Memory verse: "In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, the remission of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence." (Ephesians 1 vs 7.)
READ: Romans 3 vs 21 - 26:
3:21: But now the righteousness of God apart from the Law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
3:22: even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
3:23: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
3:24: being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
3:25: whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
3:26: to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
INTIMATION:
Redemption means Christ setting sinners free from slavery to sin and Satan, and revealing of the righteousness of God that comes to man through faith in Jesus Christ. This belongs to all those who acknowledge Christ as Savior and confess him as their Lord. The death of Jesus points to two wonderful scriptural truths—redemption and forgiveness. Redemption is the price paid to gain freedom for a slave (Leviticus 25 vs 47 - 54). Through His death, Jesus paid the price to release us from slavery to sin. Forgiveness was granted in Old Testament times on the basis of the shedding of animal’s blood (Leviticus 17 vs 11). Now we are forgiven on the basis of the shedding of Jesus’ blood—He died as a perfect and final sacrifice.
Those who accept the substitutionary work of Christ, and confessed Him as Lord and Savior, are justified freely on the grounds of grace, through the redemption that God wrought in Christ. The redemption is based upon the fact that God laid our sins, griefs, sorrows, diseases etc., upon Jesus; “Him who knew no sin, God made to become sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (Second Corinthians 5 vs 21.) Not only did He become the ‘Sin-Bearer,’ but God accepted His substitutionary sacrifice on our behalf. He was delivered up on account of our sins, for God made Him sin with our sins. He was raised from the dead because He had put sin away; He had satisfied the claim of justice—"the soul who sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18 vs 20).
After that, He was made alive in spirit, that is, recreated. He was the firstborn out of death. Thereafter, He was declared righteous and made a new creation by the life God imparted to Him. Then He met the Adversary in his own kingdom and stripped him of his authority and took from him the dominion that he had over the world. That new creation—the recreated life, is what Christ has wrought for us, and we are also made righteous in Him in redemption.
When Jesus arose from the dead, He arose, not only because He had put away sin, but also because He had, as a substitute, conquered Satan. It was as though we, individually, had been the conquerors, just as though we had been there in that dark region and had conquered Satan, stripped him of his authority and risen from the dead. When Christ rose from the dead, redemption became a settled and closed issue.
Note carefully in our memory verse, "In Whom we have." That means in Christ we have (present tense) our redemption out of the hand of the enemy, so Satan no longer has dominion over us. We have our redemption from sin and its judgement. "Sin shall not have dominion over us, for we are not under law but under grace." It is better put this way, "Sin shall not lord it over us because now we have entered the realm of grace through the new birth." Again, the Scriptures in Colossians 1 vs 13 - 14 says, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."
Note carefully that we have been delivered out of the authority of Satan. He has no dominion over us. He has no more right to reign over you than the Pharaoh of Egypt had to reign over delivered Israel in Palestine. We have been translated over into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have our redemption. It's ours just as the money you have in your pocket that you earned honestly is yours. Now this redemption from Satan is a present tense fact, for you have this redemption now, and it is eternal.
As long as one holds his redemption as a theory or as a doctrine it will bring him no sense of reality, but as soon as he looks up and says, "Father, I thank you for my perfect redemption, that this body of mine is no longer under the dominance of Satan, that my mind and senses are no longer to be dominated by the Adversary; I am free, and by Your grace I will not be entangled again in the yoke of bondage," then, the reality is established.
Prayer: Thank You most faithful God, for redeeming me from the hands of the Adversary and his works. By Your grace I am justified, made righteous in Christ. Also, give me the grace to forever live for You, in Jesus’ matchless Name I have prayed, Amen.
PRAISE THE LORD!
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