The Lordship of Jesus Christ — Oswald J. Smith

Father, we thank Thee that at this hour, we, like the prophet of old, can say we are a needy people. We praise Thee that Jesus Christ has supplied that need, and that as we gather here in this auditorium and those that are watching via television, Father, we think of the very fact that Christ can help us, and that this hour can be consecrated to Him.

And so, Father, we pray that You would bless everything that is done to Thy glory. For Jesus' sake, amen. If you take your hymn books, please, to number 94, The Song of the Soul Set Free. On these special Sundays, we've been having the founder of the People's Church, Dr. Oswald J. Smith, as speaker, but one of his great ministries is that of music.

The Song of the Soul Set Free is one of his hymns, and let's sing it as unto the Lord. We'll stand as we sing. Thank you. Shall we be seated, please? I think that's a great hymn. You know, that hymn was written primarily for choirs to sing, and this congregation in the People's Church is one of the few that use it as a congregational hymn.

And it's one of our favorites. It talks about so many things that we believe in and to which we look forward. Let me welcome you to the Sunday service of the People's Church. Again, the building is crowded as it usually is on Sunday morning, and we're delighted that you chose to worship with us on this particular Sunday, and that you chose to dial this way on your television set.

And wherever you are, whatever you're doing, may I suggest that you just stay where you are and listen. If the rest of the family isn't there, bring them in and tell them that in some ways this could be the most important hour they spend today, or this week, or this year.

I think as you know, during the month of January on Sunday mornings, I asked my father, the founder of this church, Dr. Oswald J. Smith, if he would preach every Sunday morning throughout January and February in commemoration of the fact that this year we're celebrating our 50th year in existence as a church.

1928, September the 9th, Father launched the People's Church in Massey Hall, and it's been in existence now commencing with this year for 50 years. And I thought it would be kind of good and interesting and exciting if the man whom God used to found it brought the first Sunday morning messages, both in the church and on television.

Now, when I asked him, Father said, well, what do you want me to talk about? And I said, well, look, what I would like you to do is take the great messages that God has used over your entire ministry of, what is it, 71, 72 years he's been preaching, and preach some of those, the ones that you've used all over the world.

And he's been doing that. And this morning he tells me he's going to preach on the Lordship of Jesus, the Lordship of Jesus. So I'd suggest you stay tuned. Our people are going to stay right here as we worship God together.

The Lordship of Jesus Christ

And then the message that's coming up from a life of over 71 years of preaching, active preaching all over the world, the message on the Lordship of Jesus. And I want all of us to listen and listen very, very careful regarding our relationship to Jesus Christ, not simply as Savior, he is that, but as the Lord, the controller, the dominant one in our lives.

Bernard Pears is with us this morning to bring the first message in song, and he's singing about a topic that's in the Bible from Genesis through Revelation, the love of God. The classic chapter, I suppose, on this subject would be 1 Corinthians 13.

But this is a new song called The Way He Loves. And the singer is our own Bernard Pears. Bernard.

The way that he loves.

What a wonderful thing and how true that is today. God loves you. He loves me and those that are watching my television. He loves you today. And as we approach God's throne of grace, we want to talk to God about you, about you as our members of our congregation right here this morning, and about you that are listening and watching on television today.

God is concerned about you today. He loves you. He wants to lift that burden that's upon your heart. And I would suggest if you have a burden, you that are watching on television, and particularly today, you have a real need in your life, take a moment this week, perhaps even today, to put it down on a piece of paper and mail it to us.

And we'd be delighted to remember you before God's throne of grace in prayer. We do it confidentially, but we do it every request that comes in faithfully as the Lord helps us. And God answers prayer.

God's Love and Prayer for the Needy

And we believe that here. Shall we look to the Lord in prayer this morning? Father, we want to take a moment today and thank you and praise you for the fact of thy love and the greatest expression of thy love was the coming of thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die upon Calvary's cross, to give his life so that we might have the gift of eternal life.

Father, we thank thee for that fact today. And Father, we know that no good thing will I will uphold from those who walk uprightly. Father, we do come before thee today for the many requests that have come this week into the people's church.

And we've prayed about them and remember before thy throne of grace. And Father, collectively, we want to remember them again today. Bless hearts, touch bodies and undertake, Lord, in a healing way, both physically and spiritually to all those that have sent their requests in and all those who are in need today.

Father, we want to pray for this service today. We do want to pray for our founder in just a moment. He's going to expound the word of God to our hearts on this. It's such an important subject. God bless him.

