Purpose: To explain the impact the Cross has on our lives.
Aim: I want the listener to see himself as a possession of Jesus Christ.
INTRODUCTION: Why are we taking four weeks to study the Cross of Christ?
Have you ever used Google Maps? You can see the map using a street view, satellite view or the regular map with lines and street names. All three are of the same area, but it gets confusing to look at all three at once.
“It is the same with the words used to describe the death of Jesus Christ. Each word, like [propitiation, redemption], reconciliation, or justification, is accurate and correct, but each word does not give the complete picture. To see the whole we need to place one ‘layer’ one top of the other, but that is sometimes confusing—we cannot see the trees for the whole! So we separate out each splendid concept and discover that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.” [1]
I. What is Redemption?
REDEMPTION ἀπολύτρωσις apolutrōsis; from ἀπολυτρόω apolutroō ( to release on payment of ransom); a release effected by payment of ransom:—redemption (9), release (1). [2]
So, there are two actions that make up redemption.
A. A payment—a ransom
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3).
B. A release—freedom
“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36).
Peter combines these two ideas: “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; ” (1 Peter 3:18).
When a person is kidnapped it is often so that money can be extorted. The criminals are looking for a payment in order to grant freedom.
A story told by Paul Lee Tan illustrates the meaning of redemption:
“When A. J. Gordon was pastor of a church in Boston, he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously.
Gordon inquired,‘Son, where did you get those birds?’
The boy replied, ‘I trapped them out in the field.’
‘What are you going to do with them?’
‘I’m going to play with them, and then I guess I’ll just feed them to an old cat we have at home.’
Gordon offered to buy them, and the lad exclaimed, ‘Mister, you don’t want them, they’re just little old wild birds and can’t sing very well.’
Gordon replied, ‘I’ll give you $2 for the cage and the birds.’
‘Okay, it’s a deal, but you’re making a bad bargain.’
The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar into the blue.
The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ’s coming to seek and to save the lost—paying for them with His own precious blood.
‘That boy told me the birds were not songsters,’ said Gordon, ‘but when I released them and they winged their way heavenward, it seemed to me they were singing, ‘Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed!’
You and I have been held captive to sin, but Christ has purchased our pardon and set us at liberty. When a person has this life-changing experience, he will want to sing, ‘Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed!’” [3]
II. Why do we Need Redemption?
“In his book Great Themes of the Bible, Louis Albert Banks told of the time D.L. Moody visited a prison called ‘The Tombs’ to preach to the inmates. After he had finished speaking, Moody talked with a number of men in their cells. He asked each prisoner this question, ‘What brought you here?’ Again and again he received replies like this: ‘I don’t deserve to be here.’ ‘I was framed.’ ‘I was falsely accused.’ ‘I was given an unfair trial.’ Not one inmate would admit he was guilty.
“Finally, Moody found a man with his face buried in his hands, weeping. ‘ And what’s wrong, my friend?’ he inquired. The prisoner responded, ‘My sins are more than I can bear.’ Relieved to find at least one man who would recognize his guilt and his need of forgiveness, the evangelist exclaimed, ‘Thank God for that!’ Moody then had the joy of pointing him to a saving knowledge of Christ—a knowledge that released him from his shackles of sin.
What an accurate picture of the two contrasting attitudes spoken of in Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the publican! As long as the sinner claims innocence and refuses to acknowledge his transgressions before the Lord, he does not receive the blessings of redemption. But when he pleads guilty and cries out, ‘Lord, be merciful to me a sinner,’ he is forgiven. God’s pardon is available to everyone, but it is experienced only by those who admit guilt and trust Christ. To be ‘found,’ a person must first recognize that he is ‘lost.’” [4]
A. We are slaves to sin
“Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” (John 8:34).
“who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed …” (Titus 2:14).
“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” (Romans 6:16).
B. We are slaves to Satan
“… the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” (1 John 5:19).
“who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age …” (Galatians 1:4).
C. We can’t free ourselves
“But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
III. Who Pays the Price of Redemption?
A. It is not paid by us
“knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,” (1 Peter 1:18).
B. It is only paid by Jesus
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
“and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12).
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).
“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all… ” (1 Timothy 2:5–6).
IV. What Happens when we are Redeemed?
A. We are free from sin’s power
“Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11).
“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:14).
B. We are free from Satan’s power
“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil … (Hebrews 2:14–15).
C. We are free from darkness
“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,” (Colossians 1:13).
D. We will be free from corrupt bodies
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. ” (Romans 8:18–23).
V. How does Redemption Change us?
A. We are in indebted to Christ
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. ” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). “ You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. ” (1 Corinthians 7:23).
You don’t belong to you.
C. T. Studd wrote from Cambridge in 1883: “I had known about Jesus dying for me, but I had never understood that, if He had died for me, then I didn’t belong to myself. Redemption means buying back, so that if I belong to Him, either I had to be a thief, and keep what wasn’t mine, or else I had to give up everything to God. When I came to see that Jesus had died for me, it didn’t seem hard to give up all for Him.”
Studd also said, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” [5]
B. We highly value Christ
“knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. ” (1 Peter 1:18–19).
Thomas Watson wrote these words, "Great was the work of creation but greater the work of redemption. It costs more to redeem us than to make us. In the one there was but the speaking of the Word, in the other there was the shedding of blood. The creation was but the work of God's fingers, Psalm 8:3. Redemption is the work of His arm, Luke 1:51"
C. We passionately love and serve Christ
“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. ” (Ephesians 1:13–14).
“And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9).
CONCLUSION: It is important that the Cross captures more than just our thoughts. Let me explain.
God destroyed the world by flood because “GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5 KJV).
Psalm 73 describe wicked people as those where, “…The imaginations of their heart run riot.” (Psalm 73:7). Paul described wicked people as those who became “…futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Romans 1:21). The KJV uses “…became vain in their imaginations….” (Romans 1:21).
Jeremiah talked about what it will be like when Jesus comes back and rules the earth. “At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.” (Jeremiah 3:17 KJV).
Thoughts, by themselves, do not rule our actions. It is what captures our imagination. Sinful thoughts may go through our brain, but we don’t necessarily act on them. The difference is what captures our imagination—what we focus on the most.
What captures your imagination will govern your life.
For example, you might think about stealing an Ipod from a store. Then you might remind yourself that stealing is wrong. The thought that you obey is the one that captures your imagination. If you imagine how exciting it would be to have your very own Ipod and all of the things you can do with it you are likely to steal it if you have an opportunity.
If, on the other hand, you let your mind go back to the Cross and you remember that Jesus suffered terrible agony for sins like stealing. If you love Jesus because He suffered for you and that He gave His “precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless…” (1 Peter 1:19) then those thoughts will capture your imagination and keep you from sin.
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30).
Oswald Chambers: “The thing that makes a missionary is the sight of what Jesus did on the cross and to have heard Him say, ‘Go.’”
Let’s determine to keep thinking about the Cross until it captures our imaginations!
[1]John Ross. Galaxie Software. (2002; 2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.
[2]Thomas, R. L. (1998). New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : Updated edition. Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc.
[3]Our Daily Bread. Galaxie Software. (2002; 2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.
[4]Our Daily Bread Galaxie Software. (2002; 2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.
[5]Galaxie Software. (2002; 2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.
