That I May Bring You In (01/05/2003)

Park Meadows Church

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January 5, 2003

Pastor David Mitchell

00:07: Well, this morning, we're going to conclude our study on redemption. We've been talking about the great acts of God, the finished work of the
00:18: Lord Jesus Christ, His present work on our behalves and on behalf of His Father and our
00:26: Father, and it brought us to the study of redemption. And we've learned that redemption is an all -encompassing aspect of the study of salvation.
00:37: So many of the different attributes or doctrines that we study within that great doctrine of salvation happen because of redemption and could not happen without this act of redemption taking place.
00:54: So that's where we've been. If you would, turn with me to Exodus chapter 6 and verse 6, which has been an outline of our study, and this will start reading with Exodus 6 -6, and it will take us down through and sort of give us a review and bring us to the final point of the study this morning.
01:23: So read along with me, if you would, Exodus chapter 6, verse 6. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the
01:30: Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rid you out of their bondage.
01:37: I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments, or you could say great justice.
01:44: And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God, and ye shall know that I am the
01:51: Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will bring you in unto the land concerning the which
02:00: I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and I will give it to you for an inheritance.
02:06: I am the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we ask that this time you would teach us your word, you would speak to our hearts the meanings behind the words and the phrases, sentences, and the whole context of this passage.
02:24: You would teach us what you want us to know of it today, and if there be any new things you want us to see that we have not seen before, that you would reveal those to us from the scriptures by your
02:36: Holy Spirit. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen. If you notice the little outline in chapter 6, starting with verse 6, you see it starts with the
02:46: I am. It starts with Jehovah, God, and this really is his redemption name because it is the first time
02:55: God revealed himself as a God who wants to reveal himself to us and have a personal relationship with us.
03:03: The Jehovah name stresses the personal revelation and relationship part of God.
03:10: Secondly, he says he wants to bring us out. He will bring us out, and as part of bringing us out, we saw several points.
03:20: First of all, it meant he would rid us of the bondage, and he does this for himself, from the enemy, and forever.
03:31: And then we saw that he says I will redeem you in this little passage, and he does it with three aspects.
03:38: First of all, in power. Secondly, in justice or judgment, and you find that at the end of verse 6.
03:45: And thirdly, in verse 7, let's look at this, and here's where we'll pick up today some new material.
03:53: This aspect of redemption, which deals with power, justice, and the third thing is it deals with a marriage.
04:00: And we started our study in the book of Ruth, if you remember picturing this beautiful marriage in the idea of the kinsman redeemer, and you see that in verse 7.
04:10: I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God, and ye shall know that I am the
04:17: Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. So we have this aspect of marriage or the kinsman redeemer pictured here as well.
04:27: Now this brings us to the third point, and the final point of redemption as outlined in this little passage.
04:33: First point was I am, my name is Jehovah, it has to begin there, it begins with God.
04:39: The second point was I will bring you out, and now today we see this beautiful conclusion, that I may bring you in, that I may bring you in.
04:52: You see he says in verse 8, I've done all of this, and I will bring you into the land.
05:00: Now that land pictures the promised land. It's speaking of the promised land.
05:06: The promised land pictures for us spiritually victorious Christian living. It pictures for us spiritually the spirit filled walk.
05:17: The moment by moment throughout the day coming back in our hearts to the
05:22: Lord and saying I want to be filled with your spirit, and I don't want to walk in the flesh, I want to be filled with your spirit.
05:28: And that's what this pictures, and if you notice the whole thing of bringing us out, ridding us of the bondage from Satan, the slavery from the world system and from sin, all of those things, and the destruction of the enemy as well, the redemption, the bringing us out of there in power and in justice, it was right for him to do it because Jesus Christ paid the price, and the marriage relationship that pictures this redemption, all of that was to lead us to verse 8, and the goal is that he will bring us in.
06:06: A lot of Christians, I believe, especially in fundamentalist circles, focus so much on the bringing out, in other words to be separate, in other words to be consecrated, to be different, to dress differently, to speak differently, to not go to the same places the world goes to, and there is some merit in those things as the
06:27: Lord leads, of course, but that is not the end of all this. That's a part of it, but the end of it is mentioned in verse 8, and I may bring you in.
06:39: In other words, God redeemed us so that we might be in continual fellowship with him right now.
06:47: Now, there are other aspects of redemption taught in the Bible, and we'll see a couple of them this morning, one of which is the ultimate redemption of the body, but he does not want us to wait until that moment.
06:59: We should enjoy this redemption, marriage relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ right now, moment by moment in this life, and so that gives us the outline, and with regard to this final point that I might bring you in,
07:17: I want us to discuss the different aspects that the
07:24: Bible teaches about salvation with regard specifically to redemption. Now, this will go more as a
07:31: Bible study this morning, perhaps, but it will give you the complete scriptures of the word of God on this topic.
