‘Of my own accord’: The Eager Redeemer (pt. 2)

Tony Reinke Biblical counseling, Cross of Christ, Cross-centered life, Gospel, Grace, Paul David Tripp, spurgeon

‘Of my own accord’: The Eager Redeemer (pt. 2)
by Tony Reinke

“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” (John 10:17-18a)

Last time we discovered that Jesus must be more than a suitable Redeemer; He must also be a willing Redeemer. In the light of His willingness and eagerness we learn the depth of our Savior’s love.

The most common phrase of Jesus willingness to lay His life down for sinners is to say Jesus “gave Himself” for us (Gal. 1:4, 2:20; Eph. 5:2, 5:25; 1 Tim. 2:6; Titus 2:14). The phrase drips of volition and purpose and of knowing exactly what He was getting Himself into. This willingness is so precious.

Today we look specifically at John 10 and the consequences of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. I call this section “The Heartbeat of an Eager Shepherd.”

Personal pronouns

One striking feature of John 10 is the emphasis on the individual sheep. Listen to how personally Jesus explains the relationship between the sheep and the Shepherd. Jesus says,

“The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out … A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. … If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture … For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. … My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

We cannot miss the context of Jesus’ willingness to die. He was willing to die because He personally loved each one of His sheep. When we forget about the willingness of the Shepherd to die, we think of Him as a “hired hand” who came to die by the command of another, dying an impersonal death for some faceless, nameless sheep. Never! Jesus contrasts His own heart with that of a “hired hand” who does not care individually for the sheep (John 10:11-15). “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” Jesus lived and died for His specific sheep.

Couched within the willingness of Christ to redeem sinners is the demonstration of Christ’s love towards His individual sheep. Charles Spurgeon writes, “Love delights in personal pronouns … He died for his flock, and for each one of his sheep in particular; so that we may each one say to-day, ‘He loved me, and gave himself for me’ [Gal. 2:20]; and each one know that for himself, with special intent, the Lord Jesus bore the agony and bloody sweat, the cross and passion” (sermons, vol. 35).

If you are one of His sheep, know that the Shepherd Himself willingly gave Himself for you. He knew you, loved you, died for you, suffered for you, bore your wrath, and now protects you and comforts you! Christ was eager to redeem each of His sheep. Be moved by the personal pronouns.

Christ willingly pursues us

Notice what motivates the free willingness of the Son. The Father takes pleasure in the Son’s free offering of Himself (John 10:17). This alone is worthy of much reflection. The Father finds delight in Christ for His willing offering of Himself. Amazing!

Secondly, Christ is moved to eagerness because He loves His sheep. How do we become His sheep? If I understand the context of John correctly, there is nothing you can do to be one of His sheep. This designation rests upon the free, unmerited sovereign grace of God. Jesus said, “but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock” (v. 26). Belief or unbelief are not the determining factor. The determining factor was God’s electing will in placing us in one sheepfold or another. To put it another way, my faith, my obedience, my sinful wretchedness, my love, my character, my successes, my failures do not determine or undermine Christ’s love for me. His was an unconditional love for each sinful sheep in His care.

Because Christ loves depraved sinners like us, calls each of us by name, and willingly gives Himself, we can safely conclude: The Good Shepherd pursues each of His sheep. It’s here that we see the eagerness of the Son. He was motivated to pursue me willingly and of His own freedom. He pursued me. Say that out loud … “He pursued me!”

In Luke 15 the Pharisees came to Jesus and ridiculed Him for “receiving sinners.” They were wrong. Jesus does not receive sinners, He pursues sinners. He pursues sinners like a shepherd pursues a lost sheep (vv. 4-7), like a woman pursues her lost coin (vv. 8-10), like a father runs after his lost son (vv. 11-32). With binoculars and a flashlight in hand, Jesus runs in pursuit of sinners.

Horatius Bonar writes, “in his work of saving, Christ is aggressive and compulsory. He goes out in order to find them. He is ever on the outlook. He does not merely sit above on his throne, willing to receive the applications of those who come. He comes down amongst us. He goes to and fro in the earth; He walks up and down in it. His daily, hourly work is going in quest of sinners” (Light and Truth).

