Is
Christ Your Lord?
A. W. Pink
We do not ask, Is Christ your "Savior," but is He, really and truly, your
Lord?
If He be not your Lord, then most certainly He is not your "Savior." Those
who have not received Christ Jesus as their "Lord," and yet suppose Him
to be their "Savior," are deluded, and their hope rests on a foundation
of sand. Multitudes are deceived on this vital point, and therefore, if
the reader values his or her soul, we implore you to give a most careful
reading to this little tract.
When
we ask, Is Christ your Lord? we do not inquire, Do you believe in the Godhood
of Jesus of Nazareth? The demons do that (Matthew 8:28-29) and yet
perish notwithstanding! You may be firmly convinced of the Deity of Christ,
and yet be in your sins. You may speak of Him with the utmost reverence,
accord Him His divine titles in your prayers, and yet be unsaved. You may
abominate those who traduce His person and deny His divinity, and yet have
no spiritual love for Him at all.
When we ask, Is Christ your LORD, we mean, does He in very deed occupy
the throne of your heart, does He actually rule over your life? "We
have turned every one to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6) describes
the course which all follow by nature. Before conversion every soul lives
to please self. Of old it was written, "every man did that which was
right in his own eyes," and why? "In those days there was no king
in Israel." (Judges 21:25) Ah! that is the point we desire to
make clear to the reader. Until Christ becomes your KING, (I Timothy
1:17; Revelation 15:3), until you bow to his sceptre, until
His will becomes the rule of your life, SELF dominates, and thus Christ
is disowned.
When the Holy Spirit begins His work of grace in a soul, He first convicts
of sin. He shows me the real and awful nature of sin. He makes me realize
that it is a species of insurrection, a defying of God's authority, a setting
of my will against His. He shows me that in going my "own way,"
(Isaiah 53:6) in pleasing myself, I have been fighting against God.
As my eyes are opened to see what a lifelong rebel I have been, how indifferent
to God's honor, how unconcerned about His will, I am filled with anguish
and horror, and made to marvel that the thrice Holy One has not long since
cast me into Hell. Reader, have you ever gone through this experience?
If not, there is yet grave reason to fear you are yet spiritually
dead!
Conversion, true conversion saving conversion, is a turning from sin to
God in Christ. It is a throwing down the weapons of my warfare against
Him, a ceasing to despise and ignore His authority. New Testament conversion
is described thus: "Ye turned to God from idols to serve (be In
subjection to, obey) the living and true God." (I Thessalonians
1:9) An "Idol" is any object to which we give what is due alone unto
God; the supreme place in our affections, the moulding influence of our
hearts, the dominating power of our lives. Conversion is a right-about-face,
the heart and will repudiating sin, self, and the world. Genuine conversion
is always evidenced by "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" (Acts
9:6): it is an unreserved surrendering of ourselves to His holy will.
Have you yielded yourself to Him? (Romans 6:18)
There
are many people who would like to be saved from Hell but who do not want
to be saved from self-will, from having their own way, from a life of (some
form of) worldliness. But God will not save them on their terms. To be
saved, we must submit to HIS terms. Listen to His terms: "Let the wicked
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return
unto the LORD, (having revolted from Him in Adam) and he will have
mercy upon him." (Isaiah 55:7) Said Christ, "Whosoeever he
be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath (all that is opposed
to Me), he cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:33) Men must
be turned "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto
God" before they can "receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance
among them which are sanctified." (Acts 26:18)
"As
ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk ye in Him."
(Colossians 2:6) That is an exhortation to Christians, and its force
is, Continue as you begin. But how had they "begun"? By receiving "Christ
Jesus the Lord", by surrendering to Him, by subjecting themselves to His
will, by ceasing to please themselves. His authority was now owned. His
commands now became their rule of life. His love constrained them to a
glad and unreserved obedience. They "gave their own selves to the Lord."
(II Corinthians 8:5) Have you, my reader, done this? Have you? Do
the details of your life evidence it? Can those with whom you come into
contact see that you are no more living to please self? (II Corinthians
5:15)
Oh my reader, make no mistake upon this point: a conversion which the Holy
Spirit produces is a very radical thing. It is a miracle of grace. It is
the enthroning of Christ in the life. And such conversions are rare indeed.
Multitudes of people have just sufficient "religion" to make them miserable.
They refuse to forsake every known sin; and there is no true peace for
any soul until he does. They have never "received Christ Jesus the Lord."
(Colossians 2:6) Had they done so, "the joy of the Lord"
would be their strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) But the language of their
hearts and lives (not their 'lips") is, "We will not have this Man to
reign over us." (Luke 19:14) Is that your case?
The great miracle of grace consists in changing a lawless rebel into a
loving and loyal subject. It is a "renewing" of the heart, so that the
favored subject of it has come to loathe what he loved, and the things
he once found irksome are now winsome. (II Corinthians 5:17) He
delights "in the law of God after the inward man." (Romans 7:22)
He discovers that Christ's "commandments are not grievous" (I
John 5:3), and that "in keeping of them there is great reward."
(Psalms 19:11) Is this your experience? It would be if you received
Christ Jesus THE LORD!
But
to receive Christ Jesus the Lord is altogether beyond unaided human power.
That is the last thing which the unrenewed heart wants to do. There must
be a supernatural change of heart before there is even the desire for Christ
to occupy its throne. And that change, none but God can work. (I Corinthians
12:3) Therefore, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found." (Isaiah
55:6) "Search for Him with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
Reader, you may have been a professing Christian for years past and you
may have been quite sincere in your profession. But if God has condescended
to use this tract to show you that you have never really and truly "received
Christ Jesus the Lord," if now in your own soul and conscience you
realize that SELF has ruled you hitherto, will you not now get down on
your knees and confess to God your self-will, your rebellion against Him,
and beg Him to so work in you that, without further delay, you may be enabled
to yield yourself completely to His will and become His subject, His servant,
His loving slave, in deed and in truth?
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