Lordship in Salvation Lesson Two — E.A. Johnston

The Easy-Believed Gospel and False Assurance

The easy-believed gospel of the last 60 years has harmed the kingdom of God by making light of sin and giving false assurance to multiply thousands who have flooded our churches on an empty religious profession.

Repentance and the Necessity of Salvation

When a famous seminary professor 80 years ago wrote a systematic theology that taught repentance was not necessary to salvation, that's when Southern Baptists began to fall into apostasy and the easy-believed gospel was hatched.

But you can't have salvation from sin without having your sins washed in the blood of Christ Jesus. And without repentance, there is no salvation, no matter what some egghead professor taught. Jesus' first sermon was on repentance, and his last word to his church in the book of Revelation was, repent, Jesus taught, except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Christ's Lordship in Salvation

Our message today, friends, is on the lordship and salvation from sin. You cannot divide Christ in halves and choose the one you want. But Christ is a prince as well as a savior. Jesus saves us from our sins.

Redemption from Sin's Penalty and Power

Allow me to use the following illustration in regard to Christ's work in redemption. Years ago, I visited the ancient city of Ephesus, and I took a tour of the excavated ruins. Perhaps some of you have traveled there as well.

In the footsteps of the Apostle Paul and the Apostle John, they both lived and labored in Ephesus. Well, there among the ruins was what was called an agora. An agora was an outdoor marketplace, kind of like a strip mall that we would know today.

An agora was a marketplace where items were bought and sold. Slaves were also sold in the agora. Now take that word agora and make the word agorazo. In the Greek language, the word agorazo means redemption.

So the word agorazo means that Jesus went into the marketplace of sin and bought us by His blood and with His death. That is redemption. Now add the little preposition ek in front of the word agorazo, and you have ek agorazo.

In the Greek, ek means to take out of something, to remove something out of. So this word for redemption, ek agorazo, means that Jesus not only entered the marketplace of sin and purchased us by His blood, but He removed us from the marketplace of sin.

He set us free from its dominion. Jesus saves from the penalty of sin and from the power of sin. Listen friend, Jesus never preached sin and religion like we do today. Salvation in Christ means a sinner throws down his shotgun of rebellion and surrenders to a sovereign king, King Jesus.

Salvation is the lordship of Christ in your life, where self is dethroned and another enthroned there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is a reigning Lord who sits at the right hand of the Father, and He earned that right by way of a bloody cross.

We are saved from the penalty of sin and from the power of sin. Christ is Lord. In Philippians 2, 10 and 11, we read 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 to the glory of God the Father.

Unconditional Surrender to Christ as Lord

As Lord, Christ demands unconditional surrender of His subjects. Our Lord demands not admiration, but surrender. To be a Christian is to bow the knee to Him and crown Him Lord of all, all you are and all you have.

He is an absolute Lord. It's an absolute monarchy. Men are subject to Him because they belong to Him. He reigns over men absolutely in virtue of His Lordship. Contrary to popular belief, friends, there is no way of salvation open for men apart from unconditional surrender to Christ as Lord.

In this regard, Christianity is absolutely intolerant. God declares, for I am God and there is none else. Salvation is an absolute call to total surrender to a living Lord. His Lordship is real. Bow down to Him, friend.

He is the only way, the only door, the only Lord.