Great Doctrines of Salvation

We're talking about redemption this morning again, right? And one of the last questions is, what does it mean for redemption to be past, present, and future? And the future part is cool. It's removed from the presence of sin. And I don't think Carol would swap out, OK, let's have that sin nature back, and let's hang out in this world just to be with us. I think she's pretty contented where she is. So we all have that to look forward to. All right, so we got through the first four questions last week. So we're going to have to pick up our pace this week to get down, but I don't think that's going to be a problem. So question number five, I think, is where we were at, which is, what did God have to deal with in order to buy us back to himself? And so I think this week we're going to have probably enough Bible to make its way around the room again.

So why don't we start with you, with Romans 5, 18 and 19. Ralph, we need 1 Peter 3, 18. Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. Okay.

1 Peter 3.18. us that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. Okay, so what did God have to deal with in order to buy us back to himself? I think the worst thing was having to turn away from the Son. Yeah, probably. In order not to see all this sin. Mm-hmm.

And sin is the issue. So man, through one man, through Adam, we sinned. And then the whole Adamic race gets separated from God. So if he's going to buy us back to himself, then he's got to deal with that sin issue. All right. So number six, what was the ransom? What was the ransom? It ends up being a little bit more specific than that. So we will find out.

Carol, let's start with 1 Corinthians 6.20.

And then Aaron, Ephesians 1.6 and 7.

And the next one is 1 Peter 1.18 and 19. I guess that's Hederus. 1st Peter 1 18 and 19 620 For you were bought at a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's okay To the praise of his glory to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed upon us and us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.

Okay. Sorry, First Peter left for a few minutes here. But First Peter has made its way back into your Bible? Yes, he came back. That's awesome. It's a good book. knowing that you were not redeemed with the perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Okay, so what we get from that first verse, from 1 Corinthians 6.24, you have been bought with a price, we were in fact bought and it did cost something. that begs the question, what is that something?

And now that we've looked at the next two verses, what is the something that it cost? It was specifically the blood of Christ was what was needed. And it was every last bit of that blood is what was required. And so we get to number seven. So we've been bought. We've been bought with a price. The price is the blood of Christ.

And Mike's question number seven, I loved it. Was it enough? Yes. How many people wrote, duh? Because that's what I wrote. I know it was enough because he was raised. That's right. We know by the fact that he was raised. The Father accepted the price. That's absolutely correct. That's like, yes, we've made our arrangement. You are going to die for the sins and I will raise you. He died for the sins, raised, deal done. Wasn't it actually before that when he said, it is finished? While he was on the cross? just before he died?

When he said it's finished, we know that the act was complete. What Carol is saying is that as outside observers, we know that the price was enough for God because God said, you've held up your end of the bargain, now I'm holding up my end of the bargain. And so that's not the moment at which it became enough, that's just more evidence that it was sufficient. So here's the question that I'm pretty confident Mike's getting at.

If the blood of Christ was sufficient to redeem us to God, then where do we get all this other stuff about you've got to walk like a duck and talk like a duck and all of this other sort of stuff around Christianity? Why do we let all of the religiosity and the legal systems get in if we really do believe that it's enough? Because the flesh has to have something to do.

You don't totally trust God yet. That's what wants to do things. Do you think it's lack of faith? Lack of believing God? Because it's pretty clearly laid out in scripture. that it's sufficient. And I think, surface level, we'll all look at that and say, oh yeah, absolutely. Of course it's enough. Duh. Right?

But that doesn't change the fact that we try to be good for a particular reason. I think we have trouble understanding, accepting the way that God views us in light of our salvation. I don't think it's necessarily that we don't believe that God did it or whatever, but more like we have trouble with the idea of grace, unmerited favor. We still think we somehow have to do something. We're still not worthy. Of course we're not worthy. We feel like we have to somehow make ourselves appear to be worthy.

Whatever. I think it's just a human thing, you know, where we know how unworthy we are, and we're still trying to make up for it, even though there's no way we can. I agree with that. How much do you guys think the identification truths play into all of this?

I mean, what you're saying is we don't believe that we're seated in the heavenlies with Christ. That there's... we have this position where because of what Christ has done for us, we have a certain way in which God views us. The way that God views us is in his son. That is a wonderful place to be, and there's nothing that we can contribute to that equation.

But if we're not viewing ourselves as being in his son, well, we're not worthy. And it's completely correct. So how do we get worthy? How are you going to polish that one, right? We can't. That's why we must have him. Yeah, that's right. It's one of the many marvels. I'm a relatively new believer, so, I don't know, six, seven years, something like that. And it's just, after spending a lifetime of looking and seeing how Gross we are outside of Christ the thought of polishing ourselves up to look better to smell better to act better Yeah, that's right that's absolutely right and so my goodness that God Would send his son to die on the cross for our sins what we do in the equation is believe that What we did in the equation was make it necessary, and then everything from that point on is this gift from God that's completely unmerited.

