GRACE FOR TODAY Radio Message #524
SALVATION BASED
UPON A DIVINE TRUST
Pastor
Don Fortner
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road
Danville,
Kentucky 40422-9438
“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 born. He
spoke of the 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
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.