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Attention!
Is Christ YOUR Lord?
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 of 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
(Matt. 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 every
deed occupy the throne of your heart, does He actually rule over
your life? "We have turned every one to his own way" (Isa. 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 Tim. 1:17; Rev.
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," (Isa. 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 very 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 Thess. 1:9) An "idol" is any object to
which we give what is due alone to 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 ourself to Him?
(Rom. 6:13)
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." (Isa. 55:7) Said Christ, "Whosoever 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 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." (Col. 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." (2 Cor. 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?
(2 Cor. 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." (Col. 2:6) Had they done so, "the joy of the Lord" would
be their strength. (Neh. 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.
(2 Cor. 5:17) He delights "in the law of God after the inward
man." (Rom. 7:22) He discovers that Christ's "commandments are
not grievous" (1 John 5:3), and that "in keeping of them there is
great reward." (Psa. 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. (1 Cor. 12:3)
Therefore, "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found." (Isa. 55:6)
"Search for Him with all your heart." (Jer. 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 his 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?
A. W. Pink