I believe that one of the greatest needs today is for preachers to preach "The Lordship of Christ" aka the doctrine of holiness; that Christ is the Lord and He must be perfectly obeyed.So I wanted to re-post this article on The Lordship of Christ which I wrote awhile back. I know it's very strong, forceful, and possibly intense, but let me know what your thoughts are.Naming the Name of ChristBy Jesse Morrell“Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 2 Timothy 2:19The theology and terminology of many preachers today is quite repulsive to the heart that hunger and thirsts after righteous. Famous, influential, and respected preachers and authors publicly talk about being, as they call, “sinning Saints”. Scornfully they mock at the mere thought of living a life that is completely repented from sins. “Moral perfection is impossible” they believe as if a man can not truly live a life of holiness as Jesus did. “Follow me” Christ says, while these men say “you can’t”. While the New Testament church preached moral perfection, modern Churches have replaced it with moral imperfection. While the New Testament church preached entire sanctification, it has been replaced by the modern Church with part sanctification. Preachers who preach the “sinning Saint” doctrine are in actuality strengthening the grip sinners have on their sins. If a preacher does not live holy, what are the other people left to do? The more acceptable and common an act is, the more likely it is to be done. What the masses do, the individual will do. Men are more likely to do what everyone is doing and are less likely to do what nobody is doing.And so we have gotten to the point that it is commonly believed a man can be both a sinner and Saint rather then being one or the other. These ungodly men preach and teach such contradictions because their own lives contradict the Word of God. The bible has a different term other then “sinning Saint” and that term is hypocrite. Christ preached more extensively against religious hypocrisy and religious hypocrites then any other group of people. But rather then accusing the hypocrites in our preaching as Jesus did, our hypocritical preachers are justifying themselves, comforting their own hearts and the heart of sinners, yet subtly d**ning the souls of men. These preachers are broken bridges. They once may have bridged the gap between God and man, but now any that travel on them will die.The way of the world and the way of heaven lead in different directions, but more then different directions, they lead in opposite directions. To walk with Christ you can not walk with the world. Half hearted commitment is no commitment at all. Leave all and follow Christ. Leave your pride, leave your lust, leave your dishonesty, leave your selfish ambitions, leave all and follow Christ. Compromised Christianity is not Christianity at all.Let the “sinning Saint” carry on in his wickedness and he will in due time discover that he is among those whom Christ will say those dreadful words “depart from me you worker of iniquity”. No word will bring more terror and horror to the heart of man then hearing from the lips of his Creature “depart”. These words will echo in their heart for all eternity while they agonize in hell. Being so close and yet being so far! But the truth is that they didn’t truly want Christ in life and therefore they won’t have Him in death. They wanted heaven but not holiness. They wanted covering but not cleansing. They wanted right-standing but they didn’t want righteousness. They wanted to their sins to be forgiven but they didn’t want their sins to be forsaken.More harm has been done to the holiness of the Church and the conversion of the world by religious hypocrites then by any other. How terrible it will be for the “sinning Saints” who gives Christ a bad name. By simply calling themselves Christians and yet not follow in Christ’s ways they make a mockery of Christ in front of the entire world. It is heinous blasphemy to be called by the name Christian and walk as worldly men do. You must walk as Christ walked. You must live as Christ lived. If you’re not willing to go all the way then please by all means go the other way. But for the name of Christ make up your mind. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Do you want the Lamb of God to forgive you of your sins? Then you must allow him also to take away your sins. It was your sins that nailed Christ to the cross. He gave His life so that you could have life! Yet life with sin is not life at all. Sin is bondage and it desires to hold you captive until death will come to slay you. Yet Death was slain by Christ. Captivity was taken captive! God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us if we sin but we must confess and repent. He does not want to merely cleanse you from some sin, but he wants to cleanse you from all sin. Is not all sin appalling to Him? Does not all sin infinitely offend Him? Does not all sin eternally separate men from Him? Therefore it is all sin that must be abandoned. When God casts sin into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, all those who are attached to sin will go with it. As a ball and chain it will drown you in the ocean of flames. Sin must be abandoned now because it can not be abandoned then. God is hunting to kill you. But He does it in order to give you life. He wants to kill your corrupted nature and replace it with a nature like His. He wants to shatter your heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. He wants to kill you because without being put to death you can not be resurrected in new life with Him. Through Jesus Christ our Lord you can be delivered from your body of death. God is waiting for you, to take you in, feed you and cloth you. But you must go back home to him. Seek the Lord while He can be found.
