The Gospel: Redemption — Peter Simms

Adam, Sin, and Humanity’s Guilt

Now maybe before we read our verse, I want to say some things on this chart here. Now we've been talking about this man here, Adam, the first man Adam. God formed him and put him in the Garden of Eden and there he represented the human family.

And there he failed and he sinned. And as Romans 5 and 12 says, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and so death has passed upon all men, for in that all have taken pattern from him, they not only fell with him, but they also personally have sinned.

Now as long as a person remains in Adam, he'll never be in heaven. That's just a simple, final, dogmatic truth. A man who lives and dies in Adam will never be in heaven. He'll be in hell. Now it don't matter how good he is, it don't matter what type or what fashion of sinner he is, he's a sinner.

And that's his doom. He's a child of Adam. Whether a good one or a bad one, well there's no such a thing as a good one, but you know what I mean. Once he's in Adam, he's a rebel, he's a slave, he's a criminal, he's dead in sin.

In Adam, God is our judge. And in Romans chapter 3, we see that it was a court case where the proof was brought forth. We have before proven that both Jew and Gentile are all under sin. The proof is there.

The 14 charges are there. And when we come down to verse 20, the case is closed. Guilty. Their mouth is shut. And that's what a man is in Adam. He's guilty, his mouth is shut, he has nothing in his hands to offer God.

Propitiation and the Justice of God

He's finished. But now we want to start talking from tonight. Last night we noticed the doctrine of propitiation. That is God saw the sinner in Adam, saw the human family standing at the judgment bar in all his wretchedness and helplessness.

Couldn't do a thing for himself. His mouth is shut. He's guilty. And we all know when you go to a court case and the judge, the case is brought up and the witnesses are brought and the judge listens and the judge says, guilty.

What's the next thing? Well, now you've got to pay up. You've got to pay a fine. You've got to go to jail. And if it's bad enough, you've got to give your life. In this case, you've got to give your life.

Because Adam was told, if you sin, you'll die. And the soul that sinneth, it shall die. The wages of sin is death. And so the man is guilty, his mouth is shut and the verdict is now pay up and that's your life.

And God looked at him. I don't know if you can use this word, but I think I'll use it. God felt sorry for him. Felt sorry for him. Wretched though he was, God felt sorry for him. And we read that verse last night in 1 John 4 and 20.

Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that God loved us and sent his son or gave his son to be a propitiation for our sins. So what God is going to do now? Justice. God is like, God's got, I can't say two parts, but he's got two attributes.

And the one attribute is God is just and justice demands that he die. The mercy of God though and the love of God is he wants to save him. And so what's God going to do? He can't override justice. And if he did that, then he himself would be unrighteous.

So justice claims must be met. And so what justice demands, God's love is going to provide. And so God sent his son, the Lord Jesus into our world to die on that cross. And there God punished his son for sin.

There the Lord Jesus died the death that all of us should die. The Lord Jesus was abandoned by God and he bore the sin of the world. He was buried and he remained there for three days and three nights.

And then on the third day, he arose again from the dead and he's alive. He has conquered death, that which was due to him. If he died, he's in hell forever. But the Lord Jesus, because he's not like this man, the Lord Jesus never wants sin.

He's the spotless lamb of God without sin, without mar, without blemish, without stain. And he is not just simply man, though man he is, but he's God incarnate. Therefore, when he died, he exhausted the wrath of God and justice claims are met.

And he cried, it's finished. He was buried and he was there for three days. But he said while he was here in this world, no man takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.

And on the third day, he arose triumphantly from the dead. And now we have the last item. In Christ shall all be made alive. So the thing is now, how is God going to take a human being, a man or a woman, boy or a child, who's in Adam, and get him into Christ where he's safe, where he'll live.

And death will never be a problem. Physical death, yes, but we're not talking about physical death. We're talking about death in the sense of being separated from God. How is God going to get a man out of Adam and put him in Christ?

Union With Christ in His Death and Resurrection

How is he going to do that? You see, some of us have learned these things over and over and over again over the past years. And I've asked Christians, some of them have been saved for years. They don't know.

