SALVATION
BASED UPON A DIVINE TRUST
“That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first
trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation.” Ephesians 1:13
The Apostle Paul, writing by divine inspiration, tells us
of a twofold trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us that God the Father
trusted Christ as the Mediator and that all who are born of God trust him as
the only Mediator between God and man.
The Father’s Trust
Be sure you
notice the language of Holy Scripture. The Holy Spirit here informs us that God
the Father trusted his Son long before we came to trust him. In the covenant of
grace, before the world began, when the Son of God volunteered to become our
Surety, God the Father trusted his elect and all his purposes of grace toward
his elect, into the hands of his dear Son. God the Father trusted Christ as our
Surety, Shepherd, and Savior long before we did (John 6:37-39).
“All that the Father giveth me (giveth me presently, in regeneration and conversion) shall come to me; and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own
will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me (Hath Given Me from eternity, as
a Trust into my hands) I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day.”
Thus
it is that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of all his sheep as being his sheep,
which he must bring into the fold, long before many of his sheep were even
born. He spoke of them all as his present possession, though he declared
plainly that they were not yet in his fold (John 10:16).
In
the everlasting covenant of grace, God the Father trusted his Son, our all
glorious Christ, with the salvation of his elect, and thus with the glory of
his name from everlasting. When our Savior had finished his great work of
redemption whereby he secured the salvation of all the chosen, he asked and the
Father gave to him, as the just reward of his obedience, the glory he had with
him before the world began (John 17:1-4; Heb. 1:1-3; 10:1-14).
Our Trust
“In whom ye also trusted.” - At the
appointed time of mercy, grace and love, every chosen, redeemed sinner is born again
and called by the irresistible power and grace of God the Holy Spirit to life
and faith in Christ. This God given faith is not the trust of some imaginary Jesus who tries to save, but cannot do
so without the consent of man. Oh, no. That Jesus is an idol. This God given
faith is faith in the same Christ the Father trusted from eternity -- THE ALMIGHTY COVENANT SURETY WHO CANNOT
FAIL!
AMEN.