E.A. Johnston passionately declares that true Christianity demands full surrender to the lordship of Christ, rejecting self-rule and sin as incompatible with genuine salvation.
In this powerful sermon, E.A. Johnston confronts the popular but dangerous misconception that one can claim Christianity without submitting fully to the lordship of Christ. He challenges listeners to examine their lives for true surrender, warning against the deception of living in sin under the guise of grace. Johnston calls for a return to biblical holiness and obedience, emphasizing that salvation is marked by a complete dethroning of self and enthroning of Christ. This message is a sobering reminder of the cost of discipleship and the reality of eternal consequences.
Full Transcript
Listen to me, friends. You're either surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in a life of obedience and holiness, or you are in rebellion to His Lordship in a life of self-gratification and self-rule. There are some religious movements that have gained a lot of popularity whose foundations are antinomian in nature and disobedient to Christ and daily ethics.
They claim liberty from the law because they are under grace, but they hide beneath a cloak of unrighteousness and a license to sin all they want to. But listen to me, friends, and listen to me closely. You either live in your life under the Lordship of Christ, or you are living for self.
And if you are living for self, then your entire foundation you are on is sand. You are no more a Christian than a puppet is a man. You have no divine life in you through the new birth.
For if you did, then you would throw down your shotgun of rebellion at the feet of a sovereign and submit to him, and surrender all you have and all you are to the Lordship of Christ and take up your cross daily and follow him like he commands you to, denying yourself. But many church folk today cry out with the crowd in Jesus' day that said, we will not have this man to rule over us. To reject the rule and reign of Christ in your life, friend, is to reject Christ entirely.
You are either saved or lost. You are either on the narrow road of obedience, or you are on the broad road to hell. You are either in the kingdom of darkness, and your father is the devil, and you do his bidding.
Or you are in the kingdom of light and life, and you live a life of surrender to the king of kings. You are either a sincere convert or a false professor. You are either a regenerate believer or an unregenerate unbeliever.
You see, friends, there is a demarcation line that stands between the sheep and the goats, the saved and the lost, and that line is a red crimson line drawn in Christ's blood. And you cannot call yourself a Christian and hug your sins and live for self in this world if you're not under the lordship of Christ, and you are yet in your sins and on your way to hell. I'm going to be honest with you, friends.
I don't want you to go to hell. Don't listen to the popular gospel of this day, which tells you you can sin all you want to and still go to heaven. It's a lie with the smoke of hell all over it.
And you will go to hell if you're hugging your sins, even if you are the chairman of the deacons or the figurehead of a famous preaching ministry. Listen, friends. There are no halfway Christians.
You are either serving God with 100% of your life under the lordship of Jesus Christ, or you are deceived and living in self-rule and are self-deceived like the majority of church members in our day because most of them have not heard the real gospel that speaks of the lordship of Jesus Christ with all its rights and claims on your life. Listen, friends. Being a Christian means that self has been dethroned and another is enthroned there, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus came to save his people from their sins. You cannot serve your sins and serve Christ. When you become a Christian, your life is no longer your own.
We see this in 2 Corinthians 5.15, which declares, and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. You see, friend, when you are truly born again, your life is no longer your own. Your time is not your own.
Your money is not your own. Your body is not your own. Christ must be a complete master or you are yet in your sins and a slave to them.
If you are not really saved, friend, wouldn't you like to know it? I would. If you are not a regenerate individual who is truly saved, wouldn't you like to find that out now, friend, instead of living a deceived life, hanging on to your doctrines and your religion and then dying in your sins and waking up in the raging tempest of hell and its horrors? Wouldn't you like to know now if you are an unsafe sinner who is on their way to hell and that you know you deserve to go there because you're nothing but a rebel against God who has committed treason against a sovereign and your entire life actions speak against your Christian profession? Can you say with certainty the following words, I am washed in the blood and I am born from above? Or is there a nagging doubt of uncertainty which is verified in the fact that most times the devil comes to you and crooks his finger. You follow him on to your sins like a hog to his wallah.
Listen, friends, the lordship of Jesus Christ and holiness unto him is the most hated doctrine in the church today. People hate that doctrine, especially church folk, because the church, for the most part, from pulpit to pew, is a collection of baptized in for hell people in love with this world and in love with their sins. Go to God, friend, and beg him for mercy and become a seeker of his grace.
It is God who gives saving faith and without it you will enter a Christless eternity. The lordship of Jesus Christ isn't a reality in your life, friend. It is high time we get honest with ourselves as to what the true gospel is and what true salvation is because the devil has a lot of church folks deceived in their lusts and sins and calling it liberty when all it is is bondage to sin.
The Christian life is lived via the cross. Let us pray.
Sermon Outline
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I
- You are either surrendered to Christ or in rebellion
- False gospels promote antinomianism and sin
- True Christianity demands obedience and holiness
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II
- Rejecting Christ's lordship is rejecting Christ entirely
- The demarcation between saved and lost is clear
- No halfway Christians exist
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III
- True salvation means self is dethroned and Christ enthroned
- Your life, time, money, and body belong to Christ
- Without lordship, one remains a slave to sin
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IV
- The lordship of Christ is the most hated doctrine today
- Many church members are deceived and living in sin
- The Christian life is lived via the cross
Key Quotes
“You're either surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in a life of obedience and holiness, or you are in rebellion to His Lordship in a life of self-gratification and self-rule.” — E.A. Johnston
“There are no halfway Christians. You are either serving God with 100% of your life under the lordship of Jesus Christ, or you are deceived and living in self-rule.” — E.A. Johnston
“Reject the rule and reign of Christ in your life, friend, is to reject Christ entirely.” — E.A. Johnston
Application Points
- Examine your life honestly to see if Christ truly reigns as Lord over all you do.
- Reject any false gospel that permits habitual sin and embrace a life of obedience.
- Seek God's mercy and grace to live a holy life empowered by the Spirit.
