Spoken at SGBC

3-22-98

Romans #19

3:24

Redemption

(Romans 3:21-28 NASB) "But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, {22} even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; {23} for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, {24} being justified as a gift by His grace through the REDEMPTION which is in Christ Jesus; {25} whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; {26} for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. {27} Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. {28} For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law."

The text we are concerned with today is verse twenty four.

{24} ". . being justified as a gift by His grace through the REDEMPTION which is in Christ Jesus." The last time we came to this verse we were concerned with the subject of Justification. A brief summation of what we learned on that day is as follows. Justification has to do with God declaring sinners to be just, right, holy and acceptable in His sight. When a person has been justified it means he has been forgiven and no longer faces the penalty for his sins. Once again I read from the Shorter Catechism. "Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone." Further, we must remember that Justification is "without cause." By that I mean there is nothing in the sinner that warrants his Justification. God is not influenced by any, so called, goodness in us. Rather, Justification is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is an unearned, undeserved gift from God.

Today's topic is Redemption. We are justified without cause by God's grace through something called Redemption. But what is Redemption? Well it is obviously a glorious and wonderful thing. For the hymns we sing are full of references to it. Consider these few lines pulled from some of the favorite hymns of God's people. "Let our whole soul an offering be to our Redeemers Name." "While we pray for pardoning grace through our Redeemers Name." " Almighty Son Incarnate Word, Our Prophet, Priest, Redeemer, Lord" "O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise." "To our Redeemers glorious Name awake the sacred song." "All hail Redeemer hail, For Thou has died for me." The list could go on and on almost without end. The theme of Redemption has filled the hearts and souls of God's children for thousands of years and rightly so. For Redemption is foundational to the Christian faith.

One of the best illustrations of what it means to redeem something comes from the pawn shop. The pawn shop is filled with all sorts of items just waiting to be redeemed. These things used to belong to one person and now because of debt they belong to another. The objects in a pawn shop are being held captive until the debt is paid to the satisfaction of the shop owner. There is, in other words, a ransom price due on each item in the store. When that price is paid in full the owner is free to take his property back home. Such a person has become a redeemer and can rightly remove the redeemed object from its captivity. This is the idea behind the word Redemption.

The prefix, "Re" means "again." This is seen clearly in words like recopy, re-wash, and rewrite. "Re" means to do it again. The main part of the word means to purchase or to buy something. Of course Redemption as we are concerned with it has to do with the purchase of our salvation. The specific word used in our text this morning means to set free by untying, it speaks of delivering. It means to unbind or set free. The same word is used in Revelation 1:5 NASB. ". . and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and RELEASED US from our sins by His blood."

Redemption has to do with releasing one from his sins. If we were to look to Thayer's Greek Lexicon we would find this statement concerning Redemption. "Everywhere in the New Testament this word is used to denote deliverance effected through the death of Christ from the retributive wrath of a Holy God and the merited penalty of sin."

There are at least two other words in the New Testament translated by our English word Redemption. First there is the word "agorazo." This is a common Greek word often used to describe a market place where things are bought and sold, re-bought and resold. In the New Testament the word is applied the purchase of souls or persons as took place in the slave market of Paul's day. At that time almost half the population in the Greek and Roman worlds were slaves to the other half. The idea of redeeming a person would not have been foreign to Paul's readers. We, of course, are concerned with Christ redeeming us from bondage and slavery to sin, self and the devil. Let's look at the price of our Redemption.

(Ephesians 1:7-8 NASB) "In Him we have redemption THROUGH HIS BLOOD, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, {8} which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight

(Hebrews 9:11-14 NASB) But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; {12} and NOT THROUGH THE BLOOD OF GOATS AND CALVES, BUT THROUGH HIS OWN BLOOD, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. {13} For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, {14} how much more will THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

1 Peter 1:17-19 NASB. "And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth; {18} knowing that YOU WERE NOT REDEEMED WITH PERISHABLE THINGS like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, {19} BUT WITH PRECIOUS BLOOD, AS OF A LAMB UNBLEMISHED AND SPOTLESS, THE BLOOD OF CHRIST."

