The Most Neglected truth In The World: Romans Series #12

There are some truths in the Bible that are big truths. If you are not very careful, they are so big you will miss them. I came to know Jesus when I was a twelve-year old boy. I gave all I knew about me to Jesus Christ. I can say truthfully and without hesitancy that He became the Lord of life.

This is one of the biggest truths in all the Bible; I believe it is one of the most neglected truths. Jesus is referred to in the Bible as Savior 24 times. He is referred to as Lord 747 times. But when you understand and surrender your life to the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord then you begin to get the big picture.

We are facing a moral crisis in America and in the world today. This is rather strange when you think about the fact that 25% of the world identify as “Christian.” I think one of the reasons is because a lot of people have made an artificial distinction between believing on Jesus as your Savior and acknowledging as your Lord. Some people have the idea that you can receive Jesus as your Savior and then you can reject Jesus as your Lord.

When you study the Bible, you will find that these two truths are inseparably intertwined. For example, in Romans 10:9, we read, “If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” In Romans 10:13 we read, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” No person can knowingly receive Jesus as Savior and reject Him as Lord. You just can’t use Jesus as your Savior and refuse Jesus as your Lord.

When you let Jesus come into your life as Savior and when you acknowledge Him as your Lord it changes every area of your life. The word, Lord is not as meaningful to us, probably today, as it was in the New Testament Period. It was a timeframe that was taken out of the slave culture. In those days a man who was a master or a lord had ownership over a slave. That means that the slave belonged to him and was absolutely responsible and accountable to him. The slave belonged to his master, to his lord.

Is Jesus Christ Lord of your life? Have you yielded your life totally and completely to the lordship of Jesus? When you settle the big question like that a thousand lesser questions will immediately be resolved. I believe this truth will make a soul-winner out of you. It is this truth that will solve the whole problem of Christian service, faithfulness in attendance and these kinds of matters. It is this truth which will put you out of the business of passing judgment on the lifestyle and behavior of other believers and will get you serious about your responsibility personally to account to the Lord Jesus Christ for your own behavior.

When we reflect on the most neglected truth in the world, there are several straightforward statements that I wish to teach in this chapter.

I. We Need To Remember The Profound Truth
Of The Lordship Of Jesus (Romans 14:7-8)

We read, in Romans 14:7-8, “For none of us live to himself, and no man dies to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s” This verse simply says that Jesus is Lord while we live. Whether we live, we live unto the Lord. That means that you and I are responsible to the Lord Jesus Christ for every area of our lives. Everything we do, every part of our lives, every facet of our lives, we are responsible to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Freud was the father of modern psychology. Part of the garbage he dumped into the stream of modern thinking is this idea that people are not responsible for their own behavior.

One of the reasons for the rise in the crime rate in America is that we have removed personal responsibility from people so that anything anybody does today – they are not responsible for it. However, we are personally responsible in our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. When you study the Scriptures, you will find that all through the Bible every area of your life as a believer falls under the lordship of Jesus.

Your family— you are responsible to Jesus in your family life. In Ephesians 5, we notice there that the father, the mother and the children are all under the lordship of Jesus Christ. The father is accountable to the Lord Jesus. The wife is to be submissive to her husband as unto the Lord. The children are to obey their parents in the Lord. Everything ties into the Lordship of Jesus. You are responsible to the Lord Jesus in your family life.

You are responsible to the Lord Jesus in your business life. Whether that be your business as a businessman or whether that be your work around the house as a homemaker. Whether that be you going to school as a student. You are responsible to the Lord Jesus for that aspect of your life.

Many of those early Christians were slaves and some of them were doing menial tasks. Some of them were doing nothing no more significant than cleaning out stables for their masters. Listen to what the Lord says about this in the book of Colossians. “Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. Knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ.”

The Apostle is expressing whatever you do, whether you work in a factory, whether you are a salesman, whether you are a student in school, whether you are washing dishes at your home —- whatever you do you are to do it unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Is Jesus the Lord of your vocational, your business, life?

Yet, there is still more. Jesus is to be Lord in our personal behavior. That means that our mind belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. Be careful what you think because that mind belongs to the Lord Jesus. You are responsible to Jesus for your mental life.

Of course, your body belongs to the Lord. Every area of your life, your heart, the very center of your being. We are to live unto the Lord. It will change your life altogether when you come to understand this simple truth that Jesus is Lord while we live.

In every heart there is a throne and there is a cross. If you are on the throne, then Jesus is on the cross. If Jesus is on the throne, you are on the cross. There can’t be two kings on a throne. Jesus wants to be Lord in your life.

