to be in the place of preeminence where you can dispose of other events and things outside of oneself. And so we ultimately come to this question then, and that is, who is it that disposes? Is it God, or is it the creature? Is man Lord, or is God Lord? Does God have to get his permission from man before he can be Lord? If we believe that, I believe that's the heart of idolatry. God does not get his free will from man, but man gets his will to act from God. All right, now then, let's go through the method of apostolic preaching. Did their belief about the Lordship of Jesus Christ affect the way that they presented Christ? I want to try to answer a question in our introduction in this light. Can a person receive the benefits of Christ's work as a Savior and go to heaven while rejecting him as Lord to rule over their life? That's the question that we want to deal with, because that is a question which is prominently being debated in current evangelical preaching. The modern evangelism teaches that you can receive Jesus as a Savior, have your sins forgiven, but it is an option for you as a Christian to determine whether or not you want him to rule over your life as Lord. I do not believe that is the teachings of God's word. I believe that when we enter into this thing of conversion, that if the Lordship of Christ is properly presented, the sinner will be brought to see that God holds the options of the sinner, not the sinner holding the options of Jesus Christ. And that is humiliating to the proud heart of man. Now, how did the apostles preach? When the apostles went forth preaching, they believed that they were representing Christ as a reigning king, and they proclaimed Jesus as Lord, to where their healers charged them with preaching another king like Caesar, even Jesus. That is, when they went forth and proclaimed Jesus, that they were preaching, here is a king who has more power than Caesar does. And that's because they believed he had been resurrected from the dead, and that he held the disposal of all events in his hands at the right hand of God. Turn with me to the Gospel of Luke. Let's look at how, when Christ was born into this world, who he was entitled. What title was given to him? Who was he recognized as? Luke chapter 2 and verse 11. The angel states, For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is who? Christ the Lord. Do you see the Saviorhood of Jesus there? Yes, it is there. Jesus came to be a Savior. Matthew says he came to save his people, that's why his name was to be called Jesus. But who is it that is the Savior? It is Christ the Lord. The apostles preach Jesus as a person who was a Lord, who had under his disposal all of the options to do with all things in the creation. as he saw best to do them. Now, that's how they preached Jesus. They didn't preach a little weak anemic Jesus who's trying to do, and who has to get his permission to do, from the creation of man. But no, they preached Jesus was an absolute Lord, similar to that of Caesar, that when Caesar sat on the throne and decreed, the people under him knew that they were at Caesar's disposal. Just like Pilate reminded Jesus, you're at my disposal, the apostles went forth and preached Jesus, that men were at his disposal as Lord. And they didn't just present to men that he was a Savior, and then after they became a Christian, then they brought out the fine print and they say, oh, now you need to serve him as Lord. Do you ever have any of the fine print of a contract brought out after you've already consented to it? What's the automobile agency here in the town? Is it where there's no fine print? Isn't that the way it works? I can't remember the agency that's involved. I ought to. But where there's no fine print, go and buy your car there, there's no fine print. Apostolic preaching didn't include any fine print. It just preached the truth that Jesus was Lord, he could dispose of all things as he saw best, and if you have any interest in seeing God in glory, you better come and bow down before this one who is Lord. But contemporary preaching does not present that. It presents that Christ is at the option of men, that he is down on his knees asking men permission to make him Lord and Savior. And so as a result, why, men are told that if you will raise your hand and vote for Jesus, and that he will forgive you of your sins, then you can go to heaven. And after you've done all of that, then you can decide at a later date whether you want to serve him and be a disciple. But the apostolic preaching of the gospel knew nothing of that. They never separated the person of Christ from his work. And if you expected to partake of the benefits of his saving work at Calvary, then you were to come and bow down and acknowledge him as the only hope of your salvation. Now listen carefully as I make this statement. My only hope of being saved lies in the free will of the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. That's my only hope of salvation. I say it again. My hope of salvation lies in the free will of the Lord. And if he doesn't exercise that will toward me, I have absolutely no hope in my own righteousness of ever seeing God in glory. And yet that very concept is what men, not outside of the churches today, but men and women in the churches, gnash their teeth at. That their destiny lies in the free will of