Why Do You Call Me Lord?

"But God, with the unfathomable richness of His love and mercy focused on us, united us with the Anointed One and infused our lifeless souls with life - even though we were buried under mountains of sin - and saved us by His grace. He raised us up with Him and seated us in the heavenly realms with our beloved Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King." Ephesians 2:4-6 (The Voice) Thank God, Jesus did not leave us in the quicksand of our sins! He did not just pull us out of that quagmire and, wiping His hands, say, "There you are. Go wash up and put on new clothes," and then walk off, leaving us to ourselves. No, praise God! He lifted us up and out and into Himself, the Rock of solid, unshakable safety and stability. When everything else is shaking, He remains stable, unwavering, secure, and mighty. When everything and everyone changes, He remains the same, trustworthy Saviour. What an unearthly peace this gives. No disaster, no destruction, no perilous predictions, nothing can shatter this peace that is found only in Jesus Christ. Thank God! After Jesus washed us all up, He gave us beautiful white, linen robes to wear - a heavenly white, a white so pure it can only be created through the washing of our stains by the blood of Jesus. Thank You, Jesus! And now, instead of smelling like the pit He pulled us out of, we smell like Him, the freshness of heaven, the newness of wholeness and life. To His Father and ours, we smell just like Jesus. And we look like Him too. Our sin-stained garments were removed and burned to ashes by the power of the Holy Ghost. Jesus wrapped us in His own brilliance and the radiance of His holiness, the same glory the Father gave Him. The Lord's will is to keep us sinless and pure until He returns or calls us home. That is His power! That is His joy! That is His purpose! That is our confidence! Jesus made this all available to us even while we were still comatose on our beds of guilt and depravity. Our disobedience had forever separated us from God our Father. Ours was the death penalty. But Jesus Christ willingly offered to take our place. He took our death sentence upon Himself so we did not have to die but could instead be reunited with the giver of life. What praise we ought to bring Him! What adoration is His due! We used to be enemies of God in our thinking and acting, in our striving and planning. Yet our Creator, Jesus Christ, was willing to leave the absolute purity and sanctity of the Father's heavenly residence to come to this morally collapsed world; a world that was perfect in every way when God created it but was cursed after Adam and Eve welcomed sin into their mouths and into this world. One act of disobedience contaminated everything God had created in the earth and in the skies which He had declared "good." How utterly devastating! God foreknew this would happen. He was not taken by surprise. Before He made us, God already had a plan to bring us back to Him through the shed blood of the Lamb, which was slaughtered from the conception of this world. Man had died a spiritual death and a slow, physical death by subjecting himself to Satan's will and slavery. But God loved man. He had a plan and a determined purpose that the Enemy could not thwart, nor will ever be able to. The plan involved blood, Jesus' blood. No other blood would do, for all other blood had been defiled by sin. Through His perfect life of love and compassion, Jesus taught us how to relate to God and to one another. Through His suffering, death, and resurrection, Jesus Christ took upon Himself the guilt and blame of our godless actions as well as the punishment we justly deserved. He took upon Himself our every sin and sickness, every spiritual and emotional pain and unrest. He purchased liberty for all who desire it, for all who turn away from sin and acknowledge Him and His sacrifice as the only way to God. Jesus Christ restored the status of redeemed man to that which man had with God before the fall. Through Christ's work in us, the way to the Father is perpetually open. Hallelujah! Through Jesus Christ, we have full access to the Father in uninterrupted fellowship. Thank You, Father! The lines of communication through the Holy Spirit and the written Word of God are continually flowing from God to us and from us to God. Let us hear what the Spirit of God is saying to His church at this hour. Since the Father elevated us with Jesus and settled us with Him in heaven's jurisdiction in our Lord and Savior, we ought to see things as though we are looking down from those heavenly realms. How does that change our perspective relating to temporal and eternal things? What is important? What is not? From the vantage point in the throne room of God, do not the things of this earth grow extraordinarily insignificant? We have all transgressed against God. Each of us knows the pain and unrest sin brings into our lives. But now we no longer have to obey sin. As it is written: "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions; it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:1-5 (NIV), emphasis added. Notice God's great love! Notice the richness of His mercy! Pay close attention to the past tense: were dead,in which you used to live, when you followed, lived among them at one time, were by nature objects of wrath. There is a definite past tense with regard to sin and our old way of living once we yield ourselves to Jesus Christ, who is Lord. That's because when we were born again, He made us into a brand-new class of being; all that was wrong he made right. All that was death in us was removed, and we were flooded with His life because Jesus took up residence in our hearts. We became a new species. He is the One who cleanses us from sin, and He is the One who gives us a new will and new desires. He gives us victory over sin, and He teaches us how to avoid Satan' traps. We are no longer dead! What do living people have in common with the dead? We were dead, but see? He has made us alive! Jesus loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood" (Revelation 1:5 NIV). "What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom!" (Galatians 5:1 Complete Jewish Bible) Let us revel in the intensity of His love, the power of His divine indwelling, and His guidance as He leads us from one triumph to another. In Jesus Christ, God is able to keep us flawless for the time when Jesus comes to bring us home with Him to be His spotless bride. Let us anticipate with rejoicing to meet Him face to face kept by Him, fully consecrated and faultlessly pure. "Blessed [is] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who did bless us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, according as He did choose us in him before the foundation of the world, for our being holy and unblemished before Him, in love" (Ephesians 1:3-4 Young's Literal Translation).