The Glory Of God's Great Redemption

Would you join with me now in prayer as we come before our God and ask Him to minister His Word. Father, we have come here today in worship. Part of that worship, Lord, is to come to this table and to fellowship with our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father we need your word to make this table effective and so we pray that you would now give us from your word an understanding of this table thank you Father for all that you've done for us in Jesus God help us today to rejoice in him We pray this in His name.

Amen. Ever since I was a little boy, I can remember walking into church on particular Sunday mornings and seeing this table set before us. And many of you have grown up in church. Many of you, saved later in life, have gotten used to walking in and seeing this particular table set in a particular way as we come to the Lord's table. And this table tells us of a purpose of God.

The purpose of God working in history to save a people. And a very important part of that story is redemption. In order for God to accomplish His purpose of saving a people for His glory, He needed to redeem them. Redemption is a rather important part of the whole story, the whole narrative of Scripture, of God calling out a people. Even this morning in the book of Exodus, we heard how God called out a people by redeeming them by His outstretched and mighty arm.

And He has redeemed us in a mightier way through the death of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Without redemption, there would be no people of God. And that redemption occurred at the cross. And as we come to this table, we come to this table to proclaim to us again the whole idea that Jesus redeemed us And we need to worship Him today by considering what He accomplished by His death on the cross And so I want us to think and reflect about what He accomplished on that instrument of death as He went there.

Understand first of all what the word redemption means. What does the word redemption mean? One of the group of words for redemption that you find in the scriptures has the idea of ransom, a price paid to bring about the release or freedom of someone. If, suppose, tomorrow you get a phone call and someone on the other end of the phone says to you, we have your son, you can have him back if you deliver $100,000 to this point by 5 o'clock tomorrow.

Now, that $100,000 is a ransom, right? We understand that. That's a ransom. The price you have to pay to secure your son's release, to buy his freedom. But note as well that the ransom also is a substitute. It's given in the place of a life.

If you don't pay the price, the life of your son will be forfeited. so the money takes the place of his life that whole idea of a substitute ransom runs through the old testament particularly in in the in the law if you turn back to exodus chapter 34 for a moment exodus 34 look with me at verses 19 and 20 all that open the womb are mine all your male livestock the firstborn of cow and sheep the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck all the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem and none shall appear before me empty-handed Now, here's what he's saying here. He's saying all these firstborn belong to me. They belong to me by right.

If you want them, you have to pay a price. And for the donkey here and by the way this isn the only place This keeps coming up over and over For the donkey here if you don sacrifice the lamb what do you have to do You have to kill the donkey. So, you substitute that lamb, the life of the lamb, for that donkey. You redeem that donkey. Later on, as you read, you find out that for the firstborn son, belonged to God, you had to redeem him.

You had to go with a temple shekel and pay for him. all right so the redemption has the idea also as a substitute so to redeem then means paying a price to bring about the release or freedom of someone turn if turn with me to mark chapter 10 mark chapter 10 this wonderful passage where where jesus is laying before us his disciples this whole idea of greatness in the kingdom and the idea of the greatest is the servant of all the The greatest is the one who serves the most, not the one who has the most serving him. Verse 41, And when the ten heard it, that is, that James and John had made a bid for the top spots in the kingdom, and when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. but it shall not be so among you.

But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. Note, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. Here's the idea of that ransom, paid to secure release. That's what the word means, that Jesus substitutes himself and pays for you and buys your freedom.

OK, so ransom or redemption means to buy freedom, to buy someone's freedom. But there's another group of words for redemption that have the idea of purchasing or buying. But instead of buying someone's freedom, you buy his life and service. So this first group of words talk about buying your freedom but then there another group of words that talk about buying your life and your service The redeemed are slaves because they bought with a price Believers are not bought by Jesus so that they free to live a life of ease and their own way of life, living for themselves, doing whatever they want.

