Lordship is Absolute Lesson Five — E.A. Johnston

Christ’s Absolute Lordship and the Cost of Discipleship

Today's modern pulpit has made the doctrine of the Lordship of Jesus Christ obsolete. But I submit to you, friends, Christ taught His followers that His Lordship was absolute. It was totalitarian. He demands complete subservience from all followers of His.

In His demands of discipleship, Jesus often listed His disqualifications to those who have heartily followed Him. Jesus tells us, And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Jesus, with a sob in His heart, let the rich young ruler go, because he was full of compromise. The Lordship of Christ is absolute, because Christ must be an absolute Lord. The Apostle Paul lays down the demands to following Jesus.

Sin Must Be Dethroned

In Romans 6 .12, he declares, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof. To be a Christian, sin must be dethroned in the life. It can no longer reign.

Sin must be dethroned, and another enthroned there in its place. The Lord Jesus Christ, Christ must reign as Lord of your life, friend. For you belong to Him, as you were bought with a price, and that price was His very blood.

Christ must be an absolute Lord over every area of your life. He will not tolerate compromise with sin. You are asleep in a spiritual stupor, if you think you can sin when you want to, and still walk with Jesus.

Jesus’ Warning About Sin and Judgment

Jesus said the offending member was better severed off your body, rather than keep it in a sinning condition, and the whole of you be thrust into hell. Jesus said, Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, meaning cause you to sin, cut them off, and cast them from thee, it is better for thee to enter into life, halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire.

Was Christ being dishonest here? Do His teachings hold no meaning to you in a practical application in your life? Was He just blowing smoke, so to speak? Or is He warning you to submit to His absolute Lordship, or just go on to hell?

He will brook no compromise with any supposed follower of His, for He is no respecter of persons. You may be the chairman of the deacons, but if you're hanging on to your most beloved sin, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes, friend, at the judgment.

Repentance, Perseverance, and Peter’s Restoration

There must be a complete break with sin in your life, if you want to follow Jesus in an intimate walk with Him. He must be an absolute Lord of your life. Yes, Peter, in a moment of weakness, denied Him, not once but three times.

But once Peter was forgiven, and back in a love relationship with his master, Peter never ever denied Him again. He didn't spend the rest of his life denying Him, and confessing his sin, and denying Him, and confessing his sin.

You can't call Him Lord and keep confessing the same sin over and over again. For some ten years or longer, for some of you, you must make a clean break with that sin through heartfelt repentance. Or I wouldn't want to be in your shoes, friend, at the judgment.

Hypocrisy in Entertainment and Private Sin

Let's get straight to the rat killing. Let me give you the oil straight from the can. If I were to stand in a pulpit and hold up a photo of two people having sex, every single one of you would stand up in outrage and demand I put that pornographic photo away.

But you can sit in the comfort of your homes and watch movies on Netflix that show graphic sex scenes, and you don't bat an eye. You have no problem with it. Some of you even enjoy it. But your hypocrisy of heart is not concealed to Jesus.

He sees every sin you willingly commit through compromise. Christ can't be a paper Lord to you. We're on paper. You agree with the pages in your Bible, but they have no reality in your life. You can't give lip service to Jesus and act against him through known repetitive sin.

Religious Pretense and the Reality of Discipleship

Jesus never preached a sin in religion. You're living in a fantasy, friend, if you think he's tolerant to your presumptuous sin. It's time for honest talk, friend. I must be true to your soul. You can call me a holy roller.

You can call me a false teacher. If you want to. But that does not change the fact that Christ must be a absolute Lord in your life, or he will deny ownership of you for hugging your sins. It does not matter what position of authority you hold in your church, because if your life is not real, then it's just religious hogwash.

Jesus’ Warning to Those Who Say “Lord, Lord”

Jesus says so in Matthew 7. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Are you working iniquity, friend, and calling it religion? Christ is either your absolute Lord, or he was never your savior.