We spent a couple weeks now looking at this particular book, and they're trying to break down some of the scriptures to grab some key thoughts that kind of guide us through the thought process here. I trust that this morning's worship was a blessing to us to recognize the thought of our Redeemer as the Savior, and that's what we're gonna look at a little bit more this morning is the concept of redemption. And I realize that though some information may not sound overly exciting when we read about it in the scriptures, but it's those thoughts that begin to change our minds, and they begin to be the truth that begins to create passion in our hearts. If we could gain a clear understanding of this immeasurable amount of God's love and grace and mercy, then it changes the way we live.
And I trust that we would understand that the power of the gospel, it comes to us through the spirit putting words in our hearts and our lives. And the real victory in life is that God ministers to us through the richness of truth. And I trust as we do a study that we might find ourselves not only stimulated and fought as the beauty of all that Christ has done for us, but allowing the power of that gospel to begin to shape and give directions to our lives and alter our real passion or heartbeat with the things of God. Ephesians chapter one, I'm gonna begin reading verse three, we'll read down to verse 14, and then we'll jump back to verse seven again.
Ephesians chapter one, we start with verse three, read down through 14. Now praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us at him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves, in him.
We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ, in him. We were also chosen, having been predestined. According to the plan of him who works out everything and conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit, guarantee in our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory. By the way, we pause before you because we recognize the richness of these words. And yet they may seemingly be overwhelming in our minds, depending on where we may be out spiritually speaking and our growth in you, we pray God that in spite of maybe our inability to grasp all of these concepts we pray that through your spirit you would allow us to recognize some pieces, some components, some small parts of this that would enlighten our minds and give a passion to our hearts. We thank you Lord for your great plan of salvation and we pray that we might find within us a sacred yes to the things of God in Jesus name.
In verse seven, once again I read in him, meaning in Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. In him we have redemption. Now redemption by definition is the releasing or the rescuing of someone in captivity or bondage by means of a ransom price. This reminds us of possibly some not so honorable days even in our own country when slavery was seemingly at its peak or out of control.
And when people were bought and sold like they were simply property and the value of a human being was simply determined by the highest bidder. Now if someone chose to buy a slave and pay the full price that is set and that new owner would simply by an act of compassion or mercy, set the slave free. He is a redeemer. A redeemer is one that would pay whatever price is predetermined to set.
He pays the price, the ransom price, and is in the position to set that person free. This is redemption. The ransom price was paid and a slave is set free. I don't think it's difficult for us to grasp how that relates to the salvation that Christ has provided for us.
But before we look at the concept of the freedom that Christ gives us, it's probably more beneficial to us to understand some of the concept of redemption that tied back to the Old Testament. Now freedom does not always come by the price of money, certainly slavery in America never really became a reality because somebody paid in money form, but there was much bloodshed for the freedom given. So the ransom could still be the shed blood of many who paid whatever price it is so that slavery could be ended and people could be set free. The shedding of blood quite often is the greater price.
So we think in terms of that ransom price in order for us to gain freedom. And now it even makes more sense when we connect what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross and the ransom price is that shed blood in order that you and I might be free. Freedom will always cost the one who provides the redemption. Freedom will always be an expense in which someone pays so somebody else can go free.
Because of God's love and his compassion and mercy, he would pay the full price and then. And that is what we see within the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a more than sufficient ransom payment in order for us to be set free. When we think of redemption as applied to our faith in God, I want to begin by looking at Exodus chapter three.
So if you'd like to turn with me, turn there and we can kind of get a running start because some of these concepts in the Old Testament kind of set the tone for where we really understand the richness and beauty of a faith that comes from God in the person of Jesus Christ. Because we might get the idea that if Jesus simply has set us free, then you and I can run and do whatever we want in life because why we're free. And that's one thing that the gospel not only teaches us that it's not quite that way, but simply freedom without any really a structure or purpose behind it, it would totally change everything that we think in terms of what Christ has done for us. And without the structure of God's word, we might clearly get an upside down version of what this freedom is about.
Turn with me to Exodus chapter three. Exodus chapter three, we want to begin with a concept of redemption. And so to simply just jump ahead, Moses is referred to as a redeemer for God's people, even though God himself is the redeemer. Moses was the one in which he was involved in the execution or the agreement with Pharaoh, however we want to call that, as one who stands between God and humanity.
