One of the great privileges of preaching in Russia was to bring the great good news of the Gospel to those who may not have ever heard! It makes you want to spell it out clearly, plainly, with simplicity. I want to do just that in this series of messages. I want to hit the heart of the gospel...like Edgar Martinez, a sweet, firm stroke that sends the ball flying. The summer preaching was about getting into relationship with people through care and service so we could “bring the Cross across.” But what exactly is the message of the Cross?
To begin with, it is already clearly defined. We don’t have to make something up. In fact, the Apostle Paul gives us a stern warning not to mess with God’s message:
Galatians 1:8
But even though we, or an angel from heaven,
should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which has been preached to you,
let him be accursed.
Strong words. We’d better not mess this up!
What is the heart of the gospel? What are the main points of this great, good news? What exactly is this wonderful, good, good news?
Peter sums it up with this pithy statement:
1 Peter 3:18
For Christ died for sins once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous,
to bring you to God.
In this series, we will review seven marvelous things God accomplished for us in the cross.
Sermon # 1. September 19, 1999 Christ's Work Of Redemption
Jesus died to buy me back from sin's condemnation
Popular conception of Redemption. Friday in the Herald Sports Section the head-line read “A Shot at Redemption.—UW will use last year’s drubbing by Air Force as major motivation. The article detailed how the Air Force Academy football team whipped the Huskies last Christmas at the Oahu Bowl. For the Dogs, it was a dismal end to a dismal season. It was the first time since 1976 that the Huskies did not have a winning season. They lost a lot of support from their fans, especially from the moneyed members of the Booster Club. Coach Lambright was fired. The program got all shook up.
But this weekend the two teams met again. And the Dogs got the chance to redeem themselves. I didn’t watch the game, or haven’t heard the score, but if they played well enough to win, perhaps they can get back in the good graces of their fans. Is that what redemption means?
Husbands and wives know about redemption. If he gets into the doghouse for any number of reasons, he might get out by sending flowers, mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, baby sitting for an evening… If what he does gains the approval of his wife, he may be allowed back into the loving circle of her affections. Otherwise, it may take a little more effort.
THINGS NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM
A concerned husband went to a doctor to talk about his wife. He explained,
"Doctor, I think my wife is deaf because she never hears me the first time
and always asks me to repeat things." "Well," the doctor replied, "go home
and tonight stand about 15 feet from her and say something to her. If she
doesn't reply move about 5 feet close and say it again. Keep doing this so
that we'll get an idea about the severity of her deafness."
The husband went home and did exactly as instructed. He started off about 15
feet from his wife in the kitchen as she was chopping some vegetables and
said, "Honey, what's for dinner?" He heard no response. He moved about 5
feet closer and asked again. No reply. He moved 5 feet closer. Still no
reply. Finally, he stepped right behind her, about an inch away, and asked
again, "Honey, what's for dinner?"
To which she replied, "For the fourth time, vegetable stew!"
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, SwanLC@aol.com,
September 13, 1999)
----------------------
For him, getting on her good side meant getting himself a hearing aid!
Sometimes it's a financial situation:
HE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE ASSIGNMENT
A. J. Tavenner wrote in "Reader's Digest" several years ago of a Sunday
School class in his church. The teacher suggested that each child sign a
get-well card, which was to be sent to one member's mother in the hospital.
Each child was to write a Bible verse after his name. One little boy
carefully made his selection from his Bible. The verse: Matthew 5:26--"Truly,
I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny."
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, SwanLC@aol.com,
August 30, 1999)
In each of these instances, the person who was in trouble has to make some kind of payment to get himself back into the good graces of the other party.
And people wonder how to get on God’s good side. They feel the distance within themselves, and wonder if there’s anything they can do, any price they can pay, to get close to God, to close the gap, to get on His “good side.” I’ve heard people say that just hanging out with a preacher gives them a leg up on this process.
And then people hear this word "redemption" when they come to church, and wonder if that's how things are. But is that how God views redemption?
We hear verses like this one:
Romans 3:23-24
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Or this passage:
1 Peter 1:18-19
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold
that you were redeemed from the
empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
It seems backwards. Someone has taken action to get us back on God's "good side," and it looks like He did it himself. It looks here like we aren’t earning redemption through some virtuous effort of our own. But that’s not how redemption works in the real world. You always have to pay some price, to turn over something of value, and then you get what you came for.
In some religious systems, that is how things are set up. If you are good, and you do enough good stuff—whether it’s attendance at meetings, or serving in the community, or taking part in church rituals, or whatever it may be, God will notice, and somehow receive you back into his good graces because, well, you’ve redeemed yourself.
