John Bevere - Jesus Is More Than Our Savior
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Now, the Bible says if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. It does not say if you confess with your mouth the Savior Jesus. Do you notice that the word "Lord" there is the Greek word "kurios," which means "master," "owner," or "supreme in authority"? Do you see this? Master: so thou shalt confess the Master Jesus. If thou shalt confess the Owner Jesus. In other words, you make Him my Owner, my Master, my Supreme in Authority. But yet we preach Him as Savior. In the Bible, I want you to look at the screen—36 times the word "Savior" appears in the entire Bible; the word "Lord" appears over 7,800 times.
You know what's interesting? Remember the story I told you about Eve last night? If you look in your Bible, you'll find out the Lord God, the Lord God, the Lord God. When the serpent comes to Eve, he says, "God." He removes the Lord God, excuse me, the Lord, and says "God." And do you know how Eve answered? God, not the Lord God. "Lord" occurs over 7,800 times in the Bible; "Savior" appears 36. Where do you think God puts the emphasis? That's a question. All right, lordship declares His position in our life; Savior describes the work He's done for us. We cannot partake of the benefit of His work unless we come under the position of Lord and King.
Let me give you an example. My wife is an amazing cook; I mean, she is unreal. I have friends that have said to her, "Would you please teach my wife how to make your pesto sauce?" Because she's Sicilian, she's just really gifted. So, I've been married to her for 33 years; there's probably been a half dozen to a dozen times I've looked at her and said, "You're my little gourmet chef." But I've said to her thousands of times, "You're my wife." "Chef" describes the benefit I receive; "wife" describes the position she holds in my life.
Do you know Lisa made me an unbelievable meal when we were dating for my birthday, June 2, 1980? Unreal. I was like, "Oh my gosh, this girl can cook!" I mean, it's really a good deal when you marry up. I'm cooking with your wife; my mom's pretty good, but my wife—whoa! I better not say that; I'm like, "Don't tell my mom I said that."
But you know, she made me that meal; that didn't make her my wife. That didn't give me a covenant relationship with her. It was her position of wife that gives me a covenant relationship with her, not the work she does for me of being a great cook. How in the world do we get people to enter into a relationship with Jesus when we preach Him as Savior? Because we're preaching the work He's done for us, not the position He should hold.