The willingness of Christ reveals the deep love of Christ for you and I. Willingly, eagerly, freely, and aggressively He is in quest of sinners like me. This is grace in its purest form.

Deepest love, deepest comforts

The willing pursuit of your soul by Christ is the source of all comfort in this world. There is no dark cloud that can hide the sun of Christ’s love.

Octavius Winslow writes, “Are you wounded? Does your heart bleed? Is your soul cast down within you? Is your spirit within you desolate? Still Jesus is love, is loving, and loves you. He has suffered and died for you; and, were it necessary, He would suffer and die for you yet again. Whatever blessing He sees good to take from you, Himself He will never take. Whatever stream of creature love He sees fit to dry, His own love will never fail. Oh, can that love fail — can it cease to yearn, and sympathize, and soothe, and support, which brought Jesus from heaven to earth to endure and suffer all this for us? Be still, then, lie passive and low — drink the cup, and let the surrender of your sin, your obedience, and yourself to Him be as willing and as entire as was the surrender of Himself for you. Then shall you, in a blessed degree, be ‘able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, filled with all the fullness of God’” (Daily Walking with God).

Conclusion

We must grasp the willingness of Christ. In His willingness we comprehend the depth of Christ’s love. He pursues sinners. If we are of His sheepfold — found resting in His righteousness alone, saved when He found us drinking from polluted cisterns and lost on the path of destruction — there can be no life situation too dark or too hopeless.

In one of my favorite contemporary books, Instruments in the Redeemers Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change, Paul David Tripp writes, “Biblical personal ministry is more about perspective, identity, and calling than about fixing what is broken” (p. 185). To say it another way, helping others see the willingness of Christ to endure the Cross and His relentless pursuit of His sheep may be one of the most life-transforming, problem-clearing, darkness-breaking truths you will bring to a counseling situation.

Dwell frequently upon Christ’s eagerness.

‘Of my own accord’: The Eager Redeemer (pt. 1)

Tony Reinke spurgeon

‘Of my own accord’: The Eager Redeemer (pt. 1)
by Tony Reinke

“As a voluntary captive he was bound, and as a willing substitute he died.” – C.H. Spurgeon

When I approached the conclusion of my undergraduate degree, it was time to select a topic for my final thesis. I would eventually tackle the various contours of God’s saving message to mankind (see my final paper, Come Unto Me: God’s Invitation to the World). But I had originally selected a thesis topic suggested to me by a Puritan scholar on the Christology of Thomas Goodwin. For about one month I pursued my research with this topic in mind.

Those hours spent reading Goodwin (largely spent in Christ our Mediator, volume five of his works) were perspective-transforming. Goodwin slowly and meticulously detailed all of the steps leading to redemption. He began far before the Cross, reminding us that the terms of redemption were discussed and agreed upon between the Father and Son from eternity past. Christ accepted the redemptive terms of the Father.

Goodwin proceeded to display the many proofs that Christ was the ONLY fit mediator. He must be God and Man together because creatures and angels would not suffice. He must be perfectly obedient. Tainted sinners would be shattered under the task, and would fail even to redeem themselves.

But just when I expected Goodwin to transition from the fitness of the Son into the work of the Son as our mediator, he threw in one more chapter. This little chapter is titled, “Christ’s Willingness to Do the Work of Redemption.” I must admit that I had never seriously considered this topic in the scope of redemption history. I had always jumped from the fitness of the Son for redeeming sinners right into the Cross-work of Christ without stopping to ponder the eagerness of the Son.

Goodwin soberly reminded me that Christ could be especially suited for the salvation of sinners — the only hope for sinners! – and yet be unwilling to take the task upon Himself. The determining factor in His redemptive love towards us was not merely His perfect character or His God-man incarnate life. The determining factor was His willingness to take the task of redemption upon Himself. That He is suited, does not make Him willing.

For the past year I have been challenged to see how central to the plan of redemption was the willingness/eagerness of the Son for the task.

To prove the willingness of the Redeemer, Goodwin points his readers to Hebrews 7:21-22 and 10:3-10 to show that the Priesthood of Christ is not by appointment, but by oath. Hebrews 7:28 says, “For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.” In this passage the second “appoints” is a word not in the Greek manuscript. Old covenant priests held their posts by appointment, the Son holds His post as High Priest based upon a mutual oath with the Father because “a covenant is always the consent of two, and not of one only” (Goodwin, 5:140). The swearing of an oath shows both the agreement of the Father and the willingness of the Son.