And I would advise you, that if you want to start a religion be sure to include this feature! This works well if you want to start a religion that really gets people moving:
Back in the 1500’s, church followers were told that they could pay off their sins by giving to the church building fund. By paying indulgences, you could get on God’s “good side” and be freed from the consequences of your sin. The people were taught that they could redeem themselves by paying money to build the great cathedrals of Europe. Martin Luther strongly protested against this.
But with God, it works in the opposite direction. Rather than human beings putting forth their best efforts to redeem themselves in God’s eyes, God takes the initiative and pays the redemption price. It’s amazingly backwards.
But the first thing we need to clarify is what this word “redemption” means in Scripture:
Greek Lutron: The root idea is to loose, or loosen, as in the unyoking of horses. It has to do with setting something free. Quite often it was used in contexts where a ransom was supplied as the condition of release. It means “payment for loosing,” ie; ransom price. “To redeem by payment of ransom.” And the result would be that you would “resume a claim or right that has lapsed.”
It especially applied to reclaiming something for the family.
We are all familiar with the tragic stories so often in the news, or written into the plot line of a television movie—a wealthy businessman is kidnapped in the night, taken from his home. His wife receives a phone call or some other communication to this effect:
“Leave 0,000 in the trash bin behind the old factory on 47th street, or you will never see your husband again.”
In the movies it’s usually a phone call, or a series of phone calls. That makes for a better plot line. That way you can have a police wire tapper listening in. And they can trace the call, and try to arrest the kidnapper and set the victim free. They go to great lengths to try to win back the freedom of the kidnap victim. It always involves a price. Whether in dollars paid, or in some strong action to rescue the victim. And it always involves someone else paying the price for the victim. The victim cannot secure his freedom alone. He doesn’t have what the kidnappers want.
That’s the heart and soul of what redemption means. The people who love you pay the price and win your freedom. And that’s what God has done for us through his Son, Jesus Christ.
But it hasn’t always been this way:
I. In the Old Testament:
In Old Testament times, the person paid the ransom price for himself:
Exodus 30:12 When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them.
He could keep his life by paying off God!
For a worshipper to receive forgiveness of his sins, he had to purchase a dove, or a goat or a bull, and have the priest sacrifice it for him. The animal became the ransom price that released him from the penalty for his sin.
Nebuchadnezzar was a particularly wicked king. He had a disturbing dream, and called on Daniel, his wise man to help him understand it. Daniel told him he was going to fall under God’s judgment, but he might be able to escape it. You know, the whole world is under the judgment of God. We have all fallen short of God’s expectations.
Daniel exhorted king Nebuchadnezzar,
“Renounce your sins by doing what is right,
and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed.
It may be that then your prosperity will continue.
Daniel 4:27
Daniel is telling his king that he might get on God’s good side through good works and giving an offering to the poor. That would be the price he paid to get free from the burden of his sins. He might be able to redeem himself and escape from the judgment that God has just handed down against him.
Redemption always involved a price. And in many cases, the person who wanted to be set free, had to pay it himself.
Even today, a lot of religious people think that this is the way it works today. But things have changed. God makes it plain that the program would be changed: He is going to pay the price himself:
Isaiah 52:2-3, 9.
2 Shake off your dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
O captive Daughter of Zion.
3 For this is what the LORD says:
“You were sold for nothing,
and without money you will be redeemed.”
9 Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the LORD has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The people of Jerusalem will not have to redeem themselves. God will pay the price to bring them back to the place of comfort and celebration.
He is the Redeemer:
He rescues his people from trouble
Psalm 25:2
22 Redeem Israel, O God,
from all their troubles!
From Sin:
Psalm 130:8
7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
8 He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
From Death:
Hosea 13:14
14 “I will ransom them from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?
Nehemiah praised God for his “strong hand and great power that redeemed the people.”
We see redemption working out in the charming story of a young widow, Ruth.
She was part of a Hebrew clan, but because her husband was dead, and she had no land, no sons, no security, she was at risk of starvation. But there was a family member, Boaz, who had mercy on her. He promised to take her as his wife and become what the text calls her “kinsman-redeemer.”
Boaz said to Ruth,
11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character.
Boaz is saying to Ruth, “You will be brought back into the wealth and safety of the family by marriage. You cannot redeem yourself. I will do it for you.”
To marry her, he was required to purchase the properties of her departed husband. He paid the price, and redeemed her from poverty and starvation.