And that concept of being a mediator is what we find again, once again, in the person of Jesus Christ. But notice the concept in order for redemption to be redemption, there must have been, first of all, a bondage, a slavery, and then that person is set free to ultimately live for God. In Exodus chapter three, in verses seven through 10, we find the history of God's people, and it kind of begins right here. The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.
I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I'm concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the home of the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Perazites, the Hebaites, and the Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go, I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.
We talk about the great plan of redemption. It goes all the way back to the beginning of the formation of God's people. They are a people redeemed, brought out of slavery, and they should never, ever forget that. And that's really the basis of the heartbeat of God's relationship with his people, is that they ought to remember where they came from, for the purpose of what God intends to them.
This is the foundation of really what gives clarity and direction and passion to your relationship in mind with Jesus Christ, as we never forget, where we have been bought out from and where God has predetermined to set us into. And that's that heartbeat. Look at chapter six in Exodus, chapter six, verses six and eight, because we see that God not only redeemed simply because he's compassionate and loving and kind, but God has redeemed with a particular purpose in mind. In chapter six, verses six and eight, it goes on to say, 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, 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, and I will bring you to the land I swore, with uplifted hand to give Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession I am the Lord.
One of the beautiful things about redemption is not only that God has purchased us at an amazing price, but he has predetermined to bless us with all kinds of benefits and blessings that come to the person of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, setting it was known as the Promised Land. The God has taken us out, and he's put us into the land of abundance, the land of blessing, and on and on and on about the blessings, but the richness of what it makes brings life to us is the concept that God sees the need, and he deals with the need, and he pays the price so that that need could be met, and then turns around and promises blessing upon blessing, upon blessing to his people. And so the covenant relationship with God's people is one that is rooted in redemption and a huge ransom price, and then the benefits that overflow are about what God intends to do.
Now it's interesting when we think about freedom, we might think, well, it's nice to be free and have no rules. It's nice to be free to come and go and do whatever I want. And sometimes when we, the foundation of the Old Testament, we could get the idea that Jesus came along and sort of gave this freedom to us, and off we go and you can make it whatever you want. In Exodus, chapter 20, verses one and two, I believe it's good to introduce the concept and then jump ahead, obviously, to the New Testament.
If you familiar with scripture, you would know right away that Exodus, chapter 20, is the introduction to the Ten Commandments. It might seem as if, well, God set up his people, he promised him freedom, and now he's got this heavy burden of the commands of God resting upon their shoulder. Notice how the Ten Commandments are introduced in verse one and two. And the gods, and God spoke all these words in verse two, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt out of the land of slavery, and that he gives the Ten Commandments.
So it's important you understand the concept of redemption was never intended to call us out and promise us all these blessings without some kind of relationship still between the Redeemer and those being redeemed. In other words, it's clear throughout the scriptures that God has taught there's certain boundaries to life, but ultimately when wisdom begins to enter our minds and work in our heart, we understand that the laws and teachings that God gives are simply so that you and I might be recipients of the blessings. A life without any structure and any doubt, real clarity in life is absolute chaos. And I believe we clearly all understand that there's no real sense of direction in life or devotion.
That's actually the blessings are not going to perpetuate in our lives. Let's go back now to move ahead to Deuteronomy chapter six. Because I want to touch upon the concept of the teachings, because this is where it may get confusing as followers of Jesus Christ, that Jesus has literally redeemed us from our past. And he's paid this ransom price, and we can get the idea that life could potentially be a free for all.
As long as I believe the right thing, then it really doesn't matter how I live. But we recognize the richness of the beauty of God's rich and word as has been granted to us in Deuteronomy chapter six, verse 20 through 25. Now in the future, when your son asks you, think about that. There's seasons of life when we move from a general understanding of what the life of following God is all about to seasons when somehow that information did not get handed down.
So if someone asks you, what is the meaning of all the rules and the commands on the teachings of scripture? I trust that this thought might rest upon our minds. In the future, when your son and your neighbor, your friend, your people wonder why you would give your life for the cause of Jesus Christ, why you would follow his teachings, his principles, establish his priorities, why? What do they mean?
What is the meaning of the stipulations decrease the laws that the Lord your God has commanded you? This is what you are to tell them. We were slaves of Pharaoh and Egypt. But the Lord brought us out to Egypt with the mighty hand.
