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Pastor David Mitchell
This is a wonderful week to be talking about redemption, the story of redemption began in earth time in that manger, and we celebrate that this week, although this week is probably not the time of year that it happened historically, but it's okay to celebrate.
Certainly wonderful to go back and read the stories of the birth of Jesus and spend time with the children talking about those beautiful stories, singing these beautiful songs. I think I've told you this before, but back in the 70s when my dad and I owned a pipe organ company in Portland, Oregon, it was named Van Zorin Pipe Organ Company, it was named after a man named Alan Van Zorin who passed away just this past year, but he was one of few people in the world who was a pipe tuner and he could tune the pipes on the pipe organs and he also played organ beautifully, but he grew up as a young man, he played organ professionally in churches and one time a Jewish synagogue hired him to play the pipe organ, so he was a Lutheran by the way, but he went to play for I don't know how long more than a year for this big Jewish synagogue and he played the pipe organ for them, and one day he came in a little bit early to practice and the rabbi who also was an organist was on the organ playing Christmas carols and he got caught, and so Mr. Van Zorin said what are you, you're a Jew, you're not supposed to play Christmas carols, and he said don't tell anybody, but you stole the most beautiful music in the world, you Christians did, and he was back there playing Christmas carols on the pipe organ, but it is a beautiful time of year, the music is beautiful, the story of Jesus in the manger is beautiful, we studied in Acts today in Sunday school that he's not coming back the second time in a manger as a little babe though, he's coming back in the cloud of the Lord which pictures the power of God and the will of God and at that time will bring forth the judgment of God upon this world system, but we've been studying this beautiful concept of what Jesus Christ has done with us in his finished work and continues to do with us in his continuing work, this great work of redemption, we mentioned that the first mention of this word in the Bible is Genesis chapter 48 verse 16, we studied that for a while and then we've moved to Exodus chapter 6 verse 6, that's the second mention of it in the Bible, you can keep your hand there in Psalms if you want to and turn to Exodus 6 6 just to get us started, we'll make our way over to that Psalm in a moment, the outline for this message however is found in Exodus chapter 6 verse 6 and 7 and several verses in that passage, and we're getting deeper into what this idea of redemption means, it involves several things, it goes back to many of the types in the Old Testament that picture the different aspects of redemption, so let's have a word of prayer and we'll begin, Father we thank you for the beautiful music, beautiful lyrics that we were able to sing just a few moments ago, we ask you to bless those that are ill today that can't be with us, give them your strength, help them recover quickly that we all might be back together soon, Lord we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you that even the lost world seems to be hearing his name more this time of year than normal, and Father we know there will be hearts that you will open during this very time of year who will hear the gospel with ears that hear for the first time perhaps, and Father we thank you for that, we thank you for the way you're working in the hearts of men across this world according to your will and by your marvelous gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, how he came into this world, born into this world, tempted in all points as we and yet without sin, and then who suffered and died for us, for our sins, and then he rose again, and thank you that because of this death, burial, and resurrection we have redemption today, we pray in Jesus name, Exodus 6 says, wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and that's the starting point of redemption, you have to have a Redeemer, and God revealed himself as Jehovah for the first time in this passage, at least with the redemption aspect, and it shows us that he is more than just an all-powerful God, he is now revealing himself as a God who has a relationship, a personal relationship with his people, I am the Lord, he says, and I will bring you out, and that's the first major point in redemption, you have to be brought out, they were brought out of the nation of Egypt which was a picture of the world system today, the evil in the world, the world system as Satan would have it, and they were brought out from that, they were brought out from bondage under Pharaoh who was a picture of Satan himself, and it pictures that the first step in our redemption is that