Jesus is Lord while we live but He is also Lord when we die. We read, “Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” For the believer, death is not the end of the matter. Death for the believer is not the cessation of life; it is really a change of life. The Bible says for the believer to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

“For none of us live to himself, and no man dies to himself.” That means that as a Christian you are not alone while you are living in life. It means even when you come to die you are not alone. When you come to that final time, when you come to that final moment of your life, Jesus Christ your Lord will be right there with you. That’s why David said, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

Now only is he going to be with us but – verse 8 – For whether we live, we live unto the Lord and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. So, death for the believer is the Lord coming to get what belongs to him. The Lord is going to come to get us, and we belong to Him.

Psalm 116:15 – “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” When you come to die the Lord comes to get you.

Jesus said in Luke 16 – “the beggar died and the angels came and carried him into Abraham’s bosom.” One of these days when you and I get ready to die the Lord Jesus Christ who is Lord of Lords and King of Kings is going to say, that’s one of my children down there. Undertaker angels go down there and get one of mine. We are going to have that final convoy into the gates of glory. We are going to take that final trip into heaven and we’ll belong to the Lord forever. Jesus is Lord. That means he’s Lord while we are living. It is Lord when we die. Jesus is Lord.

II. We Need To Realize The Practical Truth
Of The Lordship Of Jesus (Romans 14:9)

We read in Romans 10:9, “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, and he might be Lord both of the dead and the living.” That statement is just setting forth the fact that it is very practical to declare that Jesus is Lord because He died to purchase us and He lives forevermore to possess us. “To this end Christ both died.” When Jesus died on the cross, the Bible says that Jesus paid the price of His blood in order to purchase us to himself.

Adam and Eve, our first parents, in the Garden of Eden, sold us out. So, when we were born we are born into the bondage of sin. We are sinners by birth; we are also sinners by choice. But when Jesus came, lived a perfect life, then went outside the city of Jerusalem and was nailed to the cross. The Bible says Jesus was paying the price to redeem us from our sins.

The word, “redeemed,” is a word that has a beautiful symbolism about salvation. In those days a slave would be in the slave block. A man would come there and bid a price for that slave. The slave was purchased by the highest bidder. He paid the price that was agreed upon. He took the slave for the slave belonged to him. Calvary was sin’s slave market.

Jesus walked into sin’s slave market, Calvary, and He paid a price. The Bible says in Acts 20:28 that he has redeemed us with his own precious blood. When Jesus shed His blood at Calvary’s cross, He was making that payment once for all to redeem us, to purchase us, to deliver us from our sins. When He died, He died to purchase us. When Jesus He paid for us, we now belong to Him.

In I Cor. 6:19-20 we read, “What? know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have of God. And you are not your own for you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s.”

We don’t belong to ourselves anymore. We don’t have final say as to ourselves anymore. This truth means then you are no longer free to look at what you want to with these eyes. Those eyes belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. That means you are no longer free to say what you want to with these lips because those lips belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. This truth means you are no longer free to hear what you want to hear with these ears. These ears belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Your hands are not yours; they belong to the Lord. Your feet are not yours; they belong to the Lord. He died to purchase you. He has total right, total authority over every area of your life. He paid the price of His own blood in order to have that right. He died to purchase us.

Now He lives forever to possess us. It’s one thing to purchase something; it’s another thing to possess it. You can buy something – buy a piece of land or a house, but there comes a time when you take possession of it. The Lord took possession at the resurrection. 2,000 years ago. Jesus died on that cross outside the city of Jerusalem.

The Bible teaches that they buried Him in a tomb. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” So, the penalty of death Jesus took in that tomb. They rolled the stone in front of that tomb. For three days and three nights Jesus Christ was in that tomb. But this verse is the very heart of the Gospel. The Good news is that Jesus died, yes. He was buried, yes. But three days later the Bible says He rose again. Jesus Christ is alive!

In every believer Jesus Christ is present. In some believers Jesus Christ is prominent. In every believer He wants to be preeminent. Also, in every believer Jesus Christ is resident. But in every believer where He is resident, he wants to be president. Is Jesus in charge in your home tonight? Is Jesus in charge in your life tonight? Is Jesus Christ reigning as Lord in your life tonight?

This truth is powerfully practical. If Jesus died and rose again, He’s alive. If He is alive and comes into your heart by faith, now He wants to absolutely take total control, total lordship over your life. That’s the key to the Christian life. That’s why it’s the most neglected truth in the Bible. To know that Jesus Christ is Lord and live an average Christian life just won’t get it. To believe that Jesus is Lord, that He is living Lord and that He lives in your heart ought to set you on fire!