This is what God the Father did for his people Israel in rescuing them from slavery in Egypt:
Exodus 6:6-7
6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
God extended a mighty effort in bringing his people to freedom. He goes out of his way to accomplish this, sending ten plagues on Egypt, opening the Red Sea for his people to escape, feeding them with manna from heaven for forty years. This is a really big deal. Redemption costs something, and God willingly pays, because he loves his children.
Redemption always involves a price. It costs something for the Redeemer. There is a price that God pays to free his children from their chains.
All of this leads up to the price God paid in the death of his Son.
II. In the New Testament:
In the New Testament Jesus describes his purpose and Role:
Matthew 20:28 “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
He repeats this in Mark 10:45
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus explains his purpose for coming to earth, that he might serve people and then ransom them at the cost of his life.
Bad News: We Need to Be Redeemed. To be rescued from the power and penalty of sin.
Sin puts us into slavery.
John 8:31-34
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
What does this look like in life experience?
In Romans 7:14 Paul writes about his battle with sin: “I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
He wants to break free, but he cannot do it in his own strength. He needs a redeemer, someone to pay the price to release him from the frustration of this cycle of defeat.
We are familiar with this cycle of defeat. Those who get involved in Alcoholics Anonymous, or Narcotics Victorious, or Overeaters Anonymous understand their need for release from that trap of addiction. And the first step is to admit that you are powerless over this thing that controls you. That’s what we must admit when it comes to our sin problem.
Our culture understands addiction far better now than we used to. It is a pattern of behavior rooted in the soul that traps a person in an endless web of insanity.
Whether it’s a problem with an angry spirit. That grudge just won’t go away. Or covetousness—we can’t look through a catalogue of clothing or motorcycle equipment, or Sears Craftsman tools without fighting back the desire to go and spend, spend, spend.
Christ's death was sufficient payment to buy us back. We can be released from that web. We don’t have to be devoured by the spider anymore. Jesus crawled out there on the web, cut us free, and willingly took our place as the spider’s meal. Through Christ we are free to leave the web and get on with a positive life. So why are you still captivated by the web of sin? Walk free! Trust Jesus.
The Price of our Redemption:
Redemption always costs someone. And God in Jesus Christ, because of his great love for us, paid the price himself.
Hebrews 9:12
He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood,
having obtained eternal redemption.
The hymn writer put it this way:
Jesus paid it all.
All to him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow.
This is consistent with the meaning we discovered in the Old Testament. God redeems us from death, sin, and trouble of the worst kind by making a payment that required the exertion of his mighty power. He pays a price that is a fair exchange for the thing he wanted to redeem: the human race.
Otherwise, we could never bridge the gap that our sins have created. We would be alienated from God forever.
The Result of Our Redemption: Life!
We will live forever!
THERE'S MORE TO COME
The final heartbeat for the Christian is not the mysterious conclusion to a
meaningless existence. It is, rather, the grand beginning to a life that
will never end. -- James Dobson
Liberty!
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
This makes our redemption very practical. Here is where the rubber meets the road. When we receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, we are taking him up on his offer to buy us out of sin and transfer us to the Kingdom of his Father. So we don’t belong to Satan’s kingdom anymore. And we don’t belong to ourselves anymore. We belong to Christ.
We need to realize that since Jesus paid such an incredible price for us, we really do belong to him.
Our eyes belong to him. Why are you using those eyes to look at a woman for lust?
Our right foot belongs to him. How can we press that foot to the gas pedal and break the speed laws as a matter of habit?
Our hands belong to him. Why are you using those hands to take what does not belong to you?
Our bodies belong to him. How can you take what belongs to Christ and engage in sexual sin of any kind?
When Satan comes to tempt us, we can say, “Hey…what are you doing trespassing on God’s property!? This body is bought and paid for by Jesus Christ. You don’t own it anymore. I’ve been rescued from your clutches, and you have no right to come and bother me anymore! Bug off!” Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
What must I do?
I. Give up trying to redeem yourself—to somehow doing enough good stuff to get on God’s good side.
No one can do it by themselves. There are many things we cannot do by ourselves. You cannot marry yourself. You cannot win a football game by yourself. You cannot have a child by yourself. If you are kidnapped and held as a hostage, you cannot pay your way out. You need someone on the outside to help you. You need someone else with greater resources. Someone who loves you and is willing to pay the price you cannot pay.
II. Turn to God
Believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose from the grave.
Admit sin—that I am a sinner, and that my sin distances and separates me, alienates me from God.
Agree to turn from sin to God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
Accept the free gift of salvation.