God takes us out, brings us out from captivity, and we see that pictured so beautifully in this phrase, I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, now we talked about that last time, we talked about the Jehovah revelation of his name, and then we got into this aspect of I will bring you out, now remember when he says I will bring you out, the Hebrew word for that is literally to be plucked out, do you remember that from last time, it's as if he says you're a part of a fallen race, and I'm going to pluck my own out of that race and save you, so the bringing out is the first aspect, I will pluck you out, John 644 says no man can come to me except the father which hath sent him draw him, and I will raise him up on that last day, we talked about Psalm 25 last time, we talked about the beautiful passage in Zechariah chapter 2, where it pictures, and chapter 3 where it pictures Joshua the high priest and the filthy garments that he had standing before God, and how God the Lord Jesus changed his garments and put a crown upon his head, and proclaimed him to be saved, delivered once and for all, he had been redeemed, beautiful picture of the bringing out aspect, now today we're going to go a little deeper into this bringing out, because the bringing out really has three parts to it itself, and the first part is found in the second part of that verse we just read, where it says I will bring you out, now look at the next phrase, and I will rid you out of their bondage, circle that little word rid, if you don't want to write in your Bible at least circle it in your mind this morning, we're going to have three aspects to being brought out, the first aspect is this, once he brings you out, once he plucks you out, he then rids you from the bondage, now this word in the Hebrew for rid is similar to the other word which means to pluck out, but this word is natsol, which means to snatch away, so picture this, he not only plucks you out from the enemy, picture yourselves in an enemy camp, perhaps in a dungeon, and the Lord the Redeemer comes and he plucks you out and brings you up out of the dungeon, and then the first thing that happens is he then snatches you away from this whole place, it's as if he he plucks you out of the dungeon and then he snatches you away from the entire prison camp, and you're taken away and freed completely, away from this place where we found ourselves, we were born into this prison camp by the way, we were all born in sin, and if you're saved today then that proves you were a lost sheep, that one back there has been found fortunately, and so have you if you're saved today, you've been found by the Lord, and a lot of things happen at that moment when you were found, when you were saved, you were redeemed instantly, which means he paid the price when he died on that cross to redeem you, but it brings it to the present where you are, and he plucks you out with power, the power of his own strong right arm, a great part of redemption has to do with the power of God, it all has to do with God, none of this could have been done by ourselves, you can't take yourself out of a prison, it's impossible to escape, you can't do that, but God the Redeemer can, so he brings us out, and the first, if you want to put it in an outline, it would be A, capital A is he then rids you from the bondage, he snatches you away, now look at the passage in Psalm 106, let's look at an Old Testament passage here that gives a beautiful picture of this ridding, the fact that he rids us of the bondage, now let me give you a little rabbit trail before we get into this scripture, modern day salvation does not include this in many times, in many circles, modern day salvation is a scheme, a gimmick, many times to encourage church membership and tithing and wealth for the pastors and power for the people that be in these huge churches, and there has been a gospel that has evolved in the last 50 years, it is a gospel that says you just pray a little prayer, dear Jesus come to my heart, save me, amen, and then you go live your life like you want to, there is no ridding of the bondage, that is not Bible salvation, in Bible salvation the Old Testament word for salvation is deliverance, you are delivered from the powers that held you, not only were you plucked out by the Redeemer, but you were rid of all other lords, do you have a sin habit that plagues you?
You don't have to be plagued by it, you can be rid of it, because he died on the cross to pay the price so that you would not be held by any other in bondage, a great aspect of our salvation is that we are rid from bondage, let's look at Psalm 106 starting with about verse 7, our fathers understood not, there is a good place to think for a moment, if it is true that the fathers of the Old Testament did not understand redemption, is it possible that we in the New Testament church today do not understand redemption?
