Free At Last! Redemption in Christ

Ephesians 1:6-7 "To the praise of the glory of His grace, whereion he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace:"

The central theme of God's Word from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, is the wonderful truth that redemption has been made possible through the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on Calvary's cross. In Genesis, God promised that a man-child was coming who would destroy the works of the devil; all the blood offerings of the Old Testament looked forward to the coming Redeemer. In the New Testament, the emphasis is on what took place at Calvary, where our redemption price was paid. The last book, the Revelation, portrays believers of all ages singing praise to Him who died as the Sacrificial Lamb, Who purchased our salvation with His precious blood.

Redeem means to set free through the payment of a ransom. Redeem or redemption appears 146 times in the Bible. An event in recent history graphically illustrates the glorious truth of our redemption through the blood of Christ.

In January of 1981 52 Americans who had been held hostage in Iran for 444 days were set free. The newspapers were filled with their story. When they returned they told how they were treated by their captors: Some were forced to endure mock execution by firring squads. They were marched into the courtyard, hands bound, then lined up next to the wall. Armed soldiers formed into a firing squad. The officer of the guard called them to attention, then cried out Ready! Aim! As they waited forr the final command, they knew they would die; they expected to hear the explosion off rifle fire and feel the bullets enter their chests. Instead there was the click of empty weapons. The guards laughed. It was all a joke. Time and again, they endured the practical jokes of their guards. They were told they would never go home alive. They were nott allowed to have mail from home, and were told their families and nation had forgottten them. It seemed so hopeless. Then one day, a messenger came and told them their government had paid the ransom, eight billion dollars, and they would be set free the next day. They didn't believe it. It must be another cruel hoax. To their amazement, the next day, busses arrived, they were marched to the busses, boarded, and driven to the airport. Even then they couldn't believe it. When they saw the plane, they thought "Any minute they'll take us back to the compound and we'll die there. They boarded the plane. In a while they were told to fasten their seat belts, they did it, but couldn't believe they were leaving. The engines roared, they taxied down the runway; they felt the surge of power as the big jet plane lifted heavenward. They were airborrn for a couple of minutes before they could begin to believe all this was really happening. Then one of the "former prisoners" cried out "We're free at last!!!"

This is a faint picture of what transpires in the life of every believer who receives Christ as Saviour. We were prisoners, hopelessly lost. Our captor, the devil, whispered in our ear: "God doesn't care about you. He's forgotten you exist. You'll die and go to hell, and He doesn't even care." Then one precious day, a messenger came. It might have been a parent, a friend, a teacher, but he came as a messenger from God. He told you the ransom had been paid. Jesus paid it all on Calvary. You received the truth, turned to Christ, and were set free. That is the message of redemption. Consider now:

I. The Need For Redemption.

1. Our Need. We had a debt we could not pay. Our past sins were against us as an unpaid debt. Some believe that if you clean up your life and quit sinning, you will be okay and make it to heaven. If you could quit sinning and be perfect (which you can't), what would you do about the past.

If you owed the bank $20,000, and stopped making payments, would they forgive the debt? Not likely. If you wanted another loan and went to them, they would tell you to first pay of the past loan, or no money would be offered. Clear up the past debt! That was our problem, we had a debt (our past sins) that we could not pay. We needed someone to pay our debt.

2. God's Problem. It's hard to think that the Mighty God could have a problem He could not solve. Here it is. He is a loving God, gracious in mercy. At the same time He is a Just and Holy God. He is Law Abiding. He made the law and must enforce it.

Roman history tells of a judge who devoted his life to enforcing the Roman law. He was fair, but he was strict in seeing the law was carried out. One day his grown son was brought to his court. The son had committed a crime that demanded the death penalty. His delima was: He loved his son, but in order to be true to his own self, he must be true to the law. His family begged him to be lenient...just this one time. It was his son, his only son. Sadly, this judge and father made his decision. The son was sentenced to die. Ironically, before the execution was carried out, the judge died due to the extreme stress of his decision.

This was God's delima. How to lovingly forgive and show mercy to sinners and still be true to His sense of holiness and justice. He found the solution. He would come to the planet Earth and be our Kinsman Redeemer. He would become one of us, part of our human family, then die as our representative and substitue. This is the message of redemption.

II. The Cost of Redemption. "through His blood"

The U.S. government released eight billion dollars to the Ayatolla in order that the prisoners might be set free. The price paid for your eternal salvation was much larger. God, through His Son, gave His own life blood that you might be free from your sins.

Some dislike the message of the blood atonement of Christ. They think is distasteful to refer to blood, but the Bible makes much of the blood. 412 times in both testaments, God's word declares the value God places on the blood of His Son.

