“If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.”                                                                                                                                  (1 Corinthians 16)

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.  (John 14)

 

After learning what Anathema Maranatha means, one will not find two (2) simpler passages to comprehend in Scripture.  Anathema Maranatha means “Condemned when He comes.”  “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, [when He returns let that man be condemned.”  or “If any [wo/man] love not the Lord Jesus Christ, [when He returns let that wo/man be condemned.”  Let us now combine the two (2) passages, “If any [wo/man] love not the Lord Jesus Christ, [by keeping] [M]y commandments, let that [wo/man] be condemned when the Lord returns.”  Simple, No?

The meaning is, If a person does not love the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and by keeping His commandments let that person be comdemned by the Lord Himself at His return. To be technical, that person is “condemned already”  by unbelief AND disobedients or rebellion (John 3). The condemnation they receive is the actual beginning execution of that condemnation or at least one (1) step closer. As it says of Samson, he was to begin the overthrow of the Philistines and the deliverence of God’s people.  The return is the beginning of the actual condemnation. It will culminate or climax at the Great White Throne Judgment.

I’ve wondered for a very long time, what it must feel like to sit in a church and hear words like the above knowing one is not a lover of Lord Jesus, but pretend to. How must that feel.  Does one get sweaty? does one get itchy or fidgety on the bottom? Does one count the minutes? does one think of something else?  Reader, I am asking YOU. I am not asking a rhetorical question.  Do you imagine You have time to repent and believe?  Do You sit there wondering why You feel anxious? after all, you said the prayer or squeezed someone’s hand, you may have even walked up an aisle.  You,ve attende many church services.  Good grief, you’ve been baptized and joined a church or two (2), why then are You so anxious about your Salvation?

There are only two (2) answers to that question.
*You have not assurance of your salvation or
*You are lost…lost…lost!!! Period!!!

The answer to both these questions is one (1).  “Make your calling and election sure.”  This does not mean pray again, walk an aisle again, or shake some misled and misleading person’s hand again. This does not mean you should be baptized again. No, not at all.  What this means is “examine your faith and see…” Peter is calling upon all of us to manifest or demonstrate our faith and our salvation. The word sure is the same as a sure-footed beast on a mountainside, our salvation and faith must be sure-footed.

There are certain traits that characterize a True Blood Bought, Saved, Redeemed Sinner turned Saint.
*The Saint loves Christ as Lord.
*The Saint loves the Word of God.
*The Saint Loves the people of God.
*The Saint Prays.
*The Saint longs for Christ’s return.
*The Saint has the Internal Witness of Christ’s Spirit within.

The Saint loves the Jesus Christ as Lord:
Again from our two (2) texts above, the saint will love the Lord Jesus. How does or in what way will the saint love the Lord Jesus?  The saint will own a great and very warm affection for Lord Jesus. The saint loves the Lord more than anyone AND anything. The saint holds Christ in preeminence, that is above all, including self, family, friends, life itself.  The saint’s love is intrinisic or a part of his inner person. It is encoded into his personality. To remove that love is to remove something that gives him life and aimates him. It cannot be removed without killing him.

The saint’s love for Christ as Lord is evidenced in obedience, “If you love [M]e keep [M]y commandments.”  Allow us to write that passage in the negative.  “If you love [M]e [not], keep [not] [M]y commandments.”  The are the Words of Christ, the Lord Himself.  All but one (1) word in this passage is made up of one syllable and the other is only three (3).  This passage is a “if then” statement, “IF you love [M]e [THEN] you will keep [M]y commandments.”  This passage is a cause and effect statement.  The cause is love, the effect is keep my commandments.

I would draw your attention to a point many if not most, miss.  The passage states one will love the Lord Jesus Christ. This passage does not say, the Saviour Jesus Christ, or the Son of God, Jesus Christ, or the Redeemer Jesus Christ, or even just Jesus Christ. No, this passage states very clearly the Lord Jesus Christ. Reader, some person have a problem with this point I am making.  Most of them went to Bible School and we misled by the misled and misleading.  You can discern these person, preachers, pastors by their words during the invitation and sometime during the sermon.

These misled and misleading ministers will call upon the lost to “accept Jesus” into their “hearts as Saviour.”  There are three (3) things very wrong with this. One (1) is the invitation, itself. Where is an invitation, like the one (1) given in churches today, ever found in Scripture? Two (2) A sinner does NOT, NOT, NOT “accept” Jesus into the heart.  No, not at all.  The sinner is received “into the beloved” (Ephesians 1). Three (3) The Lord Jesus is received is received as Lord and Saviour.  Reader, The Lord Jesus is Saviour. “Jesus is not accpted as a Savoiur” and made Lord later!!!!! This IS BLASPHEMY at it’s highest!!! This is in fact, heretical. In almost every place in Scripture, Lord is put before Saviour, “Lord and Saviour.” Take out your concordance and look it up for yourself. This is a kin to saying Christ was created!!!  One cannot, cannot, CANNOT tamper with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and be sound in theology, No, Not At All.

To be sure, And I say this to those that have a problem with Lordship Salvation, What will every tongue confess as it bows before Christ?  Who must one call upon, in Roman 10, if they are to be saved?  In John 13:13, what does Christ say to those that call Him Lord and Master? Another question why do you have a problem with Christ being Lord?

The reason this is important is, Lordship or Lord speaks to authority, Saviour does not.  If we are to obey Christ, it is as Lord.  It is the Lord Jesus, our Saviour, that we lovingly obey, for the commandments of the Lord Jesus are not grievous to us.

How else does one (1) demonstrate love for Christ? Let us look at a couple who love one another.  Those who love another:
*Speak to their beloved.
*Speak about their beloved.
*Long to be with their beloved.
*Believes in their beloved.
*Believes their beloved.
*Thinks well of their beloved.
*Loves to serve their beloved.
*Loves their beloved above all others in the world and above the world.

 

To those that cannot say, with honesty, that the above speaks to you and your love for Christ, I counsel thee to repent and return to your first love or to love Him like you once did.

To those who have never loved Christ in any fashion, I charge thee, study Him, study Him closely, come to know more of Christ, for to know Him, as they say, is to love Him.

To those of you that preach not the Lordship of Christ, that is the reason you and all your churches are in the position you are in. How can you preach, Christ is preeminent if you prach not Lordship? Or do you not preach preeminence?  How can you preach obedience to God if you preach not Lordship?

To those of you that know Christ as Lord and Saviour, Blessed are thou above those who do not.

Godspeed.