When I came to Jesus back in 1989 I was conscious that I was not just asking Jesus to save me from my sin, but I was asking Him to be my Lord as well.
The Bible says in Romans 10:9-10 that, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”
In these verses it talks about believing in our hearts that Jesus died and rose again for us. He paid the price for our sin in dying for us on the cross.
A key part of the salvation message is also the Lordship of Jesus. He needs to be Lord of our lives. We are under new ownership and submitted to His authority.
For me this means Jesus is my King. He is my ruler. I bow my heart to Him and I bow my knee before Him. He controls my life and He is the one who gives the orders. My job is to yield and obey.
In a world were we are told we are number one and the most important person in the world, we need to reassess this thought and bow our lives afresh. Jesus is number one. He always has been and He will be always be.
Yes Jesus is my Saviour for which I am eternally grateful, but He is also my Lord, my Master and my King. As a result, every part of my life needs to be completely submitted to Him.
Bible Readings: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 5:7-9, John 12:20-33
The title of my message today is, “God has always wanted to be our God”. This phrase is something that has really touched my heart this week as I have reflected on our readings for today. It is something that I have carried with me all week. I have three reflections I want to share.
1. God wants to be our God
Right from the beginning of time when Adam and Eve walked in the garden, we see God wanting to be with us. He walked with them in the cool of the evening the Bible tells us. After the fall when Adam and Eve sinned, God provided a way for them to be right with Him again. They would sacrifice an animal and shed its blood to be a temporary covering for sin. As time went on we see there were sacrifices in the Temple. This was part of the Old Covenant God had with His people.
In the midst of this temporary covering, God was looking forward to a time of the New Covenant. The time when Jesus, His one and only Son, came into the world. The Prophets of the Old Testament spoke about this regularly to the people. And the people looked forward to it with great hope. Jeremiah 31:33 says, “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
God was looking forward to this time now. When we have His law written on our hearts, and He would be our God and we would be His people. This phrase is recorded 11 times in the Bible. It is first found In Genesis 17 and found lastly in Revelation 21. It is a recurring theme that not only shows His great love for us, but His greatest desire.
2. Jesus is our Perfect High Priest
We see in Old Testament times that once a year, the High Priest would be able to enter the Holy of Holies. No one else could do because it was where the presence of God came to rest on the Ark of the Covenant. Before he could enter though, he had to atone for his own sins. He had to undertake very elaborate rituals and dress perfectly to be just right. He even tied a rope with a bell around himself, so that if he did not properly atone and dropped dead from being unclean in the presence of God, his lifeless body could be dragged out by the other Priests. The High Priest would atone for all the sins of the people, and intercede on their behalf, and God would forgive them. This had to be repeated each year.
In our second reading we see that Jesus was called our Perfect High Priest. Why was He our Perfect High Priest? The reading says, “While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. [8] Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. [9] In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.”
Jesus was our Perfect High Priest because He lived a sinless life and He lived in complete and total obedience to the Father. He ran His race perfectly in a way that none of us can. We needed Jesus as our Perfect High Priest, so we could become the people of God- His children. Jesus made a way for this to happen.
3. Jesus had to die, so we can live for eternity
In our last reading we see Jesus uses the image of the wheat and the seed. He says, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. [24] I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels-a plentiful harvest of new lives.”
Jesus is at the time in His earthy ministry when He starts to talk about His coming death. I am sure His disciples did not fully understand what He meant by a kernel of wheat dying and being planted in the soil. But for us, we have the benefit of being on the other side of the cross, we know He was talking about His crucifixion. His death for our sins.
When I was a boy growing up in the 1970s I knew about Easter – Jesus died on Good Friday and He rose to life on Easter Sunday. We got to eat lots of Easter eggs and we got a long weekend off school. But I did not understand why Jesus died and what it had to do with me?! Thankfully, in my early twenties I learned that Jesus died on the cross for our sin. He died to pay the price or took the punishment we all deserved. I then realised that I was a sinner and I needed God’s forgiveness. The truth is we all need God’s forgiveness. We all need to accept what Jesus has done for us. We all need Him as our Lord and Saviour. This is why Jesus came. He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).