In Galatians 2:20 we read, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

It is not possible for any human being to live the Christian life in and of themselves. But it is possible for us to live the Christian live when we yield to the Lordship of Jesus over every area, every day of our life.

We have a champion living inside of us. He is the champion of all champions. He has never lost a fight. He’s never lost a battle. They thought they had him down for the mat of time, when he was on the cross of Calvary, but He rose again and He lives as reigning King of kings and Lord of Lords. He’s the champion. Jesus is Lord. It a profound truth. It is a practical truth.

III. We Need To Recommit To The Prouncement
Of The Lordship Of Jesus (Romans 14:10-11)

You may have wondered when you read verses 7-12 what it had to do with this whole matter of what chapter ten is about deciding about matters of right and wrong. This matter of learning to get along with other believers who have different opinions about right and wrong. You may have wondered what that had to do with it.

If you will look at Romans 14:10 Paul shows us what it has to do with it. He says in verse 10 – Why do you judge your brother.” That’s exactly what he said don’t do in verse 3. He says, why do you set at naught? Why do you look down on your brother?

That’s exactly what he said in verse 3. He is saying why are you doing this? Why are you passing judgment? Why are you criticizing believers who have certain convictions that you don’t have? Then he says, “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”

Some translations put it the “judgment seat of God.” What is this judgment seat of Christ? You may think as believers, judgment was not in our future. That’s what the Bible says.

We read in John 5:24 – “Verily, verily I say unto you he that heareth my word and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation (judgment) but is passed from death unto life. Romans 8:1 — “There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

Yet, now in Romans 14:10 he says we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. There is another judgement that is the Great White Throne Judgment. In Revelation 20:11-15, you’ll read about the Great White Throne Judgment. The unsaved will stand there. Those who have rejected Jesus Christ as Savior. They will stand before Him in judgment at the Great White Throne Judgment.

But 2,000 years ago, as a believer, our sins were judged fully and finally in the Lord Jesus Christ. We will never appear before God to be judged concerning whether or not we are going to heaven or hell. The sin judgment took place at the cross of Calvary for believers.

However, the Bible does say that in the future there is going to be an examination time for the believer. In II Cor. 5:10, we read, “For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad.”

Do you see the difference? The Bible says in the future there is going to be a solemn appearing. Every believer is going to stand before the Lord Jesus, not to determine whether you get into heaven, but to be examined concerning your life.

In this context, this is why Paul says in verse 10 – why are you spending time passing judgment on other believers and why are you spending your time looking down on other believers when you are going to stand yourself at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Do you have the idea that when you get to the Judgment Seat of Christ you are going to be telling the Lord on these people that you’ve disagreed with?

When you and I stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ we are not going to be spending a whole lot of time trying to get the Lord to judge up some people who are around us. The Bible says we are all going to stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ.

The Bible says Romans 14:12 – “everyone of us shall give an account (shall tell the story of his own life to the Lord). At the Judgment seat you are going to give an account not for your fellow believer, not for their behavior, not for their convictions or whether you agree with them or whether they were silly or worldly or anything about it. You are going to tell the story of your life to the Lord Jesus and it’s going to be a solemn occasion.

No wonder the Bible says, “he will wipe away all tears from their eyes.” It’s going to be a sad thing, I’m afraid, when we stand before the judgment Seat of Christ and give an account for the idle words we’ve spoken. When we give an account for the motives for why we did what we did. When we give an account to the Lord for our faithfulness or lack of faithfulness. When we stand before the Lord and we account to Him for the opportunities He gave us whether we took those opportunities or whether we failed.

We read in I Corinthians 3, “every man’s work shall be tried by fire.” The scrutinizing gaze of the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ will look at every aspect and area of our life. Those things that were not done for the Lord Jesus Christ will go up in smoke right in front of our eyes. All those things that are displeasing to the Lord are going to be burned up. I’m afraid many Christians are going to take the charred embers of a wasted life and press them into the nail-pierced hands of Jesus. It is a solemn truth to say, “Jesus is my Lord.”

In Romans 14:11, Paul brings a crescendo, “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” Every one of us who are saved, one of these days at the Judgment Seat we are going to get down on our knees. He’ll reward us for all the things that are right. He’ll deal with us for all the things that are bad, but we’ll get down on our knees and say, “Jesus, you are Lord.”

In Philippians 2 it says that every knee should bow and every tongue should confess. In Romans 14 it says every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. You’ll either do it now or your will do it later. The question is not will you confess that Jesus Christ is Lord? The question is when will you confess that Jesus Christ is Lord?