Years ago a young boy contracted a rare blood disease and almost died. Fortunately his body was able to resist the virus and he lived. A few years later his little sister became ill with the same rare disease. They still had no cure for the disease, but the family doctor had a suggestion. He had read somewhere that if a litttle of the blood of a person who had overcome the disease could be injected in the ill person, sometimes the antibodies could resist the virus and bring about healing. The doctor approached the boy and said: "Son, you love your little sister, don't you?" The boy responded: "Yessir. I love little sister." "Fine," the doctor said, "then would you be willing to give blood to save her life?" The boy was silent for a long time; his lip quivered, and he replied: "Yes. I'll give my blood to save sister's life."

They placed the two children on a table. Two needles were placed at either end of a rubber tube. One needle was placed in the brother's arm, the other in the girrl's arm. The blood began to flow. After a little blood had entered the sister's arm, the doctor pulled the needles out. The litttle girl was taken to her room and the boy was left alone on the table. After awhile, the doctor came back and said: "Son, you can get up now." The boy looked at the doctor and said: "Doctor. When am I going to die?" He had been taught that when you lost all your blood you die. He thought they wanted all his blood, and he was willing to give it.

The Saviour came into the world to offer all His blood, to die, to bear the sins of all the world in His body on the cross. He was not only willing to die, He went all the way to the cross to lay His life on the line that we might be redeemed.

How can the blood of one man purchase the salvation of all who call on Him. This was not just a man, this was the Eternal Son of God who became a man for the express purpose of being our Kinsman Redeemer.

When Jesus declared from the cross: "It is finished!" He was saying "Paid in full! The ransom has been paid. Now all who call on My name can be eternally saved!"

III. The Result of Redemption. "the forgiveness of sins"

The word "forgive" literally means "to carry away".

Forgiveness was portrayed for the Israelites on the Day of Atonement. As recorded in Levitucs 16, on that holy day of sacrifice, two identical goals were brought to the high priest. The goats were well groomed, and perfectly matched. You could not tell one from the other. The first goat was brought to the high priest. He placed one hand on the head of the goat and read a prepared list of sins that had been committed by the people. Then that goat was slaughtered, his blood spilt, his flesh burnt on the altar. The blood was taken into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle or temple. Then the second goat was brought to him. Again he read the list of sins while holding his hand on the goats head. Then this goat (the scape goat) was taken out into the desert, so far it could not find its way back.

Every year the people watched. No words were spoken, but they got the message. Two identical goats. One killed, the other lived. When the scape goat bearing all the sins went out into the wilderness, the message was driven home to them: Someone is coming, who will look like me. He will die in my place. When this happens...all my sins will be taken away from me, never to be seen again.

This is the mesage of the Gospel. Jesus, a man, who looked like you, part of your human family, your Kinsman Redeemer, has come to die in your place. Because of this price paid, you can have all your sins taken away from you, and God will never remember them again.

There was a chorus we sang when I was a teenager. The words were something like this: You ask me why I'm happy. Well, I'll just tell you why. Because my sins are gone. They're underneath the blood on the cross of Calvary, As far removed as darkness is from dawn. "In the sea of God's forgetfulness, that's good enough for me. Praise God, my sins are gone."

I hope you have experienced the joy of sins forgiven. If so, you have been ransomed, redeemed by the blood of Christ. If not....may I simply share the "ABC's of Redemption"

A - Admit that you're a sinner. Romans 3:23 says "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." We're all in the same boat. None of us has passed the test. That's why we need Someone bigger and better than we are to purchase our salvation. Admit it to yourself first. You are a sinner, a law-breaker, and you deserve to pay the ransom yourself..."the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Death is what we deserve. Admit it to God. Repent of that sin, turn from it.

B - Believe in the Lord Jesus. Paul said to the Philippian jailer: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." (Acts 16:31) To believe in Christ means to trust Him to take control of your life. Surrender to His control, allow Him to be King as well as Redeemer. As you submitt control of your life to Him, you are cleansed from sin, born anew, the Spirit enters your life to give life and energize you and make you what you were intended to be.

C - Call and Confess Him. "Whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:13) He is only a prayer away. Lift your voice to Him. Ask Him to save you now. He has promised to save all Who call on Him, and He will be true to His Word. As an act of obedience, confess Him as your Saviour. Tell your friends and family. Find a Bible believing church and publicly confess Christ. Become a part of the visible Family of God. Represent Him well as a person who has been redeemed by the blood of the Blessed Saviour.

If I may answer yourr questions, contact me by e-mail. God bless!