They've been bought by God at a terrible cost and thus have become his slaves to do his will. and so redemption also means to buy someone and to own someone to buy that person's life in his service imagine that you're a slave you're beaten and bruised by a cruel heartless master and that's your lot he owns you and then one day he loads you up in a cart and you go to the next town and he says, he stops at a house, a man comes out and says, see that guy there? Yep, he's your master now. He bought you yesterday.

You belong to him. And now you find, though, that this master, living for him is a life of sweet slavery. And you gladly render him your obedience. That's more of the idea that this word redemption has for us as Christians. We have been delivered from one master to another. And this master gives us a sweet slavery.

The other master we had, sin, beat us up and bruised us terribly. But this master has bought us now. He owns us. We owe our life and our service to him. That's the kind of redemption that Jesus has accomplished. And it has very practical implications for us.

For example, look over at 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, the Apostle Paul is dealing with this whole issue of sexual immorality running rampant among Christians at that church. And he wants to make a point to them. In 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19 and 20, he says, Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

Okay, so don't be involved in sexual immorality because your body is a temple. Second point, you are not your own. For you were bought with a price. So what? Glorify God in your body. See, He has purchased your life and your service.

Because He owns you, you honor Him. with your body. Isn't that interesting? Even the thing that you would claim is yours doesn't belong to you anymore. The very thing you would claim is yours, your body, does not belong to you. You cannot do with your body what you want to. Let that sink in for a moment.

You do not have the rights over your own body. Only God does. You don't have any rights over your body. because God purchased your body at the price of His Son. And because of that, you glorify God with your body. Some of you have heard this story. Part of being a pastor and being involved in what I think is shepherding, not just counseling, but actually shepherding people, you read verses like this and images come to mind.

I'll never forget a young man. When I would go down to Clear Creek, you remember those days we were doing the training down at Clear Creek and we'd counsel folks. I remember one young man coming in. He'd just been recently converted. Homosexual lifestyle, right? And he said to me one day, I just don't see what the problem is.

I don't see what the problem is. What's the big deal? Okay. So I started in the Old Testament. This whole session was, it's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. It's the law says this.

You can't do that. and this and this and this and this and this. Alright? And then of course I gave him his homework, his counseling homework. And one of it was this passage. I'll never forget. The next week he came in and said, I see what the problem is.

What? He said, well, I've been purchased at the price of Jesus and I can't do with my body what I want to. It was that simple for him. It's like, wow. After all my great eloquence last week He only took the word of God to do that to you. But he understood something.

His body didn't belong to him anymore. He couldn't do whatever he wanted. It mattered to God. Glorify. Honor God with your body. Why?

Because you were bought. He owns you. He owns your body. Right? That's what redemption means. redemption means that when Jesus died on the cross he purchased you soul and body you are owned by God so you not only free because of what Jesus did but He also bought you for the purpose of serving Him Never forget, we are always slaves. You're either a slave to sin or a slave to Christ.

If you're sitting here today thinking, I'm not a slave to sin, I'm telling you if you've never trusted in Jesus you are a slave to sin you are indeed you're the slave to sin or you have the wonderful sweet slavery of being a slave of God by the purchase price of Jesus now what did Jesus accomplish with this redemption we need to understand what Jesus accomplished with this redemption This table is going to speak to us of redemption. And what we want to look at is just going to scratch the surface. All right?

Because the whole narrative of the Scripture, one component of that whole long story is this redemption. But let's just look at a few of them. All right? Look at Galatians. Galatians chapter 1. I start here.

This to me is one of the most fascinating passages about the redemption that was accomplished by Jesus at the cross. Galatians 1, beginning in verse 3. grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who, that is Jesus, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Note that Jesus gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age. By the cross, Jesus gave us independence in a world demanding conformity. By the cross, Jesus gave us independence in a world demanding conformity. You see, two ages now exist. The original age or the age there is the age introduced by Adam the age of sin and death the new age was inaugurated or begun by Jesus when he came So right now although you been transferred into Jesus kingdom we still have contact with and are influenced by the old evil age that Adam introduced.