Is it possible that many today do not understand that redemption is a plucking out and snatching away? It is a plucking out from one place and being placed under the wings of God, it is a snatching away from the prison camp and being set free to live for him, we don't understand that in America today, in American salvation, today in American salvation it's just praying a little prayer and going to church and being a part of fun and games in many times, a lot of churches they have a great youth group where they play games all the time, but they also have a same thing for the elderly people, they get in their little vans, they go all over the countryside going shopping and doing fun things at the mall and whatever they like to do, I mean it requires a special minister and a special program to figure out what they want to do, get in the van, when I get that age I just want to take a nap, I don't want to get in a van and go somewhere, but it's all over the country, that is our modern-day salvation, it has nothing to do with power over sin, power over sin, did you know that as we grow older we can still have sin problems crop up, we can still have the old Satan, the old Pharaoh, the old Egypt come and say well I'd like to make you captive in this area, just give me a little stronghold in your life in this little area, it really be okay for you to do this now, you haven't done this in years, you gave it up for the Lord, people don't even care anymore, do this, you can do this again, and a sin will creep into your life, a sin habit, and if you don't understand redemption, like it says here, our fathers understood not the wonders of it, then you will be held in bondage because of your lack of faith, it says our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt, they remembered not, so they understood not, and they remembered not, the word remember is zakar, which means to mark, they didn't mark it and take note of it, it was an event that happened, it was the most awesome event perhaps in the history of the world, when they went through on dry ground, through the sea, on dry, the Red Sea on dry ground, and yet they didn't note it, they didn't mark it in their minds, they didn't say, listen, we were redeemed by power, redemption was not just a price that was paid, it was not just an escape, it was a total taking away in power, the strong right arm of God, it brought them out, but they didn't remember this, today we don't remember it, today our salvation is sin, I don't mean in our church necessarily, because we study, but I'm talking about in America and across the world, salvation is anemic of the power of God, because it's all based on man today, it's what we call Arminian, and it's based on man thinking that he with his will does it all, from accepting Jesus, to soul winning, to all the programs, we're gonna make it all happen, right on schedule, you know what, it doesn't happen on schedule, you can sit there and you can practice your Christmas songs and a half of your people can be homesick that day, but God has exactly who he wants here, including the little sheep in the back, exactly, sheep wouldn't be here if he hadn't been born blind, neither would we, boy I'd make a good sermon, wouldn't it?
Wow, born blind and brought to church, hallelujah, and that's soul winning, Mary Ann, that's the way to go, she won a sheep, but listen, it's all of God, and America doesn't understand that today, because in most churches it's all of man, we have not understood the wonders, the wonders can only come from God, we have not remembered the multitude of his mercy, that cannot be extended by man, but we provoked him at the sea, and do you know that it provokes him today?
Today, all across this country, people are having church today, provoking God, while they're sitting in the pew, provoking God, because they're not remembering God and his mercy, they're not understanding the power of God, they're having a party, with a lot of stuff going on, feeling good, so they can go out and be successful in the world Monday, and it provokes God, they provoked him at the sea, even at the Red Sea, so look at verse 8, lest we become too judgmental on all the other groups besides ourselves, because we are truly the perfect church, are we not?
Lest we become too prideful and judgmental, look what it says, nevertheless he saved them, he loves all of his children, they may be off having a party, they may be totally led astray by a false teacher, and be thinking wrongly about salvation and God's power and all that, but God still loves them if they're his own sheep, doesn't he?
And look what he did, nevertheless he saved them, but now we learn a great lesson, and I say this is little point number one under capital A, the ridding of bondage, you know what the first point is? Look what it says here, he saved them for his name's sake, you know it says we don't understand God's redemption, the first thing we don't understand is that he does not primarily and firstly do it for us, he primarily does it for himself, God saves for himself because he wants children, it's of God primarily, it is for God primarily, it says nevertheless, you know what that word means?
That word means once saved always saved, you know used to in my younger years I would try to get along a little bit more maybe, and they would say well I don't believe in once saved always saved, and a lot of times I'll say well you know we don't use that, you've heard me say that in recent days Brother Clarence when we were doing a school interview, I said well you know we don't have to use that terminology if that terminology bothers you, but the question is did you save yourself with your works or did God save you with his power and his redemption, did he redeem you or not?
