The Only Message Who is Jesus

There's an old black and white TV show of the Andy Griffith show in Mayberry with Barney Fife and Gomer sitting together in church and the visiting preacher has a monotone voice and a boring sermon on being a better person and both of them end up falling asleep. It's hilarious and as the people are exiting the church to shake hands with the visiting preacher, Barney says to the visiting preacher, that was a good sermon, Reverend. Everybody needs to hear a good sermon on sin.

But the society we live in today, friends, no longer remotely resembles the one from the 1960s before they banned prayer in our public schools and where the Ten Commandments were publicly displayed. We have some good God-called preachers in this land that preach the truth. I know a few of them but most evangelists unfortunately have brought in the way of salvation in ways Jesus never did.

I seriously doubt the majority of preachers in this country will ever bring you a sermon on sin. Sin is a taboo subject in this politically correct society we live in today. You can get in a lot of trouble by finding fault with a man who dresses like a woman.

I was in the grocery store a couple of weeks ago and the individual checking my groceries was a man in his 50s wearing a dress, lipstick, a wig, and women's jewelry. He was doing all he could with his costume to convince you that he was a woman but I wasn't buying it and I don't think anybody else in that store was buying it either. But it sure was creepy and uncomfortable as I had to look away from him just to get out of there.

But that's our sick society today, friends. It's a sin-sick society. I bring before you this evening, friends, the one message you need to hear.

It's the only message to keep you out of hell. I'm going to give you the shortest definition of sin found in my Bible. It's found in the book of Isaiah in chapter 53.

All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. Sin is going our way when we know it isn't God's way.

God told Adam and Eve of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shall not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die. What happened? Insubordination kicked in. Insubordination happened.

Then sin poisoned mankind. You say, well preacher, what's so wrong about insubordination? What does it mean anyhow? The dictionary definition for insubordination is defiance of authority, refusal to take orders, refusal to obey. God says, eat not of the tree, and they go ahead and do it anyhow.

That's sin personified going my way when I know it isn't God's way. But I'm sure you group of nicely dressed people here don't know nothing about what I'm talking about. Why, you're as pure as the driven snow in your own mind.

And guess what? You drifted. All sin is insubordination and all on the hot cobblestones in hell is paved that word insubordination. You take a good look at that word friend, insubordination, and you can see sin in it.

S-I-N. Like we say in the south, I'm going to give you the oil straight from the can this evening because I preach a unvarnished, undiluted gospel of the cross, of the son of God. I didn't come here tonight to comb your hair and send you to hell with a nice little message that won't offend anyone.

No, friends, I don't give a hoot what you think about me personally. I'm not here for your approval, and I've had churches not even give me a love offering because the good deacons were so fighting mad at me for being honest with their souls by saying, if you don't repent, you'll surely go to hell even if you are the chairman of the deacons. I'm here to deliver God's message here tonight, friends, for it's time to shell the corn down and get serious with God or just go on to hell.

Listen to me. Hear me now. You better sit up straight.

Get the wax out of your ears tonight, friends, because this is the one message you need to hear. Some of you have made a little decision or sometime back yonder you made some kind of profession of faith. You basically just did what the minister told you to do, and you believe that was salvation.

That allowed you to hide in the church, and somehow when God isn't looking, you plan to smuggle your soul into heaven if you can get away with it, but not once, not ever, not never have you ever given Christ Jesus his rightful place in your life as Lord. You're like one of the mob in the times of Christ who yelled in rebellion, we will not have this man rule over us. We live in a day, friends, of sad spiritual declension in the churches and terrible apostasy within our denominations, and the gospel we've been feeding folks for the last 80 years is a perverted man-centered gospel with a mutilated Christ who we can cut into half, one half Savior and the other half Lord.

Nobody in this country has any objections to Jesus being a Savior. Why, they sure as shooting don't want him as Lord. You can go into a prison, you can get 80 percent of the prisoners there to agree with your little message.

You can get some prostitutes or murderers to take your little Jesus as a free ticket to heaven, but they will absolutely refuse the Jesus who has rights and claims on all followers of his. They don't mind taking him as Savior, but they will not give him the rightful place in their lives as Lord. If that was true, then the prostitutes would have to go find another way to make a living, but they'll take your little Jesus and take some tricks as well.

Listen, friends, I was sitting in a man's office just a while ago. He told me he was a homosexual, and he showed me his wedding ring, and he informed me that because he was a Christian, he felt it was his duty to marry his male sex partner. He wanted to make it legal in the sight of society and God.