Can you see it in your minds? There's this old age that Adam introduced by his sin in which sin reigns. Jesus came and inaugurated another age, another kingdom, if you want to put it that way. A kingdom of righteousness. A kingdom of grace. Alright?

And we, by faith, have been transferred into this other kingdom. However, we're still in contact with this one. We're still influenced by that one. And since Adam, we've all lived in this present evil age. A world characterized and dominated by sin. But Jesus came to rescue us from the ideas, the influences, and the manner of life that characterize that age.

He has purchased us so that we have the ability to live independently of this age, this kingdom, this world that demands our conformity to it. That to me is fascinating. I can live differently in this world because Jesus died on the cross. I no longer am a pawn, a puppet of this age. I'm no longer living a life with sin calling the shots. Alright?

I have been delivered from conformity to that age. I can live independently. We have the ability to think differently, to love differently, to act differently than everything around us and everyone around us. Isn't that amazing? We have been delivered. We have been given independence in a world demanding conformity.

By the cross, Jesus freed us from our guilt. Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. Again, we're real familiar with this passage. this is almost invariably my go passage when i sharing a gospel with somebody because it just has so much in it romans 3 verse 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in, Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. Now note what he says. All of us are guilty.

We've been tried before the tribunal of God, and all of us have been declared guilty. He's made that clear in verses 9 through 20. And a horrible indictment, a horrible indictment that says that we are not righteous, that no one sought God, that we are worthless. All those adjectives applied to us. We are guilty before God. But then he says, note in verse 24, that we are justified freely.

That is declared by the judge free of accusation, no longer guilty. Now, please, I feel compelled to say something here about guilt. When the Bible talks about guilt, it's talking about a reality outside of yourself. When we talk about guilt, nine times out of ten, we're talking about what? A subjective feeling. Okay?

Can you be guilty and not feel one bit bad about anything? Can you? Is that possible? Absolutely it's possible. It doesn't matter how you feel. there's this objective reality called guilt. Liable to punishment because you've been accused.

You've been indicted, accused, and convicted. You are guilty. It doesn't matter what you feel. You're guilty. It's a reality. That's what he's talking about here.

Okay, let's get that straight in our minds. He's talking about this reality. He says, God justifies you. That is, declares the fact that you are no longer liable to the punishment that you deserve. Alright? Even though he's just got done laying out the indictment and the conviction in the verses previous.

Everyone's guilty. But God says you're not. guilty and he does it freely. Please note that. This is the gospel. This is grace. And our judge, verse 24, and are justified by his grace as a gift.

How can God do that? How can a perfect judge say that you're not guilty when in fact you have violated his law? how does he freely justify verse 25 through the redemption that has come by jesus he was a propitiation he was publicly displayed by god as an atonement for sin the payment for sin and that payment he redeemed us from guilt not the feeling He redeemed us from the conviction, from the guilt, from the liability to punishment. He redeemed us from that guilt.

And thus, God can declare you righteous. God can justify you freely because someone has redeemed you from that guilt. Alright? So this redemption is a redemption from guilt. a purchase price that takes the guilt away or that removes us from under the guilt so that we are no longer liable to punishment. By the cross, Jesus redeemed you from an empty life.

1 Peter 1. Let's go to 1 Peter. He redeemed us from an empty, vain way of life. 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 18 and 19. knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers not with perishable things such as silver or gold but with the precious blood of christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot all right no we have been ransomed we have been purchased we have been bought from the empty futile vain ways inherited from our forefathers Do you ever notice how much you're like your parents?

I know, it drives you crazy, doesn't it? My aunts and uncles say I walk like my dad, I laugh like my dad used to. I even get mad like my dad. You know, last week I was talking to you about silence before impending doom. Boy, I've had to work on that. All right?

When I get mad, I get quiet. Like my dad. It's amazing how much like we're parents. And you know, you even say to yourself as a young person, I'll tell you, I'm not going to be like that. I hate that. I'm not going to be like that.