Well you know this once saved always saved, really maybe I'm gonna get back to the place where I just use that all the time and irritate him to death with it, because it is a fact that is caused by the fact that God does not save for our sakes, he saves because he wants to for his own namesake, and look at the rest of the phrase, that he might make his mighty power to be known.
Did you know that you cannot save yourself and you cannot unsave yourself? Listen you can't go back through that Red Sea once God's opened it and brought you through it on dry ground, and I'll tell you you'll see why in just a few minutes, it's because that's not all he did, it wasn't all about you, your salvation is not just all about you and mine's not about me, it's bigger than that, it's about God showing his mighty power and that it might be known throughout the world, the whole creation might know about his mercy and his greatness and understand his power and understand his right arm and understand that his name is good, if he has promised to save he will save.
Look at verse 9, this shows a part or an aspect we certainly have forgotten and don't understand about redemption, he rebuked the sea also and it was dried up, so he led them through the depths as through the wilderness and he saved them.
Now look at this, here's the second little point under capital A, part of the ridding us of the powers that held us captive, part of the ridding is, look what it says in verse 10, he saved them from the hand of him that hated them.
We go around not even thinking about the fact that our enemy hates us with cruel hatred sometimes and it's not healthy to think about it all the time by the way, but we need to be aware of it, we need to be aware that Satan hates your little children, Satan hates the little children in our school, he hates the little children in your families, he hates all of God's children all across this world, but when Jesus saved them from the hand, he saved them from the hand of him that hated them and redeemed them, there's our word redemption, he redeemed them from the hand of the enemy and look at verse 11, and the waters covered their enemies, there was not one left of them, that pretty well ends the captivity doesn't it?
So you see our redemption is more than the fact that he paid the price and bought us and purchased us out of the slave market, it's more than the fact that he reached in then and snatched us or plucked us out, it's more than that he then took us away from the whole prison camp, he then destroyed those who kept us captive, he destroyed when they nailed the nails in his hand, he destroyed the devil, he buried him under tons of water, he drowned the enemy in the sea, that sea was not just salvation as we think of salvation, no I got saved, I'm going to heaven, no it's not just going to the promised land, that's not what it's all about, it's not all about us, it's about God showing his mercy on his people who didn't even understand him and remember him, he showed his mercy and yes he saved them, but he also destroyed the very enemy with his right arm of power and he said here's what I will do to the enemy of myself and the enemy of my children and he totally destroyed the most powerful, listen that was the United States of America, that was the army of the United States of America of that day, they had the cruise missiles in that day, they had the smart bombs, they had the military power of the world and it was destroyed in a moment, do you know that's going to happen again?
That's going to happen again soon, God is about showing his power, so the redemption is the fact that he did it for himself, secondly he saved us from the hand of the enemy and the third little point we see here is he saved us forever, once saved always saved, it better be that way because your Bible is totally confused if it's not, if you don't understand that God saved us, redeemed us and he brought us out and then he destroyed the enemy, no wonder you can't understand once saved always saved, but look at this in verse 11, and the waters covered their enemies, there was not one left of them, you see all Satan can do to you today to make you think that you have to do what he says is to fool you, to lie to you, he cannot dwell in the truth and do this because in truth we are crucified unto him, in truth we have already died, we have passed through the sea, passing through that sea was a picture of death because they should have died when they had to go through that sea shouldn't they, the Israelis should have drowned, they should have either been destroyed by the enemy from behind or been forced into that water and just walk off into it and drown and die, it pictures death, but God opened it up and he took them through it and when they were all through it to the last little one and the last animal and everything they had, God closed it in and destroyed the most powerful army in the world that pictured the world system and Satan and its effect on our lives, so the only way you can sin today is to just totally get in the flesh and totally ignore everything God has said, everything that really is, you ignore what is and you believe a lie, you are believing a lie from a from a an entity who has already been destroyed by the cross as as this army was drowned by the water, it's as if Pharaoh can come up out of that water with his armies, picture that, you know they're gone for like two or three hours all of a sudden they start riding those horses up out of the water and come back on the land and then kill all the Israelis, is that possible?