I can't blame him. He's just a product of modern evangelism that lets you take Jesus like you would a free stick of chewing gum, and you chew on that for a while until the flavor goes out of your religion. But the gospel that denies the Lordship of Christ is only a mass conveyor belt carrying multitudes of deceived, lost religious individuals on a fast track to hell, but they're going to hell by droves with the name of Jesus on their lips, but not enshrined in their hearts.

Everybody is fine with a God who won't get in the way of your daily living. I fear too many today, friends, have joined the church and have mistaken church membership for salvation. They've gotten out their pocketknights.

They've carved out a little God for themselves who won't get in the way of their daily living, and that, my friends, is nothing more than insubordination. That's what I'm talking about tonight. I'm talking about insubordination.

The old devil wasn't always a devil. Why? He was one of God's choice angels, the sun of the morning, a standout in heaven. But a time came when he wanted to pull God down from his throne and rule there himself.

We see the hatchings of hell in his rotten, insubordinate heart. For in Isaiah chapter 14, beginning in verse 12, we read, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which did its weak in the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high, yet thou should be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit.

And Jesus verified Satan being thrown out of heaven when he said, I beheld Satan, his lightning fall from heaven. His judgment in heaven was swift. It was obvious God almighty will not have any rebels in his holy heaven.

Any insubordination will be quashed. How fast will Satan's fall from heaven? Faster than you can snap your fingers. How fast will you drop into hell if you die outside the redeeming blood of Christ? Faster than you can snap your fingers.

And those of you church members who are sitting on the throne of your life and ruling there, I've got a news flash for you. God will not run up the white flag of peace upon your soul while you're still pointing a shotgun at him. I remember Rolf Barnard tell about the time he met Mordecai Ham, an evangelist so mighty none was ever seen since the days of Sam Jones in America.

Mordecai Ham would set up a tent in the red light district of a town and go to preaching. And in three months time they'd have closed down the house of ill repute because all the girls had been saved. Well how God did use that man Mordecai Ham.

And Rolf Barnard was a young preacher boy and he asked him, Brother Ham give the young preacher the message for today. And he said the message for today is who is Jesus? That will always be the message. There'll never be any other.

We must stick to it. Well after I heard that story I went out and bought me a copy of the biography of Mordecai Ham and the Jesus he preached and the message he preached is revealed in his own words which I now read to you now friends. I preached the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ.

I allowed for no compromise but hammered this one thought that Christ Jesus must have first place first call in first allegiance. I made that the keynote of all my meetings and that's the reason friends why God used Mordecai Ham and that's the one message that still needs to be preached. Who is Jesus? Jesus is a living lord.

