THE REALITY OF REDEMPTION!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY JUNE 03, 2023.

SUBJECT: THE REALITY OF REDEMPTION!

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: Ephesians 1 vs 3 - 10:

1:3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ,

1:4: just as He has chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

1:5: having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

1:6: to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

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

1:8: which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 

1:9: having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,

1:10: that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one at things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

INTIMATION:

Redemption in the context of Christianity 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 animals’ 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.

In the Scripture we read today, “Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” means that in Christ we have all the benefits of knowing God—being chosen for salvation, being adopted as His children, forgiveness, insight, the gifts of the Spirit, power of do God’s will, the hope of living forever with Christ. Because we have an intimate relationship with Christ we can enjoy these blessings now. The “heavenly places” means that these blessings are eternal, not temporal. The blessings come from Christ’s spiritual realm, not the earthly realm.

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 us 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: Abba Father, 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, engrace me to forever live for You, in Jesus’ matchless Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!