No, didn't happen, they were dead and yet we allow the enemy to come in and play with our lives and our thought life, it all happens between our ears by the way, that's where sin happened, the whole battleground spiritual warfare happens right here and we allow a destroyed one to come in and talk to us, that's not faith, that's not believing God, we need to believe God, God says there was not one of them left to us spiritually, that means there's not one of them left that rightfully has power over us at all, they would not be able to do anything if we walk in faith, nothing that could damage us.
Verse 12, then believe they his words and they sang his praise, his deliverance of you also destroyed the enemy therefore your deliverance is forever, there is no warrant, no one to captivate you, there's no one to take you captive, there's no prison left, it's all been raised, so yes, once saved always saved, there's no lostness left, it was destroyed by the same redemption that saved us, do you understand now why it says they don't understand?
Very few in the world today, there are very few in the church for you today to understand the finality of your salvation, a lot of the Baptists do, praise the Lord, a lot of them still do, a lot of the Bible Church people still do, but most of the denominations they think you can save yourself, you can then lose it, you can decide on your own, well I don't want Jesus anymore, all that nonsense, there's none of that in the Bible, none of it, it all came from hell.
Let's look at a New Testament passage that talks about this being plucked away from the prison camp, Galatians chapter 4, turn to that with me in verse 3, even so we when we were children were in bondage, you see that?
You see we were lost at one point, we were in bondage under the elements of the world, the world system, but, there's a great word because it means something changed that, the Lord redeemed us, he purchased us with the blood of the lamb and bought us and took us out of that slave market and then snatched us away from it in power, but when the fullness of the time was come, this is a reference to the cross, the focal point of history, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law, that is the Christmas story, to redeem them that were under the law, there's our word redemption, he came to pay the price, to set them free, those who were under the law, notice the word were, we have a great movement in our country today to bring us back into the law and to make us worship on Saturday and get back into the law and all that stuff, listen, that part of the Old Testament is beautiful, but it's a type, it's a picture, the Saturday Sabbath is a picture of your every day, every moment rest that you have in Christ, don't ever let anyone convince you, you're supposed to go to church on Saturday, you just study history, you'll see even the very earliest Christians, even the Jewish ones, some of them did keep having the Sabbath on Saturday, but you know what they did on the first day of the week, on Sunday, the Lord's day, they had church together, that's the day that Paul said, well when you come together on the Lord's day, take up an offering, that was Sunday, not Saturday, so don't listen to this garbage, it just gets worse and worse as we get into the latter days, they're going to bring us under bondage, but look what this says, this says that not only did our redemption take us out of that, which includes the Old Testament economy, the Old Testament rules and rigid laws and all that, it takes us out of that, it kills that, the waters come in on that as well, look what it says, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law, you see Jesus when he lived, he was still under the Old Testament law, that's why so many people get confused when they read the book of Acts, which is a transitional book from that to the New Testament, it has to be, it's not a transitional book, we're supposed to have the day of Pentecost again, then show me what we studied in Sunday school, show me the tongues of fire on your shoulder, show me the wind that comes through in an instant and frightens you so badly you're going to fall down on your face, let's have all of it, if we're going to fake it, let's at least put all that in it, let's go buy some great big fans and put them up brother Otis, where you can flip the switch from back there and make us think it's coming through brother, there's too much of that, listen if God does it, you won't have to wonder if it's real, if you see a bunch of tongue-talking going on in this auditorium, I'll tell you what, you won't see it by more than once or twice and you will find an interpreter who has the Holy Spirit power to tell you exactly what language that is and what they said or it ain't happening here, because that's the only way God does it and when he does it, it's a language, it's not gibberish, it's not listing all of the Japanese motorcycles as fast as you can, that is not what tongues was in the Bible, it was languages, now look at this, we can't go back to