REDEMPTION

This blog is based on the outline of a sermon preached by Jimmy Chrisman at Liberty Avenue Baptist Church, Berea, KY, on October 29, 1978; and transcribed on June 13, 2021 for this blog by J. David Chrisman (with the intent of retaining his original style and structure).

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7)

knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible [perishable] things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (1Peter 1:18-19)

The sublime difference between Christianity and other religions of the world is the matter of redemption. There is some value in most religions. Judaism had the soundest moral ethics the world had ever seen until Christ came. Hinduism has a deep mysticism and considerable appeal to many people. Confucianism has a profound philosophy and many adherents not only in China but throughout the world.

But, at best, other world religions are a little more than a way of life for those who practice them. They lack one essential ingredient – redemption. And this is where Christianity and Christ come in with the difference. Any preaching or teaching which leaves out the redemptive work of Christ stands only as a social ethic – it has no real or lasting hope of redemption.

Man has been ruined by sin and must be made over before he can be acceptable to God. This is the process of redemption. Redemption is the great red-letter “R” in religion that stands supreme as the greatest of all needs.

Some people have a knack for finding old, wrecked, discarded articles and transforming them into new, beautiful, and useful articles. Jesus came into this world of wreck and ruin. He saw blighted, twisted, ugly men and women. He, like the person who looks at an old junk table and says, “Oh, how beautiful!”, sees beyond the surface of our current state to what we may become under the touch of the Master’s hand. Jesus makes life over. He makes persons new and beautiful and useful and worthwhile.

The Cross of our Lord, in a sense, is a great mystery; that is, there is a mysterious side to it. Attempts have been made in various ways to explain and make clear some of its wonders. And one of the clearest is to think of it as Redemption. It is a picture of a sacrificial death. View sin as slavery – sinners are bondservants (slaves) to sin and to Satan. But Christ’s blood is the Ransom Price – the Purchase Price – paid to the holy demands of God for the sinner. The Christian is one freed from just condemnation, being restored to liberty, freedom, and newness of life. But one must never forget that purchase implies ownership. The redeemed must now serve as loving and devoted servants to the One Who has redeemed them.

The Meaning of Redemption (Three Words in the Bible)

“Agaradzo” means to go down into the market where merchandise is to be found and buy it there. Romans 7:11 says that man was sold into sin. He is in the junk pile of castaways – driven out of the Garden and out of fellowship with God. Jesus goes into the junk yard and buys him back (Leviticus 25)! Now Jesus came into the world market of mankind to buy us back from the wickedness of sin and from Satan. He paid the full price, the adequate and the just price, even the price of His blood. Jesus paid it all!

“Exagaradzo” means to buy out of the marketplace – not to buy it and leave it there, but to buy it and take it out (1Corinthians 6:20; 1Peter 1:18-19).

“Lutroo” means to free or to loose. This refers to a person who sold himself or was sold by someone else into slavery. It is the picture of a friend who pays the debt and fine of a prisoner and sets him free.

“Bought and set free” is the message of redemption. Jesus looked down from Heaven and saw men and women bound with the shackles of evil. He said, “I will smite that wickedness and set them free.” And He did! We who are redeemed by the blood of Christ may rejoice in the liberty wherewith Christ has set us free.

The Work of Redemption

The Object of Redemption – Humanity. There are found words in the Bible that describe the condition of men and women away from God and out of Christ: Lost (Luke 19:10), Guilty (Romans 3:19), Condemned (John 3:18-19), and Dead (Ephesians 2:1). These words describe the condition of every soul who is out of Christ.

Consider the Redeemer. There are three things about Him that are important:

The Redeemer must be a kinsman. It is the kinsman’s right and duty to redeem his kin who have been sold or placed under ransom. Leviticus 25:48 tells us that the kinsman may redeem his brother. In the account of Ruth, after her husband’s death, the kinsman Boaz paid the price of redemption and redeemed her. Jesus is our kinsman redeemer. He was born seed of woman, born under the Law, that He might redeem those under the Law. Because of this, it was necessary for the incarnation. He had to become a man, born of woman, not of a human father, but of a virgin birth as the Son of God – the only begotten Son of God.

Jesus is the only One born in this manner. The rest of us become Sons and Daughters of God after we’re Born Again. Jesus had to become human in order that He might become the kinsman redeemer for humans. Hebrews 2:14 tells us that He took upon Himself the flesh and blood of man.

Philippians 2:5-11: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery [Or something to be held onto to be equal] to be equal with God, 7 but made [emptied Himself of His privileges] Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Redeemer must be able to redeem. None could redeem property without having the price; none could redeem a person without having the ability. Jeremiah 50:34 declares:

Their Redeemer is strong; The Lord of hosts is His name. He will thoroughly plead their case, That He may give rest to the land, And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

The Redeemer pays the penalty for our sin-guilt and condemnation.

The Redeemer must be willing to redeem. The Lord Jesus was willing to be our Redeemer. They did not take His life from Him without His foreknowledge, His consent, or His approval (John 10:18). No one could have nailed Him to the Cross if He had not been willing.

looking unto Jesus, the author [originator] and finisher [perfecter] of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

He was willing to be stretched out on the Cross for human redemption and thereby imposes upon the redeemed a debt of gratitude and appreciation.

The Results of Redemption

We are made new creatures in Christ. We become children of God through faith in Christ. He enables us to climb on our Father’s knee and put our arms about His neck and say, “Abba Father, Dear Daddy, I am your child.”

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (Romans 8:14-16)

We are freed from all the charges, the power of guilt, and the condemnation of the Law. In the judgment court of God, the accused has been redeemed once and for all – never to be tried again.

We are redeemed with an everlasting redemption by the blood of Christ. And our redemption imposes upon us responsibilities for love, devotion, and service.

Redemption is Christ delivering or setting free of a man from a situation from which he is powerless to liberate himself. It is being delivered from a penalty which man himself could never have paid. In Christ, we have been delivered from the shackles of sin, from enslavement to Satan, and from all the misery that results from such enslavement.

Redemption is through the blood. Jesus said, “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

In the book of Leviticus (17:11), we are told, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”

Jesus came to give His blood as a ransom for many. The blood of Jesus was pure, holy, sinless, guileless, stainless. The blood of Jesus paid for our redemption.

Surely He has borne our griefs [Lit. sicknesses] And carried our sorrows; [Lit. pains] Yet we esteemed [reckoned] Him stricken, Smitten [Struck down]by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded [Or pierced through] for our transgressions, He was bruised [crushed] for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes [Blows that cut in] we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid [Lit. has caused to land on Him] on Him the iniquity of us all.

(Isaiah 53:4-6)

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1John 1:7-9)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

REDEMPTION

Recent Posts

Comments