It blows my mind. So was it enough? Well, duh, but. Duh, but. And the but part of that is I think we still try to polish ourselves up and and that's a lack of recognition that we are in Christ and that's how God views us that we need to be seated in the heavenlies looking down not Standing here on the earth looking up going, you know, this is not good in that I won't name names, but I've seen this in in others where people who are actively in sin and won't go and pray to God about it because they feel like, well, you know, I've got to polish myself up a little bit before I can get back in touch with God.

Oh, that's the main way that Satan kept me away from God. Absolutely. Keeping me stuck in sin, thinking, oh, I'd be a hypocrite if I went and prayed or whatever, if I'm holding on to this other stuff and whatever. Oh, it was absolutely, that was absolutely the main way that I was kept away from God.

Absolutely. And so back to number seven, was it enough that Christ's blood has redeemed us back? And the answer is, yeah. So we get to, like I was saying last week, go into the Holy of Holies and hop into God's lap and cuddle and say, Father, I need help here.

I'm doing this sinning thing and I don't want to be. And so it's in that relationship that we can grow. But it's the lack of seeing it all as enough that keeps us away. Along those same lines, I was talking to my mom about Al-Anon. I'm going to Al-Anon.

And about what that's like and how people go there and they know they won't be judged and they know that they will be accepted for who they are, where they are, whatever, no matter how crazy you are or whatever. It doesn't matter that you will be accepted and you will have love extended to you and understanding and whatever.

And I mentioned to Mama that you can't get that at church a lot of times and how wrong that is. And I think it's also that same thing, that same thing that makes us think we have to polish ourselves up, makes it hard for us to accept other people that are in sin, even if they're Christians. Or especially if they're Christians. You know what I mean? Why we can't embrace people where they're at and then help them from there.

You know, we're like, you better stop that. Sure. And then you can come where we are and we can talk about God. So if I understand you correctly, you're saying that God has gone and extended this grace to us and it's not by any legal system that we can have a relationship with him. And yet you see in Christians sometimes, rather than extending grace to others who may be in an unfortunate position, you see them whipping out the law. Oh yeah.

And I agree with that. And again, that's recognition that It's all about us not understanding God correctly so that we view ourselves and other people through his eyes. Yeah, exactly. It's, again, disbelief that Christ died for their sins, too. So they are forgiven, they are in Christ, God is done with the sin issue, so why should we be involved in it ourselves? Why should we care?

Do we want to talk more on this point or move on to number eight? Number eight says, was it enough? Okay, well, I'm going to drop the numbering system then and just say, the next question. Did the Old Testament sacrifices accomplish redemption? Let me set this one up a little. God's come with the system that we've been talking about so far. We've got this redemption system whereby Christ dies on the cross for our sins, at which point we're brought back and we get to be with God.

Was it enough? Yeah, it was absolutely enough. Okay, so this system over here worked. Now we're going to look at another system and say, is it possible to do it a different way? And so that's kind of where we're headed with this. So did the Old Testament sacrifices accomplish redemption? And this will be a long passage, so it's good we've got a Calvin. Let's go with Hebrews 9. 11 through 15. And, Laura, I think we'll go Hebrews 10, 3, and 4. And that should be sufficient to make the point. Hebrews 9, 11 through 15.

He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with his hands, that is to say, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and cows, but through his own blood, having entered holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of the heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for their cleansing of the flesh. Ten, three and four.

Okay, so the first is a subtle point being made. The second one is being hit between the eyes with a crowbar. Is it possible for sacrifice of blood and bulls and goats to take away sins? And the answer is absolutely not. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. nothing subtle going on there at all.

In the first one, this is Hebrews 9, 11 and 12 specifically, we have Christ appearing as a high priest of good things to come, and he entered through a greater and more perfect tabernacle. So this greater and more perfect tabernacle is somehow improved over the other one. And how is it improved? Well, it's not made with hands is one way in which it's improved. And it's not through the blood of goats and calves is another way in which this is more perfect and greater. So if the blood of bulls and goats and calves had been sufficient to take away sin, then this would not be a greater and more perfect tabernacle in that way, right? Well, it turns out it is a greater and more perfect tabernacle. So something wasn't accomplished before.