Before our eyes, the Lord sent miraculous signs and wonders great and terrible upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. But he brought us out from there to bring us in, and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers. The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as in the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.
Now in the New Testament, some of the terminology begins to transform and some of the ways in which we become an obedient people begin to look a little bit differently in the New Testament concept. But it's important to know Jesus redeemed us so that we might be a unique kind to people. And we live in unique kind of principles and hold the unique values and priorities in our lives because we understand one thing. God is going to bless us when we respond to him in a humble relationship of trust and devotion.
We certainly are not going to come up short because God has said we ought to live this way. And so the concept of redemption is a passionate, loving God who has pursued us anyway, not only to impress upon our minds, but to get to our hearts. And that redemption is found through Jesus Christ. Now we want to look at some of the details pertaining to this because I believe this is where it really cultivates some clarity and direction to our lives.
So we would understand that when God redeems us, we really now belong to him. In other words, he's really the one who owns us. So it's somewhat misleading to use the slave illustration because the idea might be the slave is set free to go live. However they want to do whatever they want.
When Christ buys us, he purchases us with our blood, we belong to him. And so he is our God and we are his people. And there's this relationship of devotion that continues to intensify as we journey on. And this is why we live with a desire to follow him and imitate him and trust him is because this is what he's called us to.
Let's go back to Titus now, chapter 2, verse 13 and through 15. I read these verses early. I simply want to touch upon them again because we want to kind of work through this concept of redemption. We want to hold on to a couple things.
Number one, there is a Redeemer who is driven by passion and love to save us and to set us free from all the bondage that we might have found ourselves wrapped up in life. And then ultimately with that concept of that passionate love is the price. The price he paid so that you and I could be free. And then the promises and blessings that come as we continue to follow him.
Titus chapter 2, verse 13 down through 15. While we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our Greek God and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's implying that one day he's coming back. One day he will return in all of his glory and all of his power and all of his splendor.
While we wait for that day when redemption becomes full is what it's talking about. As of now, he gave himself or us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify himself, a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. One of the richest blessings of our redemption is we are his. We belong to him and he belongs to us.
In the heartbeat of redemption and all the things we attempt to understand about redemption is a Savior who is not sitting way off in a corner of the heaven of heavenlies. But he's involved in our lives, in the details of our lives. He has purchased us so we can belong to him. And that relationship of belonging is so rich and it's what really gives the heartbeat of our faith is we belong to God.
And God has chosen to commit himself in sense that he belongs to us. Redemption is that God has purchased us and paid an enormous price so this relationship could be extremely intimate and real. His purpose in redeeming us is not only that we would belong to him but we ultimately would become eager to do what is good. The one thing the Bible seems to clearly communicate is in the Old Testament, redemption does not change the person's conscience.
It does not penetrate the deeper levels of the heart. Redemption is more of a legal concept in which God has and he's bound himself to his people and his people to us in the New Testament. It is a relationship in which Christ himself lives on the inside of us. And because of his indwelling presence by means of the importation of the Holy Spirit, we not only in a relationship of the presence of God in our life but we live within the power capacity to become a different kind of people.
He does that from the inside out. And next we want to look at is some of the things that contribute to this redemption. In order for us to truly appreciate the blessing of redemption, we must understand the kind of faith that really sets us redemptively free. There's a lot of times when we get bits and pieces of Jesus and maybe what he did on the cross that the power of transformation is in truth.
And so if I know just a little bit of truth, it's going to influence the power to change my life. If I seemingly allow the truth to begin to come in as fuller and richer format, there's the secret to a changed life. And so the faith that Christ has given to us is a faith that we not only analyze information like, but we personally take that face and humbly say to God, I believe it's true. And so when you promise my life to be changed, I will stand upon it.
I will trust in your transforming power. And so that is in essence the beauty of the gospel. Jesus referred to this in John's gospel chapter 8. If you'd like to turn with me there, John chapter 8, we want to begin looking at verses 31 and 32.
So in order to understand redemption, we must touch upon a concept that Jesus is introducing here in the gospel of John chapter 8. We'll look at verse 31 and 32. John chapter 8, 31 through 32. In the midst of one of the times that Jesus is teaching, he recognizes the ears are open, but sometimes the heart is not always completely receptive.
So he lays out this fundamental established principle of truth to the Jews who had believed him. That is they believed in the idea of his identity possibly as the Messiah or the Savior of the world. Jesus then says, if you hold to my teaching, he will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Most of us might be somewhat familiar with that concept.