Closing Reflection
Just before I pray I want to take you back to the title of this message and what God has caused me to reflect on this week, “God has always wanted to be our God”. Right throughout the Bible, God has told us that He wants to be our God, and He wants us to be His people. It was His heart way back in the Garden, it has been His heart through the words of the prophets, it has been His heart in the New Testament books.
It is my hope and prayer this week, as we approach Easter, that we will all put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. That we will believe that He is the Son of God, that He died on the cross for our sins, and we will all accept Him as our Lord and Saviour this Easter. If you have already done this, it is my hope that you will be closer to Jesus than ever before. May this Easter season be a time of renewal that draws you further in to God’s plans, deeper in to His love and closer to One who died just for you.
In the Bible we see that God the Father speaks audibly three times. On each occasion He spoke about Jesus in a loud voice from heaven.
1) “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased”(Mark 1:11). This was at Jesus baptism when the Holy Spirit descended like a dove.
2) “This is my Son listen to Him” (Matthew 17:5). This was on the mountain where Jesus was transfigured and Moses and Elijah appeared.
3) “I have glorified your Name and will do it again” (John 12:28). This is when Jesus prayed bring glory to Your name Father.
I cannot imagine what it would be like to hear a loud voice from heaven. It would be amazing and terrifying all at once.
On each of these occasions the Father spoke about His beloved Son Jesus. This is the ultimate approval of who Jesus is and His mission to save the world.
John 5:39-40 says, “These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
Jesus said these words to the religious teachers of His day. They claimed to know all about faith and the Scriptures, but did not recognise Jesus as the Messiah that they were waiting for.
They had knowledge of the Scriptures, but missed the main person – Jesus. Over the years I have known some very religious people who have studied the Bible, but they missed Jesus too.
So what are some keys we have to understand about Jesus?
He is eternal (John 1:1-3)
He is the Son of God (Luke 1:35)
He is the Messiah (John 4:25-26)
He died on the cross to pay the price for our sin (Romans 3:23-24)
He was raised back to life and is now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Romans 8:34)
He is coming back for those who trust in Him as their Lord and Saviour (Hebrews 9:28)
He is the only way to salvation (John 14:6)
These are seven things that are key about Jesus. It is just so important to understand who Jesus is and what He has done.
Today I would encourage you to look up the verses in brackets above on BibleGateway.com and see for yourself.
I just read this devotion on Vision V180. There is an good story of a man with a horse and cart. Please enjoy…
From V180 devotion
‘Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you.’ Psalm 55:22 CSB
American author, Hannah Whitall Smith tells a story that took place about a hundred years ago, yet it’s as up-to-date as tomorrow morning’s newspaper. ‘A farmer with a horse and cart notices a man walking along with a heavy sack on his back, so he offers him a ride. The stranger accepts and climbs up onto the cart. But as they proceed down the road, he is still bowed beneath the weight of his sack. The farmer says, “Why don’t you set the sack down?” The stranger replies, “That would be too much to ask. I’m grateful that you’re carrying me, but I would never expect you to carry the sack also.”’
That’s what we do when we accept God’s offer of salvation but insist on carrying all our burdens ourselves. ‘Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you.’ (Psalm 55:22 CSB) God won’t begin working on the problem until you turn it over to Him; He gets involved when He gets invited. We wait until we’re falling apart, then wonder why God doesn’t help. ‘You do not have, because you do not ask’ (James 4:2 AMPC).
Have you asked God for help? Have you placed the problem in His hands, confident that He will work it out for your good, patiently waiting for Him to do it? This doesn’t mean you become passive and sit around doing nothing. You need to do what you believe is right and what you have peace about doing. Learn the difference between your part and God’s part, and stop frustrating yourself by trying to do what only God can do.
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