They're just happy they're saved. And they're content that they won't be in hell. But the mechanics of it, the doctrines of it, they don't understand. And that leaves them deficient in their appreciation and in their worship, because they don't really understand.

Now you listen. When the Lord Jesus died on that cross, you died with him. God, in his wisdom and in his manner, he determined that when the Lord Jesus died on that cross, that you would die with him.

God executes you with his son. Because everything about you in Adam is so repulsive to God, he can't fix him up. He cannot renovate him. He cannot reform him. He can't do anything with him. He's so bad, all God can do is destroy him.

And how does God destroy him? Well, he links you up with his son who died on that cross. So you read in Romans chapter 6 and verse 6, knowing this, that our old man, all that we wear in Adam, that's what our old man is, the old man.

In Christ, this is a new man. So our old man was crucified with Christ. So everything you wear in Adam, God executed. It died. And then when the Lord Jesus was buried, you and I were buried with him, put out of God's sight, gone.

And on the third day, when the Lord Jesus was quickened from the dead, God quickened us together with Christ. And we are now in Christ. The Ephesian letter says, we died with Christ. We're buried with Christ.

We're risen with Christ. We're raised up together with Christ. And we're set down in the places in Christ. Now think about those things. They're awesome. But anyway, now tonight, we want to start with you being in Christ.

Slavery to Sin and the Need for Redemption

But before you got there, you were here. And while you were here, you were a slave. A slave. Slavery has never been a very pleasant thing. The people out there on the cross, they don't know it, but they're slaves.

The slave has the chain on his foot and the whip for his back. The chain holds him from going where he wants to go. And the whip drives him to do what he doesn't want to do. He's a slave. His master's sin, as it were, got a rope around his neck, and he's just pulling him.

And he hasn't the strength or the ability to resist. He's a slave. You go back before conversions day. Were you a slave? What was it like to be a slave? Terrible. To be held by the iron grip of sin. You think sin.

You practice sin. You live in sin. And if you don't get redeemed, you'll die in sin. That awful, ugly master. Now remember, we're talking about sin as a noun. Not sins. We're not redeemed from sins. We're redeemed from sin.

The power of sin as a master. And sin is a power and a master. What can it do to me? Well, it can habitually, daily hold me in its grip, hang on to me, and drag me down through the years. Down through the years.

Until the day of death, take me right into hell. Who's going to help me? The chain's too tight. The chain's too strong. I want free. My foot is changed, and the whip on my back. I'm being driven on, day after day, week after week, month after month.

I want freedom. Where can I get it? Well, let's read 1 Timothy chapter 1. Now, this afternoon, I'm looking, and there's so many verses, and the subject comes from so many different angles. I thought rather than go into all that and become detailed, that I would keep it simple.

Because the most of you understand, and there's some here that don't understand. And we want everyone, like the one preacher said, if you preach to the youngest one in the meeting, then the oldest one is bound to get it.

And so, we'll try and do that tonight. 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 6. I guess it helps to get right on them in the second one. Well, let's go back to verse 4. Who, or God, will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth?

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, whereof also I am ordained a preacher and an apostle. I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity, and so on.

But let's look especially at verse 6. This is speaking of the Lord Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, or on the behalf of all. That word for, that's a preposition, means on behalf of. Who gave himself a ransom, though that word ransom means an in the stead of ransom, on the behalf of all.

If you looked at the language of this here word ransom, it means anti-luteran. It simply is an in the stead of ransom. That's the kind of ransom it is. It's an in the stead of. And it's on the behalf of all.

The Ransom Price and the Meaning of Redemption

Now, we're going to read some more verses in a few minutes. But God demands now, if a person in Adam is going to have his chain broke and set free, somebody's got to pay a ransom. For that man's freedom, a ransom must be paid.

And so the apostle Paul uses again an old Greek and Roman cultural situation. In those days they had a market. Now we don't know anything about slaves today, but anyway, that's the background of the idea of redemption.

There's a marketplace, it's called Agora. And in that Agora, all kinds of things are sold. But one of the things sold in the Agora was slaves. You wanted a slave, you went to the Agora and you bought a slave.