We're familiar with the fact that truth has a power of its own because God has put his blessing upon it. He has decreed it. He has sealed it. He has ordained that this truth has the power to set you free.
Now what many of us may not be familiar with is what verse 33 says. Verse 33 goes on to say, they answered, meaning the Jews that somewhat believe, but they're somewhat reserved about how far Jesus is taking this because you've got to understand they understood the Savior of the Messiah to kind of come on their terms. And Jesus is saying, I didn't come on my terms. I came on my father's terms.
And so the truth he speaks is just as if God is speaking, in essence, that's what he's saying. So they caught on and they said, wait a minute now, you're taking this a little bit too far. Your truth, I don't know if it has the power. And then it goes on to verse 33.
They answered him. We are Abraham's descendants and have never been what? Slaves to anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?
Jesus replies in verse 34, I tell you the truth. Everyone who sins is a slave of sin. What is redemption? Redemption is not simply that God takes the big magic eraser and he eliminates all charges against us.
Redemption is so much more than God has forgiven me by tearing my rap sheet in half or by nailing my sin list to the cross. He's not simply just a redeemer that says, don't worry about your past. I kind of got that thing covered. Redemption deals with what drives you to sin.
Redemption deals with the complexity of my tendencies, my habits, my weaknesses, my issues, whatever we might want to call them. In redemption, the power of the gospel has the capacity to not only deal with your yesterday's, but it has the power to change today. It has the power to change your tomorrow. It has the power to change the way you live and walk and what you become.
The secret to freedom is to understand and realize I am a slave. The only way I can be set free to a slave to myself is I believe in a powerful redeemer who not only understands all of my life, he understands all of my tendencies, he understands all of my waywardness, all of my wanders, and he yet has committed himself to redeem you and set us free. The power of the gospel is rooted and established in a Savior who knows all of those details. He's seen the groanings.
He's seen the heartaches. He's seen the pain of our lives. He seems to have seen all the wrestling. It's a sad reality to come to Christ and say, well, I had a couple sins that I believe he forgave, but somehow I didn't really need a Savior who went to that extent.
Redemption is when you and I recognize the full depth and complexity of our addiction or our slavery to the past. Turn with me back to Ephesians 2 and we want to look at verse 1 through 3. We realize that probably a lot of us here say, well, I didn't break any of the big 10. I didn't break any of the big 10 commandments.
When we talk about sin, we must recognize that every thought and every deed and every attitude and every motive that is not pleasing to God is just as much a sin that must be dealt with as whether or not we go out and commit some large sin. It's important to know that sin is a serious problem and that's what redemption is about. Jesus came to deal with the seriousness of the problem and the sad reality is that we might have come into a kind of faith in Jesus Christ that really has not understood the seriousness of sin. We kind of believe that, well, it's all okay because I love Jesus and Jesus loves me and there's no real necessity for cleansing or transformation.
That's not really what the gospel teaches about. It's in the Old Testament that we pick up the concept that sin is a very serious matter and so it all begins to bring preciousness to our faith to believe that as serious as sin is, there's a Savior who is seriously committed to not only forgive us but to totally transform us in an amazing and rich and rewarding way. That's what gives richness to the concept of redemption. He paid the full price to get a full and complete new you and a brand new me.
The power of the gospel begins by beginning to understand the severity of my need for that gospel. That must be a point in which I realize what in the world have I done and what have I become and who it is that I really am that Jesus Christ has promised to set me free. There's the power of the gospel in Ephesians chapter 2. We find an introductory kind of a concept to the beauty of this redemption.
Verse 1, it says, as for you, you are dead in your transgressions and sins. That is spiritually dead because of our transgressions and sins. We really can't raise ourselves from the dead. We can't save ourselves.
We can't redeem ourselves. We can't really make ourselves right with God. We are dead, spiritually speaking, in our transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air and the spirit to his now at work and those who are disciplining, all of us at says in verse 3 have lived among them at one time gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following his desires and thoughts like the rest we were by nature, objects of rest. It's a sad thing to wonder how in desperate need I am for salvation and have lived a number of years and not know it nor did I care about.
And it's beautiful and it's sweet. When Jesus begins to reveal my need, he takes care of. And I trust that ultimately that's what we might capture if nothing else makes sense today is to realize that you and I are objects of wrath. The judgment days come and the day of accountability is come almost at the speed of light.