The Incarnation of Christ also embodies this willingness. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:5-8). These two phrases of willingness — “made himself nothing” and “humbled himself” – show the volitional activity of Christ. The Incarnation was no duty pressed by a harsh father upon an unwilling son.

Jesus Himself made this willingness clearly known: “No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18). Incredibly, Goodwin reminds us that this statement was on the lips of Christ for all of eternity past. The free willingness to endure the Cross was not determined a few weeks before His death.

The willingness of Christ is worth some reflection.

Spurgeon writes, “Many a martyr has suffered much, but he could not avoid it; for he was bound, and he was not able to smite his foes or to escape. But here sat One, to be spit upon, who could, if he had willed it, have withered into nothingness all who stood about him” (sermons, vol. 49). Christ was no subdued prisoner, but a willing prisoner. He was no mere man awaiting natural death, but the Infinite God who willingly tasted death. He was no ignorant bull being led to the slaughter for the forgiveness of sin but a fully conscious and willing sacrifice. He willingly submitted Himself to curse and death and pain.

So what does the voluntary redemption of Christ all mean? This week I hope to unfold this biblical truth and discover a bit more of its depth.

A Personal Covenant by Thomas Boston

Tony Reinke Cross of Christ, Cross-centered life, Thomas Boston

A Personal Covenant
by Thomas Boston
August 14, 1699

I, MR. THOMAS BOSTON, preacher of the gospel of Christ, being by nature an apostate from God, an enemy to the great JEHOVAH and so an heir of hell and wrath, in myself utterly lost and undone, because of my original andthomasboston.jpg actual sins, and misery thereby; and being, in some measure, made sensible of this my lost and undone state, and sensible of my need, my absolute need of a Saviour, without whom I must perish eternally; and believing that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the eternal God, is not only able to save me, by virtue of his death and sufferings, but willing also to have me (though most vile and ugly, and one who has given him many repulses), both from my sins, and from the load of wrath due to me for them, upon condition that I believe, come to him for salvation, and cordially receive him in all his offices; consenting to the terms of the covenant.

Therefore, as I have at several opportunities before given an express and solemn consent to the terms of the covenant, and have entered into a personal covenant with Christ; so now, being called to undertake the great and weighty work of the ministry of the gospel, for which I am altogether insufficient, I do by this declare, That I stand to and own all my former engagements, whether sacramental, or any other way whatsoever; and now again do RENEW my covenant with God; and hereby, at this present time, do solemnly COVENANT and ENGAGE to be the Lord’s and MAKE a solemn resignation and upgiving of myself, my soul, body, spiritual and temporal concerns, unto the Lord Jesus Christ, without any reservation whatsoever; and do hereby give my voluntary consent to the terms of the covenant laid down in the holy scriptures, the word of truth; and with my heart and soul I TAKE and RECEIVE Christ in all his offices, as my PROPHET to teach me, resolving and engaging in his strength to follow, that is, to endeavour to follow his instructions.

I TAKE him as my PRIEST, to be saved by his death and merits alone; and renouncing my own righteousness as filthy rags and menstruous cloths, I am content to be clothed with his righteousness alone; and live entirely upon free grace; likewise I TAKE him for my ADVOCATE and INTERCESSOR with the Father: and finally, I TAKE him as my KING, to reign in me, and to rule over me, renouncing all other lords, whether sin or self, and in particular my predominant idol; and in the strength of the Lord, do resolve and hereby engage, to cleave to Christ as my Sovereign Lord and King, in death and in life, in prosperity and in adversity, even for ever, and to strive and wrestle in his strength against all known sin; protesting, that whatever sin may be lying hid in my heart out of my view, I disown it, and abhor it, and shall in the Lord’s strength, endeavour the mortification of it, when the Lord shall be pleased to let me see it. And this solemn covenant I make as in the presence of the ever-living, heart-searching God, and subscribe it with my hand, in my chamber, at Dunse, about one o’clock in the afternoon, the fourteenth day of August, one thousand six hundred and ninety-nine years.