You had to go to the market. Agorazo, I don't know if I'm saying the Greek words right or not, but that means when you went to the market, that's the idea, you bought the slave. So you purchase a slave.

These are all words in the ways that the Spirit of God uses this. Exagarazo, that means you purchased a slave with a view of setting them free. And then when you come to the ransom word here, lutheran, it is anti-lutheran or an instead of ransom.

You pay a ransom on the behalf of somebody else or for somebody else for their freedom. You buy them and you set them free. You purchase him. Now that's what God's going to do. God's going to purchase a sinner who is a slave.

He's going to buy him. He's going to purchase him. He's going to pay the price for his freedom and liberty. Not freedom. Now some people have the idea it's the freedom from sins, the verb form. Well, no.

No, because even Christians sin. You'll have a problem with that till the day you die. This here, ransom, is the price paid for the sinner's freedom, liberty. We sang the song. Sometimes we're going to sing it at the end of the meeting.

My chains are snapped. The bonds of sin are broken. And I am free. It doesn't mean free that I'll never sin again. But I'm free from the power of sin that this man brought in. And all people are in bondage to and under the dominion of.

I can prove it this way. Try to stop sinning. Go ahead. You just say to yourself now, from tonight on I'm never going to sin again. You ain't going to make it, man. You won't make it. Because that's not what Paul's talking about.

He's not talking about being set at liberty never to sin again. He's talking about being set at liberty from sin as a master and a power that can drag me down to hell. And that's what's happening to everybody in Adam.

In Adam all die. And they're all on one course. They're all on that broad road. They're all going to one place. And they're slaves to sin and to death. And somebody has got to pay a price. Or as our verse says, a ransom.

Who gave himself an end instead of ransom for all. And that's what the Lord Jesus did. So when we come to this cross and we're sitting here tonight and we're free, sin cannot take me to hell. Sin cannot drag me before God and have God judge me again for my sin.

It cannot happen. Because I'm free. It's not like the story Uncle Tom's Cabin. You probably all read that story. And if you haven't, you should read it. A lot of the junk the kids read today, it's just a lot of nonsense.

Uncle Tom's Cabin is a good story. Touch your heart. And when Uncle Tom thought he was free and his master wrote out the papers and he's free. And he went to the mirror and he looked in the mirror and he laughed and he was just so happy.

He was a slave and now he's free. A free man. And then his master was killed that night. And he had a bad wife. And she said, what does Uncle Tom need of? Of freedom. And she took the papers away. Uncle Tom died at the hand of Begee.

That'll never happen to you and I. Because we'll talk about that one night down here on eternal security. My friend, if you're not free, you can be free tonight. Not free from sinning, but free from the power of sin that will drag you eventually down to hell.

Are you free? How do you know you're free? How do you know you're free? Well, I know I'm free because the Lord Jesus upon that cross died for sin. God made Him to be sin. Not sins. Sin. My master. Well, here, sin is my master.

And the Lord Jesus was made sin. Who made Him sin? Well, God made Him, that is His Son, to be sin for us. He who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Our freedom is obtained for us at the cross where the Lord Jesus was made sin.

And being made sin, He died, He was buried, and He rose again from the dead. Now, if you're a Christian tonight, you're here. You're in Christ. You are and have been redeemed. That's why we sing those lovely songs.

Redeemed and how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. What are we saying? What are we singing about? What are we rejoicing about? But we're free. That horrible thing, sin, that is such a curse to the human family and it's brought all the misery and all the sorrow and all the wars and all the famines and all everything else that's happening in our world.

That's evil and unpleasant. It's all come because of sin. Now, let's read a verse found in, well, before we do this, let us understand now. You know, there's the mockers. There's all these guys out there mocking and are always criticizing what we believe.

And they say, now, if you've been redeemed and God has redeemed you and set you free, why is it then you have to die? Because remember, one of the things we've been set free from is the power of sin, which brings about death.

The Spirit Is Redeemed, but the Body Awaits Redemption

We've been set free from the power of death, the power of sin. How come you have to die? Well, when you think of the words now that are told to us in the Word of God, some of them have to do with my body and others have to do with my spirit.

