TELLING OTHERS ABOUT JESUS

When Christ is presented to the unsaved, should He be proclaimed as Savior only, or should He also be proclaimed as Lord? In sharing the gospel, we must never misrepresent who Jesus is. He is Christ the Lord, as can be seen in the following verses:

***"For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake" (2 Cor. 4:5).
***"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36).
***"The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36).

What is the significance of the following verses when discussing the Lordship of Jesus?

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10:9-10).

First of all, verse nine could be translated in this way: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord . . ." (same Greek construction as in Phil. 2:11). This verse is teaching that a true believer will confess Jesus Christ as Lord. Notice that when one believes, he confesses (shares his faith in) the Lord Jesus. Just as good works are faith "made visible" (Jam. 2:14-26), so confessing Christ as one's Lord is faith "made audible." Confessing Christ is not a condition of salvation, but the natural result of salvation: "For whosoever shall believe on Him shall not be ashamed" (Rom. 10:11).

The true believer confesses Christ as Lord. Many who are opposed to "Lordship salvation" argue that what the person is confessing is Christ’s deity, not His Lordship. They understand "Lord" in Romans 10:9 to be equivalent to "Jehovah," the name exclusively used of the true God, and translated "LORD" over six thousand times in the Old Testament. The fallacy of that argument is that it suggests a saved person must recognize Jesus is God, but not necessarily recognize or acknowledge His Lordship. That argument does not carry much weight for the following reason: If Jesus Christ is truly GOD (and He is), then He must be Lord also. If He is God—the supreme, all powerful Creator (and He is)—then He must have absolute authority over all His creatures. That is, He must be Lord. If He is God (and He is), then He must be Lord also. The two titles go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. If He is Lord at all, He must be the Creator-God. If He is the Creator-God, then He rightfully must be Lord. It would be foolish for a person to say, "I acknowledge Him as Deity, as my Creator-God, but I reject Him as my Lord."