And Jesus, because he is our Redeemer, has offered a plea bargain. He has come to provide the means of a complete and told of forgiveness and an assurance of eternal life with him. And he's inviting us to enter into an agreement that he might redeem us and allow that ransom price to be applied to our own account. And that's the basis of our salvation.
It's not so much that we feel we must do some good things to outweigh the bad things we've done. It's not so much that we need to reach some kind of level of commitment and devotion to be assured of that eternal life. It's humbly coming to the place where I am keenly aware that me yesterday needs to be dealt with so that meeketh tomorrow can be set free. It's redemption.
It's this love, this passion, this mercy of Christ that so works through all the details of our life and brought us to an awareness of the size of the problem. And then he gives us a greater awareness of the beauty it's settled. It's truth that sets us free. It's this truth that becomes precious.
It's this truth that will carry you through. It's this truth you stand upon. It's the truth you hold when the devil starts laughing in your face and say, he who the son sets free shall be free indeed. It's because of the blood of Jesus Christ.
It's applied to my heart and my life that I am free. And these are some of the things we want to break down a little bit because I want to give you some biblical evidence for these concepts that we may have thrown around and be calm and so much familiar with, but we're not really sure where it's at. And so the real challenge I give to you is that today you're here and you're saying, you know, one day I'm not sure whether I'm right with God the next day. I think I'm okay with God.
The next day I wonder where I really stand. It's important to get some truth that you can stand on because it's the application of truth. There's the power of the gospel. The meat of the message of Christ is in the good news that sets us free.
We think in terms of sin though, we might still think, okay, I've got 10 offenses that I've committed here and somehow if God could deal with these 10, then I'm going to be okay. Romans chapter seven, I think it's good to jump back there. Romans chapter seven helps us understand that what Jesus was talking about in the gospel of John is sin enslaves us just like any addictive substance. You take it once, it's got you and it continues to create within us this yearning, this longing, this demand for more sin and essence is really the explanation for that.
Once the forbidden fruit has been eaten, once sin has begun to creep into our life as a matter of fact Adam and Eve did it for us, but either way, when you and I sin, it creates within us a craving and yearning for more of the stuff that's going to kill us. In Romans chapter seven in verse 14, it mentions how that there is this sin that has its own identity. In Romans 7, 14, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. Verse 15, I do not understand what I do for what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate to do, and I do what I do not want to do, or if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that the law is good.
Verse 17, as it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it's sin, living in me. I simply just want to shorten that, to try to understand the apostle Paul is not trying to create excuses for us. He's not trying to teach us that because I have a sin nature, because sin is actively working in my life, that you and I don't have anything to worry about, we just got to understand that we're sick, we'll always be sick, and that's just the way that the six-door ends. The conclusion to that chapter is in verse 24, what a wretched man I am who will rescue me or redeem me from this body of death.
Goes on to say thanks me to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So that's what you and I must humbly of value and appreciate. The power of transformation quite often is in proportion to our ability to receive the written word of God and allow it to speak and draw life. Jesus Christ has already paid for it all.
He's already provided a full and complete redemption. It's offered to us as a gift. The question is whether or not in faith we might humbly receive that gift, not only to pay for the sins of the past, but can we come to a place of believing that the same faith in the blood of Jesus Christ has the power to set me free from this ongoing slavery to sin, the sin living in the redemption was never intended to simply buy us out to let us go do what we want nor is redemption simply the purchase of the precious blood of Jesus Christ so that you could be forgiven and then next week we start the process all over again. Certainly the power of Christ blood is more than sufficient to continually cover our sin, but redemption has a purpose and that's what Ephesians is trying to drive out and that purpose is that we might become a people belonging to God and God in fact belongs to us and we have this relationship in which the presence of God not only rests upon us, but that presence can be transferred to someone else.
There's the secret to the gospel is that presence of Christ, the work of Christ comes and begins in us and he flows through us on behalf of others. One thing about slavery that's important to understand when we talk about sin is sin not only is a debt in which we owe to Almighty God, but we also deal with the slavery of ourselves and however that sin has expressed itself and controlled us, that too is covered in redemption. Now turn with me to Hebrews chapter 2 because I want to take it into an area that may or may not be as familiar to us. Some of us seemingly have more exposure to teachings about the devil.