07:40: You will have them all as of the end of this morning, and counting everything we've already studied up until this time.
07:49: The first point this morning is found in 1 Corinthians, and you will have to travel to some other passages.
07:56: 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30, and that is that Jesus is our redemption.
08:10: He is not only our redeemer, he is not only the one who paid the price, but he is our redemption, and we see it in 1
08:19: Corinthians 1 .30, but of him are ye in Christ, who by God, or of God, is made unto us several things, wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, but look what the last one is, and redemption.
08:36: So, Jesus Christ is made unto us redemption. He is the person,
08:42: Jesus Christ, is our redemption. That's the first great point under these scriptures we're going to look at this morning about redemption and how it relates to salvation as a whole.
08:56: Secondly, this morning, turn to Ephesians chapter 1 verses 6 through 8, and you're going to see that that little passage in itself lists, it could be a sermon in itself, lists many points about redemption, but the first thing that I see that it lists, and we've already mentioned this in a previous sermon, is that redemption is for God first, and we receive the benefit of it, but it's primarily for God, and we'll see this very clearly.
09:30: Let's start with Ephesians chapter 1 verse 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace.
09:36: Do you see, that's for God. It's to the praise of the glory of his grace. Now this, read that carefully, because that's not adding glory to God.
09:45: Glory has, God has the glory. We're not going to add glory to God, he has the glory, but we're going to praise his glory.
09:57: We're going to be to the praise of his glory, and specifically there's a specific aspect of God, a specific attribute of God, that is going to be praised here, that's part of his glory, and that is his grace.
10:16: Grace, the simplest definition we've come up with is the unmerited favor of God, but that doesn't do justice to the word, because you would have to write a book about it to do justice to it.
10:28: There have been many books written about the grace of God. But it is that aspect of God, his ability to have and be agape.
10:39: His ability to love his own because of himself, not because of what they are doing.
10:49: That's God's love. And the only way that humans can have that, for example in a marriage, is if they are born again, and they then have the love of God in their hearts, they can then love each other.
11:03: I've tried to teach my children that love can be a confusing word.
11:09: If a young one of your teenagers says, was I in love dad, or is this love? You can't just answer that yes, because English only has one word for the word love, but in the
11:19: Greek we know there are three levels, or you could say three types of love, but actually three levels of love.
11:27: And you have the fleshly kind of love, you then have what's called phileal love, which means the friendship kind of love, and then you have agape love, which is the top of the list, and that's godly love.
11:48: In a relationship for our young people as they perhaps meet the one they might be going to marry, that love can begin as a physical attraction, but it must be more than that if it's going to last a lifetime.
12:03: It then moves into the friendship type love as they spend time together and get to know one another.
12:10: And young people, if it doesn't develop to that part where you can be a friend with your spouse, I don't know that you would want to make a lifetime commitment to a person that you can't be a friend with.
12:19: So you need that type of love to grow from the relationship. But the highest form of love that must eventually be there and can only be there if both of you are born again, and that is agape love, and that's coming to the place in your life where you love the person because of God and you, despite what they might do or say to you ever.
12:38: So you're not loving them because they're treating you good. You're not loving them because they do good things for you.
12:44: You're not loving them because they're always right, or they're always perfect, or they're always beautiful. You're loving them because of you, and the only way it could be because of you is because God has placed his love in you, so it's really because of him.
12:57: Now when a relationship gets to that point, then I think young people could be to the point where they might strongly consider marriage a lifetime commitment if their love is to that point with this person.
13:09: Because once it gets to that point, it never ceases. Agape never ceases.
13:16: So it will be a lasting relationship. Sad thing is the world doesn't know anything about that kind of love, do they?
13:23: They pretty well hang around the fleshly attraction type of love and think that's love.
13:29: Sometimes they move into the friendship part as long as they're friendly towards one another. That's why so many marriages don't make it.
13:37: But we see that God is the reason there is such a thing as agape love.
13:46: And it is his agape love that brings forth the concept of grace, because grace doesn't have anything to do with us.
13:56: He does not show forth his grace upon us because of us, because of any good works. That's why in Sunday school this morning it was so important that we realize that the
14:06: Bible does not teach you get saved by repenting and being baptized or doing any other good thing for God.
14:14: Because salvation cannot come from us, it must come from him. It's the grace of God.
14:20: It is unmerited favor, undeserved favor. We don't get it because we repented and pleased
14:25: God. We don't get it because we got baptized and pleased God. We don't get it because we went to church and pleased
14:30: God, or we gave tithes, or we treated one another well to please God. That's not how we get salvation.
14:37: It's by the grace of God. And it is God's ability to have this, it is his grace that apparently he wants to show forth to the universe and to all the created beings, the angels in all of them, more than any other attribute.