Pentecost, you can't go back to Acts, because Acts was a transition from the Old Testament economy to the New Testament, you go into about Acts chapter 10, you'll see right in that area, it just totally changed over, it had gradually come up to that point, but all of a sudden from that point on, you see it happening very much like it does in the church today, when they hear the gospel, they get saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit at that point, you don't lay hands on people anymore to impart the Holy Spirit like the Apostles did, all of that was transitional, it was a transition away from the law and the way it worked with the Jews under the law and we see here in Galatians that our redemption freed us from that and it says, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent for this son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them, that were, that's past tense, we're no longer under the law, we've been redeemed from it, that we might receive the adoption of sons, that's the New Testament message, you receive Christ, you become a son of God, by faith we are of the children of God, Galatians 3 verse 24 says, and because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying, Abba Father, at the moment of your salvation, you're filled and indwelt by the Holy Spirit and you're conscious of the fact that you can call God Father, my judge, you call him Father, and because you are sons, God sent you that spirit crying, Abba Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, you see the change, you say, am I dispensationalist, absolutely, you have to be one when you read this passage, we are not Old Testament, we are New Testament, the cross, the focal point of all history changed everything, God does not deal with man now, like he did in the Old Testament, God hasn't changed, but what God did in his son on that cross changed everything for us, and so it's a different economy, it is a different dispensation, and the Bible teaches us to rightly divide the word of truth or it'll all be confusion, if you don't understand the book of Acts, it's a transitional book by the way, you'll be so absolutely confused about the gifts and what's supposed to happen in church, you'll go looking all over this world trying to find it, and what you won't realize is as you move through Acts and move into the epistles and the pastoral epistles where Paul through the Holy Spirit through Paul teaches how a church is supposed to be, you get past the book of Corinthians and past about 50 AD, you never see tongues mentioned in the New Testament again, it goes away, it's not mentioned, you don't see the apostolic gifts mentioned after that date again, even in the New Testament itself, you go out to Christostrom who lived about less than 300 years after John died and he was writing a commentary on the book of Corinthians, and as Christostrom got to the book of Corinthians on chapter 13 and 14 where it talks about tongues and the apostolic sign gifts, he said this, he said, we cannot speak specifically here for we know not what these are, having not seen them, for they have ceased from the church for several hundred years.
So what is all this stuff we see in the modern charismatic movement? I'm not going to answer that on tape, maybe later, but not tape, I'm not going to conjecture what it is that we're seeing, but I will tell you what it is not.
It is not the mighty wind that we read of in Sunday school this morning. It is not the tongues of fire which were a sign of the purpose of God and following God that came on those who spoke with those languages so that all the people from the different nations could be saved that day.
It is not that. It is not the Old Testament law that we have to follow. It is not a set of rules. Don't let any man, young people, you teenagers, if you leave this place someday, you're out of God's will if you do that anyway, but if you did and you lived in another place and you're going to another church and you get in there this fiery charismatic 25 year old preacher who is God's man like I did when I was 20 and he knows everything and he starts to say well now you know what we don't have laws and rules we have standards and you need to follow these standards because they'll make you closer to God.
Just walk right out the back door and don't come back. If you have to just have a Bible study in your house like Brother Otis and Bee did for years, they'll do. Don't sit under someone that takes you back to the law because when you were redeemed, look at this passage, let's go back to it here.
Verse 7, wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ but now after that you have known God or rather are known of God. I like the fact that the Holy Spirit clarified that for us.
It is not about us going out and accepting God. It is rather that God knew us. God knew you first. God called you first. God loved you first in Bible salvation. You couldn't have done that before the foundation of the world because you weren't here but he was and he did and he loved you first.