So, when I've been redeemed, it is my spirit that's been redeemed and set at liberty and set free. But my body has not been redeemed. It's been bought. And there's a future day coming, Romans chapter 8 and verse 23, when our bodies will be redeemed.

But right now our body is not redeemed, just my spirit. So, this body of mine, it's subject to sin, it's subject to death, it's a body of death, it's going to die. It experiences all the things that other people experience in the world who aren't saved.

Because my body has not been redeemed. It's been bought. But not redeemed. Not till the rapture or the coming of the Lord will my body then be redeemed and set free from all the outcome of sin relative to the human family.

So, as you sit here in the meeting tonight, your spirit has been redeemed. It's free. Death can never touch it. Sin can never have any power over it to destroy it. It can't. But your body is another matter.

Your body has been bought but not redeemed. Now, when we say that, that's the way 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and 19 and 20 tell us. What? Don't you know? You're not your own. You've been bought with a price.

Therefore, glorify God in your body and spirit which are the Lord's. Your body belongs to the Lord. He bought it, yes. But he hasn't redeemed it yet. And we're to remember that this body that is mine, it belongs to the Lord.

And in the power of the Spirit of God that indwells us, we are supposed to keep that body for the Lord and use it for the Lord. Remember what he said. What? Know you not that your bodies, not your own.

You're not your own. You were bought with a price. Your responsibility is now to glorify God in your body and spirit which are the Lord's. Now, here's where the problem comes. My body. Can I control my body?

Here's where the difficulty comes. You see, if we want to talk about redemption, then redemption for my spirit, for all that I was an Adam, finished, totally atoned for, totally redeemed, totally set at liberty, free of my body.

Can you control your body? You know, it's easy to say self-control. Have a little self-control. It's the fruit of the Spirit. And it's one of those moral building blocks that Peter talks about in his second epistle.

Self-control. Just think now, that sounds easy, doesn't it? Okay, you try and go tomorrow with one meal. I'm going to go on a diet. I'm going to lose 10 pounds. I'm going to cut back. Try it. See if you can do it.

Is it easy? I've got a bad temper. And I'm going to try and control my bad temper. And I'm not going to get angry anymore. I'm not going to swear anymore. Go ahead, try it. See, this is the other side of it.

The body is not yet set free. It's still, as Paul says in Romans, it's a body of sin. And I have inside me, yet, the Adamic nature. We're going to talk about that more when we come to regeneration. But I still have inside me the Adamic nature, the flesh it's called.

And it's as rotten, and it's as evil, and it's as base as ever it was. And just because I am redeemed and saved, that doesn't change the fact that I have in me this depraved, evil nature that wants to manifest itself through my body, through my hands, through my tongue, through all the members of my body.

It wants to manifest itself. And because that is so, Paul is saying, remember, you're bought. Your body's bought. God bought it. Remember the other verses that we could go to in Matthew chapter 13, I think it is in verse 44.

God bought the world. The whole world God bought. The whole thing is His. He bought it. Second Peter chapter 2 verse 1, God bought the false prophets, false teachers rather. He bought the false teachers.

What did He do that for? Well, if God, because of this man and the sin that oozed out of them throughout the whole of the human family, the whole thing become so corrupt in the eyes of God, He would have to destroy it or buy it so that He could give men the opportunity of being reconciled.

That's what we have in the verse here we read, who gave himself a ransom and in the stead of ransom on behalf of all to be testified in due time, in due time. So God came and bought the world so that He could give men the opportunity of getting reconciled to Him.

Now, you can use that in an illustration. In the Caribbean, they used to have these old boats, freight boats, and they got so old and worn out, they were no good. So they would not give them a license.

Couldn't buy a license to put it at sea and carry goods for people because it wasn't seaworthy. So they'd take it a couple of miles out in the Caribbean there, put a case of dynamite in the bottom of it and blow a hole in it and sink it.

That's how they get rid of them. But suppose there was one of those ships had a new diesel engine put in it, maybe just a year or so ago. And another guy, he knows there's a good diesel in that freight that they're going to put at the bottom of the sea because it's no good, it's worthless.