14:53: And that's why Ephesians chapter 1 verse 6 begins with, to the praise of the glory of his grace.
15:00: Now read along here, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. So if it is true that the first concept is that Jesus is our redemption, the second concept is that redemption is first and primarily for God himself, the third concept is redemption makes us fit.
15:25: You notice this in verse 6, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
15:33: Now there's another beautiful, beautiful verse that has that in it. Look at Colossians chapter 1 verse 2 for a moment.
15:48: Colossians chapter 1 verse 2, I'm sorry verse 12, speaks of this being made accepted in the beloved and it actually uses the word to be made fit or to be made meet.
16:02: And it gives us two aspects of that. Look at it. Colossians 1 verse 12, giving thanks unto the father which hath made us meet or fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
16:18: So that we see God made us fit. He, two little sub points under this, number one, he delivered us from the power of darkness.
16:27: This is a part of making us fit to be in his family. And secondly, he translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.
16:36: He delivered us from the darkness. That's certainly a part of redemption, isn't it? To be set free from the bondage of Egypt.
16:44: And then he translated us into the kingdom of his son. Think about that word translated for a moment. Normally, how do we use the word?
16:53: Don't we use it with languages usually? And you think of translating something from perhaps
16:59: Chinese to English. Well, that's the only way
17:05: I'm going to understand it right now today until I learn more Chinese or I should say some Chinese.
17:11: Okay, so the translation of the language is what makes it where I can be a part of this relationship and understand it.
17:21: Do you realize that the translation of us, we have been translated into God's kingdom.
17:28: It's as if we were a pagan, awful, guttural language and God translated us into his own language so that we can have a relationship and communicate and so forth.
17:42: And it's a beautiful word to use. I'm fascinated that they used the old English, used the word translated us, changed us into being of the nature of God so that we can have that relationship.
17:55: So we see that this two aspects of being made fit. One is to be delivered from the darkness we were in and the other is to be translated or changed into God's language or God's way or God's family translated into the kingdom of his dear son, to be made like Jesus Christ.
18:15: Now look at verse 14, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
18:25: So we see that all of this has to do with redemption, this being made fit, this being forgiven, being delivered, being translated, many aspects spoken of there.
18:38: Now I want you to go back though and look at the Ephesians passage, Ephesians chapter one again, verse six.
18:47: We're gleaning some points about redemption out of these verses, have to pay a little more attention when you're skipping around to other verses than you do when it's all in one passage.
18:55: But several of them are in this Ephesians one passage. So redemption is Jesus himself.
19:02: Secondly, it's for God. We see that at the very first of Ephesians 1, 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace.
19:09: And then the third aspect is redemption is what God uses to make us fit to be with God, or to cause us to be, as it says in this passage, accepted in the beloved.
19:23: So we're made fit. Now the fourth aspect we see of redemption that's found right here is that it is in his or through his blood.
19:31: Look at verse seven, Ephesians chapter one, verse seven, in whom we have redemption through his blood.
19:38: So blood is the price. Jesus' blood was the price of redemption.
19:45: It is the price that God the father paid to purchase us away from Satan, away from Egypt, which pictures the world system, the way everybody else does everything.
19:59: The philosophy, the mindset of this world, as it's put out there by the advertisers of the world, as it's put out there by the
20:08: TV executives, the movie executives, the sports executives, those who run our seminaries,
20:14: I hate to say, and those who run many of the Christian schools in this country, not this one.
20:20: But many Christian schools are run after the pattern of the public school. Those who run the public schools, the colleges, the universities, the medical schools, the law schools, all of it follows under the system of the world.
20:35: And we've been redeemed and bought away from that by Jesus' blood, which was
20:40: God's blood. And that's the price that God gave to buy us and purchase us out of the slave market of sin and to purchase us to himself, which is this kinsman redeemer picture.
20:53: He's not only the one who saved us and delivered us and translated us, now he's the husband and we are the bride.
21:00: So we have a marriage relationship in our redemption. And because of that, it's the very blood of Jesus that was the price paid to make all this happen.
21:10: We see that right there in verse 7. The second thing we see in verse 7, which comes down to the fifth point here of the fact that it's
21:20: Jesus, that it's for God the Father, that it makes us fit and that the price that was paid was his blood.
21:27: The fifth thing is that it brings forgiveness. You see that where it says, in whom we have redemption through his blood and the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.
21:40: Now I want you to notice this. This fits in very well with what we studied in Sunday school this morning. Look at this little last aspect of the little group of points found in Ephesians 1.
21:54: All of this redemption is according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
22:06: That's one of the little phrases you can so easily read over and just continue on as you read through Ephesians and not think about it very much.
22:12: But when you think of it in the light of our study on redemption that we've been going through, and this little passage alone from Ephesians 1, 6 through verse 8, speaks of the fact that it glorifies
22:28: God's grace. It's what makes us fit, that the price is the blood. It's what brings us forgiveness.
