The Redemption That Is Ours Through Christ Jesus The Lord

SERMON – SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 2014

TITLE – The Redemption that is Ours Through Christ Jesus the Lord

TEXT – Isaiah 43:1; Romans 3:21-26; Galatians 3:13; Colossians 1:13; Titus 2: 11-14; Hebrews 9:11; 1Peter 1:18,19; Rev. 1:5, 5: 6-9

BENEDICTION – REVELATION 1:6b

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I remember a time when our children were small and Paul and I decided they needed a dog. So we went to the human society in Chatham and found a cute little black dog (part bull dog we had figured out). . . .with a happy personality and nice disposition.

We then paid to get him out of there where his demise wouldn’t have been good if left there for very long. That little dog cost us something because the pound needed the money to buy food, and so forth, for all the animals they were housing.

Well. . . we brought him home and the children enjoyed playing with him.

However, he wouldn’t stay home!

When our backs were turned he would start running down the road for points unknown to us.

It didn’t matter what we tied around its’ neck, to try and break him of it. . . . .that thing got dragged down the road after him. . . everything from a car tire to a cement block.

Well. . . enough of that. We decided to take him back to the pound.

To our disgust and amazement, they charged us again to get rid of him.

Such is life.

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The point is that our action in adopting the dog and paying for him, was in effect an act of redemption.

We had redeemed his life from a certain euthanasia!

(But. . . . I can’t help but ponder how long that dog’s life really was. . . . because they were making money off that dog, when prospective owner after owner returned him to the pound.)

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The theme of Redemption is the central message of the bible.

It is the story of God’s plan of redemption for humanity that is woven throughout the pages of Holy Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

#1. The plan for our redemption was God’s idea, springing out of His love for humanity.

(Is. 43:1; Romans 3:25)

#2. The provider of our redemption is Christ Jesus the Lord. (Gal.3:13)

#3. The price or our redemption is the power of His blood. (1 Peter 1:18,19)

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Think about it for a moment.

#1. God’s plan for our redemption is laid out in scripture through the types of redeemers we read about in the Old Testament.

There was Noah. . .God saved him and his family from death . . . .He instructed Noah to build an ark . . . .the ark being a foreshadowing of Christ himself. . . . redeeming Noah from the sentence of death God was sending upon the whole earth.

Then there was Moses. . . .a type of Christ. . . . This leader redeemed the early Israelites from a sentence of death under the cruel reign of the Pharaoh of Egypt, helping them to escape through the Red Sea and to safety on the other side.

There was also Joshua, the successor of Moses, who redeemed the people from life in the dessert, and finally led the people across the Jordan to the promised land.

Then there was Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer of Naomi, who took Ruth (Naomi’s daughter-in-law) as his wife and redeemed Naomi from the stigma of having no grandchildren to carry on her husband, Elimelch’s lineage. . . .a lineage from which Christ was eventually born.

And of course every time the Israelites offered up a lamb for the sacrifice, it’s represented Christ in the most powerful way. . . .the perfect, sinless sacrifice. . . .whose blood paid the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people.

These all pointed to Christ Jesus our Lord.

These people were all a type of redeemer who were redeeming people FROM some terrible demise.

#2. Jesus is our Redeemer!. . the provider of our redemption.

He is our Noah. He is our Moses. He is our Joshua. He is our Boaz. . .our kinsman-redeemer.

He is the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.

He has redeemed us ….or. . .rescued us from spiritual death: separation from God for all eternity because of our sin.

He has paid the price in order to set us free as I says in Gal. 3:13,14. . . “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’. . . He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”