Jesus Christ. They want to be told their destiny lies in their own free will, to use their option of either accepting or rejecting Christ, and either allowing him or not allowing him to be Lord. And hence their mouths are never shut up. unto the hope of Christ in the gospel. But I have good news. Jesus rejoices in saving those people who come to him in simple trust that if there is any mercy to be found, to come with the publican, God be merciful to me, the what? The sinner. God be merciful to me, the sinner." That's the kind of people that Jesus elects to show mercy upon. Come to him as a sinner. Don't come as a Pharisee. Boasting of your own merits and your own abilities and what you've done for God and what you will do for God. You won't do anything for God that's of lasting value unless God first works that in you, in that boat, the will and the do of his own good pleasure. Don't go up to God as the Pharisee did, boasting, I fast, and I tithe, and I do all these things, and I'll give you my vows, I'll turn over a new leaf, I'll do this, I'll join the church, I'll be baptized, I'll teach, I'll do all these things. No, come on that basis. As the publican did, he came, Brother Jim, trusting that if he's going to get any mercy, it had to be in the free will of the one who had mercy to give. He had to trust in that. And thus he cast himself upon the mercy of the court. So the apostolic preaching of the gospel involved preaching Jesus as Lord. They preached and exalted Christ who had died. They did not preach the death of Christ apart from the person who he is and where he was. When they came to a man and a woman like Doug and Judy here. They would not start preaching that Christ had died, but they preached the Christ who had died and was now exalted at the throne. And thus the confrontation with men and women was not the death of Christ, it was the person of the one who had died and now had them at his disposal. Now that makes a great difference in the way the gospel is presented. an exalted throne, who had come to his throne by way of a cross and an empty tomb." And so the idea in Roman Catholicism of a Christ on a cross, that was foreign to gospel preaching. They didn't preach a Christ on a cross, Brother Howard. They preached a Christ who was sitting on a throne far higher than Caesar's, and who had got to that throne and established his kingdom by way of a cross. and an empty tomb. And now you had to deal with him not as a defeated foe on a cross. You had to deal with him as a conquering, reigning king who set the right hand of God. Look in Apostolic Preaching as an example of this, the second chapter of the book of Acts. Look how the apostles presented Christ. Acts chapter 2. This is Peter's message on the day of Pentecost. I'm going to, for time's sake, begin in verse 32. Peter, after quoting from David in the Psalms in verses 25 through 31, he now gives his own insight into the significance of the resurrection of Jesus. And incidentally, the resurrection was the central theme of apostolic preaching, because it was the resurrection that established him on the throne as Lord. Verse 32, Acts 2, This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received with the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascending to the heavens, that is, David has not been resurrected. But he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore, conclusion of all of this, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both what? Lord and Christ. Here is the summation of apostolic preaching. Men, Brother Gerald, disposed of Jesus as they thought best. They crucified him. The apostles went right back to those people who exercised their will to dispose of Jesus, and they said, now we have news for you. This one whom you have disposed of now sits on the throne, and he has the right to dispose of you. He is now the Lord, and he's the one whom you have crucified. The one whom you sinned against is now the judge. He's on the throne, and he's going to bring every deed which you have committed into account." That's between a rock and a hard spot, isn't it? That's getting people hedged in, as the old Puritans used to say. To bring them in to see to where that they are totally unrighteous and unable to bring about their own salvation, and hence the hope, if they have any, must be seen in the free will of the one who exercises his options and who is the Lord. That is sobering. That is sobering most of all, because however Jesus now opts, that will be the outcome of the one who put him to death. Now look what they cried out in verse 37. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? We're in a mess. We're in a mess. that Pilate was sitting on his throne after the resurrection, and one of his advisers comes to him, or his secretary, and says, Hey, there's somebody out here in the waiting room to see you. Pilate says, Who is it? And they said, Well, you remember that fellow you crucified and put to death three days ago? He's sitting out here. And he says he wants to have a word with you. What kind of an effect do you think that would have upon you if you were Pilate? The one whom you had exercised your lordship over, and had done the best to dispose of him, now then in spite of all the powers that man can perform, this fellow has come back to life, and now then he's in your waiting room. to speak to you. I tell you, if I pilot, that sends a cold chill up and down my spine, because I know that as I disposed of him, now the things have gotten turned around, and he can either condemn me or he can save me. I'll guarantee you there's one thing Pilate wouldn't be doing. He wouldn't go out there and say again to that fellow named Jesus, don't you know that I have the right to crucify you or to let you go? Don't you know I'm still in control of this thing? No, it had been taken out of his hands. Now listen, in apostolic preaching the goal of the preacher was to take the hope away from man of saving himself. of contributing and assisting and cooperating. But it was the purpose of apostolic preaching was to bring their hearers down before the throne of Jesus Christ, and to realize that their hope of salvation lay not in their will, but in the will of the one who was on the throne. God had given him authority over all flesh, to give what? Eternal life to as many as the Father had given him. So if I want eternal life, if I need help and I can't provide it myself, then I've got to cast myself upon the one who holds the options and see what the outcome is going to be. And that's what I'm doing this morning, Brother Joe. It's my only hope. My hope is built on what? Nothing less than Jesus' blood and his righteousness. And he is the one who shed his blood, and he is the one who applies his blood. And he does it as he sees best. Forgiveness of sins is in the hands of the one who is on the throne. And there are nail-scarred hands in there. My sins nail Christ to that cross. For he came to die not for any sins of his own, he came to die for my sins. If we see that, then our hope of acceptance with God lies not in our vows of goodness, not in our determinations, but in the determination and willpower of the one who is on the throne. The apostles preached the invitations of the gospel, but they were the invitations of a king, not the invitations which sent forth suggestions. How many of you served in the armed services? Any? Did you get an invitation to do so in the mail? Did you get that? That was a nice thing, wasn't it? Uncle Sam wants you to report for such and such a date. You are hereby invited to come and report for such and such a date for your induction into the service of your country. That was an invitation. But I tell you, it had power behind it. It had power behind it. It was a Lord who was sending that. It wasn't somebody just inviting you and suggesting you to come to a Sunday school picnic. There was an invitation, but it was the invitation of a Lord. And Jesus sends forth gospel invitations through the preaching of the gospel. But they're the invitations of a Lord, not the suggestions. come and bow down, if you expect to find life, it's in the hands of one who has been crucified." Now, salvation involves believing in Jesus as our Lord. The apostles went forth and they preached Jesus as a present reigning king. They preached that there would be a judgment coming, and they preached one message for both Jews and Gentiles. They did not have a message for the Jew and a separate message for the Gentiles. I've had Baptist ministers talk with me at length on this, and they disagree here entirely. They tell me that the Apostles, if they went out and they confounded someone who was a Jew, that they preached repentance unto the Jews. If they went out and they found someone who was a Gentile, they did not preach repentance, they just preached belief or faith. And thus, they say, the early apostolic preaching consisted of the message of repentance for the Jews and believing, or faith, for the Gentiles. And hence, since we are Gentiles, there is no need to call upon any Gentile to repent. We just call upon them to believe in Jesus. And in application, that much of that is done. Just believe in Jesus. Do you believe he exists? Do you believe he's the Son of God? Do you believe he rose from the dead? Believe that, and that's what's involved in being initiated into the Christian faith. Let's see if this is the case. Go with me to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. The book of Acts gives us the apostolic method of preaching. Now when they went out as missionaries, how did they go, what did they preach? Verse 1 of Acts chapter 17, one of the missionary journeys of Paul. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue of the Jews. And Paul as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ." Now then, down in verse 7, If we go to verse 4, some of them believed, consorted with Paul and Silas, the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and the chief women, not a few. Down in verse 7, they were charged by those who opposed them, whom Jason hath received, and these do all contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying, There is another king, one Jesus. How did the enemies of Christ understand the apostles to preach him. They understood that the apostles were preaching that there was another king who had more power than Caesar. And Paul, in this Jewish synagogue, he opened up the Old Testament and he reasoned with them that Christ must needs have suffered, and he must needs have died and be raised from the dead, and that Jesus is this Messiah. Now hold your location there and go with me to Acts 20. Don't leave Acts 17 first. Acts 20. We'll be coming