(Revelation 5:9 NASB) And they sang^ a new song, saying, "Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and DIDST PURCHASE FOR GOD WITH THY BLOOD men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

We were sold by our first parents into slavery to sin, self and the devil. Now we are free. We have been Redeemed. Christ has paid the appropriate price for our freedom. The text just read from First Peter inspired the following words which sum up the content of the other references as well. "I am redeemed but not with silver. I am bought but not with gold. Bought with a price, the blood of Jesus, precious price of love untold." The life and blood of the very Son of God was what it cost to redeem us from sin.

There is another phrase n the New Testament that sheds a most beautiful beam of light on the idea of Redemption. Our first exposure to this text was probably in the King James version so let's read it from there. Look with me at Titus 2:14 KJV. "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a PECULIAR PEOPLE, zealous of good works. Also look at 1 Peter 2:9 KJV. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a PECULIAR PEOPLE; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:"

The saved are here called "peculiar people." In our day this word has come to mean strange or out of the ordinary. Some of us do indeed fit that description but that is not what the word originally meant.

The word peculiar comes from an old Latin word for cattle. In those days there was no money as we know it, so, everything of value was priced according to the number of cows it was worth. Still today in Africa and other backward countries you can find the same system in place only some use goats instead of cows. I read that in Nigeria you can still acquire a good wife for about eight goats. You get the idea.

Anything in the ancient Latin world that was worth a lot of cows was described by the word "pecus" from which we get our word peculiar. The point is that when the Bible refers to believers as a peculiar people it is not speaking of the Christians strange ways or character. Rather, the phrase speaks of the great price that was paid for our redemption. The price was not many cows. For the blood of bulls and goats could never redeem a soul. The price paid for our salvation and freedom was the greatest price possible, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a privilege it is to be known as God's peculiar or very expensive, or very valuable people. Our redemption was indeed very costly.

There is still another word in the New Testament which will help our understanding of Redemption. That word is "exagorazo." This word carries with it the idea of purchasing something out of the market place so that it may never be bought or sold again. A person who buys a piece of art for resale looking for a profit could not use this word to describe his activity. However the person buying art for a museum's collection could. For the art purchased by this man is being taken off the market and will always remain the property of the museum. This word is also translated by our English word, Redemption. It tells us that when the Lord Jesus stepped into the slave market and paid the price necessary for the redemption of God's lost sheep that it was a once for all time purchase. We have been taken off the market. "It is finished," as our Lord declared on the cross. There will be no resale of the Redeemed, no change of ownership. It is finished! Therefore, we can say with the apostle Paul in Romans 8:38-39 NASB. "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, {39} nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Friend, if Christ is your redeemer you are His for keeps! Praise the Lord!

That God concerns Himself with sin enslaved men at all is a great mystery which the saved often marvel at. It hard to figure our why God would bother since men are active enemies of God. Sinful men do not seek God. Yet God pursues His Elect even into the slave market. There He buys them back for His own pleasure and glory.

Perhaps the best illustration of redemption comes to us from the prophet Hosea. The book is located just after Daniel in the Old Testament. In the first part of that great work you will find the story of Hosea's marriage. It was not a good marriage, for Hosea's wife was unfaithful to him. It was, however, a special marriage designed by God for a special purpose. God intended that the marriage turn out bad so that He could illustrate His love for His unfaithful people.

In this portion of the scripture Hosea plays the part of God. His wife plays the part of unfaithful Israel. She would be unfaithful but no matter how wild she got Hosea would still love her. For that is the way God loves those He has chosen to redeem.

Look with me at Hosea 1:2-3 NASB. "When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD." {3} So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son." The climax of the story comes at the moment when Gomer, having left Hosea to play the harlot falls into slavery, probably because of debt. Hosea was told to buy her back as a demonstration of the way in which our faithful God loves and redeems His lost people.

