“We have no basis to believe that we can come casually and sprightly to the Lord Jesus and say, "I have come for some help, Lord Jesus. I understand that you are the Savior so I am going to believe and be saved and then I am going to turn away and think about the other matters of lordship and allegiance and obedience at some time in the future."
I warn you - you will not get help from Him in that way for the Lord will not save those whom He cannot command!
He will not divide His offices. You cannot believe on a half-Christ. We take Him for what He is - the anointed Savior and Lord who is King of kings and Lord of lords! He would not be who He is if He saved us and called us and chose us without the understanding that He can also guide and control our lives.
If we believe the New Testament we must surely believe that the new birth is a major miracle, as truly a miracle of God as was the first creation, for the new birth is actually the creating of another man in the heart where another man had been.
I believe this is the kind of genuine Christian conversion that we are talking about - the putting of a new man in the old man's place, so that we are born "anew." AW Pink
I believe this is one of the biggest problems of the church in America. So many believe in half a Christ. He is good enough to save us all from hell, and we gladly take him for that. But to say He must also be the Lord of ones life is something all together different it seems. So we have many people in our churches here, with no real passion for Christ, no dying to ones self, no taking up of the cross of persecution or reproach for Christ’s sake, no real personal devotional lives, no inward heart obedience to Jesus Christ, and yet we called them saved.
The church as a whole has done exactly what AW Pink said he saw in his day; dividing the offices of Christ. Would it make any sense to say that I can have Jesus as my prince of peace, but at the same time I will not have Him as my joy and satisfaction? Would make any sense if I tell you that I have my wife and I am married only to the parts of her that I like and choose? So when she does something that I don't like, I just say, well I am not married to the part of her that has a temper. Does that make any sense to you? It makes none to me! If we will have Jesus Christ, we will have either all of Him or none of Him! He cannot be savior of ones soul if He is not Lord of ones heart. He is both Lord and Savior. “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:10-12
Dividing the offices of Christ as if they are all optional is a very dangerous thing. This false idea does three very terrible things.
- It leaves sinners in their sin. It says the adulterer; adultery is bad and you shouldn't do it, but regardless if you ever allow Jesus to be Lord over your life and change your actions, if you have Him as your savior, you will go to Heaven. Actual obedience to scripture and to not commit adultery and Christ’s words becomes merely a nice thing to be encouraged. It says to drunkard and alcoholic; being drunk is a bad thing and you shouldn't be drunk, but regardless if you ever allow Jesus to be Lord over your life and change your actions, if you have Him as your savior, you will go to Heaven. Actual obedience to scripture and to Christ's words to not be a drunkard becomes merely a nice thing to be encouraged. And so with any sin or vice a man is involved in, if we believe in a half Jesus that can save ones soul, but not change their heart, it excuses sinners to continue living in sin, thus they stay unconverted in the heart, but think in their head that Jesus is their savior from hell.
- It causes complacency in the body of Christ. For those who are truly converted and do have a desire to see others saved, this false idea creates a false security in the people around them. If we believe that the offices of Christ can be split: that a person can have Jesus as Savior, but not Lord, than when we see someone in our church fellowship is consistently living a life of sin and rebellion, we will come to the conclusion that they have Christ as Savior, but are yet to make Him their Lord. And so they do not make an attempt to intercede in prayer that God would change their heart and save them. Though maybe they confront the person of negative consequences of their behavior, they do not share the Gospel with them, thinking they already have accepted the Gospel. So they pat them on the back and tell them to start acting like a Christian, instead of telling them they could be in danger of hell. Instead of telling them they might not have had a genuine conversion experience with the risen one and pleading with them to come to Jesus to be saved.
- It turns the new birth into a mental ascent to Jesus and the Gospel, rather than a total transformation that brings them from death unto life. If we believe that the offices of Christ can be split up and some can have parts of Christ, and some other parts; then it makes God’s word a lie. If one can have Christ as Savior and not Lord, than we are only new creatures in our minds, and not in actuality! But no, that is not the word of God! When we are born again and put on trust in Jesus Christ we take Him as Lord, as King, as Ruler, as guide, as our all in all! We are infused with Gods very nature and we do pass from death to life. Being born again is Gods power in us driving out the sinful nature of Adam and putting within us His very nature and likeness. It is a changing of allegiances. From following self and sin, to following Christ and holiness!
Scripture of the Day:
"Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:11
