GRACE FOR TODAY Radio Message #435
“THY SAVIOR AND THY
REDEEMER”
Pastor
Don Fortner
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road
Danville,
Kentucky 40422-9438
Isaiah
49:26 "And I will feed them that oppress thee
with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with
sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy
Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob."
Isaiah
60:16 "Thou shalt also suck the milk of the
Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the
LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob."
In
these two texts of Scripture the Lord our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, declares
himself to be our God, our Savior, and our Redeemer. He also declares that it
is his intention and purpose to make himself known to his chosen, redeemed
people as their God, Savior, and Redeemer, and to ultimately cause all the
world to behold him as our God, our Savior, and our Redeemer.
We
have seen from the Scriptures Old Testament pictures of redemption, the
efficacy of Christ’s atonement, the freeness and voluntariness of his obedience
unto death as our Redeemer, and the causes of our redemption by the Son of God.
Now, I direct your thoughts to our all glorious Redeemer himself. Child of God,
try to get hold of this. The great and glorious God who created, rules, and
disposes of all things exactly as he pleases, according to the good pleasure of
his will, declares himself to be “Thy
Savior and thy Redeemer!” If he who is our Redeemer is indeed the Lord God
Omnipotent, then it must be concluded that he will also be our Savior.
The blessed comfort and consolation of the
gospel is that he who shed his blood at Calvary as our Redeemer will also be
the Savior of all the redeemed. Redemption would mean nothing if it did not
carry with it the assurance of everlasting salvation. However, since
redemption, in its very essence, carries the assurance of deliverance and
salvation, when the Lord God would send a word of hope, comfort, and good cheer
in the gospel, he declares himself to be our Redeemer (Isa. 41:14; 44:24;
48:17; 54:8).
HOW DID THE SON OF GOD, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, BECOME OUR REDEEMER? The Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, was appointed to the work of redemption by his Father, and he
assented to it as our Surety in the covenant of grace before the world began.
It was prophesied in the Old Testament that he would come to redeem his people
from their sins; and numerous pictures and types of our redemption by him were
given in the Old Testament Scriptures. In the fulness of time he was made of a
woman, made under the law, and sent to redeem them that were under the law. He
did, by his own blood, enter in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. In Christ all who believe have complete, eternal
redemption through his blood. And he is made of God unto us Redemption. So,
when it is asked how Christ came to be our Redeemer, we must, according to the
Scriptures, trace it to God himself, as we have already seen.
Because of his great love for us, the Son of God voluntarily put
himself into bondage as our Surety to redeem and save us. He is the Surety of that
better covenant, established upon better promises, made on our behalf before
the world began (Heb. 7:22). Having entered into covenant engagements with the
Father from everlasting, our Savior considered himself to be and became
Jehovah’s bond slave. He considered himself under obligation to his Father to
accomplish the great work of redemption. Therefore, he often spoke of it as
something he must do (Matt. 16:21; 26:53-54; Mk. 8:31; 9:12; Lk. 22:37; 24:7;
John 3:14; 12:34; 20:9). Because he volunteered to be our Surety, pledged
himself to redeem and save us, and the Father trusted his elect into the hands
of his Son, now our Savior declares that he must save his people (John 10:16;
Eph. 1:12). And that which he must do, being bound by own honor and his own
word, the Son of God will do!
AMEN.