What is necessary to men what is necessary to women who don't have the lord is pressing the one thing that counts Jesus Christ by God's eternal decree by virtue of a life laid down he is lord bow down to him that's the starting point friends no use talking about anything else like election or sanctification for if you miss his lordship you miss salvation. I'm being brutally honest with you here tonight friends so many of you have a false peace a false assurance built upon the rotten foundation of a false faith that is as empty as a hole in the wall do you know how many baptized corpses on a church roll are screaming hell at this very moment oh I wish I could walk you over to that region friend I wish I could walk you there and lift the lid off that bottomless pit and let you hear them scream oh they're screaming I was a good deacon I was a regular choir member why I taught Sunday school I was a pastor of a big Baptist church but look at me now look at me now don't come here I warn you you better believe Jesus is lord it's too late for me come here tonight friends with a warning message you must be confronted and face the truth of God's testimony about who Jesus Christ is in what response God requires of men and women let me ask you friend have you faced Jesus Christ in the gospel in the written word of God if you do you'll see crystal clear that he is Lord you must repent and believe on him and follow him in a life of discipleship where you get a little taste what it's like to have the cross in the life of a believer oh so many in our churches today have never heard about the truth of who Jesus really is and that if you want him you must surrender all you are to all he is and he is Lord God have mercy upon the person here tonight who hears this message who realizes Jesus has never been their Lord and by choice yet never will be Lord you're gonna wind up in hell before you have time to take your shoes off defiance of authority is nothing but insubordination if you refuse to submit to his lordship it's a defiance to the very authority of the word of God which declares that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord oh sin is a terrible thing friends sin is rebellion rebellion is compared to witchcraft let me spell sin for you get out a pen or write it down s stands for slippery slope because sin will take you further than you want to go leave you there longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you ever realized it's a slippery slope friend i stands for insubordination all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way sin is going our way when we know it isn't God's way and that is nothing more than insubordination is there a rotten spot in your life friend that you refuse to give to God like that homosexual who told me he was okay in God's sight because he married his sex partner and they were good church members he felt he was okay he wanted the security of heaven but he didn't want to part with his sinful lifestyle that God's word calls a abomination are you going to church and calling yourself a Christian and still sleeping with your partner outside of marriage but the biblical name for that is fornication in revelation 22 15 the niv has plain english that reads outside are the dogs those who practice magic arts the sexually immoral the murderers the idolaters and everyone who loves and practice falsehood do lies fall from your lip like saliva from a dog on a hot day is Jesus your Lord or not are you gonna get serious with God friend or will you just keep playing footsie with the world and Elijah came on to all the people and said how long halt ye between two opinions if the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then follow him you better not follow your sins friend because they will follow you into eternity and rise up against you as evidence in a courtroom where you'll be found guilty before the judge of all the earth so s stands for slippery slope i stands for insubordination and n stands for need need of a savior for sin you better get to Jesus the Jesus of the Bible enclosed with him i know i'm a sinner i need a substitute for sin and so do you friend so do you but this may be the last message you'll ever hear but it's the only message worth hearing we live in a land of sudden death one out of every two people who die in America today die from sudden death i had a best friend kiss his wife and daughter goodbye one morning get in his plane fly to a business meeting out of state and it crashed in the field before he had time to take his lunch i had another friend hop on his motorcycle he turned a curve too fast hit an oil spot on the road and he hit his head on a curb and instantly died he was only 26 i worked with a man in his 40s who i said hello to in the hallway and later that night he went to bed and he woke up after midnight took two steps out of bed and dropped dead like cement to the floor from a heart attack we live in such a uncertain world that you could get gone down by a madman or run over by a car before you make it home tonight from this meeting i'm warning you friend jesus is lord and the only way topside of this green earth to be saved is to have jesus as your lord you better listen to me i'm telling it to you big plain and straight the lordship of christ the lordship of christ is the missing doctrine from the churches today the lordship of christ makes lost religious men froth at the mouth make some fighting mad and they want to crucify any preacher who preaches it men want to be saved but they sure as shooting don't want to be united to a holy christ in a life of holiness you listen to me friend i'm talking plain talk to you here tonight i don't want you to go to hell hell is horrible hell is suffocating hell is deep outer darkness where there is constant wailing and gnashing of teeth wailing speaks of great grief and loss and gnashing the teeth signifies great anger and regret don't go to hell friend don't go to hell where you'll be cast into a lake of fire right beside the dirty devil himself because every mother's son who follows the devil is filled with the very same thing he is and that's insubordination insubordination hell itself is nothing more than insubordination to a thrice holy god who demands repentance and a life of submission to his dear son jesus who god says is lord god says it friend i've been honest with your souls tonight your blood is off my hands i've done my duty to warn you i've been faithful to warn you to warn you of the high cost you're likely to pay for continued hardening yourself against the reproves of god concerning his son who is jesus that's the only message needed for this hour he's not the little impotent jesus most evangelists hand out today who stands helplessly at the door of your heart knocking like a insurance salesman with his hat in his hand won't you let him in won't you pity that little jesus and let him in don't you feel sorry for him standing there helpless waiting for you to open the door of your heart to invite him in listen friend only god almighty can open your heart and show you how black it's full of insubordination and devils and only god can invade your life conquer your rebellion quash it you can't save yourself any more than you can fly through the air like superman gravity will get you every time and sin will find you out in the soul that sinneth it shall die you better get to the real christ or the real bible friend you want to know the difference between what we call christianity in america as compared to christians in tough places in third world countries of persecution places like afghanistan or china in northern nigeria where they've counted the cost of following a crucified savior two words in america the key word in american christianity is commitment but the key word in those other countries for christianity is