So he goes and he buys that old ship. He doesn't want the ship. The ship's no good. He's buying the ship because there's a good diesel engine in it he wants. That's why he's going to buy it. So he buys the old ship for the diesel that's in it.

And when he gets the diesel out of it, the ship goes to the bottom of the sea. That's the idea. God bought the world, the field. He bought the whole thing. Why? Because he wants everybody in Adam. Well, he's given the opportunity for everybody in Adam to be redeemed if they want it to be.

But it's not the whole that God's interested in. He's interested in the people that's going to be a part of his kingdom. He buys the whole world so that all those in it who want out can get out. It's an end instead of ransom on the behalf of all.

Justification, Peace, and the Indwelling Spirit

Yes. And so now you understand your spirit's redeemed inside you. You have absolute, total, perfect peace. The sin's problem is gone. You have a perfect conscience about sin. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.

That thing is settled. But I got a body. It belongs to God. He bought it. But it's not redeemed yet. And that's the problem we have. And that's the problem we struggle with. So what do we do? What do we do?

Well, God wants us to understand that not only did he buy, not only is our body bought, and our spirits redeemed, but he sent the Holy Spirit to come into this world, and not just come into the world, but to indwell everybody that's in Christ.

So you sit here tonight. I often wonder about this myself. And I say to myself, if there's a member of the Godhead living in me, I mean, the thing almost blows your mind. Why is it I don't feel it? Why is it there's such a struggle?

If I have the Spirit of God inside me to empower me, why am I not just a living, vibrant, holy man, able to conquer everything and all sin and all forces against me? I have the Spirit of God inside me.

But it doesn't work that way. He's inside me, and I can call upon him. I can depend upon him. And it's my looking within and seeking help from him that's going to help me. Now, I visited a sister today, Mrs. Larson, and she kept saying that over and over again.

I don't know how I'd make it if it wasn't for the Lord. Troubles come, and she said, I just cast it upon the Lord, and the Lord just seems to come and help me. That's the idea. Do we depend upon the Spirit of God to help us conquer that ugly thing within that wants to manifest itself through the members of my body?

It wants my tongue to curse. How can I stop cursing? I've got a foul mouth. How do I control that? Do I just say, I'm not going to curse no more, and then I'm just not going to curse no more? No, no. No, you've got to get down before God.

And we've got to understand we need the power of the Spirit of God. We have to learn to rely upon him. And maybe many times he'll let us fail, just to show us you haven't the strength, man, to do this in your own.

You remember the Lord Jesus one in John 15 about the vine. I am the true vine, said the Lord. And then he went on to say, without me, you can do nothing. Even though you're redeemed, even though you're not an Adam anymore, even though sin's power has been defeated, the Lord Jesus died for sin, made sin for us, and we've been made the righteousness of God in Him.

That's all positional. And He was buried. We were buried with Him. We're risen. We're now in Christ. The awesome truth that we're in Christ, indwelt by the Spirit of God, but we have a body that's not redeemed yet.

I hope I get that through to you. Your body's not redeemed, and the flesh inside wants to work out through your members of your body to your confusion, to the dishonor of God, to the dishonor of the assembly, to the embarrassment of yourself.

That flesh wants to work its way out. We have the Spirit of God inside. We must learn to depend upon Him to give us strength to conquer. You see, as a young fellow, I used to try so hard and always was defeated.

Tried so hard. I tried to be in my own strength what God told me to be, and I tried to kill the old man. Now, you young fellows, you might try that. That flesh, that old man, you might try and kill him.

You can't kill him because he's already dead. That's a lesson you have to learn. You don't kill him because he's already dead. You see, when the Lord Jesus died on that cross, you died with Him. His death to sin becomes your death to sin.

So you're as dead to sin as He is. But that's not the issue now. I was a Christian. I was saved. I knew I was going to heaven. I knew I'd never be in hell, but I said to myself, why then do I behave like I behave if I'm a Christian?

I'm supposed to be dead. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified. If he's dead, he's dead. Well, how come he's so much alive inside me? How come all this problem, curse, lust, lie, steal, the whole thing, it's all there.