What happens? You end up just like that, don't you? It's amazing, isn't it? Well, that's also true when it comes to how we live, except that we've inherited a sinful, empty life from our forefathers. It's not just physical characteristics, not what he's talking about. But this empty life is automatically ingrained in us.

This vain way of life, this useless kind of living is ingrained in us. That term futile there has the idea of empty. it's like spinning your wheels right and you got in your car sometime this last week and you're going to get out of the driveway you just sat there and spun your wheels because of all the ice and the snow and it'd been sitting there for a while and you couldn't get out of the driveway right it was futile you're spinning your wheels and getting nowhere that's life without Christ life without Christ doesn't mean a life without energy it doesn't mean a life without all kinds of activity. It doesn't mean that kind of, it just means all that activity doesn't count for a thing.

It's just futile. You're spinning your tires. That's the kind of life we inherited from our forefathers. The kind of, this empty way of life that the actions, the ways, our affections, what we love, and all those sorts of things. Alright? We get that.

The sinful patterns are naturally ours. And here's what the world says to you, because this is what's true in the world. If your father was abusive and distant chances are you be the same If your mother was an alcoholic right You probably do the same thing You'll learn ways of living. You know what this verse says? It says we can be free from that. The past does not determine us.

The grace of God does. Jesus purchased us from that empty way of life. We can be different. We can live lives that are not futile. We can live lives that do not reflect that we're a prisoner of our past. We've been free.

We can live differently. And because Jesus died, he frees you from what seems like the unbreakable grip of the past. And so you have a real basis for hope that you can live in a way that isn't futile. That your life will count for something. that you won't just follow the patterns of the past. You've been redeemed from that. So, we've been redeemed from a world that demands conformity, right?

We've been redeemed from guilt. We've been redeemed from an empty way of life. Now let's just look at one more. And there's more, but let's just look at one more. By the cross, Jesus redeemed you for eternal joy and service. Because of that redemption, now you will be a part of eternity with great joy and service.

Revelation chapter 5. Isn't it interesting how when you study through a book, passages you once thought you knew real well become really well known and even different than what you thought before? and I in Revelation chapter 5 you remember what's going on John is now in the courtroom of heaven or in the court the kingly court of heaven he has seen all the creatures singing praises to God and then the lamb appears and the question is asked who is worthy to open the scroll and no one is found and John is weeping and then someone says here, here's someone who can it's the lamb verse 9 and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransom people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and you made them a kingdom and priests to our God And they shall reign on the earth The question comes, who's worthy to take the scroll? And the answer becomes evident.

The only one worthy to take the scroll is the lamb who was slain. And so the elders proclaim and the creatures proclaim that the lamb is worthy to take the scroll. Why is he worthy? because of his death and because of what that death accomplished. His death is his triumph because in his death, he purchased men for God. Never forget this. The triumph of Jesus is in the shame of the cross.

You know what I love about the book of Revelation? This book is telling me, I hope telling you in major ways, that God's perspective turns everything on its head. To hang on a cross was to hang in open shame, to be ridiculed, right? To be shamed as you're nailed up there, suffering agony with not a stitch of clothes on, with people coming by to mock you.

It was a shameful way to die. It was in that shame that God triumphed. How did he triumph? because his son, at that point, purchased a people for God. Jesus actually acquired a group of people for God. Jesus, I'm going to say it again, because I think this needs to be repeated over and over. Jesus, by dying, did not make salvation possible.

He secured the salvation of God's people. Jesus' death was not an indiscriminate death for everybody to see what would happen. By his death, he actually secured a people for God. It happened then, at that moment in history. He purchased a people for God. When you go to the store, right?

When you go to the store and purchase your items, are they yours or not? Are they yours? after you run your card through and punch your buttons, do you then say to the cashier, is it okay now if I take these? Have you ever done that? What do you think the cashier... What are you, nuts? Of course you can take it.

It's yours. There's nothing more to be done except walk out the door with them. Well, Jesus purchased a people. There was nothing more to do. He bought you at that moment in history. You say, but I have to put my faith in Him.

