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We are beginning a new series of messages,

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friends, on what I call the Lost Doctrines

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of the Church, meaning these doctrines are seldom,

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if ever, preached anymore.

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Our series will be comprised of four Lost

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Doctrines, which I feel are sadly missing in

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many of our churches today.

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I believe the fault has been a watered

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-down gospel in a politically correct society that

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doesn't have the power to save a flea,

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much less a lost person hardened in sin.

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These four main doctrines that need to be

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recaptured today in the pulpits of the land

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and in the life of our churches are

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the following.

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Number one, the Lordship of Christ.

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Number two, the cross and the life of

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a believer.

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Number three, the Christ life for the self

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-life.

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And number four, the Spirit-filled life.

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I'm going to cover these four heads in

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this series of Lost Doctrines, friends, and today

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we're going to tackle the Lost Doctrine of

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the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

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It was said that the prophet Isaiah died

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as a martyr by being placed in a

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hollow log and then being sawn in half.

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As shocking as it is, many today are

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doing the same thing because they like to

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get out a power saw and cut Jesus

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in half and choose the half they want.

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They'll take Jesus as a savior, but very

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few want to take him as their Lord.

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They prefer to get out their pocket knife

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and carve out for themselves a God they

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can live with.

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They'll accept your Jesus as their savior so

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long as he doesn't get in the way

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of their daily living.

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They'd like a free ticket to heaven so

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they don't have to go to hell, but

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they don't want a sovereign Lord telling them

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what to do.

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So they'll take Jesus as savior and still

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sit on the throne of their life and

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rule there.

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But the gospel of the Son of God

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has rights and claims on all followers of

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Christ.

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He must be a prince as well as

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a savior.

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You cannot divide him into halves and choose

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the one you want.

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The Lordship of Jesus Christ means self must

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be dethroned and another enthroned there, the Lord

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Jesus Christ.

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I'll never forget the seminary trained Baptist pastor

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who told his congregation that if they wanted

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to go to heaven, all they had to

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do was to believe John 3, 16.

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That's what the old boy told them.

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The trouble is a sinner can believe John

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3, 16 and still go to hell.

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We tell folks today that they can have

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their cake and eat it too because we

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preachers tell them it isn't necessary to give

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up the pleasures of the world and sin.

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You don't have to change.

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All you have to do is believe.

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But Jesus never preached sin and religion like

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we do today, friends.

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That's why most of our church today are

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a sad mix of the unconverted and antinomians.

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Everybody just does what's right in their own

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eyes and calls that salvation.

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When at the very height of the revival

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in Scotland, William Chalmers Burns answered God's call

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to go spend the rest of his life

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in oblivion as a missionary to China, a

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friend said to him, I suppose you're going

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to go convert the Chinese?

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No, Burns replied.

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I'm going to China to glorify God.

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Listen, brother preacher, the great design of the

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gospel is the glorifying of God.

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When we fail to preach a God-centered

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gospel, then we fail on all levels.

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We must preach the truth in its purity.

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And the lordship of Christ is not an

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opinion or an option you can take or

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leave, friend, but a requirement for Christ must

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be a prince as well as a savior.

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Old time preachers understood this and made this

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doctrine of the lordship of Christ their primary

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message.

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And that's why God so blessed their labors

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and attended their preaching with such powerful revivals.

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If you don't believe me, go pick up

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a copy of 50 Years on the Battlefront,

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the biography of Mordecai Ham, and you'll see

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what I mean.

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Whatever town Mordecai Ham went into, he turned

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that town upside down on its head in

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revival.

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Listen, friends, to the doctrine that he preached.

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Here are his own words.

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I preached the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ.

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I allowed for no compromise, but hammered this

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one thought that Christ Jesus must have first

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place, first call, and first allegiance.

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I made that the keynote of all my

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meetings.

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My objective has always been to enter a

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town and change the thinking of the residents

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toward Christ to direct their lives to center

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on Christ.

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Well, friends, that's how men in former times

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held up the lost doctrine of the lordship

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of Christ.

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Listen to this description of the effect of

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Mordecai Ham's ministry.

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When evangelists Ham preached, mockers were converted, families

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were restored, bars were closed, laws were changed,

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churches were filled to overflowing, even one advertised

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in the local paper that no more new

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converts should attend as there was not room

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for them.

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Hundreds were called to preach, and crooked politicians

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either repented or feared the consequences.

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When some resisted God's work, God withdrew His

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grace in answer to Ham's prayers, and God's

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judgment fell.

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Listen, friend, do you want a ministry like

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that?

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Then recover the lost doctrines like the lordship

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of Christ that God is so blessed in

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former times and preach the full counsel of

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God for the glory of God, and just

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maybe, just maybe you'll see a transformation in

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your ministry, and perhaps somebody may come tug

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on your cold sleeve, and with a sob

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and a broken voice ask you, oh, what

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must I do to be saved?