22:34: Look what it says to us here. According to the riches of his grace.
22:40: So our redemption is according to the riches of God's grace.
22:46: And it is in this grace, this grace aspect of God that's being glorified by us as God saves us in this world and the world sees our witness and testimony and the angelic beings see our testimony and our life.
23:02: It brings praise to the glory of God's grace. Because only by grace could he have saved such a wretched group as we were.
23:12: I didn't quite like the line in the hymn we sang this morning. I've never liked it where it says that we're worms.
23:18: It should say we were worms. We were worms before we were saved.
23:24: We were lower than a worm. That is very doctrinal and true. We were as lost as lost could be.
23:30: We hated God in our hearts and minds. We hated the things of God. We wouldn't have any part of it.
23:36: We hated the word of God. We wouldn't have any part of it. We were like worms. But when we were redeemed, we were bought out of that and translated and we weren't translated back into worms.
23:47: We're translated into the children of God. Hallelujah. We're not worms anymore. That's like saying we're saved sinners.
23:54: I hate that line in that song. We're worms. Whatever it says. I'm but a worm. It should say
24:00: I was a worm. I'm a saved child of the king now and we will rule and reign with him because of our relationship with Jesus Christ now and that's the beautiful aspect of this.
24:15: Notice that this whole redemption, which is because of the riches of his grace, abounds toward us.
24:23: Now look at these two words, in all wisdom and prudence. Do you realize that no one, no worm could be saved and changed into a child of God on his own?
24:37: That's why redemption and all of salvation is of God. What God does at the moment of your salvation is he abounds toward you in that second of earth time, in that instant of earth time when you look up and you say,
24:53: Lord, what would you have me to do? You just got saved. You may not even know it yet. But that was your salvation moment. The only way that could happen is that by his grace he abounded toward you the wisdom to understand the plan of salvation and to see
25:08: Jesus Christ and what he has done for you and the prudence, which means it's wise.
25:14: You for the first time have understanding that the only wise route for me to take in life is in Christ.
25:23: The only way for me is in Christ. The only path for me is the narrow path, not the wide path that leads to destruction that I've been on all my life.
25:35: I have the prudence for the first time to see I should turn from that wide path and turn toward the narrow, and that is repentance.
25:44: The turning is repentance. It's the changing of the mind that the wide, broad path, the fleshliness and worldliness and all that the world offers is not the prudent way to go.
25:54: God gives you that prudence by his grace. He gives you the wisdom and the prudence for the first moment in your life to see
26:03: Jesus and that he is the way and that he is your way and that he is the only way and truth in life and the only way to the
26:14: Father. God gives you that wisdom and prudence. It is abounded toward you in that moment of time by his grace and at that moment the redemptive price that was paid at Calvary 2 ,000 years ago approximately from our time meets you in time and it becomes yours at that moment from your vantage point.
26:41: It's really always been yours, you just didn't know it yet, but now you know it. Now you're what we call saved.
26:49: So we see many of the aspects of redemption taught in this little Ephesians passage right here, that Jesus is our redemption, that redemption is for him, for God first, to the praise and glory of his grace, that it makes us fit to be in his family, it makes us accepted in other words.
27:08: Fourthly, that the price that bought it for us was the blood of Jesus. Fifthly, it brings forgiveness.
27:13: And sixthly, it's by his grace that we can even see it and see it for ourselves to the point that we receive the
27:22: Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. Now I find another interesting passage with regard to how redemption relates to all the different teachings of salvation in Colossians chapter 1 verse 14, turn there if you would.
27:44: And in this passage you're going to see that there are a couple of other aspects of salvation that happen because of redemption.
27:54: And you may have never studied salvation this way, I'm not sure I ever have until this study this year in my life.
28:01: I've always studied the different aspects of salvation sort of one at a time, like okay we have justification, let's figure out what that means.
28:08: We have reconciliation, let's figure out what that means. We have propitiation, let's figure out what that means. We have different ones, redemption, let's figure out what that means.
28:19: I'm coming to understand that many of these fall within redemption and only can happen because of redemption.
28:28: So look at Colossians 1 and verse 14 as it relates to the idea of propitiation and then the idea of reconciliation.
28:36: Now before we go into it though, let's remind ourselves what propitiation means because that's a big word.
28:45: Propitiation means God was satisfied that the price had been paid for our salvation.
28:53: Propitiation is something that happens to God, not to us. It is something that when
28:59: Jesus died on the cross, this happened to God, not to us.
29:04: It's called propitiation and it means as God looked down, he became satisfied with the death of Jesus Christ as the payment for our sins.
29:14: That's propitiation. Now notice how it is linked to redemption in this passage.
29:19: Colossians 1 .14, in whom we have redemption by his blood, there it shows the price again.