God be with him. And God use him in our midst. We pray as we dedicate this service under thee in the name of Jesus Christ. And for his sake, we pray. Amen. Some of you know that since I stood in this Pope, the last time I've been to the land of Israel and back.

What a fantastic, unbelievable country that is today. Most of the folks that went with me were our television folks. They were not, for the most part, people from our church. Maybe a dozen or 15 were.

But the rest of a group of 77 people were folk that watch regularly by way of television. And you know, it's kind of fun getting to know some of you folk in a personal way to help you get on a bus and get off a bus and make sure that neither you nor I broke our necks in the process of doing it.

And then to go to some of the places where Jesus probably walked and see some of the things that he probably saw and be some of the places where he probably was. It was kind of exciting. But you know, one thing I discovered was how many people there are who depend for their spiritual life on this particular telecast from the people's church.

And I talked with one person after another, mostly elderly people. You know, we had some people over 80 years of age with us on the tour. And one little old lady, every time she got off the bus, she jumped, scared the living daylights out of me.

But she she stayed all in one piece. And I discovered how much folk like this need this kind of telecast. And on Thursday, when I was traveling from Nazareth to Jerusalem, incidentally, that's about 100 miles.

Did you know that? That's the distance that Mary and Joseph with the unborn baby Jesus traveled in order to get to Bethlehem, which is just outside of Jerusalem, in order to be taxed nearly a it's a long way and it's a rugged, rugged country.

But as I was driving on the bus Thursday afternoon back from the Sea of Galilee and Nazareth and Capernaum back through some area where we saw the well where the woman of the well talked to our Lord, I thought, now, when I get back home, I'm going to ask our television audience in a very, very special way to help me keep this telecast going out on your station.

Supporting the Telecast for Those Who Depend on It

Now, I don't know what it'll take or what God will lead you to do, but just a few weeks ago, I suggested to you that a thousand of you send in ten dollars and and you were magnificent. You did it. I don't know what God will lay in your heart.

But as you know, on a program like this, we do not have commercials. We don't sell products. Do you realize every time you buy a product in the store, you are making a contribution to the cost of their television time?

Did you know that? And yet the Church of Jesus Christ goes on television without any product that brings in a financial return the way every other telecast has. And the only way we can pay for this kind of time, which with a commercial firm is paid for by upping the price of it in your store, you pay for it.

Whether you know it or not, you're paying for it every time you use the product. And the only way we can do it is to ask the children of God, whom God has blessed, and I know there are a lot of you, to write to me and send me your gift, small or great, and just say, please keep the television program coming our way on this station.

And of course, when you do that, if you send five dollars or more, you'll receive a receipt that's valid for income tax purposes for this year. But most of all, you will be making it possible for somebody to have a church service from a Canadian church that otherwise they wouldn't have.

And in many cases, they are people who cannot afford to support it themselves, and they couldn't possibly get to a church, even if somebody offered to take them. Now, if you write to me this week, I want to send you a copy of Dr. John Wesley White's book On the Devil, and this is an historic contribution to the literature on the subject of Satan, what the scriptures teach about him.

Dr. Billy Graham has written the foreword, and Dr. White deals with some fascinating topics relative to the devil in this book. The devil in big red headlines, before there was a devil, meet your enemy, tragedy in paradise, why Jesus came, the devil on Main Street, the devil in his war effort, the devil's devices, dare to confront the devil, how to checkmate the devil.

I wonder if you know how to do that. When the winning begins. Now, if you'll write to me this week, whether you're able to send anything or not, doesn't matter, but if you'll write to me this week, I'll send you a copy of this book, nearly 200 pages on the topic of the devil.

Address your letter to me, Paul Smith or the People's Church, Box 789, Station K, Toronto, and we'll get the book back to you just as quickly as we can possibly get it to you. But write this week, and if you can help with the telecast, I hope you'll do that so that we can keep this ministry going out to so many, many very, very needy people.

The Coming Message on Devil Worship

Now, we're giving Dr. White's book away because tonight, and that would be for most of our television audience, February the 26th. Tonight, Dr. John Wesley White is going to be preaching in the People's Church, and he's preaching on the subject, devil worship.

Now, Dr. White always does his homework plus. He preaches with the help of a multimedia presentation in pictures. I don't know whether he's going to show pictures of the devil or not. If he is, I'd like to see them.

