Redeemed

When I was a kid at Edison Elementary in South Charleston, a friend of mine, John Hamilton, and I would hang out on those long, lazy summer afternoons. We might watch TV, listen to records, play video games, or whatever. Every once in a while, we might try to scrounge up some money to play pinball or Space Invaders at the GC Murphy on D Street. One popular way to get some change was to take some bottles back to the store.

In that day, you got sodas in cartons of eight 16 oz bottles. You would pay ten cents per bottle when you bought them, and when you returned them, you got the money back. You paid a price for the bottles. When you took the bottles back, you got to redeem the money that the store held hostage.

In today’s Scripture, we are told that we have redemption through Jesus Christ by His shed blood. We want to take a look this morning at the doctrine of redemption in a way that we can all understand and appreciate.

RANSOM

Revelation 5:9 tells us, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation.”

We are told that we are bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20). When Paul is making this statement, he is specifically addressing various problems in Ephesus. He is addressing things like incest, lawsuits, and prostitution…within the church!!! He comes down on these activities by declaring, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (v. 11).

As believers today, we must be reminded that we are also washed. That means that one time we were pretty dirty, but God washed us white as snow by the blood of Jesus. We are also sanctified. That means that we have been set apart as a special, treasured possession of God. And as a special, treasured possession of God, we have a purpose in this life! We are also justified, which means that we are declared righteous in the sight of God. Satan may try to defame us and put us down, but we have the justification of God to make us righteous in His sight.

I’m reminded of a funny story of some cattle ranchers who needed some money quick. There was a wealthy Indian chief who had one son a few miles away. So they decided to kidnap the boy and demand a ransom for his return. In the stealth of night, they accomplished the kidnapping, leaving a ransom note for are large sum. The chief refused to pay. The cattle ranchers on the other hand, had their hands full with the Indian boy, as he was a little hellion. After a couple of days, the cowboys reduced their offer. The chief again refused. The little boy was really getting on the nerves of these cowboys, so they reduced their ransom again. The chief refused. Then they offered to just return the boy to him. The chief refused, saying that he would need a sum of money to take the boy back. The cowboys finally complied.

That is not how a ransom is supposed to work. But when we were ransomed by God from Satan, it was paid the with the most precious price that could be paid. We need to remember that when we talk about being redeemed.

REMOVAL

“Christ redeemed and removed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” Galatians 3:13

The law is a “curse” to us in that it condemns our sin and therefore condemns us. Jesus said in John 3:18, “The one who believes in Him is not condemned; the one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” As the spotless Lamb of God, Jesus willingly accepted our rightful condemnation and the punishment we deserved when He went to the cross. That “curse of the Law” condemned us to separation from God, but by God’s eternal mercy and grace, we do not have to be separated from Him.

As we are redeemed from the curse of the law, we are given the right to be called children of God. Galatians 4:5 tells us, “so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters.” It was necessary for Jesus to die; to redeem sinners out of Satan’s slave market. A second great difference is that Christians receive adoption as sons instead of being a son of the bloodline. Jesus Christ is the only Son naturally related to God the Father. All other sons (including females, since “sonship” was a legal status) are by adoption.