back to 17 in just a moment. Rehearse our question. Did the apostles have one message for the Jews and another message for the Gentiles? Acts 20. how I have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and what? And faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." Now then, did he have one message for the Jews and another one for the Gentiles? No, he said publicly and in private. whoever I witnessed to, whether they be a Jew or a Greek, I testified two things toward them. They were to repent toward God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." So he did not have a separate message, one for Jews and one for Gentiles. And in Acts chapter 17, if you go back there now, you will find in the first part of that chapter that he is evangelizing the Jews, and he did so by beginning in the scriptures and bringing them to see that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the scriptures, and he would then call upon them to repent of having sinned against God and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now go down to Acts chapter 17 and verse 18. And here you'll see him changing from the Jews to the Gentiles on Mars Hill. What does he preach unto them on Mars Hill? He begins with God. Secondly, he begins with the creation. Thirdly, he continues with God's providence. Fourthly, he introduces them to the subject of a coming day of judgment, and then coming over to verse 20. Verse 30, And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commanded all men everywhere to what? To repent. Where did he bring the Gentiles to from their understanding of God and God's creation, the providence of God, a coming day of judgment? He called upon them to repent. Why? because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter." How is it that Jesus is going to judge men? Because he was raised from the dead and is now the Lord. Do you see then how the Apostles evangelized? They brought men from where they were in their religion, and they brought them to the same point. Repent of having offended God, and trust in the one whom God hath raised from the dead. And they showed them up unto that great truth. Jesus is now Lord of judgment, and he is also the Lord of grace. Jesus is everybody's Lord. He's your Lord here today. Whether you acknowledge it or not, he's your Lord. He's everybody's Lord. He may be your Savior. He's everybody's Lord. Go with me to Philippians chapter 2, the book of Philippians, the second chapter, beginning in verse 9. God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, and that the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, things on earth, and things under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." And my people, Jesus is Lord. Well, you say, Pastor, what are you laboring in? I see that on bumper stickers. I see that on signs all around Birmingham. Jesus is Lord over Birmingham. Every church I know of believes that Jesus is Lord. So what's the big issue? I'm saying when the apostles preached Jesus is Lord, they were conveying a message that men's destinies lay in the free will of the Lord. That's what I'm saying. That's not what those bumper stickers are meaning that you see on the back of your bumper. That's not what that big sign up here if you go down to Interstate 59 says, Jesus is Lord over Birmingham. I got news, he's Lord over everything! And he didn't get that way by permission of the act of men. He was Lord before men ever acknowledged him as Lord. And he holds the destinies of all flesh in his hands, Brother James, and he can give eternal life or he can withhold it. Now, how are you going to know where you're going to spend eternity at if you treat Jesus as if you have the option? Masses of men are in churches today and they are told, you have the option. Jesus wants to be your Lord. Now, you either accept him or reject him, but that's not the way the apostles presented this thing. They shut men up unto their understanding that Jesus was the one who controlled the options. Now, go to him. Can you trust a Jesus like that? I know of no other one to trust. To whom can I go to? Only he has the words of life. I know that John says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. I know that's true. It's in the Bible. Then how can I know whether I'm included in that great group? Him that cometh to me I will in want. No wise cast out. That can be expressed like this after last Sunday's message on Lordship of Christ and I can rephrase that text in John 6.37 to mean the same thing as what I'm about to. All that the Father giveth to me shall respond to me. And he that responds to me I will in no wise cast out. Have you responded to the Lordship message of Jesus Christ? Have you acknowledged him as the ruler of heaven and earth? If you have done so and really understood the implications of that, there is eternal life residing upon and within you at this very moment and shall never be taken away from you." Now, everyone is going to confess this sooner or later. It's just a matter of time. Just a matter of time. You see, God's controversy with men is not with Christ's Saviorhood, but with his Lordship. That's where this whole thing of sin started back there in the garden in the human race. They would not have God to rule over them. And that's where God confronts the sinner. In his bringing the sinner to himself, he