Some of us we've had plenty of encounters with the evil one and so we would say that not only is my sinful nature trolling my life, but the devil he's always going to want to be. Well redemption was intended to deal with that and that's what we want to consider in Hebrews chapter 2 in verse 14 and 15, but what's important is you can get out your boxing gloves and get the idea that you as Christians are supposed to try to duke it out with the devil. I wouldn't try it. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 is the truth set you free.
Now since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil. And free us, free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death and we could go on reading. What's important to know is redemption has not only dealt with the freeing of you and I to live in a healthy relationship with God, but he's also given a death blow to the devil and some people say if the devil is dead, then why does he format me? My question is where's your foot?
Everybody got to write foot? Lift it up and put it down. The truth will set us free. When we stand upon the Word of God, I realize there's many teachings that may come out of that, but you see the pattern in scripture is redemption is something Jesus already did for all humanity.
The question is, shall we receive it as a gift? Can we humbly come to the place where we desire not only to acknowledge the seriousness of our sin, but we come to a Savior and we believe that he in fact has paid it all and he continues to cleanse it all and he continues to deal with it all and there is where the victory begins to do its great work. It's the application of faith. Now we understand what it means.
That God loved the world so much. He gave his only begotten son. That whose whoever believes in the full size of redemption will not perish but have everlasting life. His foolishness simply says, well I believe, I heard his name once.
I think I believe in the Jesus guy because I like his name. It sounds weak. It seems to bring comfort or meaning to me to believe upon him as you bank your whole life upon your past, your present, your future. It's to recognize the beauty and richness of that person who truly lives inside of me.
And so this is some of those aspects of redemption. Some of the other things we might want to touch upon is in Matthew chapter 20 and 27. Matthew chapter 20 and verse 27. We've obviously run out of time so you're going to have to come back next week.
So we can keep working through these concepts of redemption because it's important for you to know that there is a wrath of God. Redemption got you covered. You want to get right. There is a judgment day where every single word indeed we're all accountable for.
It's a good thing we got to save you in his name is Jesus Christ. It's important to understand that there will be the accusation of the devil on judgment day. He constantly accuses the brethren day and night and believe me and that final act he'll be there. We go on and on and on and talk about the richness of this.
What's important to understand is the redemption has provided simply just a buffet of benefits and blessings. That's why in Ephesians chapter 1 and verses 4 it says, he has granted us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. What do you possible is communion about? This redemption of God is the secret truth that by holding and cherishing you and I become recipients of an enormous amount of blessings.
Not only in beating set free from our past, we're being set free from our present current situation and we are promised and guaranteed security in Christ all the way to the finish line and even on judgment day. But Matthew chapter 20 and verse 27, redemption cannot be simply based upon a God who says, I love you. I feel sorry for you. Don't worry about your past.
The only way redemption can be redemption is there's a huge price. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 27, I'm sorry, in verse 28, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for me. We understand the value of that price dependent on how we see our need. My challenge to us is not to try to create some kind of unnecessary guilt upon us.
But if you've been journeying through life and sin hasn't jolted yet, I just trust that the grace of God will allow us to gain a glimpse that whatever is on our record somebody's got to pay for. Either Jesus Christ provides that provision for us, we believe that by faith, or you and I will stand before the judge and at best we might need to convince him, hey God I really want that bad. I'm really a cool guy. I'm kind of funny, I had a bad sense of humor.
I mean unless you really go to wheel it and deal it, but I don't recommend that. What's important to understand is sin is serious. Every sin must be dealt with. Either we take it upon our own means to somehow lift it or we humbly say Lord, if I confess my sins, you promise to be faithful and best to forgive me and cleanse me of all unrighteousness.
The beauty is to humbly come to a place and say, I'd be a fool to try to minimize my sin. Because when I minimize my sin, I am minimized the ransom price. And when we recognize the beauty of his great and glorious redemption, then it also encourages us to say, do you mean to tell me the price he paid? Set me free from all the crud and the junk that drives my life nuts.
Do you mean I can live in a way that my condemnation is lifted? My guilt is removed, my shame is pushed away and I can live a life of victory? That's the beauty of redemption. And by faith we trust that what crux has begun, he will finish and that he will see me through all the way to the finish line.
Father, we pause to recognize that your redemption plan far exceeds quite often what we've ever imagined. God bless you. Have a great day.