Salvation leads with the mind. You understand the Word of God and the way of salvation, and you believe it. And all the Christian life is like that. Learn the doctrines, learn the Scripture and then faith follows suit and you believe and you reap and you prove the Lord.
‘My Lord’ – I come under the authority of Christ. I yield my life entirely to him. I will obey the Word the God. He is my Lord, my supreme ruler and governor, and he is my God. That means to say, he is my Creator. He is the supreme object of my worship; my Lord and my God. Some people get the latter without the former. ‘I believe Christ is God. I believe in God and his mighty acts. I believe in his holiness and his great kindness. I believe in salvation. But they don’t say strongly enough. ‘First of all, he is my Lord, my Ruler.’ I know people, and I think they have found Christ but this is strange confusion of attitude. They hold back their whole lives. They preserve for themselves little areas of independence. Sometimes you can see it in the face. You will preach about something and there is a sort of reservation on the face. Yet you know they love the Lord; they depend upon him. They hesitate about certain commands. They have their own ideas, they want to reserve some particular pleasures and ambitions for themselves. They have these reservations. Well here is complete surrender to Christ.