Trinity Baptist Church

Key Words of the Christian Life

Redemption: Free At Last!

 

Of all the names that the Bible gives and of all the names that believers give to Jesus Christ, none is more precious than the name Redeemer. There are other names we use more often, such as Lord and Savior, and rightly so because those too are Bible terms, but no word touches the heart like the word redeemer.

 

When we say Lord, we are recalling that Jesus Christ is the master over sin and death. When we say Savior, we are recalling that he saved us from our sin. But when we say Redeemer, we remember what it cost him to save us. Redeemer is the name of Christ on the cross. When we say that word, we remember not only that he gave us salvation, but that he paid a mighty price to do it.

 

It is no wonder, then, that we often use this word in music. “Oh for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace.”

 

 “Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer, seems now I see him on Calvary’s tree, wounded and bleeding for sinners pleading.”

 

William Calper wrote the famous hymn “There is a Fountain.” The fourth verse goes like this: “E’re since by faith I saw the stream thy flowing wounds supply, redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die: and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die; redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.”

Fanny Crosby wrote much about redemption. This is one we often sing, “Perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, to every believer the promise of God; the vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.”

 

Another one goes like this: “Redeemed and so happy in Jesus, no language my rapture can tell; I know that the light of his presence with me doth continually dwell. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the lamb; redeemed, through his infinite mercy, his child and forever, I am.”

 

All those songs have this in common—they speak of the cross. For when you say Redeemer, you speak of what Jesus did when he paid for our sins with his own blood. Herbert Locker said it this way, “Redemption is chief among the doctrines of grace for from it all the rivers of grace flow.”

 

Today I want to continue or key words of the Christian life series by thinking about redemption.

 

As we’ve done with the other words, I begin with

 

 

To redeem means to set free by the payment of a price.

 

Now think about what we’ve learned so far.  Justification is the gracious act of God whereby He declares a sinner not guilty and forever changes his standing as a child of God.  The scene for that declaration is the courtroom.

 

Propitiation is to offer a gift or sacrifice in an attempt to appease or satisfy the anger of one who’s been offended.  The word takes us to the mercy seat in the tabernacle where blood was offered as an atonement for sin. 

 

Reconciliation brings us to the living room, where enemies become friends and relationships are restored.

 

Regeneration takes us to the delivery room where we are born again with a brand new start. 

 

Redemption takes us to the slave market where men and women who were slaves to sin are set free by the power of Jesus Christ.

 

In the ancient world men, women and children were routinely bought and sold. They were owned, traded, purchased, put to work. They could be handed down from one generation to another. You might be born into slavery or you might go into debt and legally fall into slavery. You might be captured by an army and taken as a slave as part of the booty, the victorious spoils of war.

 

But if you became a slave in the days of the Bible, there were only two ways you could ever be freed from your slavery.  In just a few rare cases, a condemned man might have enough money to pay a price and purchase his own freedom.

 

Far more often, it would be this—you were in slavery and somebody took pity upon you. They purchased you out of slavery. That purchase was called redemption. 

Then they, having purchased you, having paid the price, if they chose to, they could make you work for them as a slave or, in rare occasions, they could set you free. The purchase price for a slave was called the redemption money.

 

So in a Scriptural sense, redemption means to see a slave, pay the price, take them off the market and set them free. There is an exchange that takes place. One man pays the price so another man can go free.

 

There are three primary Greek words that are used in the New Testament for redemption. The first one speaks of the market place. In its secular sense, it means to go into the marketplace and buy something. You see something you like and purchase it. Applied to redemption, it means to pay the price that is necessary to get what you want. 

 

The second word means to go into the slave market, to pay the price and to take somebody off the slave market and out of that area altogether. And applied to redemption it means to go in and purchase a slave who is on the auction block.

 

The third word is the word means to set free or deliver somebody from captivity. So we have three possibilities of meaning when we come to the word redemption in the New Testament.  One means to simply purchase; another means to purchase and remove from the slave market and the third means having purchased and removed, you are now set free.

 

All three words are used in the New Testament to describe what Jesus did on the cross.

 

Listen to Ephesians 1:7

 

Then Titus 2:14

 

And Galatians 3:13

 

I want to add one more and that is

 

1 Peter 1:18-19

 

Instead of our death, there is his. Instead of our blood, there is his.

 

 

There is an Old Testament illustration that helps us understand redemption. It is found in the book of Ruth. It tells us of an Old Testament practice that involved a kinsman redeemer.

 

The kinsman redeemer was a provision in Jewish law to take care of an Israelite if they fell into slavery.  Sometimes it might be because of debt or tragedy that a Jew would be unable to fulfill his obligations and either the person or a family member would be enslaved to honor that debt. 

