Foundation of the
Christian Faith
Course: Salvation
Lesson Three
Title: Redemption
Text: Romans 3:24, 'Being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus'.
Introduction: Meaning of redemption.
Redeemed (Greek 'lutroo') means to set free upon the payment of a ransom.
The New Testament understanding of redemption is that:
1) We are born slaves in bondage to sin.
2) A payment must be made to set us free from bondage
3) We have been bought with a price and now belong to Another
It is deliverance from bondage to liberty.
Set Free
Redemption is deliverance from being servants of sin to becoming the servants of righteousness.
Redemption is a process that will be completed when the Lord returns and the outward bodies will be changed into His likeness.
1) We are saved from the penalty of sin (Justification)
2) We are being saved from the power of sin (Sanctification)
3) We shall be saved from the presence of sin (Glorification)
A person who has been redeemed will seek to walk in the liberty of righteousness.
Paying a ransom
We associate a ransom with kidnapping.
A ransom is paid to free a person who has been wrongfully taken and is unable to free him or herself.
But ransom in the Bible refers to 'making atonement'.
The meaning is that a ransom must be paid to reconcile man to God.
Question: Who demands the payment of a ransom?
A ransom had to be paid that satisfied the holiness of God.
If God ignored the demands of holiness then He would be denying Himself which He cannot do.
To redeem His people from sin God had to make a way where the sinner could be free from sin while at the same time justice was not compromised and the holiness of God fully satisfied.
The only One who could pay this price for us was the eternal Son of God who became Man and shed His blood on our behalf.
Introductory Story: Can God can do anything?
People generally have the idea that because God is all powerful, He is free to do anything He wants.
One time when I was speaking to young people, I asked the question ‘Do you believe God can do anything?’
They answered ‘Yes, God can do anything’.
Then to everyone’s surprise, I said ‘No, God cannot do anything’.
God must act in accordance with His nature and character.
The omnipotence of God can never contradict the righteousness of God.
We are born into slavery; slaves of sin.
A payment must be made to set us free from the chains that hold us.
But our freedom is bought so that we can be servants of righteousness.
We are not free to serve sinful desires because that is not freedom.
Following after fleshly desires is bondage to sin.
Redemption in the Old
Testament
The Passover (Exodus 12-14)
The story of the Passover is the story of redemption
1) The
Israelites were slaves in
2) The firstborn was redeemed by the blood of the Passover Lamb. On the night of the Passover the blood of the Passover Lamb was put on the door posts. If the blood was not there the firstborn died.
3) The
children of
Main Points:
1. The Price of Redemption, 1 Corinthians 7:23 'You are bought with a price; be not the
servants of men.'
We have been bought with a price.
The price of redemption
is costly. 1 Peter 1:18-19, 'Forasmuch as
you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and
gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. But with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:'
a) The cost of redemption was the
blood of the eternal Son of God.
He alone was
able to redeem us. Revelation 5:9-10,
'And they sung a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book, and to open
the seals thereof: for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your
blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And have made us unto our God kings and
priests: and we shall reign on the earth.'
He alone is
able reconcile Man to God. He is the
only Mediator between God and man. 1 Timothy 2:5-6, 'For there is one God, and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.'
The word
ransom is the Greek word 'antilutron'. The
word ‘lutron’ refers to the price of being set free. The prefix ‘anti’ refers to being instead of
something’.
The verse
literally means that Christ Jesus gave Himself as a substitute for the price of
our redemption.
It was
impossible for mankind to redeem itself.
The eternal
Son of God gave Himself as a substitute to redeem us.
b) Be not servants of earthly things.
The costly
price of redemption shows the foolishness of chasing earthly riches.
Wealth has
limitations. Immense wealth cannot bring
redemption.
No one can
be redeemed through earthly riches. Psalm
49:6-7 'They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude
of their riches; None of them can by any
means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:'
The rich
leave their riches when they die.
'Their inward thought is, that their
houses shall continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations;
they call their lands after their own names.' (Psalm 49:11)
It is futile
to trust in earthly riches.
Story: Poverty does not stop people trusting in
riches
I have been
involved with missions in the Philippines for many years.
Many
Filipinos are poor, and the ‘US dollar’ or other foreign currencies are
regarded as the means of being ‘set free from poverty’.
For this
reason a family will often seek to get a family member married or working in
another country.
The love of money is not just a snare for the rich, it is also the snare of the poor. 1 Timothy 6:10a 'For the love of money is the root of all evil:' Our heart can be filled with the love of money even when we are living in absolute poverty.
