II Timothy 1:9-12, “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”
When we read this section of the letter by the Apostle Paul to Timothy, a young preacher, we see the reference of the covenant that our Lord Jesus had with His Father. His own purpose and grace have been granted us in Christ Jesus since the world began. So what is this covenant that Jesus has with the Father that we find ourselves in as believers and disciples of the Lord Jesus. Listen to Psalm 89 describe our Lord Jesus, “My faithfulness and My loving kindness will be with Him, and in My name His horn will be exalted. I shall also set His hand on the sea and His right hand on the rivers. He will cry to Me, You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation. I also shall make Him My first born, the Highest of the Kings of the earth. My loving kindness I will keep for Him forever, and My covenant shall be confirmed to Him. So I will establish His descendants forever and His throne as the days of heaven.”
This is the promise that the Father gave the Lord Jesus that He would be King of kings and Lord of lords and that His kingdom would have no end. But the expectation was that Jesus on His part would come to mankind, in mankind’s weak and fallen state and shepherd them back to the Father. In Isaiah 61:1-2 it reads, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who morn.”
The ministry of our Lord Jesus was to heal us, bind us up, put us on His shoulders as a shepherd and lead us back to God. Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of His covenant with the Father. In Psalm 40 it says, “Behold I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God.” This Old Testament prophecy showed us that Jesus covenant with the Father was to bear broken humanity on His shoulders and bring them back to the Father. In John 6:38-40 we catch a glimpse of Jesus our Lord speaking of His covenant with the Father, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
When we say that we believe in Jesus, what is it that we are believing? We are believing that He came from God to fulfill the covenant that He made with God to restore us back to God by His obedience to the cross and giving us new birth by the Holy Spirit. My favorite part of this verse is that He will lose nothing. That includes me and you that have believed. He is still shepherding us back to God. He is still healing the broken and wounded. He is still comforting those who mourn. He is still King of kings and Lord of lords. He is still fulfilling His priestly ministry through the Holy Spirit, bringing us back to God. Hebrews 13:8 says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The Apostle Paul endured much hardship as a result of His walk with God but Paul said that He was convinced that He could trust Jesus with what he had entrusted to Him against that day. Are you convinced about the ministry of the Messiah in your own life? Am I convinced that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that day? He came to heal, forgive, restore, deliver, set free, bind up… all of these things are what we commit to Him. We bring the brokenness of our humanity to our King and we ask Him to fulfill His priestly ministry for us before God. But our King sees deeper and that we need a new heart and a new mind. We must be born again. That work can't be done by ourselves. There is no 10 step program or token prayer that will make that happen. It only comes by complete surrender and emptiness of our will to His. It is only when we have used up all of our man made religion and all of our attempts to become right with God or impress God that we are able to receive His gift.
Let’s worship and pray. Father, You are holy, just and true. There is no one who compares to You. All things are possible with You. Father, help us to surrender ourselves to your will. We do not have the ability to save ourselves. We need Your work of grace in our lives. Father, I am not speaking of the salvation that You have offered us by faith in Christ Jesus. I am speaking of the changed heart that we need. Change our heart O God… We pray with the Psalmist David, Create in us a new heart, and renew a right spirit within us. We ask this in the precious name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Dr. Alan Wiggins
Associate Pastor
www.nbcornerstone.com
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