 

In Ruth, it happens because of family hardship.  A lady named Naomi has her husband and two sons die.  Because all the male members of the family died, she lost all the houses and lands and all the possessions that she had. Her daughter-in-law, Ruth, was forced to go work in the fields.

 

Naomi told Ruth to go find a man named Boaz because he was their kinfolk. He was part of their family. He had the legal right to redeem them.

He could purchase the right to take them out of poverty. He could bring them back into prosperity.

Now the Old Testament stipulated four conditions that had to be met before a kinsman redeemer could pay the price.

 

1. He had to be a kinsman. He had to be part of the family. There had to be a blood relationship.

 

2. He had to be acceptable to all the parties involved.

 

3. He had to be able to pay the price.  For example,  he couldn’t himself be in debt.  There could be no risk that he might default and unable to pay his own debt and compound the problem. 

 

 

The story in the book of Ruth tells us that Boaz took a liking to Ruth. Then he realized that he was kinsman to Ruth and to her family and he had the right of redemption.

 

But in chapter four we discover he wasn’t first in line to be redeemer.  Whoever was the closest kinsman had the first chance, then the second, third, fourth and on down the line. 

 

Boaz was number two in line. So they have a meeting and Boaz talks to the number one man. He tells him that he is closer to the family than Boaz is and has the right to redeem the family and pay the price to bring them out of poverty. The number one man agreed he would do it.

 

Then Boaz tells him that there is a little catch, because along with paying the price he would have to take Naomi and Ruth, and assume the whole family responsibility.

The number one guy says, “I just changed my mind. I think I’ll pass. It’s all yours.” So Boaz says he would pay the price. They exchange their sandals, which was the public way of saying he would assume the debt and pay the price himself.

 

So Boaz not only pays the price, Ruth and he are married.  And if you look closely at the lineage of Jesus you will find her name there as Ruth came into the line that eventually came down to David and brought to us the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

And Boaz stands forever in the Word of God as a example of of a kinsman redeemer who was kin, who was acceptable, who was able and who was willing to serve. 

 

Even so our Lord Jesus Christ is our kinsman.

 

Did you ever wonder why Jesus had to become a man?  He was simply meeting the requirement to be your redeemer. 

 

“Though he was rich, for our sakes he became poor.” “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” He became one with us. The Lord of glory became our kinsman.

 

Was he acceptable? Yes, because he is the God-man, acceptable to God and also to man.

 

Was he able? Yes, because he was totally without sin.

Was he willing? Just look at the cross and you have your answer.

 

So the Lord Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the Old Testament illustration and became our kinsman redeemer. He paid the price.

 

 

The Bible reveals three critical facts you must understand to know what redemption is all about.

 

 

The Bible says “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

 

By nature, we are all slaves to sin. That may be an ugly thought, but it is utterly biblical. Somebody may say, “Bro. Terry, I don’t think I’m a slave to sin.”

I will say to that, “Then you don’t know yourself very well because if you knew yourself, you would know that is how you came into this world.”

 

Let me ask a question to the parents who have children at home. When did you start teaching your child to do wrong? How long did you wait until you started teaching them to sin and disobey and break your rules? You didn’t! They do wrong by nature. Little children are born knowing how to do wrong.

 

They come to learn very quickly that the selfish appetite and desire can be satisfied if you just cry enough.  The psalmist said we come out of the womb speaking lies. 

 

It is exactly the same in the spiritual realm. As we come into this world, by nature we come in sinful and wicked. We are all by nature slaves to sin. Sin, is a chain around our neck. It weighs us down; it holds us back. Sin enslaves you and me, leaving all of us helpless and hopeless unless somebody reaches down to help us.

 

 

Redemption must be by blood. God never meant that the natural man would be pleased by that. There are people who come into evangelical churches and hear us singing about the blood of the lamb and are repulsed by that.

 

I can understand that in one way, because blood itself is not that pretty. It is not wonderful. Blood makes a lot of people squeamish.

 

I remember when I was a boy, I cut my thumb.  Mom took me down to old Dr. Noma Rector in downtown Wilson. She bandaged me up and I remember hearing her say, “Terry, do you think you can get down and let your mom lie down on the table for a while?” 

 

Mom couldn’t stand th sight of blood.  She would watch me give my insulin shot and if I bled a little, she would get sick. 

 

And I will tell you that thought of the blood of Jesus Christ is quite appalling.  Id on’t think we have any way to visualize what He endured and what He looked like by th time the crucifixion was over. 