I've never seen a good picture of the devil, but he's going to show pictures and illustrate his message on devil worship. As he brings the message tonight, that is February the 26th, right here in the main auditorium of the People's Church.

The Name of Jesus Calms Fear and Dries Tears

Now, at this time, I'm going to ask you to sing David Williams' little chorus that some of you learned last week, and it goes this way. Bless his wonderful name. Bless his wonderful name. Name that calms our fears.

I like that. Name that dries our tears. Bless his wonderful name, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. As we remain seated, let's sing it together. Everybody's singing, please. Now, in a moment, we're going to stand here in the auditorium and sing it again, and we're singing it because we need it and because you need it.

There are people who watch every Sunday, and you're frightened, frightened of the world, frightened of yourself, frightened of your family, frightened, just frightened. The name that calms our fears. Some of you have broken hearts.

How I wish there was some way I could reach through that television set and dry your tears or even say something that would dry your tears, but I can't, but Jesus can. The name that dries our tears. What is it?

Believe in him as you sing it, Jesus, that's it, Jesus, say it again, Jesus, you do it as we stand together before Dr. Smith brings the message of the morning. Bless his wonderful name together. I want to ask you to turn, if you will, to the gospel according to Luke, the 14th chapter, and I'm reading from verse 25 to verse 27.

Jesus' Call to Costly Discipleship

Luke's gospel, the 14th chapter, and the 25th verse. And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

He cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. It's one thing to know Jesus Christ as your savior. It's another thing to know him as your Lord and master.

It's one thing to be his child. It's another thing to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. A disciple is one who puts God first, everything else second. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

And he that loveth son and daughter more than me is not worthy of me. The question arises, who comes first? Someone in your family circle, one of your loved ones, or the Lord Jesus Christ? I'll never forget when I was preaching on the Russian mission fields of Europe, I was traveling with Pastor William Fetler, and he told me about his engagement and his marriage.

And I've never forgotten it. He was engaged to a young Russian woman by the name of Barbara. And before they were married, he asked her this question. Barbara, he said, are you willing to be third in my life?

And she looked at him for a moment, and she said, Pastor Fetler, third, what do you mean? He said, I want you to understand, Barbara, that God comes first. You do not come first. God has first place in my life.

I'm serving him. I want you also to understand that God's work comes second. God's work has second place in my life. And Barbara, if I'm going to marry you, you cannot have first place. You cannot have second place.

You will have to be content to take third place in my life. William, she said, if you were not that kind of a man, I wouldn't want you for a husband. The kind of a husband I want is a husband who will put God first, and put God's work second, and then let me take third place.

And I'm perfectly agreeable to be number three. Not number one, not number two, but number three. And Barbara became number three as she became wife of Reverend William Fetler. They had 13 children all together, and every one of their children knew Jesus Christ as a personal Savior.

I've met them all. I know them all. I've been with them. I saw them when I was over on the Russian mission fields of Europe. I saw them in my own church on Brewer Street when I had them and used them there as they sang the gospel and gave their testimonies.

I'll never forget that example. Barbara, number three. God first, and God's work second. Then the wife third. What does it mean to be a disciple? It means to put God before your business enterprise. God should mean more to you than your business does.

Your business should come after God. God should come first. It means that God must come before money. Important as money may be, God has first place. And God wants you to remember that money does not take first place in your life.

It means that God comes before pleasure and that you never allow pleasure to take the place of God, but you allow God to take first place. He is always number one. It means that God comes before the members of your family, before your father, your mother, your sisters, your brothers, your wife, your husband.

They must all take third place, and God must take first place and his work second place. What does it mean to be a disciple? It means that God, as I've stated, takes place before the members of your family.

Putting God First in Family and Vocation

When I say that, I think of Dr. Jonathan Goforth, the famous missionary to China. He was living in the home and being entertained by his hostess, and she came to him one day and she said, Dr. Goforth, will you tell me why I'm not happy like other Christians?

He looked at her for a moment. Then he said, Madam, have you surrendered all to Jesus Christ? Yes, she said, Dr. Goforth. So far as I know, I've surrendered all to the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you sure, he said, that your all is on the altar?

Yes, she said, my all is on the altar. Her little girl was standing beside them, a little girl about 12 years of age, reaching a hand over and placing it on the head of that little girl. Dr. Forth turned to the woman and she would be willing, he said, that God should take your daughter and make her a missionary in China.