Slaves were commonly sold unclothed so the potential buyer could see any old wounds or blemishes on the body that might lessen the slave's worth. It is likely that as Hosea arrived at the auction his eyes fell on his wife who was exposed for all the world to see. She had hit bottom and I can't help but believe that Gomer's heart was broken. Perhaps the event unfolded something like this. "Who will give me twelve pieces of silver for this fine woman?" "12 pieces of silver, cries one, 13 Hosea counters. 14 pieces of silver, says another, 15 cries Hosea." One by one the low bidders drop out. But then someone raises the price even more, 15 pieces of silver and a bushel basket of barley. Hosea again offers more and at last Gomer had been redeemed. As a slave owner, he had the right to do as he pleased with Gomer. He could beat her, starve her, or kill her and nothing would be said. But instead, he dressed her and led her away from the market place. He demanded love and faithfulness of her and promised the same in return.

Look with me at Hosea 3:1-5 NASB. Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet AN ADULTERESS, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes." (The people God loves do not deserve His love anymore than an adulterous wife deserves the love of her husband.) {2} So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. {3} Then I said to her, "You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you."(I have redeemed you. You will be faithful to me and I to you. Beginning with verse four God reveals the application of the Hosea and Gomer thing to Him and His people.) {4} For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols. {5} Afterward (after their redemption and its application to them by the Spirit) the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days." And He will be their God and they shall be His people. They shall be His bride and He will be her husband.

The point of the story is that God loves his Elect people so much that He seeks them out in the midst of their sin and He pays the ultimate price for their Redemption. We have all gone the way of Gomer. All of us like sheep have gone astray. We are indebted to the law and owe our lives for sin. Because of our sin we stand poor, blind, naked, and barren of any righteousness. Yet with great indescribable love Jesus enters the market place to pay our debt. Our heavenly Bride Groom has bought us back with His own blood. But that is not all. Jesus does not leave us naked and humiliated. He has clothed us with a robe of righteousness. We now belong to Him and He to us.. We shall never again belong to another. This beloved, is the meaning of Redemption.

The redeemed are a people bought with a great price and set free. The redeemed are free from the guilt, power and punishment due sin. The redeemed are called to be faithful to their Redeemer, Jesus Christ the Lord. He is our husband and we are His bride. He has sought us out. He has paid the price and we are His. We are to have no other loves, we are to be faithful even as He will be faithful to us. This faithfulness consists of loving obedience to our Lord and Husband Jesus Christ. This faithfulness has to do with the daily pursuit of holiness in thought, word and deed.

Consider the words of (1 Corinthians 6:9-20 NASB) "Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, (people who engage in sex without marriage) nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, {10} nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. {11} And such were some of you; (All who are now saved were once slaves of sin like the people described in verses nine and ten.) but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. (The Christian has been redeemed and justified by God. He has been washed clean by the blood of Christ and set apart from the world of sin unto God. Now the apostle tells us how we ought to conduct ourselves since we have been redeemed from slavery to sin. He says . . ) {12} All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. (We may do many things that are not sinful in themselves but the question we must ask is, "Are they profitable?" Does the thing I insist on doing profit me, my brother and most importantly does it glorify or shed a good and appropriate light on my God? The answer to this question will tell us if we should continue our course or not.) All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. (No activity, entertainment or habit must be allowed to rule over the Christian so that, if it is found to be unprofitable, he cannot put it down and walk away.) {13} Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food; but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body. (Sexual immorality is one of the things in life that often master a person. The Christian cannot allow this to happen. Our physical bodies are now "for the Lord." We are to use them for Him, not for sin.) Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us (our bodies) up through His power. {15} Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ (our physical, redeemed bodies) and make them members of a harlot? May it never be! (To the devil with such a thought!) {16} Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, "THE TWO WILL BECOME ONE FLESH." {17} But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (God, by the redemptive work of Christ, has redeemed, not only your never dying soul, but your physical body as well. It matters what we do and do not do with our physical bodies. That is why we are told to . .) {18} Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. {19} Or do you not know that your body (Your physical, tangible body . ) is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN? {20} For you have been bought (Redeemed) with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."

The Christian is not free to do any and everything but only that which pleases His Savior and God. We are not free to engage in sin with our bodies for they belong to the Lord. It is a mystery to me as to how the Holy Spirit dwells in this flesh but He does and that makes my body a holy vessel, set apart for the glory of God. By redemption Christians are His, both spiritually and physically. Therefore, let us glorify God with our bodies and spirits as well.

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." This, brothers and sisters is what Jesus did in order to redeem us from all the effects of sin. Such love, "Demands our souls, our life, our all."