So who knows how pawnshops work? Pawnshops? Pawnshops. We more or less know how pawnshops work? So the idea is I need money. So I take this MP3 recorder that's got me talking on it. And I take it into the pawnshop. And he says, I'll give you $1 for it. I'm like, OK, that's cool. So I take my dollar. Maybe I dig or I'm up to $2. And I take my $1 and I put it in my pocket and I also get a ticket. And this is my ticket that I can use to redeem it if I pay back $12. But if I don't come up with $12 by the redemption period, I've got a couple of choices that are available to me.

One is I can say, Bummer, I really like that MP3 recorder, but I'm going to make do without it. Another one is, maybe I can come in with a quarter and say, give me another week. And so at the end of that week, if I don't have my $12, I've got the same choice. I can say, well, I don't need the MP3 recorder. Or I can say, here's another quarter. I need another week. And so this constant, give me another week, give me another week, give me another week, give me another week, That is the blood of bulls and calves.

I have taken care of my sins that I've done since nine o'clock this morning, and it's not that they've been removed. They've been covered over. They've been smoothed over. I've bought myself another five minutes, but I'm going to sin in that five minutes, so I'm not still doing very well. So this is the blood of bulls and goats, and how much better the blood of Christ, which has taken care of the sins that I've done, the sins that I will do, There's no penalty for those sins anymore. So, key differences there.

Could obedience to law redeem a Jew or anyone else? No. I think the answer is obvious, so let's twist the question and make it a little different. Why was the law given? What function does the law serve? To train. Okay, so Tudor. Tudor is one. What else can we say about law that we know to be true? Wasn't the law chiefly just to show people that they couldn't measure up to it? Correct. So that kind of falls into this gray area between Tudor and to make sin about, right? So, I've got three things that Law is. One, Law is a schoolmaster. It's a tutor.

And for that we can look at Galatians 3, 24 and 25. We're up to you, Bruce. Galatians what? 3, 24 and 25. Therefore the Law was our tutor to bring us to Christ. that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Okay, so the law was given as a tutor to bring us to Christ so that we would believe. Now that we believe, do we need the law? No. It's really clear. Number two I've got, the law is a curse.

And we'll look at Galatians 3.13. Let me give you a head start.

We're headed for Romans 5.20. Oh, you want me to read it? Please. Oh, I didn't know. Just the 13th? Yes.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Okay, so law is a curse, and we talked about this some last week, and again, this is us being removed from law. This is us being actually double removed. If you remember last week, the word for redeemed there is ek, agaratso. The ek means out of, so we're being redeemed out of, but then the from the curse of the law has another ek in it. So it's, we're being removed out from, out from, underneath the curse of the law.

So Paul's making a very strong point here. This has nothing to do with us anymore, which, again, woohoo, right? And so Romans 5.20. Okay.

But then the law came in, only to expand and increase the trespass making it more apparent and exciting opposition. But where sin increased and abounded, grace has surpassed it and increased the more and super-bounded so that just as sin has reigned in death, so grace might reign also through righteousness, which issues an eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And by the way, the translation there of superabounded is an accurate representation of what's in the Greek. I think my translation has abounded, but it's a superabounding. It's an overflowing over. And again, here, what's the purpose of sin? The purpose of law is to make sin abound.

Well, is that the system that we're under? Well, no, because grace has superabounded all the more. And what system are we under? We're under the system of grace. So what is our relationship to the law? We're dead. And do we see anything in these different functionings of law, of schoolmaster? The purpose is to lead us to Christ.

Well, did law in and of itself redeem us? No, we needed to believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Well, did its being a curse help us in any way? Really, no. So would it help a Jew in any way? Not really, no. Another function to make sin abound? Does that help folks redeem themselves? Again, no, and we're not under that system. So is there any possibility that law is going to help somebody redeem themselves? Jew, Greek, whatever. And we'll come up with another one of those two-by-four verses.

Let's see, Galatians 2.21. Please. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. Okay, show of hands, who thinks Christ died needlessly? No way. Yeah, exactly.

So, I think it's pretty clear, righteousness is not coming through the law, so our right standing with God is not coming through the law, and therefore redemption is not coming through the law, and in case there were even some small manner of doubt after that, one more verse, Galatians 2, 15 and 16. We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ Not by the works of law, for by the works of law shall no flesh be justified. So our original question was, could obedience to law redeem a Jew or anyone else? What do we think? No. Scripture's really clear on this point. So, no, that's not its function.

I'm afraid to say which number I've got, but let's... Let's go with a redeemer must meet. I've got ten. So I've got off by one, which is for those of you who may be involved in computer science in any way, off by one is the most common error you can have with computers. So a redeemer must meet four requirements. And what are those four requirements? I think here we'll just list them out. Who's got one?