And the woman drew back. God take my daughter and make her a missionary in China. I should say not. And yet you tell me that you've surrendered all. And that your all is on the altar. And here you are not willing to give your own daughter.

You're not willing to place her on the altar for God. You're willing to go yourself. You're willing to give your money. But you are not willing to give your daughter. How can you say then that God takes first place in your life when you know perfectly well that your daughter comes before God?

A disciple renounces all for Jesus Christ. It's one thing for Jesus Christ to be your Savior. It's another thing for him to be the Lord and the master of your life. And to be his disciple. And if he is the Lord and master of your life, if he is in very deed your disciple, then you place everything on the altar and relinquish all claim to what you have and to what you are and recognize that it belongs to another.

Surrendering Self, Loved Ones, Gifts, and Money

Suppose I give you an idea as to what I mean this morning. Here I have a number of books in my hand. I'm going to let these books represent something this morning so that you'll remember. Suppose I let this first book represent me.

God demands that I place myself on his altar. And so I take that book and I lay it there on the pulpit and I place that book on the altar of God. In other words, I place myself on God's altar. And then in the second place, I take my loved ones, my wife, my husband, my son, my daughter, my father, my mother, and I place my loved ones there on the altar of God.

Now I'm on God's altar. My loved ones are on God's altar. Then I take my talents and my gifts and I place my talents and my gifts, whatever they may be, on the altar of God. If I can write, I am not to write for the world.

I'm to write for God. If I can sing, I'm not to sing for the world. I'm to sing for God. I place my talents and my gifts there on the altar of God. And then I take my money. But you say, how much? Ten percent?

Is that the amount God demands? No, if you read the scriptures carefully, you'll discover that God demands all your money. It's all His. And He asks you to place your money there on His altar. Now, if He wants to take ten percent of it and give you back ninety percent to use in your own way, that's up to Him.

If He wants to take twenty-five percent of it and leave you to use seventy-five percent, as you are pleased to do, that's in His hands. But He demands that all of your money is placed there on His altar.

And then, what about your talents and your gifts in addition to your money and your unknown future? That unknown future of yours, you do not know what's going to happen to you in the days to come, but you place your unknown future on the altar of God.

Now you have placed everything on God's altar. Now you simply turn your back on all that you have placed on the altar of God as you walk away from it. Do you recognize it's not yours anymore? It's God's.

It all belongs to Him. Then you have placed everything on God's altar and then you are in very deed His disciple. No sooner will that happen than a test will come to see whether or not your renunciation is genuine.

Abraham's Test of Surrender

You remember how God turned to Abraham and He said, Abraham, I want your son Isaac. All right, Lord, he belongs to you. You loaned him to me. You can have him if you want him. But Abraham, I want him sacrificed.

All right, Lord, if you want him sacrificed, that's up to you. But Abraham, I want you to sacrifice him. Very well, Lord, if you want me to sacrifice him, I'll take him and I'll sacrifice him on your behalf.

Abraham recognized God as the owner of his son. And if God saw fit to take that son, that was up to Him. And you remember when they were on Mount Moriah, Abraham lifted up the knife to plunge it into the heart of his son Isaac.

When he heard a voice from heaven crying out, Abraham, Abraham, and he paused and he looked up. Slay not thy son. I know now that you are not going to withhold him from me. I know now that you have laid everything on my altar.

I know now that you recognize me as your Lord and your master. My friend, it may be hard to do. It may be difficult to do. But there may come a time when God will ask you to lay your nearest and your dearest on His altar.

It'll break your heart. You'll suffer. And you should suffer. You should mourn. But you'll recognize that you are giving to God only that which belongs to Him, that He has a right to that daughter or that son of yours or that money of yours or your plans for the future or your talents and your gifts.

He has a right to you yourself for you belong to God and He must come first in your life and in your work. Jesus must be Lord of all or He is not Lord at all. No man can serve two masters. Jesus must take first place in your heart and life.

“Not So, Lord”: Obedience to Christ's Authority

Dr. Scroggie was speaking one night when a young girl said to him, Dr. Scroggie, I'd like to surrender all to Jesus Christ, but I'm afraid. What are you afraid of? Two things. What are they? I'm afraid I'd have to give up dancing and I love to dance.

What else? I'm afraid I'd have to go to the foreign field as a missionary and I wouldn't want to do that. Anything else? No, just those two things stand between. Dr. Scroggie was wise in his dealings with young people he opened the Bible at that place where it says, where it says, not so, Lord.

