Redemption Explained — E.A. Johnston

The Church’s Confusion About Redemption

We live in a time, friends, where darkness spreads, evil abounds, and error permeates the church as she totters as an impotent institution focused primarily on her own self-preservation. Very few pastors speak with a voice of authority, and many church members are confused as to what redemption is.

And a God-called preacher, full of the Holy Ghost, and who preaches hard against sin, and warns of a future judgment that awaits all mankind, and he cries out about the dangers of damnation in a devil's hell, is as rare today as Bigfoot in the land.

You may encounter one every once in a while, but there aren't many out there, and you have to search hard to find one. Today, I will give you a master class on the subject of redemption, and I feel the necessity to explain what redemption is in clear terms, and as Moe said to Curly, I'll explain it so even you can understand it.

Captivity, Ransom, and Deliverance

Men in this world become captive and are prisoners by being kidnapped or breaking the law. The kidnapping is like when Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped back in 1963 in Lake Tahoe, and he was released two days later when his father, Frank Sinatra, paid the $240 ,000 ransom to the kidnappers, which is a dollar equivalent of $2 .2 million today.

That's how he was set free. The other way men become prisoners is to break the law and become incarcerated in jail. They can either serve their time or be broken out of jail by power in a force, like a prison break.

So some captives are redeemed by price or power. But the sad condition of all men born in Adam places them under the severity of justice and the power of sin, that without the price of Christ's blood and the power of Christ's spirit, there is no deliverance.

Agorazo and Christ’s Blood as the Ransom

Allow me to explain, friends. Years ago, when I was a young man, I visited the ancient ruins of Ephesus in modern-day Turkey, and it was there I saw the carefully excavated ruins of the old Agora. The Agora was a marketplace where items were bought and sold.

Some of you may have visited Ephesus yourself. Well, remember that the Greek word Agora means marketplace. Now, one of the Greek words for our redemption is agorazo, which has that word Agora in it, which means Christ entered the marketplace of sin and purchased us by the price of his blood.

For we read in God's holy word in 1 Peter chapter 1,. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blamish and without spot, the Lord Jesus, having paid the price for our deliverance, but like a company of captives in prison, Satan, our keeper, will not let us go, for the prison doors of our unbelief are shut upon us.

Regeneration as Deliverance from Sin’s Prison

And so God and Christ are kept out from us. Though the price has been paid, what power can rescue us? Hosea 13 .9 declares, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help. That's it, friends.

The power now needed is in Christ's spirit, who regenerates the heart, because when our ransom is paid, the Lord Jesus must come himself and fetch us out of our prison by strong hand, the efficacy of his spirit and power.

Ek Agorazo and Being Brought Out of Sin

And this brings us to our next Greek word that describes redemption. Remember the word agora for marketplace and remember the word agorazo for Jesus entering the marketplace of sin by his blood. Now we must apply the little Greek participle ek, which means out of, to the front of the word agorazo.

And here we get ek agorazo, which means Christ not only entered the marketplace of sin on our behalf by his blood, but he brought us up and out of the marketplace of sin by his spirit's power of regeneration.

Repentance, Regeneration, and Reconciliation

Our redemption occurs when we are washed in the blood and born from above. Both repentance and regeneration are necessary for our reconciliation with God. In Acts 5, 30 and 31, we read, He was arrested, tried, though innocent.

He was beaten, mocked, spit upon, and crucified as a common criminal. He was buried. He rose again on the third day, appeared unto many, and then he ascended back into heaven, where he now sits at the right hand of the Father, and he earned that right by way of a bloody cross, where he now is exalted to give and apply repentance and remission of sins.

Salvation Through Christ’s Blood, Repentance, and Faith

Well, I hope this little message today, friends, has been helpful to you. So many a fear enter a church by a decision they make without ever exercising repentance toward God and faith in Christ Jesus through the supernatural act of regeneration.

Our redemption is in Christ Jesus, who on our behalf purchased us, ransoms us at the price of his own life, securing our deliverance from the bondage and condemnation of sin. I am saved because his blood is on my soul.