Jesus Savior But Not Lord?

We have been looking at several sacred cows of the evangelical church. We looked at the Myth of the carnal Christian and the myth that a prayer can save you. Today let's look at the myth that you can have Jesus as savior but not as Lord.

You hear this sometimes in people’s testimony. They’ll say, "Well ,I accepted Christ when I was 18 yet I didn’t make him Lord until I was 21." What do they mean by that? It reflects this idea that we can be saved without Jesus being Lord of our lives. In other words, they believed, but they weren’t obeying Jesus.

So much of our Christianity is based on clichés and not the Bible. The Bible never teaches that a genuine Christian can live in carnality all the days of their lives. The Bible never teaches that you can have Jesus as Savior and not as Lord.

AW Tozer said “It is altogether doubtful whether any man can be saved who comes to Christ for His help but with no intention to obey Him. Christ’s saviourhood is forever united with his lordship. Christ must be Lord or he will not be savior. Any professed faith in Christ as personal Savior that does not bring the life under plenary obedience to Christ as Lord is inadequate and must betray its victim at the last. The man that believes will obey; failure to obey is convincing proof that there is not true faith present.

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

The Bible knows nothing of the believer who does not deny himself, take his cross daily and follows Christ. This is the rule of the Christian life.

"Oh but pastor you are talking about a works salvation." No I am not. I am talking about works being the proof of your salvation. No works. No faith.

Jesus wont be your savior without being your Lord

WHAT IS THE RESULTS OF BELIEVING IN THESE SACRED COWS?
1. False Assurance—So many in America assure themselves that they are in the faith, using these false teachings, and so there are in preeminent danger of judgment.

2. Opting Out- If we this think discipleship is only for serious converts, if we think being spiritual is optional, we can still remain carnal. How convenient to opt out of true discipleship.

3. Carelessness- We are not careful about the way that we live. We compromise easily with sin, because we think that sin no longer has the power to hurt us, since we think we have fulfilled the biblical requirements for salvation.

4. Comparing ourselves with each other—Instead of comparing ourselves to the Lord and His word, we compare ourselves to each other and think we are okay.

5. Horrible Witness-This false dichotomy between profession and behavior leads us to be a horrible witness to the world. The world sees our Christianity as little more than a private, cultural thing. They don’t take our faith seriously, neither do they take the church seriously and they are inoculated to the real thing.

6. Weaken evangelism- Another outcome, is that these beliefs will greatly influence our evangelistic methods. Is it enough to see a man pray a prayer and believe he is saved? I tell you no. He must show forth fruit. He must be born again. Paul says that he was calling people to the obedience that comes by faith.