When Peter was asked to do something for his Lord, he said, not so, Lord. Now, said Dr. Scroggie, it's all right to say not so. It's all right to say Lord, but you can't put the two together. You cannot say not so and then add Lord.

If he's the Lord and the master of your life, then it's up to you to do whatever he tells you to do. And you have no right at any time to say not so. I remember some years ago when I was traveling through Palestine, I left Jerusalem and I headed down for the Dead Sea.

And of course, I passed the Jordan River on my way to the Dead Sea. And I had a swim in the waters of the Jordan. I swam right across the Jordan from one side to the other. When I got to the other side, the bank was so steep that there was no foothold of any kind.

And I had to just give it a kick and turn around and swim back again across the Jordan River. That's an experience that I'll never forget. And I went on down to the Dead Sea. And I do not need to tell you that everything floats in the Dead Sea and nothing can sink.

I decided to have a swim in the waters of the Dead Sea. I did everything I could to get underneath the waters and to sink. I found it impossible. The waters sustained my weight because they are 23 salt.

And they buoyed me up and kept me from sinking. Then I went to the Sea of Galilee. I'll never forget having a swim in the Sea of Galilee. When I came out and stood on the bank, my mind went back to the day when Jesus Christ was standing there.

And when he called his disciples to come and have breakfast with him. And when he turned to Peter and said to Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? And Simon's people answered, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.

He asked the same question the second time and he got the same answer. Then he asked it a third time, but he used a different word for the word love. A word that meant a little lower devotion than the other word he had used.

Seeing that Simon could not come up to his word. And he said again, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And Simon was grieved because he asked him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said, Yea, Lord, thou knowest all things.

Thou knowest that I love thee. I want to say, he never had a word to say about money when he said to Simon, follow thou me. He never had a word to say about organization, or about his plans for the future, or about service.

He knew that if Simon loved him, he would obey him. If he loved him, he would follow him. If he loved him, he would do what he wanted him to do. And therefore, he asked the one question, lovest thou me?

Loving Christ Means Following Him

And that took in everything. And Simon said, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. I wonder, I wonder if this morning he is speaking to your heart and to my heart. I wonder if he is saying to you and to me this morning, if he is asking the question, lovest thou me?

And I wonder whether or not you have put everything you are and everything you have on the altar of God. Has there ever come a time when you have taken it back off the altar? And when it is no longer on the altar?

Or have you left it there on God's altar? Have you gone all the way with the Lord Jesus Christ? That's the question he asked this morning, lovest thou me? When I was on the Russian mission fields of Europe some many years ago now, I remember turning to my congregation one day and saying, if you will put God first in your life, I want you to hold up your right hand and I want you to sing along with me, I surrender all.

All those who will put God first, all those who will take second or third place, all those who will go all the way with God. And I'll never forget, even though it's years ago now, how almost every hand in that building was raised as they sang from their hearts, I surrender all.

I knew there would be persecution, I knew there would be suffering, I did not know what form it would take, but those people who raised their hands that morning in that service, many of them were sent to Siberia, many were slain, many had to lay down their lives, many were put in prison, many had to endure severe suffering for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they were true, they meant what they were doing and what they were saying.

I haven't found people anywhere in the world any more devoted than the born again Christians in Russia. They're out and out for the Lord Jesus Christ, even though they live in an atheistic country. My friend, what about you this morning?

Have you surrendered all? Is your all on the altar? And if not, will you put it on the altar this morning and say from your heart, all to Jesus, I surrender. Will you give the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, first place in your heart and in your life?

And when he says to you, lovest thou me, will you answer with Peter, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. Will God come first? You have to decide. Shall we bow together in prayer? Every head bowed, every eye closed.

Prayer for Wholehearted Submission

And our loving Heavenly Father, we've been confronted with our responsibility to God today. And as here in the people's church, many, many scores of people are making decisions to put Jesus Christ first, to give God first place in our lives.

We pray that there may be those who are watching and those who are listening who will do exactly the same thing where they are in this television audience. Our Father, may this be a nation where there are hundreds upon hundreds of people who do, in fact, put Jesus Christ first, regardless of the cost.

For we ask it in his name and for his sake. Amen. I think there's only one hymn that we could sing after this message, and we're going to remain seated as we sing it. Hymn number 107. Hymn number 107.

Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will. While I'm waiting, yielded and still. As we sing it, let's not just sing it. Let's only sing it if we can sing it from our hearts and really mean it.

Together, everybody's singing.