JESUS AS SAVIOUR, LORD AND TEACHER

J.Renton

Luke 1: 46,47; Philippians 3: 7,8; Mark 10: 51,52; John 20: 16,17

I have read of a person who spoke of my Saviour; another person who spoke of my Lord; and two persons who spoke of my Teacher; there is a moral order in these expressions. I wonder if we can all identify our Saviour. There is only one Saviour; every man, woman, and child needs a Saviour, and there is only one Saviour, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The glad tidings are concerning Him, and we present Him to each person here this evening as Saviour. He is the Saviour of the world, that is true, He has saved many, that is also true, but what I would be concerned about is that every one here this evening would be able to say 'my Saviour'. That is personal; the gospel is a very personal matter. God desires that all men should be saved, and God has made provision that all men should be saved: Christ Jesus gave Himself a ransom for all but what about each one of us person ally? Can you say genuinely, 'my Saviour'? Did you ever think what it cost the Lord Jesus that you might be able to say 'my Saviour'? It cost Him untold sufferings that He might be your Saviour. The One whom we present in the glad tidings as Saviour is God. John's gospel tells us that. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" John 1: 1. What could be clearer as to the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then John tells us the "Word became flesh" (chap 1: 14). The greatest thing that has ever happened in the universe of God is that One of the blessed Trinity became a Man. Think of the immensity of that step, that stoop, into manhood. Paul tells us in the Philippian epistle, that he emptied Himself (see chap 2: 7). This is, dear friend, part of the cost that you might be able to say 'my Saviour'. Not only did He come into manhood, but He suffered. He took the sinner's place. He suffered in the sinner's stead that you might be able to say, 'my Saviour'. The gospel is a very blessed message, but it is a very serious matter, because when we hear the gospel we are responsible to answer to it. Persons who have never heard the gospel are not as responsible as persons who have heard the gospel over and over again. Do not let it be regarded as common; realize, dear friend, what it cost the blessed Saviour that you might be able to say, 'my Saviour'. He suffered as if He had been the sinner. He was forsaken of God; sustained God's righteous wrath, which was the portion that belonged to me and belonged to you. He entered into death, the awfulness of what death meant for the Lord Jesus; He poured out His precious blood; He was buried. Such was the cost that you might be able to say 'my Saviour'. Now, He has been raised from the dead, God's testimony to His satisfaction in that finished work, because the work that the Lord Jesus undertook is finished; there is nothing left of that work to do. He is available, dear friend, if you have never been so far able to say, 'my Saviour', you can say it now because He is available for you. You need to repent, to own that you need a Saviour. The great difficulty with some people is to convince them that they need a Saviour. Maybe they have been religious; maybe they think they have been good, but every one needs a Saviour; if anyone were good enough without a Saviour the Saviour need not have sustained the cost that I have tried feebly to speak about, He need not have sustained the suffering if you were righteous enough for God's presence. No one is, every one needs a Saviour, and that blessed Saviour is available to you, you can claim Him now, and you will be able to say, 'my Saviour' tonight before you leave this room.

Now I would like to say a few words about how full is; His service as Saviour. If you claim Him as your Saviour, you can be assured that you will never come into judgment, your sins are settled for ever; they will never rise in your lifetime here, they will never rise in the hereafter. What a Saviour He is! The consequences of those sins have been met by the Saviour. That does not give licence to go on sinning for this wonderful Saviour will not only save you from the consequences of your sins, but He will save you from your sins, save you from a sinful course. He is able to save you in situations of temptation and danger, whatever circumstance of sorrow or suffering that you may have to undergo, the Lord Jesus is sufficient to save you, dear friend, He will save you daily. You need a Saviour, we need salvation daily and the Lord Jesus is available to save us every moment, every day, "For every one whosoever, who shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved", Rom 10: 13. As you own Him as your Saviour and Lord He will dispense the blessed gift of the Holy Spirit, making the believer independent of the world around: imparting a sense of joy and satisfaction that makes him independent of this world's system and all that goes on in it. He is able to change our taste. When we are young, we have tastes for the world; I was once young, many here can say that, worldly things appeal to you, but as you know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour and are committed to Him, as you trust Him you find your tastes change and the world appeals less, and less, and less, and He and His interests appeal more, and more, and more, that is experience to which many can bear witness in this room.

