THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD
By Pastor James May
Isaiah 51:1, "Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged."
There’s a little chorus that we used to sing a lot when I was younger and it went something like this:
I’m Redeemed by Love Divine
Glory, Glory Christ is mine
All to him I now resign
I have been, I have been redeemed
There is something about that term “Redeemed” that brings joy to our hearts. We have been saved, washed in the Blood of the Lamb, given eternal life, bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus and there is no greater miracle, and no greater gift that mankind could ever receive than to be redeemed.
The old song “He Set Me Free” contains a verse that says,
Once like a bird in prison I dwelt
No freedom from the sorrow I felt
Then Jesus came and listened to me
And Glory to God, He set me Free
Freedom – what a wonderful feeling it is to be free from sin; born again a new man. Behold all the old things have passed away and all things have become new!
Illustration:
A story told by Paul Lee Tan illustrates the meaning of redemption.
He said that 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. Pastor Gordon asked the young boy, "Son, where did you get those birds?" The boy replied, "I trapped them out in the field." "Well, what are you going to do with them?" "I’m going to play with them until I get tired of them, and then I guess I’ll just feed them to an old cat we have at home." The preacher offered to buy them but the boy said, "Mister, you don’t want them, they’re just little old wild birds and they 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!"
I thank God that he lifted my out of the miry pit of sin and gave me a firm foundation. Every one of us was caged up in Satan’s trap. We were worthless creatures, without any redeeming qualities whatsoever. But thank God that He saw something in us worth dying for.
God chose you and God chose me! He loved you and I when we were unlovable and dead in sin, and he loved us so much that he gave his only Son to redeem us back to him.
In the beginning we were created in God’s own image. We were created as the apple of his eye and we were created to serve him, love him and worship him. We were created to live forever in one-on-one relationship with God but then sin entered the picture and all of that tender loving care that God had taken in creating us was nullified as Satan laid claim to every living soul.
Even though we are created in God’s image, we lived for the devil. Even though we were meant to soar in heavenly places, we chose to scratch around in the filth of this world. I know that we aren’t the ones who brought sin into the world. Adam did that by listening to Satan’s lies, but I believe that if Adam had not failed God, I would have, and if I had not brought sin into the world, then you would have.
We still rebel against God all too often right now so we can’t point a finger of accusation at Adam and Eve when we know that we are no better than they.
Because of sin, we were snatched from our place in God and put into a prison with bars that could not be broken. Our feet were destined to walk in a world that just keeps pulling us deeper into sin. Our heart was destroyed and our every thought was for evil.
But praise the Lord that wasn’t the end of the story! Mankind was destined for eternal punishment but my loving Lord saw my need and he came down and redeemed me – bought me back from the pit with his own blood.
Isaiah says that we should never forget the pit that we were redeemed out of, but that’s not where our heart and mind should dwell. We can’t live in the past sins and allow those things to continually drag us down and renew the feelings of guilt over and again. There’s something better to think about now!
We can think about Jesus, the Rock who lives in us and makes us his own. We are founded upon a Rock. We are a part of that Rock. That Rock is Christ!
Isaiah 51:6, "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished."
The redeemed of Lord should not have our eyes fastened upon the things of the world. Our vision must be higher, our dreams must be eternal, and our finish line is in Heaven, not on this earth. The things around us will be burned away in the smoke and fire of God’s wrath.
Even scientists tell us that the earth is wearing out. I’m not sure that I believe every report of doom and gloom when it comes to the shortages of natural resources, but if those things are true it’s only because the earth is dying. God is bringing this all down to judgment and one day all of it will be forever abolished because of the power of sin.
This old body of flesh is getting older too. The effects of sin upon this flesh are irreversible. Jesus redeemed my soul but he didn’t come to save this body. It is still destined to die or be gloriously changed in the rapture of the church.
I read a poem a while ago that described exactly what it’s like to be getting more mature, or in today’s political correctness, “annually challenged”.
Just a line to say I’m living
That I’m not among the dead.
Though I’m getting more forgetful
And more mixed up in the head.
For sometimes I can’t remember
When I stand at foot of stair,
If I must go up for something
Or did I just come down from there.
And before the frig’, so often
My poor mind is filled with doubt,
Have I just put food away,
Or, have I come to take some out?
And there’s times when it is dark out
With my nightcap on my head,
I don’t know if I’m retiring
Or just getting out of bed.
So if it’s my turn to write you
There’s no need of getting sore,
I may think I have written
And don’t want to be a bore.
So, remember...I do love you,
And I wish that you were here;
But now, it is nearly mail time
So I must say: "Goodbye Dear".
Here I stand beside the mailbox,
With my face so very red,
Instead of mailing you this letter
I have opened it instead
Then there’s the story of the couple that are very much in love but are getting on in years.
"Things have really changed," she said. "You used to sit very close to me."
"Well, I can remedy that," he said, moving next to her on the couch.
"And you used to hold me tight."
"How’s that?" he asked as he gave her a hug.
"Do you remember you used to nudge my neck and nibble on my ear lobes?"
He jumped to his feet and left the room. "Where are you going, she asked?"
"I’ll be right back," he said. "I’ve got to get my teeth!"
Yes, everything is growing older. The earth itself is wearing out. Every day that we live we are drawing one day closer to the time that we all must lay aside this tabernacle of flesh and leave this world to enter the next.
Thank God that there is hope beyond this life and that there is life beyond the grave! Aren’t you glad for redemption? Aren’t you glad that you have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus?
Isaiah 51:11, "Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away."
Our future is so very bright ahead! If you have been redeemed, you should have a song in your heart and everlasting joy in your soul. God has given you the oil of gladness instead of sorrow. Heaven is your eternal home and a crown of life awaits you there. All sorrow will disappear and sadness will be no more. Death, and hell, and the grave, and sickness and pain and suffering will be forever wiped away! Oh happy day, when Jesus washed all my sins away!
Psalms 107:1-7, "O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation."
We are pilgrims and strangers in this world and there is no city for us to dwell in and call home. Our home is in the New Jerusalem, that city that is made without hands!
Down here we may grown weary, thirsty and weak. But when we cried out to the Lord and he delivered us from our cage of sin, we became the Redeemed of the Lord!
Now we must ever give thanks and let the whole world know that we have been redeemed. Satan has no claim on us now!
Are you part of the Redeemed of the Lord? Is your soul washed from sin in the blood of the Lamb? Let the redeemed of the Lord say so! Let our praises ring loud and long! Let our testimony be heard across the land! Let our life be a reflection of that redeeming power.
My Heavenly Home is bright and fair just over in the Glory land!
I long to be by my Savior’s side just over in the Glory land!
Just over in the Glory land, there with that mighty host I’ll stand!
All because I have been bought with a price!
All because Jesus gave himself for me!
All because I heard the message of the gospel!
All because I have been, I have been redeemed!
Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so!