He must be sinless. He must be sinless. They've got to be free of the reasons why the redemption was necessary. Otherwise they've got it coming to them. I don't think this is one of your four, but to me it's an important thing in that Christ was 100% God and 100% man and we're just 100% man. Achieving redemption has to be an infinite act. So we can't do it. We can't go there.

What I can say to that is that in order for Christ to redeem us to God, In order to pay that ransom, he had to become like us. So one of the requirements of a Redeemer is, if you look in the Old Testament, it has to be a near kinsman. So this is somebody who is very closely related. It's necessary to be a Redeemer.

And in this manner, had Christ remained purely God, we would have been out of luck, because it was going to take a man to redeem us. And so this is why it's so important that he did come as man. But that's why he was the only man who could do it. The reason why he was the only man who could do it is he was the only man who was free from sin. He was the only one who did not have that death coming to him. So why can't I redeem the human race? Because I'm a sinner, right? So I make grandiose claims, you know, what God Take me and save the rest of humanity, and God looks at that and says, but it's your rightful sentence that you would die anyway. How's that buying anybody anything? It carries a lot more.

Paul said he had done everything perfectly. Who said that? Paul, Saul, believed that he had done everything perfectly. He also counted himself... The chief of sinners eventually. Thank you. But he had to see Christ first to... Well, his perceptions of whether he had sinned or not are irrelevant. The fact is that he had, along with the rest of us. And so we all have it coming to us. And so this is why uniquely Christ is qualified to redeem us, because he's the only one who does not have that death coming to him. So we've got two other qualities of a redeemer.

In grace. Sort of, almost by that. Almost won't get you there. Well, it depends what you meant by that, but the Redeemer has to be willing to redeem, right? So kicking and screaming isn't going to get it done, and Christ gladly came to do the will of the Father to redeem us. So that's the direction you're headed with, Grace? That's really good. Was it necessary that he be born of a woman? Under the law? I put that as being a near kinsman. So being born of a woman is what made him our near kinsman.

The last one that I'm kind of fishing for is he must be able to redeem. It must have brought the price. So it doesn't do, you know, Bruce has decided to redeem my MP3 player and he shows up at the pawn shop with 17 cents. Well, it's not going to do us much good, right? So Christ had to bring his blood with him, right? No problem, he's got his blood with him. Clearly he's got the prize. So that's what I was looking for there. We're on the next to last question.

Redemption is said to be past, present, and future. So explain. So what's meant by past? That means those sins are as far away as they can get and forgotten too. Okay. And? So if redemption happened in the past, what was it in the past that got taken care of? Penalty for sin. The sin issue, and you're saying? Well, the past, it would be removed from the penalty of sin. That's right. So that's a one-time done deal. Christ dies on the cross for our sins, and suddenly we no longer need to be separated from God. So there's the sin issue, the penalty for the sin has been dealt with. And to see that, Let's go with Romans 3, 23 and 25. 23 through 25, excuse me. Romans 3. 23 through 25. And the next set will be Romans 6, 23. I'm going to jump ahead.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented him as a propitiation through faith in his blood to demonstrate his righteousness because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. Okay, so God passed over the sins previously committed based on the work on the cross.

So, in Romans 6.23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen for that, that's cool. Alright, so present, what does it mean to be redeemed in the present tense? Full of power is the hour of sin. What do you mean? We now have the Holy Spirit indwelling, we have the ability to not sin.

There's responsibility that comes with that one, I think. I've had talks with people around this one. I'm going to go ahead and read a couple verses myself. I haven't had my turn yet. So from The Power of Sin, this is Romans 6, 5 and 6. which says, for if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, and by the way we have, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we could no longer be slaves to sin. So I'm not a slave to sin. I don't have to obey it. I don't have to follow it. A little further down, same chapter, verse 12, Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts and Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness But present yourself to God as those life from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness To God for sin shall not be master over you for you are not under the law but under grace and so I've been removed from this old system and where I'm under the law, which is making sin abound, where I am a slave to sin.

And yet, the obvious point is, but you still sin. So the question is, when I sin, why do I do that? Because you have a sinful nature. But this is telling me that I don't have to listen to it. Right. So why am I still sinning? What I take from this, I first heard this teaching from Chester McCulley, I completely agree with it. I've been removed from a compulsory need to sin. Therefore, when I sin, it's because I wanted to. That's a startling truth, because God has taken care of it. He has dealt with it from his side of the fence.

That means when I'm sinning, I want to be sinning. You deliberately do it? Absolutely. You think you trip and sin? No, but you're even sinning when you think of something bad. Yeah. So that's a sin in itself. Now you can't shut your brain off. But, you know, I can. You know what I mean. Let me say something a little less despairing then.