Is that all? That is not all. Paul tells us "we await the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, who will transform our body of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory", Phil 3: 20, 21, that might be spoken of as the last act of the fulness of the service of the Lord Jesus as Saviour. Do you know what it means? We shall no longer have bodies subject to disease and suffering and weakness, we will have bodies of glory like His body of glory. Paul tells us He is Saviour of the body which refers to His interest in our bodies down here, but includes the fact that He will change our body of humiliation, for it is indeed a body of humiliation we have now, we will have bodies of glory like His. What a prospect is before the believer who is able to say 'my Saviour'. Those who sleep in Jesus, whose lives of testimony are over, who in their life-time here were able to say 'my Saviour' and whose bodies are now in the grave will hear the same blessed Saviour shout the triumphant shout and every one will rise from the dead. This is the Saviour we are commending to you in the glad tidings. I would ask, Do you trust Him? Is He not worth trusting? One who undertakes to be our Saviour all the way through? At times we do not trust Him sufficiently. I tell you He is well worth trusting as Saviour; may we increase in our appreciation of Him. I trust every one here will be able to say 'my Saviour', if not, I trust you will be concerned and exercised to claim such a Saviour for yourself personally.

Now we come to another person, not only was he able to say, my Saviour, but he said, my Lord, "Christ Jesus my Lord". Now it maybe that you know the Lord Jesus as Saviour1 and maybe trust Him as Saviour, but I wonder if you are committed to Him. as Lord. This is a further and fuller exercise. Paul could say, "what things were gain to; these I counted, on account of Christ, loss. Now I understand that verse 7 of Philippians 3 to refer to Paul's conversion; when he was converted, he counted all these things, these assets he at one time thought he had to be loss. "As to circumcision, I received it the eighth day; of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law a Pharisee; as to zeal, persecuting the assembly; as to righteousness which is in the law found blameless"; these are things that he could have boasted about, but when the Lord appeared to him on that Damascus road, what conclusion did he come to? "What things were gain to me these I counted, on account of Christ, loss". He got a glimpse of the glory of the Lord Jesus which eclipsed everything else in his life and he was never the same man again, his outlook was different, his whole life was revolutionised instantaneously, and he counted these thing he was self-satisfied with on account of Christ, loss.

Then he says, "But surely I count also all things to be loss", I count; the conclusion that Paul came to, on the Damascus road when he said, "Who art thou, Lord?", and when he said "What shall I do, Lord? " Acts 22: 8,10, the committal was maintained, "surely I count also all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord". I wonder if we can all speak of Jesus as 'my Lord'; every one committed to Him as the writer was here. What a life of devotion was the life of the one who had been called Saul of Tarsus, the big self-important man; but he becomes Paul, which means little; he speaks of himself as the less than the least of all saints.

If we are not committed to Jesus as Lord, it may be because we do not trust Him; it may be because we think we can do better for ourselves in going our own way, we may think we will be happier going our own way than being committed to the Lord Jesus. That may be the reason why some of us are not as committed as we ought to be. I would like to tell you, dear friend, that you can trust Jesus as Lord. Paul would tell you this, he says, "on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all"; did he regret it? Did he regret suffering the loss of all? No, he said, "and count them to be filth, that I may gain Christ". I wonder if we are all committed to Jesus as Lord, which means that our own wills are not active; that we are here for the will of God; we are here for the pleasure of our Lord Jesus Christ, and are committed to Him and His interests. The Holy Spirit will help us in this, He will give joy and satisfaction in doing the will of Another. If you have not committed yourself to the Lord up till now, dear friend, I would entreat you to trust Him. You will be far happier, more satisfied, doing the Lord's will, doing God's will than doing your own will. You may not believe that. Young people especially do not view things that way, but, dear friend, it is the truth, I can tell you. Doing your own will eventually will bring sorrow, it could even bring disaster, but doing the will of God, committing yourself to Jesus as Lord, you will never regret. I have never known any one regretting committal to Jesus as Lord, and to His interests. The most satisfying life you could have is to be here for the will of God. It speaks in Romans of presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, accept able to God, which is your intelligent service. Then it goes on to say, "be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God", (chap 12: 1,2). I commend this step to you. Saul of Tarsus took it. It is a step some here could tell you about; it is a step never to be regretted; full committal to the Lord Jesus. Is He not worthy of your trust? Give up your ideas that you are happier doing your own will; decide for Christ. You do not need to decide to do your own will, you do not need to decide to go into the world, that does not call for decision that happens because there is not decision for Christ. It is lack of decision for Christ that leads into the world. To go into the world does not necessarily call for decision, but you need to decide for Christ; that is where decision is essential. The enemy is pleased if he can divert us from decision and committal because he knows that he can then have his way with us. The answer to it, dear friend, is definite decision and committal to the Lord, to say, 'my Lord'. Then you will be with others, because you will find in the Scriptures not only the expression 'my Lord' but very often 'our Lord', our Lord Jesus Christ. That involves companionship, you are not alone; you find others who also say, 'my Lord', and you can be with them and say 'our Lord Jesus Christ'.