not the word commitment it's the word surrender you commit to a membership in a hell spy you commit to membership in a gym that you can cancel anytime you want to whereas surrender is different if someone holds a gun on you and commands you to lift your hands in the air as a token of surrender you don't tell that person what you're committed to you simply surrender and do as you're told americans love commitment because they are still in control but how bad do you want to be a slave to the lord jesus christ and actually be saved friend you want to be like satan and pull god down from his throne so you can sit there yourself don't be like that church elder i knew who could pray the most eloquent angelic prayers in the congregation at church but when you went to visit him at his workplace why you want to put your thumbs in your ears because he had one of the foulest mouths full profanity that would shock a sailor but there's a crowd that's gonna regret they had a low view of god and ignored his lordship and hugged their sins you trust me friend don't you want to be part of that crowd you don't want to be part of that crowd for that day there's a reason why it's called the day of the lord it's seen in second thessalonians when the lord jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not god and that obey not the gospel of our lord jesus christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the lord and from the glory of his power there's going to be a lot of insubordinate church members standing in that crowd on that day who don't know the true god of the bible who obey not his gospel because they rejected his lordship and who on that day will meet the lord jesus as their judge a judge who comes to quash all rebellion put it down under his feet and cast those rebels into everlasting destruction you want to mock the god of the bible you want to mock the word of god by your course of life friend you don't thumb your nose at god and escape his wrath why i can't pry open your heart with a crowbar only god can open your heart i don't care if you're a seminary president if you're full of insubordination you're gonna bust hell wide open when you die it was a seminary professor who started all this only believed gospel nonsense to begin with you better hear this preacher friend unless you repent you'll surely go to hell kicking and screaming i'll plumb worn myself out tonight friends trying to warn you i've done my level best trying to take the word of god and hold it like a sledgehammer and bust up every rotten foundation here tonight every rotten foundation of self-reliance self-righteousness that you have i care about your soul more than i care about what you think of me some of you are boiling mad at me for speaking truth tonight some of you are bucking me tonight and fighting the truth that i've shared with you because you don't want to break up with your live-in lover you don't want to stop your boozing or stop your lying stop your stealing and every other rotten thing that gives you pleasure and self-gratification some of you would rather go to hell than part with your beloved idols you like your dirty pig pens and you resent anyone messing with them the apostle paul knew the cost of preaching the truth about who jesus is why he had his scars to show for it for sure and he wound up not with the applause of a big church and a successful ministry but with the sound of a fallen axe i can't make you a christian friend any more than you can make yourself a christian salvation is of the lord you're not saved by decision you make but by the regenerating work of the holy spirit upon your heart because if you're really saved it's because god gave you saving faith and if you're really saved you've been busy doing all you can to keep jesus lord of your life oh we're not perfect people we will stumble here and there but our face is pointed in the right direction while we follow our lord follow our lord jesus we want to be holy we want to be pleasing to him we know sin robs god of his glory and tramples the blood of christ some of you hate me some of you call me a holy roller look i'm just telling you what a real christian is like because you don't know the love of sin in you has to die christ must be your all in all christ must be a complete master if you're not because you're bought with a price friend you don't own yourself you're bought with a price and that price was christ's blood the lordship of christ is the only message not this easy believism we have today i've seen this message of the lordship of christ transform lives i've seen it change lives friends it radically changed the entire course of my own life when i heard stephen offered preach on the lordship of christ i've preached this message of the demands of christ to a room full of pastors and i saw ministries transformed i've preached on the rights and claims of christ the lord and i saw church turned upside down in revival god can turn you upside down here tonight friends but you must become a seeker of him i want you to take some time now friend to get serious with god god gets serious with those who get serious with him in god's word in jeremiah we read for i know the thoughts that i think toward you saith the lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a expected end then you shall call upon me and you shall go and pray unto me and i will hearken unto you and you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart and i will be found of you saith the lord and i will turn away your captivity oh dear friend wouldn't you like a consistent walk with god don't you hunger for more usefulness it cannot come with a divided heart christ must have all of you christ must have first place first allegiance you have to have him friend as lord look if you want more of the holy spirit he has to have more of you jay silo baxter used to say what i give to him he takes what he takes he cleanses what he cleanses he fills and what he fills he uses i like that friends because it's so true don't let this opportunity pass you here tonight friends while christ is near i want to take this time now friends for you to get along with god do business with him he's not looking for commitment he's looking for surrender he's not waiting for you to be better he's waiting for you to come come as you are come as you is but surrender to his lordship in your life he held nothing back at calvary dying for a filthy sins how in the world can we hold anything back from him put it on the altar give it all to him friend run up the white flag of surrender over your soul what is the message needed tonight it's still the same one it's always been the same one somehow we lost it along the way but that one needful message is who is jesus he is lord you better bow now to him or you bow to him on judgment day when he puts his foot on your neck for the lord says to my lord sit thou at my right hand until i make thine enemies that footstool oh dear friend i've tried so hard tonight to convince you that jesus isn't lord of your life then you run the risk of being his enemy get right with god now friend before it's too late this old poor preacher has done all he can to point you away from yourself into all to the only help and hope you have in the lord jesus who came down here walked among men went around doing good only to be arrested unfairly tried who suffered the pain and shame of calvary who died and was buried and who rose again who ascended back into heaven where he now sits at the right hand of the father and he earned that right by way of a bloody cross hear me friends it's time for you to come in absolute surrender to him as lord to lord of your life why i'll tell you why he is lord he is lord he is risen from the dead and he is lord lord every knee shall bow every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord