INTRO.- Redeemed - Oh yes! Don’t you just love this title?
ILL.- A little boy had made a little boat, all painted and fixed up beautifully. One day someone stole his boat, and he was distressed. In passing a pawnshop one day he saw his boat. Happily he ran in to the pawnbroker and said, "That is my little boat." "No," said the pawnbroker, "it is mine, for I bought it." "Yes," said the boy, "but it is mine, because I made it." "Well," said the pawnbroker, "if you will pay me two dollars, you can have it."
That was a lot of money for a boy who did not have a penny. Anyway he resolved to have it; so he cut grass, did chores of all kinds, and soon had his money.
He ran down to the shop and said, "I want my boat." He paid the money and got his boat. He picked it up, and hugged and kissed it, and said, "You dear little boat, I love you. You are mine. You are twice mine. I made you, and now I have bought you."
Doesn’t this story sound familiar? Doesn’t it sound like what has happened to us in life? We are twice the Lord’s possession! He made us but then we got sold to the devil. Later, Jesus came along and paid for us with His own death on the cross. Now we are twice His! God said, "I made you and now I bought you!"
ILL.- Dr. A. J. Gordon was the preacher of a church in Boston many years ago. One day he met a little boy out in front of the church. The boy was carrying a rusty bird cage in his hands and several little birds were fluttering around on the bottom of the cage, as if they knew they were going to be destroyed.
Dr. Gordon said, “Son, where did you get those birds?” The boy answered, “I trapped them out in the field.” “What are you going to do with them?” the preacher asked.
“I’m going to take them home and play with them and have some fun with them.” “What will you do with them when you get through playing with them?” Dr. Gordon asked. “Oh,” said the boy, “I guess I’ll just feed them to an old cat we have around the house.”
Then Dr. Gordon asked the boy how much he would take for the birds and the boy answered, “Mister, you don’t want these birds. They’re just little old field birds and they can’t sing very well.” Dr. Gordon said, “I’ll give you two dollars for the cage and the birds.” “All right,” said the boy, “It’s a deal, but you’re making a bad bargain.”
The exchange was made and the boy went whistling down the street, happy because he had two dollars in his pocket. Dr. Gordon took the cage out behind his church and opened the door of the cage and the birds flew out and went soaring away into the blue, singing as they went.
The next Sunday Dr. Gordon took the empty bird cage to the pulpit to use it in illustrating his sermon. Then he said, “That little boy said that the birds could not sing very well, but when I released them from the cage they went singing away into the blue, and it seems that they were singing, “Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed.”
Honestly, I don’t know how those birds felt to be freed after being caged with the possibility of death, but I know what is to be freed from sin that leads to death! Don’t you? If you don’t know about this and haven’t experienced this feeling of freedom then you need to find out.
PROP.- Our text gives us the lowdown on what it means to be redeemed by God.
1- Redeemed with money - oh no!
2- Redeemed with blood - oh wow!
3- Redeemed from sin - oh wonderful!
I. REDEEMED WITH MONEY - OH NO!
18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers. NOT WITH PERISHABLE THINGS SUCH AS MONEY.
ILL.- Dallas, TX—Four men who tried to dupe the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas into certifying that they were entitled to $33 million belonging to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were arrested. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?
The men presented a document to the bank that a Secret Service spokesman described as an obvious forgery. One tipoff: Saddam’s name was misspelled “Sadam.” When arrested, the men gave authorities documents that purported to represent $166 trillion in assets belonging to the likes of Manuel Noriega, Idi Amin and Fidel Castro.
“It was totally bizarre,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Melsheimer said. “You can’t just walk into the bank and negotiate a multimillion-dollar note, especially when it has Saddam Hussein’s name on it—and spelled wrong.”
One prosecutor called this case: “The Mother of all counterfeits.”
There is another counterfeit that is taking place in our world. And it’s a rather common counterfeit. IT’S A COUNTERFEIT REDEMPTION.
The mother of all counterfeits is what people have believed in regard to their redemption and eternal salvation. It’s the idea that man can buy his own salvation. He can buy his way into heaven with money and/or good deeds.
Eph. 2:8-10 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
NOT BY WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE CAN BOAST. We can’t purchase our redemption or salvation by our good works, our good deeds, our kindness, or even money that we give to help others. We should do these, however, because we are saved and headed to heaven, but not because we are trying to get saved!
If we are saved by the grace of God and we know this, we will want to do good, give, be kind, etc.
I have heard many people say something like, "Well, so and so, really deserved to go to heaven because he was such a nice guy." But niceness doesn’t buy any person’s salvation in heaven! When are we ever going to learn this?!
ILL.- Again, Sally Field said of Paul Newman when he passed away, "God only made a few perfect people and Paul Newman was one of them." Hey, I liked Paul Newman as an actor. And I hope he was a nice guy, a great man, but he was not perfect and all the money he gave to charity couldn’t buy him a home in heaven! Nor will it you or me.
Redeemed with money - OH NO! No way. 18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers.
II. REDEEMED WITH BLOOD - OH WOW!
18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. Oh wow!