Now, we read of two persons who said, Rabboni, and I am told that Rabboni means, my Teacher. There would be a moral order in this; you begin by saying 'my Saviour', and I trust we have all reached this decision to say 'my Lord', then you will find that you need the Lord Jesus as your Teacher. There was a blind man in Mark 10 who sat by the wayside begging; he could not see his way. Let us face it, we live in difficult times when the church publicly has failed to be a witness to Christ; the church publicly is in ruins, not only breakdown, but publicly in hopeless, un-mendable ruin. There are various companies, various groups; how do we find our way? Dear friend, say, 'my Teacher'. The Lord said to this man, "What wilt thou that I shall do to thee?". The Lord may be saying that to some person here. What would you answer? A bigger salary! More opportunity in the world? This man said, "Rabboni" – my Teacher – "that I may see"; see where to go, see where the Lord is, see what the Lord is doing. Jesus said to him, "Go, thy faith has healed thee. And he saw immediately, and followed him in the way". He had to see to follow, he could not see when he was blind. 0, how we need the Teacher! I believe that if any one who has genuine exercise, is not governed by prejudice, or by preference, but is simply subject to the Lord's leading as Teacher, he will be guided rightly; it must be so. I am not saying where He would guide you to, I am commending Him to you as your Teacher. Say 'my Teacher', be subject, be leadable. You could not say 'my Teacher' unless you have first of all said 'my Saviour', and then said 'my Lord'. There is a great need to have the Teacher who will guide you aright, who will open your eyes and you will see, and be able to follow Him in the way, in the midst of this public ruin. People speak about this group and that group and splinter groups, we ought to be deeply sorrowful that these things have happened in our own time but 'my Teacher', dear friend, is the answer. There is a need to repudiate and judge prejudices and preferences, and simply commit yourself to 'my Teacher', and you will see, He will let you see where He is and you are able to follow Him; it is a practical matter at the present time.

Now there is another person who said "Rabboni", Mary of Magdala. She knew and appreciated the cost to the Lord Jesus that He might be her Saviour and Lord, and Teacher. She was bereft of the Saviour, the last place that she knew Him to be was in the grave; she passed through that sorrow of being without her Saviour and Lord. You could have offered Mary of Magdala the best business proposition this world could offer, or tried to interest her in the best investment possible, she would not have been interested because her Lord was in the grave. But when the Lord said, "Mary", 0, that quickening life-giving word, the personal interest of Jesus, she said "Rabboni, which means Teacher". This Teacher is not only available in the labyrinth of ruin in which we are publicly, but He will also initiate us into new relationships, divine relationships. What does the Lord say to her? "Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father". Think of that! You would have thought, that as the Lord Jesus rose from the dead the first thing He would have done would be to go to His Father. But no, He is thinking of His own. He said, "I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God". The Lord would teach us these wonderful divine secrets, family relations. The Lord Jesus said "my Father"; no one could say 'my father' like the Lord Jesus, how He knew the Father. He said in the consciousness of sonship "my Father", but He also said, "your Father". He is distinctive in sonship, but believers are brought into the same relationship as He is as man, sonship. Then He said, "my God", He said that as Man of another order. Think of Him saying "my God", and then "your God", that is we are brought into the same order of manhood as the Lord Jesus is. These are wonderful divine family, privileged, relationships that the Lord would teach us and initiate us into the enjoyment of. On the public side we need guidance, we need 'my Teacher', but we need Him to bring us into the enjoyment of eternal relationships. It says in this same gospel, "If therefore the Son shall set you free, ye shall be really free". John 8: 36. That is really free in the area of privilege in all the wealth and fulness of the blessings which were in divine purpose, to be enjoyed now, not only individually but to be enjoyed with others.

May the Lord make these suggestions attractive to us. Do not trifle, dear friend. If there is any one here who cannot say 'my Saviour', I appeal to you, do not leave this room until you can, there are plenty here who could help you. If you cannot in reality say 'my Lord' face the matter honestly, come under the blessed divine authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing more blessed, nothing more happy, nothing more satisfying. And then, may we all know and follow the Lord's own teaching for His Name's sake.

GLASGOW

10 November 1985