Money could never buy our redemption; and riches have no lasting value.
The greatest
riches are ‘the unsearchable riches of
Christ’ Ephesians 3:8. The Lord will never allow His people to perish, but He gives strength to go through every trial.
2. The purpose of redemption.
We have been
redeemed to be a people belonging to the Lord who glorify the Lord with our
lives. 1 Corinthians 6:20 'For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify
God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.'
We have been redeemed to
worship the Lord and to produce the fruit of holiness.
a) A people redeemed to be a place
of worship.
You are not
your own… 1 Corinthians 6:19,
'What? know you not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are
not your own?'
We have been
purchased to be the Lord's people. 1
Peter 2:9a 'But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy
nation, a peculiar people'. The word
translated peculiar in the King James Bible is the Greek word 'peripoiesis'
which means 'a purchased possession'.
We are the
Lord's purchased possession.
We can no
longer live as we please.
We have been
purchased to glorify the Lord. 1 Peter
2:9b, ' that you should show forth the
praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:'
Our lives
must bring glory to God.
We are the
dwelling place of God; the temple where His Glory dwells. The temple is a place of worship and prayer.
b) A people redeemed to be holy.
We have been
redeemed to be the servants of righteousness. Romans 6:17-18, 'But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin,
but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered
you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.'
We are been
set free from the bondage of sin to live in the freedom of holiness.
Zacharias
the father of John the Baptist prophesied concerning the deliverance of God's
people from slavery to holiness. Luke 1:73-75, 'The oath which he sware to
our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of
the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and
righteousness before him, all the days of our life.'
The Lord
came to set His people free to be holy.
Freedom is
living in holiness. This is does not
mean religiously following a doctrine or moral code that is legalism. We must be careful that we do not become
legalistic or a moralist in our endeavour to be holy. Holiness is having new life and living this
life to the full in the righteousness of Christ. 1 Corinthians
5:17, 'Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new.'
We have been
redeemed so that our lives will produce the fruit of Holiness, Galatians 5:22-23.
A people
motivated by the love of God (agape).
Now that we
have been redeemed, we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to
God. Romans
12:1-2, 'I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service. And be not
conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that
you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.'
We have been
redeemed to serve one another within the body of Christ.
3. Redemption completed.
Luke 21:28
'And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up
your heads; for your redemption draws nigh.'
a) The signs of the coming of the Lord.
What are the signs of
His coming?
1) The Jewish nation
dispersed among the nations, Luke 21:23-24.
The return of the nation is an end time sign. Israel and Jerusalem are mentioned regularly
on the world news.
2) Signs in the heavens '...signs in the sun, and
in the moon, and in the stars', Luke 21:25a.
It is not so easy to understand
what is meant by 'signs in the heavens', but the 'signs on the earth' are easy
to understand. Before the Tsunami on
December 26, 2004, the sign 'the sea and waves roaring' did not mean much but
now it is easy to associate it with a tsunami.
The same can happen regarding 'signs in the heavens'.
3) Signs on the earth, Luke 21:25b-26.
'...distress
of nations, with perplexity'.
'...the sea and the waves roaring'.
'...Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those
things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be
shaken.'
In recent years we have
seen the rise of terrorism, the terrible tragedy caused by a tsunami, and a
worldwide financial crisis. The fear of
the future is very likely to increase in the coming years. We are told to lift up our heads because our
redemption is near.
Powers of the heavens can mean spiritual powers.
4) Then the
Lord will come '… then shall they see the
Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.' Luke 21:27.
b) The redemption of the body.
Romans 8:23 'And not
only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even
we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is to say,
the redemption of our body.'
Redemption
will be completed when the Lord returns and those who belong to Christ will be
changed into His likeness.
1) We shall
receive an immortal, incorruptible body,
1 Corinthians 15:51-53, 'Behold, I show you a mystery;
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.'
2) Our
glorified bodies will shine as the stars with the glory of the Lord.
If we were
to see ourselves as we shall be the sight would be more glorious than anything
that we have ever seen.
Paul
considered the sufferings of the present time to be nothing in comparison to
the glory that awaits us. Romans
8:18, 'For I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall
be revealed in us.'
Summary:
1) The price that our redemption cost was the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The value of redemption is far greater than earthly riches.
2) The purpose of redemption was that God would have a people for His possession who glorify Him.
3) Redemption will be completed when the Lord returns and our physical bodies will be changed into His likeness. The signs of His coming are appearing so we must 'lift up our heads; for our redemption draws near.' (Luke 21:28b)