I Stand Redeemed
I Peter 1:18-23
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- A gathering of friends at an English estate nearly turned to tragedy when one of the children strayed into deep water. The gardener heard the cries for help, plunged in, and rescued the drowning child. That youngster's name was Winston Churchill. His grateful parents asked the gardener what they could do to reward him. He hesitated, then said, "I wish my son could go to college someday and become a doctor." "We'll see to it," Churchill's parents promised. Years later, while Sir Winston was prime minister of England, he was stricken with pneumonia. The country's best physician was summoned. His name was Dr. Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered and developed penicillin. He was also the son of that gardener who had saved young Winston from drowning. Later Churchill remarked, "Rarely has one man owed his life twice to the same person." (Ron Hutchcraft, Wake Up Calls, Moody, 1990, p. 22.)
- Like Churchill I owe my life twice to the same person. My Heavenly Father gave me life and then gave me eternal life. You see the first time I was born I was conceived in sin and born in iniquity. I was on a path that led to condemnation and there was NOTHING I could do to change that. But God in His abundant mercy sought me and bought me with the precious blood of His dear Son. As I stand before you today, I Stand Redeemed!
"When I think of all my faults and my failures"
"When I consider all the times I let God down"
"I am humbled at the grace He has extended"
"I'm amazed at the mercy I have found"
"I could never earn His love on my own"
"Yet every time I come before His throne"
"I stand redeemed, by the blood of the Lamb"
"I stand redeemed before the great I Am"
"When He looks at me, He sees the nailed scarred Hands"
"That bought my liberty -- I stand redeemed"
(I Stand Redeemed, as sung by Legacy Five)
Praise God for redemption! It is that redemption that The Apostle Peter wrote about here in I Peter 1:18-25. I would like to walk through these verses and preach about the fact that "I Stand Redeemed". I hope and pray that you too can say "I Stand Redeemed". But if you can't say that at this moment... stick with me for a little while and I will show you that redemption is possible for you today! Let's begin in verse 18 and examine:
I. THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION - v18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
- God the Father created a perfect world. He created man and woman and placed them in "The Garden of Eden". God commanded them not to eat of "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" . God warned Adam that if he did, he would surly die. Satan came and tempted Adam and Adam failed, and from that very moment death and decay came into the perfect world that God had given man. For this reason we are guilty sinners as well - Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
- God by His nature cannot be in the presence of sin and disobedience.And there is a penalty for sin and it is punishable by death. It is only through God's plan of redemption that we have any hope of one day living with Him. God knew that we would need a redeemer even before the fall of man in the Garden.In fact He knew this "before the foundation of the world" . This truth is revealed in - v20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
- We needed a Redeemer to remove the curse. We needed a Savior to reconcile us back to God. God Himself gave us that redeemer in the person of His only Son Jesus Christ. Redemption is defined as - the process of buying back someone from bondage by the payment of a price; to set free by paying a ransom. More specifically it is the price Jesus paid to free us from the bondage of sin - Romans 3:24 says (we are) "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus"
- When we hear the term "redemption" we automatically think about it in the theological sense. But for the people Peter was writing to it had a more practical implication. There were millions of slaves in the Roman empire. Some were born that way and some had been enslaved when Rome conquered their land. A slave had no freedom... he was another person's property. Redemption was something they all longed for. There was nothing that they desired more than to be "redeemed" and set free from their bondage. Each of us were born into this world as slaves of sin. We had no liberty...no freedom... no rights of our own. And there was nothing we could to change our circumstances. But God had A Plan Of Redemption! Not only did God have a plan for redemption, Our Heavenly Father paid a great price.
- He sacrificed His only Son so that we would be redeemed. Consider:
II. THE PRICE OF REDEMPTION - v19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
- Gold or silver could not save mankind from the wrath of God. No material goods were sufficient to redeem our souls. Likewise an animal's blood could not remove our sin. Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
In the past God's people offered animal sacrifice for their sin. The blood of an animal could cover the sin for a year. It did not clear the conscience of the sinner, nor do away with his sin. The Old Testament sacrifice was merely a picture of the ultimate sacrifice that would come in the person of God's Son. The blood of Jesus is the only thing powerful enough to completely remove sin! Because of sin... there was an immense debt owed to God. We were not able to pay that sin debt. We were condemned! We were destined to face the wrath of Almighty God
- There was nothing we could offer Him. Silver and Gold were not worth enough. Our works and moral character were not sufficient! In ourselves we had no hope of redemption! But even though we had sinned against God, we were precious to Him. Divine justice required a price that was far beyond human comprehension. The price of our redemption was the precious blood of the Lamb of God!
- In 2012 Hurricane Sandy became the largest Atlantic Hurricane on record. It caused 68 billion dollars worth of damage. And at least 233 people in 8 different countries were killed in its path One area that was devastated by this "Super-storm" was New Jersey. There was a 10 year old boy from Tom's River NJ named Raymond, who wanted to help the victims of the storm. He decided to sell his most prized possession, a football autographed by Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz, and give the money to the relief effort. That may not seem like much to you, but that ball meant the world to this 10 year old boy. But he had enough compassion to sacrifice something precious to him in order to help those in need.