It hasn't gone. I was about 19 years old when a man confessed from Scotland to our assembly. His name was Davy Craig, long gone to be with the Lord. He came and he took up these subjects. Right here. He didn't have a chart like this, but he took up those subjects.

He didn't know there was a young fellow in the meeting that was going through a struggle. No, he preached away and then when the meeting was over, he went to the back and talked with all the elders and they all had a good time chatting over it, but they didn't know I was there.

But I tell you, the Spirit of God was teaching me in those meetings. One of the most important things I've ever learned and it's done me so much good over these years. And that is what the theologians would call positional truth.

Positional Truth and the New Creation

See, when I was young, they used to tell you, now listen to this verse. Don't let nobody confuse you on this verse. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things are passed away and all things are become new.

Well, those fellows in that day, they didn't know how to deal with that verse. And they just come to me and others like me and said, now listen, if you're saved, smarten up, pull up your socks and start living like a Christian.

If you're in Christ, you're a new creation and start living like a new creation and start living like you're supposed to. Well, that just drove me down because I would go home and try all the harder and I didn't do any good.

Till the day I found out, hey, these guys were all wrong. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. He is a new creation. He's not supposed to try to be one and he's not supposed to work to be one, but he is a new creation and everything he was in Adam is gone and everything in Christ is brand new.

And I learned then in those meetings that I'm free. I'm free. I've been redeemed. The Lord Jesus paid the ransom price for my freedom. Sin can never, ever, even if I fail, sin can never, ever drag me away from God and Christ and down to hell.

Can't. I'm a new creation. We're going to read some more things. We are as the nights go by, but you learn this lesson tonight. You've been bought your body. It's only bought. It's not redeemed yet. And that's why you got problems with it.

Not till you die or the rapture will your body be redeemed. And then your body will be just like your spirit, totally free. There'll be no flesh, no flesh inside to want to work out through you. Understand fully though, that you are redeemed, your spirit.

You're free. Sin, your master can never damn you. He can never do it. He could while you were there, but he can't while you're there. So your struggle in your Christian life is the body's not redeemed yet.

And God says that body's mine. Remember it's not yours. He says, what? Don't you know that you're not your own? Your body's not yours. It's mine. God says, I bought it. Haven't set it free yet. You got a problem with it yet, but it's mine.

Therefore glorify God in your body. That's what we're supposed to do with our body. And how can we do it with this flesh inside? In the power of the spirit of God who lives within, we depend on him. Now we're not charismatic.

We don't go that extreme, but you'll go through life and you'll have your struggles. And if you're honest with God and honest with yourself, and you let the word of God be your guide and depend upon the spirit of God, he'll help you.

I used to smoke cigarettes. How are you going to quit smoking cigarettes? I threw more packages of cigarettes away, wasted more money and just toss them away. And then the next day you go and find them or go and buy another pack.

It was all good for a day. How to quit? It was a struggle. But you pray and you struggle and you try and then one day you'll throw the last pack away and you'll never go back again. And what's going to happen?

You're going to realize, I never did that because I tried for all that time and I couldn't do it. How come I'm free now? It was the spirit of God that did it for you. Yeah. You have a dirty foul mouth.

Oh, everything just foul, evil, spewing out of your mouth. You come so accustomed to it. And then you try and quit. Every time something goes wrong, it just spurs out of you. And you try and you try. And then one day you realize, hey, I haven't been saying that anymore.

Yeah. Yeah, that's the thing. The thing's gone. The spirit of God and God wants you to know you didn't do it because you tried and you can't. But the spirit of God inside you will give you power. Now, that doesn't only go for when you're a young Christian, haven't saved an awful long time.

And in the last year, there have been things in my life that I've conquered and I know it wasn't me. It wasn't me. So, it isn't something that you're going to conquer as a young fellow, but it's a lifelong struggle.

It's the body of sin and the flesh inside wants to work its way out through my members. And we are to learn to put our members on the altar for God. And He will help us if we depend upon Him and look to Him to strengthen us.

Perseverance, Christ’s Sympathy, and the Throne of Grace

There's no other way, my friend. No other way. I had an encouragement thing told me one day here not so long ago. And I pass it on for you. You remember, there's going to be many struggles. You may lose more times than you win.