29:27: Even the forgiveness of sins, there it links forgiveness to redemption. And it says who is the image of the invisible
29:35: God. Now it goes and describes the redeemer himself, Jesus Christ.
29:41: He's the firstborn of every creature for by him were all things created. Jesus is the creator that are in heaven, that are in the earth, visible, invisible, etc.
29:53: And verse 7, he is before all things and by him all things consist. He is still holding everything together.
30:00: And he is the head of the church. All of this relates to this passage that began by speaking of redemption through his blood.
30:09: Verse 19, it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell. He is all of the fullness of the
30:15: Godhead bodily or in a human body. That's who Jesus was. Verse 20, and having made peace through the blood of his cross.
30:25: That is propitiation. Now the word is not used there, but that is the principle. That's what propitiation is.
30:34: Propitiation brought peace because God was propitiated. God was satisfied that our sins have been paid for by the purchase price which is the blood of Jesus.
30:46: In other words, we have been redeemed, therefore we have peace with God. So we see that the very aspect of propitiation of God and the peace that we now have with him could only have happened because of redemption.
31:00: The redemptive act is what brought it to pass. Having made peace through the blood of his cross.
31:06: Now we see the second concept in the next phrase, by him to reconcile. You see, reconciliation could not have happened if it weren't for redemption.
31:14: So redemption makes all of these other aspects of salvation that we study individually possible. Reconciliation, that means we are brought back into a right relationship with God, a relationship that had been wrong, a relationship where we had been the enemies of God.
31:31: And it is the redemptive act of Jesus Christ giving his blood, giving his life to pay the price to purchase us out of the slave market of sin,
31:43: Satan and the world system, and to bring us into the promised land over this relationship with God.
31:49: That bringing in is the reconciliation. We are brought into a right relationship, we are reconciled to God.
31:56: We see that reconciliation then is an aspect or a part of or a thing that is caused by redemption.
32:05: By him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth, things in heaven, it deals with more than us, don't you see?
32:15: It is for us, but it's not just for us, it was for the whole cosmos. It brought all of God's order back the way it is.
32:25: Back out of the chaos that Satan attempted to bring. The death of Jesus, the blood of Jesus Christ not only brought redemption to us, but it brought reconciliation of God's entire order, brought it back into the right state with God.
32:43: So this goes on and on what this redemptive act of Jesus Christ on the cross has done for God, for us, and for the whole creation.
32:54: By him to reconcile all things unto himself, everything in the universe. By him
32:59: I say whether they be things in the earth or things in heaven, everything in the universe. And you that were once upon a time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, that's the benefit we receive from this, in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy, this is the fit part, he's made you fit, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight.
33:29: So you see some of these passages are kind of parallel in that they review things that the other passages taught.
33:36: So now we see that propitiation and reconciliation are both a part of the redemptive act.
33:44: Another point about redemption is that it is in fact eternal, that's why we can't lose our salvation.
33:50: Look at Hebrews chapter 9 verse 12, and you can also turn to 1
34:00: Peter chapter 1 verse 18. Hebrews 9, 12 says, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
34:24: What kind of redemption is this? Well let me ask you this, how long does eternal last by definition?
34:33: Someone take a chance, forever? So let me give someone else a chance now to answer a question.
34:43: If it's eternal, when could it stop and still be eternal? Never, it can't.
34:52: So how could you lose your salvation? If Jesus purchased with his blood eternal redemption, let's read it again, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
35:10: Having already obtained, this happened 2 ,000 years ago in our time.
35:18: After he was crucified and when his body was put in that grave, he was presenting his blood in the heavenlies.
35:28: He presented this blood one time and it purchased, which is what redemption is, it purchased eternal redemption for us.
35:39: Us, who is us? Everybody that he bled for.
35:45: Every single human that will ever be born or ever has been born in human history, that he bled for.
35:53: Every single one that he bled for, that blood then is eternal in its value and its purpose and it cannot be thwarted.
36:02: Therefore for you to lose your salvation would be to say that Jesus' death and his blood were not sufficient to save you and that therefore something else must save you, which would be your own works, which means you're going to hell with everybody else that believes that.
36:16: It doesn't matter if you're Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, or Church of Christ, now I'm not saying they're all lost.
36:22: Not all Church of Christ are lost because they don't all believe that and hopefully they don't all understand their doctrines because if they understand them and believe them, they can't be saved.
36:31: You cannot be saved by Jesus' blood plus. You can stop there,
36:36: I mean you can add anything in there you want, repentance, baptism, whatever their five points, you know, believe, repent, be baptized, come to our church and give tithes or whatever their points are.
36:47: It's not Jesus' blood plus, it's Jesus' blood. And that Jesus' blood purchased, obtained eternal redemption for us.
36:59: For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living
37:17: God. Your redemption is eternal. It can't stop. It's everlasting.