You rather were known in the world system and bondage to that then snatches us away from the enemy camp. He then destroys the entire enemy camp and Satan himself is just leveled and smoke is there and then we come crawling back following the smoke crawling back up into that place trying to get back down in that dungeon.
That's what it pictures of those who want to go back to the law. That's graphic. I mean this is graphic. Observe days and months. If they ask you that question, why don't you want to keep one of the Ten Commandments?
The answer is this. I don't keep any of the Ten Commandments. I can't keep any of them. If I could, I didn't need Jesus. I cannot keep the Ten Commandments. If you're a young man, a teenage boy, say you know I can't even keep the one about adultery because if I look at a woman in lust, I've committed adultery.
I cannot keep the law. It's not that I'm breaking the one about the Sabbath. I can't keep any of them but only in Christ. If I am in Christ, if I've been born again and baptized into his body and as he walks I walk and him I go, then I'm keeping the law and I'm keeping the Sabbath every day of the week no matter what day, every time of the week, every time of the month, every time of the year, my whole life.
If I want to become beggarly and weak, then I'll start saying, well I got to do it on Saturday. Y 'all think I had an argument this week, don't you? No, it was a couple weeks ago. Clarence was there. Wasn't nearly this fun though, was it?
Next time it might be. But you know God wasn't when he wrote this, was he? He was very, very grand. He observed days and months and times and years. Paul said, I'm afraid of you. He said, you scare me.
You're claiming to be a Christian but you're doing these things. He said, I'm afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor and vain. I spent time preaching and teaching and look how you turned out.
That scares me. How can you not know better than that? Because people don't understand redemption. People don't understand that when Jesus died and paid the price it didn't stop there. That was awesome.
That accomplished over 33 different things for you. But that's not where it stopped. He rose again in power and that resurrection power is as much a part of your redemption and your deliverance as any of it.
And he delivers you from the enemy. He delivers you from the Old Testament bondage to the law which you could never keep. And he places you in Christ at the moment of your salvation who has totally fulfilled the law and who cannot break the law according to 1 John chapter 5.
The prison camp doesn't exist anymore. It's not there for me. It's not there for you. Romans chapter 6, 6 knowing this that our old man is crucified with him. It's already accomplished. It doesn't have to be.
It has happened. The body of sin is destroyed. That's past tense. That henceforth we should not serve sin. That is a great part of our redemption. We're snatched away from it. We are delivered from the bondage of our sin habit.
You don't have to do one of them. You don't even have to slowly quit. You don't have to get one of those nicotine patches. Stick that on there and say well over a gradual period of 15 years I will quit smoking.
You don't have to do that. You can just say Lord you told me that I'm redeemed. That I'm not owned by any lower power than you. Save me from this cigarette and you'll never smoke another. Just walk by faith.
Picture that cigarette floating on the bottom of the Red Sea. Mushy. It's no good anymore. We do not have to serve sin. Romans 6, 7 says for he that is dead is free. We pass through that sea. It pictures we died.
We should have died but God didn't let it kill us. God held it up and we passed through. Then it closed. The sins and the habits and the powers of old are gone now behind us as we walk forward towards the promised land.
Likewise reckon. That means believe God and count it to be true. Reckon it yourselves also to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through you. Titus 2, 13 looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us.
That he might purchase us away from all iniquity. Every sin habit in the life. Every sinful thought can be told to leave your mind. You just simply say give me the mind of Jesus Christ right now and it's gone.
Lord give me the mind of Jesus Christ and the thought is gone. The evil thought from hell is gone because you don't have to be captive to it. He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all A-L-L, iniquity.
Father we thank you for your word. These passages on redemption are so powerful we can hardly stand still, sit still and read about them. We have a bunch of charismatics sitting out here jumping in their hearts, maybe not physically.
Father our hearts leap to you as we see what you accomplish for yourself. But yes, we receive the benefit of it.