That's right. Why do you put your faith in Jesus? because He bought you. That's why you believed in Jesus. He bought you at that moment at the cross. And the reason why you believe is because He secured your salvation. Note this, that redemption is universal in scope.

Jesus' purchase of a people was not limited to a particular nation or race. Now in the days of the Old Covenant, that wasn't the case. was it? What did we read in Exodus? I've redeemed what? This nation. The nation of Israel was redeemed from the bonds of their slavery in Egypt.

They were the redeemed people. But now it goes beyond that particular people. It goes on to all peoples in all races. Now look, can I say something? If it weren't for this, what confidence would we have in missionaries? when missionaries go out, you know what? When I go to Azerbaijan, or I go to Romania, and minister there, alright, I don't have to worry about the effect of the gospel, because Jesus has purchased people from every tribe and language and nation And when missionaries go out they going to find those people In every tribe, every language, every people.

Notice this, that those whom Jesus has purchased are made into a kingdom. Normally, to become a citizen of this country, what do you have to do? To become a citizen, all right? To become a citizen in this country, you have to take classes. You have to pass an exam on the Constitution. You have to do all kinds of stuff.

You have to jump through some hoops. All right? What has to happen for you to become part of this glorious kingdom? Jesus has to purchase you. That's what has to happen. Jesus has to purchase you.

It's all of God's grace. Those whom Jesus redeemed have been made into a priesthood. all of us are priests here. All of us are priests. Not just a particular family from a particular tribe. Read the Old Testament. I've just worked my way through Leviticus.

I've already read through Numbers. I'm headed into Deuteronomy right now. And what you see is this. If you're going to be a priest, you have to be in Aaron's family. Okay? There has to be one family of a tribe.

The Levites were given to the temple to serve around it, but only one family could be priests. Same is true with us. I mean, that's not true with us. We have been purchased by Jesus into this glorious priesthood. And those whom Jesus has redeemed have been made into a choir Verses 12 and 13 They singing These myriads these millions of voices are saying with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing And I heard every creature in heaven and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying, To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.

We're going to be singing with joy. That's not the only thing we're going to be doing, I believe, but we're going to be singing. I love to sing. I love to come to church and sing. Okay? I think when you're singing hymns, all right, I think when you're singing hymns, you sing loud.

I believe that with all my heart. Because you want to, you're singing to God, and you want to be enthusiastic about that. And even if, like some of you, You can't carry a tune in a bucket. You need to sing. You know, when I was in college, I wanted to be in this singing group. And you know what I had to do to get in?

I had to audition. I had to audition. That was awful. I hated it. Now, when you get to heaven, some of you are sitting there just smiling away. you're probably trying to imagine either you're imagining me in an audition or you're thinking about what would have to happen if you had to audition for the heavenly choir right no one's going to be auditioning for that choir no one's going to and it's not going to be because you all have perfect voices and perfect pitch that's not the reason why you going to be in that choir because Jesus paid the price Jesus paid the price so you could sing right That what gets you into the choir That what gives you eternal joy and service to God The only requirement to get in that choir is the blood of Jesus.

So, we come to this table then. And as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, whenever we come to this table, we what? We proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Well, what are we proclaiming? What are we proclaiming? As you participate this morning, remember that you're proclaiming this, Jesus redeemed a people.

He redeemed a people. If you have entrusted yourself to Jesus, then you are one of his redeemed ones and you can rejoice in the great redemption that He has accomplished for you. Let's pray. Father, as we come to this table now, we come with joy and thanksgiving because here we are going to, not Lord, here, but we're going to see and smell and taste the Gospel.

We're going to once more proclaim in a different way the redemption of Jesus. Father, help us to glory in the Lord Jesus. What he accomplished is marvelous beyond belief. And so, Father, as we come now, give us hearts that sing the great redemption accomplished by Christ. Pray this in his name. Amen.

Let's join. Let's stand and sing together, shall we?