37:24: 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 18 says the same thing, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, your redemption didn't come by works you can do that can die away the next day.
37:37: It didn't come from commitment that you made that could be changed the next day. It didn't come from something you offered
37:42: God that you could take back the next day. Your redemption didn't come from anything corruptible, which means it didn't come from you because you're corruptible.
37:52: It did not come from within our own selves. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain lifestyle received by the tradition of your fathers, you can't be saved by religious tradition like the
38:09: Roman Catholics believe, says it right there. But by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot who verily was foreordained, here's the eternal part, look at this, foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for somebody, for you.
38:35: Now, if he was foreordained before the foundation of the world and he was crucified before the foundation of the world in God's mind and he bought your redemption before the foundation of the world in God's mind and it was for you before the foundation of the world, you were there in God's mind.
38:55: I'm not saying you were floating around waiting for a body like the Mormons believe. But you were there in God's mind with your name and your heart and mind and soul and everything about you, you were in his mind as his child and your redemption was already bought before anything was made.
39:12: It's eternal, going back that way and going out that way. That's the definition, isn't it, of eternal.
39:21: Oh, I wish y 'all could preach, it's awful fun when you get into a material like that and can you grasp the size of this redemption?
39:37: Jesus is our redemption. It's for the father to bring praise to the glory of his grace.
39:43: It makes us fit by delivering us from darkness and translating us into the language of God to being like his son
39:50: Jesus. It is the price that is shown forth to be the precious blood of Jesus which is sufficient is the theological term, it's a ridiculous term, sufficient seems too small to me.
40:02: It's over abundantly everything we need sufficient. It brings forgiveness, it's by his grace, it propitiates
40:13: God, it reconciles us and the entire cosmos back to God and it is eternal.
40:23: There's another item I want to mention before lunch, turn to Titus 2 .11. It's not even noon yet, still a minute till,
40:36: Titus 2 .11 and that is that this redemption brings the ability to have a consecrated life which is caused by the power of God.
40:56: You remember how when the children of Israel were brought through the Red Sea, the Bible says it was with a strong, this is my left arm, strong right arm of God.
41:07: He opened the water, it was his power that opened the water and brought them through.
41:13: So a large part of redemption is the power of God. We have that same power right now in this life in order to cause us to live a consecrated life and I mean this, we have the power to not sin.
41:26: I don't mean you're going to be sinless yet but you ought to be. We have, let me put it this way, we have the possibility of not sinning.
41:35: We have the command not to sin. God has now given us the equipment to walk a whole day, a whole week, a whole month,
41:45: I don't know, we're all different, we all have different relationships, walk with God, but a whole whatever, long periods of time with no sin at all in your life.
41:54: You have the power to do that. It's been preached way too many years that we're sinners saved by grace which means just go ahead and sin, it's okay because that's how we are, it's our nature, human nature,
42:04: I'm just human, I'm just a woman, how'd that song go, Charlotte? She sang at a wedding once, it was hilarious, but it was requested by the bride.
42:17: But far too long that's been preached and it does not hold forth the strength of God, the power of redemption to bring us out of the slave market of sin.
42:28: We don't have to be a slave to any sin. Titus 2 .11, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, no one's without excuse, no one has an excuse
42:43: I should say, because it's appeared to all men, teaching us, now look at this, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
43:05: God and our Savior Jesus Christ. You ever doubt that Jesus is God, verse 13 is a good one that proves it.
43:11: Who gave himself for us that he might, look at that word. See how this is tied in with redemption?
43:20: Do you see the power of consecration in your life, the power over sin, the power to stop sinning, the power to say no to specific sins, the power to say yes to the things
43:32: God wants you to do, which not doing it would be sin. The power against sin is found in our redemption, because it is by the price that was paid, the blood of Christ, the cross of Christ and what occurred on that cross, the finished work of Jesus Christ has bought us and set us free from the power of any lower
43:54: Lord, any Lord lower than Jesus. He's our only Lord, any Lord lower than him, we don't have to say yes to.
44:01: We're free to say no to any fleshly urge that comes to try to get you off track.
44:09: Any mental deception or thought of the mind, anything that your eye would see and that your body would lust for, you have the power to say no,
44:21: I will walk with Jesus right now. I would rather have a relationship with Jesus right now than to do that thing, therefore no.
44:31: It comes from this redemptive act. You see what he says in verse 14, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify.
44:43: Now, the redemption from all iniquity is positional, it's happened. Our sins have been removed.
44:49: But if you want to look at in time experiential living free from sin, you find it in the next phrase, and to purify into himself a peculiar people.
45:00: Why are you peculiar and weird? Because you're not out running around sinning after everything your body lusts for like everybody else is, and like you used to before you got saved.