But I will also tell you that if you take away the blood of Jesus Christ, you destroy the Christian faith. As the song says, “Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.”

 

I want to ask you a question. How much money would it take for you to pay for even one sin? I am thinking about the sins of your life, the sins you have committed since you got up this morning.

 

Suppose you paid $5.00, do you think you could pay for one sin with that amount? What about $10.00? Would that cover it? Would God accept $100.00 and take away one sin? How about $1000.00? What if you had all of Bill Gates’ money?

 

What if you had all the billions that is drawn by professional athletes?  What if you had all the money changing hands on Wall Street?  What if you had all the oil money of all the sheiks in the Middle East? How many sins could you forgive with all of that money?

 

The answer is not a single one.  The Bible says it is not by silver or gold.  There is not enough money in all the world even to forgive one sin, let alone all the thousands of sins that we commit. You don’t have enough money. There is not enough gold in Fort Knox to forgive even one sin.

 

They say down here on earth, money talks. Down here on earth if you want to be accepted, you need money.

 

Well I want you to know, up in heaven, blood talks. If you want to be accepted in heaven, you need the blood of Jesus Christ.

 

 

What does it mean to be set free from sin? No more guilt. No more dwelling in the past. No more shame or memories to haunt you. No more fear of hell. No more anger and despair. The debt of sin is cancelled, the chains are broken forever. The bonds that bind us and hold us back, and all of those dirty habits that we can’t seem to break, all of them gone forever. No more price on our heads, no more debt to be paid. This is the message our world desperately needs.

 

There are people all over the world who are trying so desperately to get right with God and have their sins forgiven.  They’re going to church and giving money and good deeds and trying to live right. 

 

There are others who are trapped in the chains of terrible sexual sin and since they cannot be set free, they have decided to redefine it as genetic or in-born or constitutional. And since they say they can’t change, they say God made them this way.

 

Let me tell you, there is no sin, no matter how bad, no trespass, no iniquity so deep within the human soul that it cannot be forgiven and wiped away, changed by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That is the gospel truth. That is the hope of the Christian faith.

 

 

For all these dear people who have deluded themselves into thinking God made them that way, no God didn’t make you that way. You were born with a spiritual tendency toward evil. The only way that will ever be broken is by coming to the cross of Jesus Christ and having your sins forgiven and being set free by Jesus Christ. That is what redemption is. It means you are now set free from sin.

 

So let me give you redemption applied in four quick points.

 

 

1. Because redemption is true, the price for sin has been fully paid.

 

If you are born again, you are forgiven. You don’t have to pay anymore. When Jesus Christ cried out, “Tetalestai!”, which we translate, “It is finished,” what it really means is paid in full.

 

2. Because redemption is true, you are no longer in bondage to the old way of life.

 

 

In this world there are a lot of ways to gain approval. You can look good, act good, have money, go to the right schools and hang around with the right people. You can dress in a certain way and talk in a certain way, and you can think by doing that you are going to be accepted.

But let me tell you, all of those means of approval and self worth and forgiveness are useless because they do not deal with the basic problem which is the problem of the heart, which is the problem of sin, which can only be dealt with through the blood of Jesus Christ.

 

 

What it means is you are absolutely free, you are completely free and you are eternally free.

 

Let me close with this:  If redemption is what I’ve describe it to be, we must be extremely valuable to God.

 

This is not because of what we are but because of what it cost Jesus to purchase us. In us, in our hearts and flesh, dwells nothing good.  We realize that.  It’s not as if God looked down and said, “Well, these people are worth so much, I haves to go down and save them.” No, we all deserve punishment and hell.

 

Sometimes you will go to an auction and see some little trinket. You will think it is the biggest piece of junk you have ever seen in your life. You would say to yourself, “If they paid me, I wouldn’t take that.” Then the bidding starts and you think they will never sell it. The first guy offers $50. The next guy says $100. The next says $200. You just want to stand up and shout, “What’s the matter with you? Have you lost your minds? That is a worthless piece of junk!”

 

And it ends up selling for $500 or $1000 because it is some heirloom that some great sculptor made two or three hundred years ago. What was junk to you turns out to be precious to somebody else.

 

Listen to this. In an auction, a thing is worth what a person will pay for it. Think what we must be worth, then, to God. Think what it cost him to purchase our salvation. It cost him the blood of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

And because of Him, we are set free from sin. We have redemption right now. We stand before God as his sons and daughters. We are forgiven, seated with Jesus Christ in heaven. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. We are OK! We are in a good position, it couldn’t possibly be better. That is the result of redemption and the grace of God.