Galatians 5.16, but I say walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. So God has given us the Holy Spirit in part for this purpose. And the Spirit wants to do what God wants. The flesh wants to do what the flesh wants to do. So we've got this raging battle. If I'm not spending time in the Word, If I'm not hanging out with the Lord, if I'm not setting my focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, which direction is going to be the most appealing to me?

You'll find when you ask somebody, why do you sin? Because I have a sin nature. It comes out just like that, no problem. and divorces them from the reality of the situation was, why do you sin? Because I want to. Because God has taken care of the issue. If we really are removed from the power of sin, and we really are removed from the power of sin, that's the only reason why we're sinning. It's not compulsory anymore. Identification truths are are very important in in this regard for sure So it goes back to our question number seven.

Was it enough this price? That was that was paid if we are in Christ Where where should we be putting our focus? I mean are we coming from the heavenlies looking down on the earth? Are we on the earth looking? up if we're striving to be really really good at And working really, really hard, then we're missing the mark.

It's the life of Christ in us that's the only thing that's capable of walking that correct path. It's our surrender that enables us to be able to do the right thing, not us trying to do the right thing. The one point that I would caution you with that is surrender can very quickly turn into some act that people will want to take, some sort of meritorious act, and it's something that's very Classically easy for you to do so when I wake up this morning. I'm going to say God I am surrendering to you for the next five minutes and now all of a sudden I'm a I'm a critical part of this Equation and I'm doing doing doing for the Lord and that can become law as well So I so for you, it's more it's more of an abiding thing than a Submitting of one's will I think that's a better way of putting it. It's it's not biting It's a matter of where the focus is if the focus is on Lord, I love you. What do you have for me today? That's a that's a focus that's on Christ if it's on Lord today I am going to do this surrendering for you. That's a focus on self and is probably Not going to be especially productive Right, because it's on the work, right?

Yeah, it's putting yourself under law all over again. We've been removed from that curse, again. Alright, well let's end this on a more positive note. So what does it mean to be redeemed future tense? The presence, you see? Yeah, that's right. What did you say? The presence of sin. So we are going... So, past tense.

I have been redeemed. Okay, that's great. I have been removed from the penalty of sin. That issue is dealt with and there's no longer... there's now no condemnation to those who are in Jesus Christ. Okay, that's good news. Number two. I am being redeemed. Well, this is a constant redeeming over the power of sin. So, I don't have to sin. I will be redeemed.

So, future tense, this is something that has not happened yet. What has not happened? I still have to live amongst all this sin. So, future tense for Carol. is present tense. She doesn't have to deal with this anymore. Trust me, she's happy as a clam. This is very good news for us. For this, I'll read this one as well.

Romans 8.23. Not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. So we will be removed from this, we will get a glorified body. Where was that found? That was Romans 8, 23. Thank you. So Bruce and Ralph, helped me move my house yesterday.

So there are many aches and pains in this room. Are they redeemed? They will be. And in that future tense redemption, there will not be aches and pains. We earned our reward. Yeah. Oh, you know, and to that point, I want to tell you something that I did last night that I thought was funny. Back to question number seven, was it enough? Or your question eight, was it enough?

So Randy Peterman was involved in this move. And he was over at our house. He got there at 9 o'clock in the morning and moved all day. And we had to move. incredibly heavy things out of my basement. One of them was this, I took a bunch of kitchen cabinets and attached them to one another and put plywood underneath and plywood on the back and a solid core door on the top so that my wife had a cutout table. We pulled that thing out of the basement and dubbed it the Widowmaker. It was like 300 pounds.

We get done with this, and now it's time to take the truck back, and he said, you know what, I'll drive with you so Crystal can stay home and pack some boxes, keep being productive. So he goes through all of this, and we get to the end of the day, and I reach into my pocket, I pull out a quarter, and I say, thank you. And it was a little teaching moment.

There's nothing we can give back to God, and when somebody has done so much for us, when we whip into our pocket and pull out that quarter and hand it back to God and say, I was really good in the last five minutes, it is an absolute insult. It is an absolute insult, and it completely undoes the grace. I guess we're about to have a second bell, so really quick, last question. According to the author, what two things accomplish redemption?

We should be able to get one of them real quick. Okay. Made by Christ and our acceptance of it. The power of God. The power of God. The blood of Christ. So these were the two things that were required. And with that, I reckon we can end. Thanks so much for this morning, for this chance to learn more about you, and in so doing, to become closer to you, to develop a relationship, a working one with you. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.