45:11: And by the way, if you're still doing that, you're not saved yet. It's a great thing for teenagers to think about.
45:19: I grew up in a youth group at First Baptist Church over in May, a big youth group, and I noticed a peculiar thing, that all the kids that were in that youth group were doing the same stuff on Saturday night that everybody else in the public high school were doing.
45:33: The same evil, the same fleshly sins, and yet claiming to be
45:39: Christians. Most of them were not. Because with the redemption that saved us comes the redemption that purifies us.
45:49: With the salvation comes the deliverance. In fact, in the Old Testament it's not even called salvation hardly ever, it's just called deliverance.
45:58: Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, purify unto himself.
46:04: You see, that's an ongoing work of God. If you don't see it in your life, please question your salvation.
46:12: I'm not saying if you see perfection. What I'm saying is, if you don't see God working in your life to remove old sins and get them out so that you don't do them anymore, and to give you power over them.
46:24: And if you don't see that work in your life, question your salvation, because it is a part of redemption.
46:30: Purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. If you don't have the desire to do things for God, to read the
46:37: Bible, to study the word of God on your own, to go out and visit people, to witness to people, to give tithes to the church, to give offerings to the church, to give to some person that no one will ever know you gave to if you think
46:52: God led you to do it. All of these good works, listen, the good works are part of this purification that comes from redemption.
47:01: These things speak. This ought to be taught. Exhort. This is what ought to be preached today in the churches.
47:08: Rebuke with all authority. Why? Because it's the authority of the word of God. Let no man despise thee.
47:16: What a beautiful passage of scripture there in Titus that deals with the power, the consecrating power of redemption.
47:26: And the last point this morning is the redemption of the body, the ultimate redemption.
47:35: Turn with me to Romans chapter 8, verse 22. Now, notice that all the rest of the teaching about redemption in the
47:46: Bible that we've discussed over these last several Sundays has to do with now.
47:52: It has to do with this life as well as eternal eternity going both directions as it always does.
48:00: It has to do with now though. It has to do with power now. The parting of the Red Sea happened on the planet
48:05: Earth in time, in space, and it showed the power of God. And you having victory over sin right now to the people in your circle of life, whether it be at work or wherever, and they see you change, they're seeing the right arm of God.
48:21: They're seeing the Red Sea part, in a sense, right before their eyes. They're seeing it close back in on the enemy that used to cause you to do those sins.
48:29: They're seeing the power of God. They're seeing the grace of God because they knew you before you got saved. They know you don't deserve to be saved.
48:36: In fact, they can't figure that part out because they don't have the prudence and the wisdom, but they see it.
48:42: And it is a witness and a testimony that brings glory, I'm sorry, praise to the glorified grace of God.
48:54: All of that happens now in space and time, but this part is something that is in our future.
49:00: And it's called redemption in a couple of places. Only by the context can you tell it's not the kind we've already studied.
49:07: It's a slightly different kind of redemption, and I wanted to mention it because the study wouldn't be complete without it. Romans 8, 22.
49:13: For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
49:19: And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit.
49:25: We have the Holy Spirit in us already. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit.
49:32: In other words, that is the redemption of our body. So there is a teaching in the
49:38: Bible that speaks of the redemption of the body, which happens at the rapture. It happens when we go to meet the
49:46: Lord in the air. In our bodies, if we died ahead of time, if we experienced physical death before the rapture, our bodies will come out of the grave, will be made whole and complete, but it will be you.
49:58: It will be your body, not another. Like Job said, I'll see him, that my Redeemer shall stand in the latter days and I shall see him with my eyes, not another.
50:07: He's not going to get a different body. It's his body. It will be your body, but it will be a redeemed body that the body has been bought and paid for with the price.
50:18: That's why I don't like Christians getting, what do you call it when you burn up the body? I started to say fumigated, but that's not right.
50:26: What is it? Cremated. I don't like that. It's not Christian. It's not biblical methodology.
50:32: It does not do honor to the body at all. Don't get cremated. If you can help it.
50:38: Can you help it at that point? I guess you won't be here, so. But don't let them do that to you. The body is important.
50:46: Did you know that your body was also redeemed? We haven't studied that yet in this whole topic.
50:52: We've been talking about the soul. We've been talking about the spirit. We've been talking about the you, you talk to when you talk to yourself.
50:59: We've been talking about the new man. Your body has been bought by the blood of Jesus.
51:04: And you know what proved that? Because his body came out of that grave three days later. The adoption to wit, the redemption of our body.
51:15: Ephesians 113 speaks of it, in whom he also trusted. After that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
51:22: In whom also after that you believed you were sealed by the Holy Spirit. So salvation is spiritual.
51:27: It saves the soul. But it goes on and says, which is the earnest. This salvation we have now, the
51:33: Holy Spirit within us now, is just like earnest money. The house hasn't been redeemed yet, but it shall be, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession into the praise of his glory.