 

Statistics tell us that in the United States, over 7 million Americans are on probation, in jail or prison, or on parole. That’s approximately 1 in every 32 adults.  That’s a sad statistic, but let me share one that is even sadder and that is the number of people who’ve been set free by Christ, but are still living like they are on parole with God.

 

They are afraid that if they mess up, they will go back to prison. Brothers and sisters, we are not on parole. We’ve been redeemed. He came into the prison, opened the door, and it can never be closed on us again. He led us out by the hand and paid the price. We’re not on parole, and we’re never going back to jail again. We’ve been set free.

 

 

 

And it didn’t happen because of anything good you did.  You didn’t earn your way out on good behavior.  You couldn’t open the door by yourself.  In fact, you were stuck in the lowest part of the dungeon, chained hand and foot, in the blackness of eternal darkness. You hadn’t seen the sunlight since the day you were born. But one day Jesus came in with the key, unlocked the chains, opened the door and let you out.

 

Redemption is a free gift of God with no strings attached.  You don’t have to be good to be redeemed. You know why? It is because good people don’t need to be redeemed. Only bad people need to be redeemed. Only people in prison need to be set free. Only slaves need to be liberated.

 

You don’t even have to try hard. You don’t have to do anything but accept the pardon that he offers, because that is what redemption is. It is not a parole, it is a pardon. He is not putting you out on conditional behavior or probation.  It is a complete and absolute pardon of all your sin. All you have to do is accept it.

 

On December 6, 1829 two men, George Wilson and James Porter, robbed a United States mail carrier in Pennsylvania. Both men were subsequently captured and tried. On May 1, 1830 both men were found guilty of six indictments which included robbery of the mail "and putting the life of the driver in jeopardy."

 

On May 27th both George Wilson and James Porter received their sentences: Execution by hanging. The sentences were to be carried out on July 2nd, 1830.

 

James Porter was executed on schedule. George Wilson was not. Shortly before the set date a number of Wilson’s influential friends pleaded for mercy to the President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, on behalf of their friend.

 

President Jackson issued a formal pardon. The charges resulting in the death sentence were completely dropped. Wilson would have to serve only a prison term of twenty years for his other crimes.

 

Incredibly, George Wilson refused the pardon!  According to the official report, THE UNITED STATES VERSUS GEORGE WILSON (Peters 7 Report Sections 150-163) Wilson was returned to court as they attempted to "force" the pardon on him. It is recorded that George Wilson chose to:

 

"...waive and decline any advantage or protection which might be supposed to arise from the pardon referred to..." Wilson also stated that he "...had nothing to say, and that he did not wish in any manner to avail himself in order to avoid sentence ..."

 

The case reached the Supreme Court. The Attorney-General made the following comments:

 

"The court cannot give the prisoner the benefit of the pardon, unless he claims the benefit of it... It is a grant to him: it is his property; and he may accept it or not as he pleases."

 

Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the following in the decision:

 

"A pardon is an act of grace, proceeding from the power entrusted with the execution of the laws, which exempts the individual, on whom it is bestowed, from the punishment the law inflicts for a crime he has committed...

 

"A pardon is a deed, to the validity of which delivery is essential; and delivery is not completed without acceptance. It may then be rejected by the person to whom it is tendered; and if it be rejected, we have discovered no power in a court to force it on him.

 

"It may be supposed that no being condemned to death would reject a pardon, but the rule must be the same in capital cases and in misdemeanors."

 

In other words, George Wilson committed a crime. He was tried and found guilty. He was sentenced to be executed. A presidential decree granted him a full pardon. But George Wilson chose instead to refuse that pardon and he was executed because he would not accept the pardon that had been offered.

 

What I want to say to you is this. If you die and go to hell, don’t blame God. Don’t tell him you never knew, because now you do. If you don’t accept the pardon God offers you, then you will have to live and die with the results of your own decision.

 

Jesus Christ has paid it all, but he will not force his way into your heart. The price has been paid in full. You don’t have to go to hell unless that is where you choose to go. But remember this:  if you don’t do anything, that is where you are going to go.

 

The pardon has been offered. Now you have to reach out your hand and say you want it. How do you do that?

 

I will lead you in a prayer right now. Pray this in your heart. “Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I know I cannot save myself. Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for me. Thank you for paying the price for all my sin. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and be my Savior. I open my heart and my life to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

 

It is as simple and as difficult as that. Did you pray that prayer? If you did, you need to tell somebody about it.

 

Now, brothers and sisters go forth and walk as free men and free women. Jesus Christ has set you free and if the Son has set you free, you are free indeed.

 

Let’s pray.