Psalm 21:1-5

Tell Me About Your Lord

“Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am” (John 13:13).

I question today’s easy believism which obligates God but does not glorify God; which designates Jesus Christ as Saviour but denies Him His Lordship. Rolfe Barnard used to say, “Don’t talk to me so much about your Saviour, but tell me who your Lord is. SOMEBODY IS YOUR LORD! Whoever your Lord is, his servant you are!”

What do we say to our generation? “Accept Jesus as your Saviour?” It’s hard to find anyone who HAS NOT already done that! Or do we say, “Cease from self and bow to the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ?” It is hard to find anyone who HAS done that! Christ will be LORD OF ALL!

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1985)

LORD, DON’T LET ME BE A JUDAS IN MY HEART

Don’t let me put confidence in spiritual gifts. Judas was a preacher, held an office in the church; a very high position, he was an apostle and yet perished at last. If these things never made Judas a saint, neither will they make me one. If they never gave him inward holiness, neither will they give it to me. All the gifts Judas had only rendered his damnation greater. Oh, to think that I could go from the pulpit to hell is dreadful. Oh, I must have the GIVER! Lord, don’t let me be a Judas in my heart.

Don’t let me love money! Judas loved money; his and everyone else’s. The love of money will blind my eyes from seeing Christ, stop my ears from hearing him and bind my feet from following him. It will cause me to harden my conscience, betray friendships, forsake fellowship, and neglect the salvation of my precious soul. Oh, Lord, give me grace to be content with such things as are needful for this present life, knowing that I must soon leave all and go to my long home. Lord, don’t let me be a Judas in my heart.

Don’t let me betray the Savior. Don’t let me say with Judas, “What will you give me and I will deliver him unto you?” “What will you give me for the time I spend in private prayer to Him? My time of seeking Him in His word? What will you give me for my love to Him? My desire for Him? My public profession of Him? My time of fellowship with His people? What will you give me and I will deliver HIM TO YOU?” Oh, Lord, I am such a wretch, I will prove like Judas at last if you don’t love me, pray for me, and keep me from being a Judas IN MY HEART.

“Once it was a blessing, now it is the Lord;

Once it was the feelings, now it is His Word;

Once His gifts I wanted, now the Giver own;

Once I sought for healing, now Himself alone.”

Pastor Bruce Crabtree

“Tis a point I long to know, Oft it causes anxious thought;

Do I love the Lord, or no? Am I His, or am I not?

If I love, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame?

Hardly, sure, can they be worse, Who have never heard His name!

Could my heart so hard remain, Prayer a task and burden prove;

Every trifle give me pain, If I knew a Savior’s love?

When I turn my eyes within, All is dark, and vain, and wild;

Filled with unbelief and sin, Can I deem myself a child?

If I pray, or hear, or read, Sin is mixed with all I do;

You that love the Lord indeed, Tell me: Is it thus with you?

Yet I mourn my stubborn will, Find my sin, a grief, and thrall;

Should I grieve for what I feel, If I did not love at all?

Could I joy His saints to meet, Choose the ways I once abhorred,

Find, at times, the promise sweet, If I did not love the Lord?

Lord, decide the doubtful case! Thou who art Thy people’s sun;

Shine upon Thy work of grace, If it be indeed begun.

Let me love Thee more and more, If I love at all, I pray;

If I have not loved before, Help me to begin today.”