51:50: That's future. That's when your body comes out of that grave. It's purchased. It's redeemed.
51:55: It's put back with your saved spirit and soul in your you again, standing before God for all eternity.
52:03: Ephesians 530, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you were sealed until the day of redemption.
52:10: Now see, that can't be the same kind of redemption we've been studying, because that's already happened. That happened at the point 2 ,000 years ago when
52:17: Jesus died on the cross. It became yours at the point of your salvation when you received Jesus as your personal
52:23: Lord and Savior. But this speaks of a future redemption, which is the redemption of the body, the redemption of the body.
52:31: Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby you were sealed and kept for God until the day you're put back in your body.
52:39: And Luke chapter 21, verse 24 and following speaks of all these signs that, well, listen, we're in these days.
52:47: You read this, you know, many shall fall by the edge of the sword, shall be led away captive into all nations.
52:55: Some of that part applied to 70 AD. But then it moves into a new area, which is a future prophecy in verse 25 of chapter 21 of Luke.
53:04: And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and the stars. And upon the earth, distress of nations with perplexity.
53:13: Now some of that we're seeing, but distress of nations with perplexity means that the nations don't know how to take care of the problems.
53:24: The sea and the waves roaring, that's a picture of humanity. Humanity, the billions of human, millions,
53:32: I should say, of humans are roaring because they're in sin and they don't know what to do and they know not
53:38: God. Men's hearts failing them because of fear and for looking after the things which are coming on the earth, just taking care of the cares of the world as this tribulation begins to happen.
53:52: For the powers of heaven are shaken. There'll be frightening things happening in the skies and the universe and among the stars and comets and things like that.
54:05: And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
54:12: Now look at this. When these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.
54:23: That means the rapture, the redemption of your body. The redemption of the body draws nigh when you see these things happen.
54:32: When you see Jesus come as the lightning from the east to the west, when you see, even right before that happens, when you see the sun turning dark and the moon turning red and strange things happening in the heavenlies and on the earth and perplexity of nations and all these things, when you see these things happening, look up because your redemption draws nigh.
54:54: Now that can't be the same redemption we've talked about. That's the redemption of the body. That's when your body is put back with your soul and spirit, or if you're still here, it's at the rapture.
55:05: Redemption of the body. So the Bible teaches the ultimate redemption of the whole man, doesn't it?
55:12: Your body, your soul, your spirit. All has been bought and paid for with the precious blood.
55:23: Even our bodies are important. You know, King David said, I love God with all my soul and flesh.
55:30: The redeemed man has the ability to love God with his flesh because the flesh is subordinate to and is under the lordship of the soul and the spirit, which is attached to the
55:41: Holy Spirit and under the lordship of Jesus Christ. And the whole thing moves together and glorifies
55:46: God on this earth. It's what it's all about after all, as far as we're concerned. The body is going to be redeemed as well.
55:57: That's a great comfort to those of us who have lost loved ones to physical death. You will see your loved one again.
56:05: They won't look like they did when they were here, but you will recognize them. You'll know it's them because it's the same atoms.
56:12: It's the same stuff. God puts it back together. It's part of the redemptive act. It's all in Jesus.
56:21: It's all for the father. It has made us fit. The price was his blood.
56:27: It brought forgiveness. It's by his grace. It propitiated God. It reconciles us to him.
56:34: It is eternal. It can't go away. It came from eternity past. It's going into eternity future.
56:41: It brought the consecration of ourselves. In this life, we can be free from sin as we understand the power of redemption.
56:50: And then ultimately, it brings the redemption of the body and the return of our Lord. What a beautiful doctrine, doctrine of redemption.
57:01: Now when we go in and study other aspects of salvation, we will have already studied them, won't we? Let's stand and have prayer together.
57:08: Father, we thank you for your love. We thank you for the agape love that you have that brings about the concept we understand is grace and merited favor towards your own.
57:23: We thank you that the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed has eternal redemptive value for all of yours.
57:35: We thank you that it includes not only our heart and our soul and our spirit, but it includes our bodies.
57:41: There is a physical resurrection. We will live together and rule and reign together with Christ in the future.
57:51: We thank you that you've promised us you are coming back. And when you do come back for us, there will be the redemption of our bodies.
57:58: You've promised us not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, but that we are sealed by him until this day of redemption, redemption of the body.
58:11: We thank you for these strong and powerful promises. They bring joy to our lives.
58:16: As we think of loved ones that have gone on before us, friends that have gone on before us, it brings joy to our hearts to realize that they will be whole again.
58:29: And they will be as you meant for them to be, as we all will be. We'll be together with you and Christ forever.
58:37: Thank you, Jesus, for being our redeemer. Lord, we ask you to bless our meal and our fellowship time and our evening services today and our way home a little later on today.