T. BOSTON

The Heidelberg Catechism

Tony Reinke Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Reformation, Reformed theology

Book Review
The Heidelberg Catechism

In the March issue of reformation21 magazine, Carl Trueman wrote an interesting article on the place of creeds in the church today. In his article, A Good Creed Seldom Goes Unpunished, he writes,

“On the issue of creeds, the evangelical world often seems absolutely divided into two broad camps: There are those who are so passionately committed to a particularly narrow view of scripture’s sufficiency that they not only deny the need for creeds and confessions but regard them as actually wrong, an illegitimate attempt to supplement scripture or to narrow the Christian faith in doctrinal or cultural ways beyond the limits set by scripture itself. Then there are those whose view of creeds and confessions is so high that any other theological statement, and sometimes even the Bible itself, seems to be of secondary importance. Neither group, I believe, really does the creeds justice.”

I certainly fall into the category of non-denominationally, creedally-deficient. To rectify this, I’ve taken up the Heidelberg Catechism of late. It has been a wonderful boost to my study time, sometimes reading like a concise doctrinal statement, sometimes reading like a passage from The Valley of Vision, but always edifying.

What makes the Heidelberg Catechism unique is its subjective, experiential emphasis. Here is one example:

27. Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?

A. God’s providence is His almighty and ever present power,[1] whereby, as with His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures,[2] and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty,[3] indeed, all things, come not by chance[4] but by His fatherly hand.[5] … [1] Jer. 23:23, 24; Acts 17:24-28. [2] Heb. 1:3. [3] Jer. 5:24; Acts 14:15-17; John 9:3; Prov. 22:2. [4] Prov. 16:33. [5] Matt. 10:29.

As you can see the Heidelberg Catechism is unique in its ability to double as a devotional. Comparing the Belgic, Helvetic and Westminster Confessions, Joel Beeke and Sinclair Ferguson write, “The [Heidelberg] catechism presents doctrines with clarity and warmth. Its content is more subjective than objective, more spiritual than dogmatic. Not surprisingly, this personal, devotional catechism, as exemplified by its use of the singular pronouns, has been called ‘the book of comfort’ for Christians” (Reformed Confessions Harmonized, p. x).

You can read the catechism for free here. An updated version of the catechism is available from Faith Alive Christian Resources. This version (used by the Christian Reformed Church) comes with the complete text of the biblical references printed from the NIV. Obviously some conclusions will be contentious (like infant baptism). But overall I highly recommend it if (like me) you find yourself creedally-deprived.

Title: The Heidelberg Catechism with Scripture Texts
Reading level: 1.75/5.0 > easy
Boards: paperback
Pages: 181
Volumes: 1
Dust jacket: no
Binding: glue
Paper: normal
Topical index: no
Scriptural index: no
Text: perfect type
Publisher: Faith Alive Christian Resources
Year: 1989
Price USD: $11.25
ISBNs: 093026567x

Free download: The Works of Thomas Boston

Tony Reinke Free downloads, Logos, Thomas Boston

Free download
The Works of Thomas Boston (Logos)

Very few Puritans have more influenced my life and preaching than Thomas Boston (1676-1732). Joel Beeke writes, “may God raise up servants in this thirdthomasboston.jpg millennium of the Christian era motivated by that which made Boston such an effective ambassador of Christ: a humble spirituality, a high view of the Christian ministry, a compassionate zeal for souls, and unwearied preaching of Christ” (Works of Thomas Boston, 1:I-16). And in another place he writes, “Boston’s sermons are models of sound exegesis combined with experiential piety and admonition” (Meet the Puritans, p. 661). And so it is a great joy to announce the complete 12 volume Works of Thomas Boston are now available in Logos/Libronix format. Best of all these treasures are free!

Thank you to our good friend Joe K. back in snowy Omaha for his work on this project! To finally have Boston in searchable electronic format is a real service to the church.

– For more on the Works of Thomas Boston see the review I wrote last September. For an excellent bio of Boston see Meet the Puritans, pp. 653-667.

– Download the Logos files from StillTruth.

– For more on how to incorporate Puritan literature into your devotions and sermon preparations see our series The Puritan Study.