brings them and confronts them at the point of our departure from God. And what is it that every member of Adam's race has within them that is common? They don't want God, a God who will what? Rule over them and control their outcome. They don't want that. We don't want that. As I've said here on numerous occasions, if I exercise how to win friends and influence people, I can get along with a lot of people. I can get along with everybody here in this church, until I start doing one thing, and that's telling you what to do. What happens then in human nature when the husband tells the wife what to do, when the wife tells the husband what to do? when the parent tells the child what to do, when the policeman tells the speeder what to do. I've only got caught speeding one time at age 16, so I'm not experienced in this, but that one time was enough for me. When you see that red light coming behind you, You just relax and say, oh, happy day, is that right? No, immediately there's a mechanism that kicks on within you, who is that fellow to do this to me, what rights does he have to pull me over? I wasn't doing this, I wasn't speeding, I wasn't, and then self-defense comes to the forefront. Man will get along with a God who will not tell him what to do. It was at that point that Adam and Eve left God, and it's at that point that God confronts the sinner in his approach to God. So modern evangelism never makes that confrontation. It says to the person, you want to go to heaven? Raise your hand. Believe in Jesus. Believe he died for you. And there's never a confrontation. But in apostolic preaching, they preached a confrontation. Before you receive the benefits of the cross, you must come and acknowledge in repentance that you have sinned against the Lord. Repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Multitudes of men that I'm acquainted with in preaching the gospel today will affirm the opposite and say that there is no need to preach repentance. Listen to the radio and TV ministries that are the popular ones and see if repentance is part of that message. You know why it isn't? Because it offends the givers. It offends the givers. And you've got to have the givers keep you on the program. So you just accentuate the positive and never mention the negative. That's not apostolic preaching. Brother Jim, when Stephen preached in Acts chapter 7, he got stoned to death for accentuating the negative. If he'd have preached what's being preached today, he'd never had any problem. They just said, My, he's a good preacher. Don't like what he's saying, but he's a good preacher. People fool, we fool ourselves sometimes in saying about our looking to preachers. Who was it that got his head cut off for preaching. Anybody remember? Wasn't it John the Baptist? You know the fellow who cut his head off, had his head cut off? You know what the Bible says about that king? Wasn't it Herod? The Bible says he loved to hear John preach. He loved to hear him preach. But he didn't like to hear John tell him, repent and cut off that adulterous relationship with your brother's wife. He didn't like that. So it's one thing just to preach and it's another thing to preach repentance and confront men that they are trying to be Lord and God and manipulate God rather than God being God alone. I close with this illustration. The only thing that makes the devil the devil is that he will not bow to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. James 2, verse 19, says that you believe that there is a God, you do well, but the devils also believe that and they tremble. Does believing that there is a God make you a Christian? No. Does believing that God sent his Son into the world, does that identify you as a Christian? No. Does believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross identify you as a Christian? No. Does believing that he rose from the grave identify you as a Christian? No. The devil believes all of these things, and he trembles at them. But why is the devil still the devil? He will not bow to the authority of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Are you with me? What then makes a sinner a sinner? Is it something he believes or doesn't believe? No. A sinner is a sinner because he will not bow and acknowledge the authority and the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. Now, until that is done, in apostolic realm, there was no baptism that was ever administered upon a person. Men and brethren, what shall we do? Repent ye and be baptized. Repent of your sin, trust in Jesus Christ, acknowledge him as your Lord, and as your Savior. This is apostolic preaching. Oh, that we might have a return from this. Salvation, then, in conclusion, is the experience which involves the submission of our heart, our mind, and our will to the lordship of Christ's person. Salvation is the enthronement of Christ's will upon the desires of the human heart. That's the evidence of being saved. Not because you got your name on a Baptist church roll, not because you were baptized in a Baptistry or a river somewhere, not because that you made a profession of faith, not because of any of these things, but the evidence that a person is a Christian is if Jesus Christ desires and his will is enthroned upon their will and their heart. That's salvation. And that's what the apostles preached. Let's stand.