- God the Father loved you so much that He gave His most treasured possession in order to redeem you. - I Corinthians 6:20 tells us that "we are bought with a price"
- Our redemption cost God His son. Our redemption cost Jesus His life! For us to be redeemed Jesus had to... Leave the glories of Heaven...Take on a robe of human flesh...Face the rejection of this world...Endure mock and scorn from His enemies and Suffer the horrific pain of an old rugged cross. Jesus paid the price for our redemption on Calvary's Hill! With every lash on his back as the Roman soldier scourged Him...JESUS PAID THE PRICE!! With every thorn that sunk deep into His brow...JESUS PAID THE PRICE!! With each swing of the hammer that drove the spikes into his hands and feet...JESUS PAID THE PRICE!! With every drop of His precious blood that fell there at Golgotha...JESUS PAID THE PRICE!!
Because of the Great Price of Redemption we can live with assurance of our redemption. Notice:
III. THE PERMANENCE OF REDEMPTION- v22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
- The Christian is "born again" and here Peter states that this is not a life that will end quickly. Quite the contrary, it is a life that will last forever - "not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever". The work that Christ's blood does in our lives is an ETERNAL WORK!! It guarantees us eternal security. Paul says in Ephesians 4:30 that we are "sealed unto the day of redemption". Jesus Himself promises security – John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
- To be "Saved", means to be "Rescued from all harm and danger." If we are still in danger, then we are not saved! If there is the slightest danger that I can lose my salvation, then I am not saved. We are redeemed by the most precious substance in the history of the world... Christ's blood! And HIS BLOOD WILL NEVER LOSE IT'S POWER!!! The Price of Redemption was greater than we could ever afford, but God has made a way for us to be redeemed.
- Let's consider that for a moment as we examine:
IV. THE PROCESS OF REDEMPTION - v20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
As we have seen... before the world began God chose Jesus to be our redeemer. We are able to partake in redemption because of our faith in Christ's finished work. Salvation is available to all, but all will not be saved. Men have rejected Christ since the beginning and many still reject Him today. Understand this, redemption is available to for you today! Maybe you would like to know how, well I intend to show you. The "Process Of Redemption" is very simple. In fact all of the work has been done for you. - Ephesians 1:7 says we have redemption through {Jesus} blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
The Greek word for redemption is (apolutrōsis -ap-ol-oo'-tro-sis) which is literally translated “paid in full” When Jesus cried on the cross, "It is finished"… He used a word that meant "paid in full." This speaks of discharging a debt. This is the same word that would be stamped across bills when they were paid. Jesus stamped “paid in full” on our sin debt at Calvary. All you have to do is accept His offer!
1) We have all sinned against God (Romans 3:23).
2) Because of our sin, we deserve to be eternally separated from God (Romans 6:23).
3) God loves us and is not willing that any should perish (John 3:16)
4) God took on human form and died in our place (Romans 5:8)
5) Jesus took the punishment that we deserve (2 Corinthians 5:21).
6) God promises forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven to all who receive, by grace through faith, Jesus Christ as Savior (John 1:12; 3:16; 5:24).
- That is the process of redemption!! We have an example of this process in the book of Acts: In Acts 16:30-31, the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas: “ . . . ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved . . . .’ ”
The same process will work for you! Believe on Him, Trust in His sacrifice and Realize that He Bore you sin, Died in your place, Was buried, On the 3rd Day rose again, Was seen by many witnesses , Ascended to Heaven, Sat down at the right hand of the Father and He has promised to come again! Your part in the process of redemption is this simple - “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13).
- You are a "Whosoever"! You are qualified for this "Process of Redemption!" With all that we have seen concerning redemption, you may be intrigued, perhaps you would like to received this great possession. I have good news for you! There is an opportunity for you to be redeemed!
V. THE POSSIBILITY OF REDEMPTION- v24 ¶For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Peter tells the Christians in Asia Minor that God extended them an invitation to salvation "through the preaching of the gospel". He is extending that same offer to you today! If you have never been born again you are lost and on your way to Hell! But through the blood of Jesus you have hope of salvation. The blood saves and the preaching of the Gospel is what points people to the precious blood of the Lamb. And God has arranged for you to be here today so that you can hear His message of redemption! - 1 Corinthians 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
Jesus Himself is extending an invitation for you to be redeemed! - Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Why don't you accept that offer today? Will you grasp "The Possibility Of Redemption"? If you will, then you can leave here saying "I Stand Redeemed"
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. The stone has since been 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 sapphire’s worth.It took the Lover of Souls to recognize the true value of ordinary-looking people like us. (On Line Leadership Journal - Redemption by Wanda Vassallo)
God sees something special in you. Even in your sin, God deemed you valuable enough that He gave His only Son to make way of redemption for you. He is extending you an offer of redemption right here... right now. Why don't you accept that offer? If you will, you can leave here today saying "I Stand Redeemed!!"
