Doubly His – Sunday September 30^th 2012.

“For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.”(Psalm 139:13-14

Beloved in the Lord,

A short while ago we considered the truth of God’s Word that we are not our own, but that we belong to God because He created us. Today I would like to emphasise that truth a little more, so that we let it sink deep into our understanding.

In our text today, David is praising God and thanking Him that he is fearfully and wonderfully made. He writes” “Wonderful are Your works.” Let’s look at the whole quote again: “You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.”

Over and over, The Word of God reminds us that we are God’s creation, and that we belong to Him. It is of vital importance that we understand this, because when we do, then we begin to live life in a way that truly honours God.

If we are Christians, then we can say that we are doubly owned by God. Firstly we are owned by Him, by virtue of the fact that He created us and secondly He also has redeemed us/ bought us with the precious blood of His Son Jesus. We are redeemed from the clutches of Satan, sin and death.

Last week I read an interesting parable written by Bible Teacher and scholar – The late Derek Prince. He wrote this parable to help us understand that we belong to God.

There was once a boy who carved a beautiful little wooden sailboat. One day he took it down to the ocean to sail, but the wind changed and carried his boat out to sea. Since he could not recover his boat, he went home without it.

The next high tide brought the boat back again, and it was found by a man walking along the seashore. He inspected the boat and saw that it was beautifully made, so he sold it to a shop keeper who cleaned it up and put in his window, priced to sell.

Some while later, the boy passed by the shop and saw his boat. He knew immediately it was his, but he had no way to prove it. So, if he wanted it back, he knew he would have to buy it.

He set to work to earn the money by washing cars, mowing lawns and other tasks.. When he finally raised the necessary funds, he walked into the shop and bought back his boat. He took it in his hands, and, holding it to his breast, said, “Now you’re mine! I made you and I bought you.”

Picture yourself as that boat . You may feel inadequate or worthless; you may wonder if God really cares. But The Lord is saying to you, “Now you’re doubly Mine – I made you and I bought you; you’re fully Mine.”

This simple parable from Brother Derek illustrates to us the truth that God has made us and bought us – we are doubly His!

Every single person is God’s creation. It is by virtue of sin that we are seperated from Him. When Adam sinned, he submitted not only himself, but all mankind to the slavery of Satan. By rebelling against God, he condemned all mankind.

In order to save us, to rescue us from eternal damnation, God had to redeem us. The price of redemption was extremely high. God’s own law stated that without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin. Because God is perfect and holy, the blood would have to be perfect and holy. Amongst man no-one could meet the criteria. God’s Word clearly states “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

The only option was to shed the blood of His own Son. God had to send Jesus into the world in human flesh, sacrifice Him upon the cross, so that with His blood, the price of redemption could be paid in full. Because original sin is passed down through the seed of man, Jesus had to be born of a virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We know the Christmas story. Mary became pregnant by the supernatural intervention of the Holy Spirit and gave birth to a son, the Son of God – Jesus Christ.

At the age of 33, Jesus died on the cross, shedding every drop of His blood to redeem fallen man. His blood redeems all who believe.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

You see how great the love of God towards us is. He did not want to leave us as slaves to sin and death so He was prepared to pay the awful price to buy us back.

Jesus loved us so much that He died a substitutionary death. He died in our place, took our punishment so that we could be doubly owned by the Father.

That is how precious and valuable we are in His sight! Every single one of us.

Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2:3-6: “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.”

Paul clearly writes that God desires for all men to be saved, and that Jesus gave Himself as a ransom for all.

Jesus sacrifice was total and complete. There was nothing lacking. He paid for all sin, for all men.

What is important is that we appropriate this benefit in faith. That is why Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2.Cor.5:19-21)

From His side, God has done everything and He is waiting for us to respond in faith. When we do, then we are redeemed or bought back with the Blood of Christ Jesus The Lord.

When this occurs then our belonging to God is complete. We are doubly His. John wrote:

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:10-12)

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we become sons and daughters of God. We have the rights of a child with God. We belong to Him. We are His. All of His promises are in force in our lives. We are blessed and live in the secure knowledge that our place in Heaven is sure and sealed forever.

If and when we understand this, then we are truly blessed. Our outlook on life is completely different. We understand the truth of Paul’s statement in Ephesians:

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Eph.2:10)

Our purpose in life is clear – we live to fulfil the will of our Father in Heaven. We live to glorify His name. When that is our mission in life then we are blessed. Our life has direction, meaning, purpose, relevance. We have abiding peace and joy in our hearts, we know that Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life. What more do we need?

I began our reflections today with the words of David and I will close with the words of David – the sweet Psalmist of Israel:

“Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
² Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
³ Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
⁴ Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with loving-kindness and compassion.” (Psalm 103:1-4)

Amen

Pastor Colvin S. MacPherson Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sydney.

All Bible quotations taken from New American Standard Bible.