ILL.- When eight-year-old Little Johnny came home from the playground with a black eye, bloody nose, and torn clothing, it was obvious he had been in a scuffle and lost.
While his father was patching him up, he asked what happened. "Well, Dad," explained Little Johnny, "I challenged Danny to a duel. I even gave him his choice of weapons, just like you taught me."
"That seems fair," his father replied. "I know, but I never thought he’d choose his eleven-year-old sister!" Little Johnny exclaimed.
I think is similar to what happened in the heavenly realms. In a sense, the devil challenged God to a fight but he had no idea that God would chose His own Son to defeat him. And he had no idea that God would use the blood of His own son to defeat Him!
Heb. 9:22 "In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."
ILL.- A Calcutta paper relates that a young Hindu came to the house of a missionary for an interview. In the course of the conversation, he said: “Many things which Christianity contains are found in Hinduism, but there is one thing which Christianity has and Hinduism has not.” “What is that?” the missionary asked. His reply was striking: “A Saviour.”
The difference in our faith and that of many others is that we have a Savior. And He became the perfect sacrifice for our sins by giving up Himself on the cross!
Heb. 9:11-14 "11When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!"
ILL.- A man came up to a minister at the close of the service and said, “I don’t see any necessity for the blood of Christ in my salvation. I can be saved without believing in His shed blood.”
“Very well,” said the minister. “How then, do you propose to be saved?” “By following His example,” was the answer. “That is enough for any man.”
“I suppose it is,” said the minister, “and that is what you propose to do?” “I do, and I am sure that is enough.”
“Very well. I am sure that you want to begin right. The Word of God tells us how to do that. I read here concerning Christ, ‘Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth’ (1 Peter 2:22). I suppose that you can say that of yourself, too?”
The man become visibly embarrassed. “Well,” he said, “I cannot say that exactly. I have sometimes sinned.”
“In that case you don’t need an example, you need a Savior; and the only way of salvation is by His shed blood.”
We are redeemed with the blood of Christ - OH WOW! Wow, that God would choose to do that for us!
III. REDEEMED FROM SIN - OH WONDERFUL!
18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
ILL.- Vietnam - "Imagine killing 55 million rats in a year -- and still losing ground," says The Associated Press. "Vietnam’s vermin plague has gotten so bad that the central government has banned exports of traditional rat predators and closed restaurants that specialize in serving up cats or snakes."
It sounds like they have a real problem with rats. But mankind has a worse problem with the old rat called sin.
ILL.- In planning for a revival meeting in a large city, the famous evangelist Billy Sunday wrote a letter to the mayor in which he asked for the names of individuals he knew who had spiritual problems and needed help and prayer.
How surprised the evangelist was when he received from the mayor a city telephone directory. In other words, there is not a person alive who doesn’t have a problem with sin. And just because someone has unlisted number it doesn’t mean they don’t have a problem with sin!
ILL.- It’s like G. K Chesterton said: "What’s wrong with the world?" a newspaper editorial once asked. Chesterton wrote in reply, "I am." If we were completely honest, we all could say the same.
What’s that scripture in Romans 3:23? How does it read? "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
ILL.- The drunk husband snuck up the stairs quietly. He looked in the bathroom mirror and bandaged the bumps and bruises he’d received in a fight earlier that night.
He then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he’d pulled one over on his wife. When morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife. "You were drunk last night weren’t you!" "No, honey." "Well, if you weren’t, then who put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror?"
What’s the moral of the story? BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT! If not by your wife, then by God! No one escapes the all-seeing eye of God when it comes to sin!
The problem of sin is a problem to get rid of.
ILL.- Daniel Webster was having dinner with some men in the city of Boston. A minister of considerable reputation sat opposite him at the table, and said, “Mr. Webster, can you comprehend how Jesus Christ can be both God and man?”
Webster fixed his eyes on him, and said: “No, sir, I cannot comprehend it. If I could comprehend it, He would be no greater than myself. I need a superhuman Savior.”
Because of the enormity of our sin, the grossness of our sin, the quantity of our sin, we need someone to save us. We all need a superhuman Savior.
I Tim. 1:15-17 "15Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. 17Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."
ILL.- In a dream a man sinned and confessed it to the Lord. Ten minutes later he committed the same sin and then said, “Oh, God, there I went and did it again.” A big booming voice came out of the clouds, “Did what?”
We have both a perfect and a superhuman Savior in Jesus! How wonderful!
CONCLUSION---------------------------
ILL.- A gem dealer was strolling the aisles at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show when he noticed a blue-violet stone the size and shape of a potato. He looked it over, then, as calmly as possible, asked the vendor, "You want $15 for this?" The seller, realizing the rock wasn’t as pretty as others in the bin, lowered the price to $10.
That stone was later certified as a 1,905-carat natural star sapphire, about 800 carats larger than the largest stone of its kind. It was appraised at $2.28 million. It took a lover of stones to recognize the it’s worth.
And it took the Lover of souls to recognize the true value of ordinary-looking people like us. Thank God we’ve been redeemed by the blood of Jesus!
