You Are Redeemed - Part 2

Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. Do you know what it means to be redeemed by God? Get this transformational understanding as you listen to today's encouraging message from the cross. through Jesus Christ and so much of what He revealed of Himself through Christ becomes evident and manifest to us when we see what Jesus Christ did at Calvary. If you read the other parts of the Gospels and you do not understand what happened those last few days of Christ's life and especially on the cross, then you're going to miss the real nature of God because so many of His attributes and so many of His qualities are exemplified at the cross.

Here we see justice and love seemingly in conflict. But at the cross God Almighty is able to make justice and love become one. He still remains God and at the same time is able to redeem, to forgive, to justify, to reconcile sinners unto Himself. And to miss the message of the cross is to miss ultimately to understand the nature of who God is and what He's like. In the 11th verse of Hebrews chapter 9, he says, But Christ being come and high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once under the holy place, having obtained what? Eternal redemption for us. That is no longer did the priest have to go in and offer the blood of a sheep, a lamb or a goat, but now here's what he's saying.

Now watch this. He says that when Jesus Christ was crucified, here's what happened. He, the Lamb of God, His blood was shed. In the shedding of that blood, He did what? The Bible says He died upon the cross and He was placed in the tomb. Jesus Christ went into the presence of God.

That's what he's referring to here. Into the presence of God, the Father, carrying not the blood of a sheep, but His own blood. And the Father seeing His own blood and accepting His blood atoned for the sin of all mankind, which means on the cross, Jesus Christ, as a result. Listen, now watch this. As a result of God the Father sending Him, God the Father sending Jesus Christ to lay down His life and to shed His own blood as payment for man's sin.

Now watch this. It is God who sent the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says He atoned for our sin. He paid the price. The blood of Jesus Christ was the ransom.

That was the money. All of us, so to speak, were standing on the slave block of sin and God the Father came upon the scene, gave His Son Jesus Christ to take your place and my place. And that's why the word substitute is absolutely essential to understanding the atonement. God the Father gives His Son Jesus Christ, puts Him on the block.

He is payment and that means that all the rest of us go free. So when we say that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, that means, watch this, God by an act of His own will, own grace and own love sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die the death of a lamb, crucified Him, nailed Him there. He suffered and died. The shedding of His blood was the redemption, the ransom for your salvation and mine. Now He didn't turn Him over to Satan.

Though Jesus Christ did suffer separation from His Father which was hell to Him. Now, what is it that God was doing? Who was it that He was satisfying? Who was it that He was paying off when He sent His only begotten Son?

Let's go back because I don't mind repeating this. This is absolutely essential to understanding the whole purpose and theme and the whole theological realm of atonement. It was God who was righteous, not the devil. It is God who is holy. It is God who is just. God made a decree. His decree was the soul that sinned that shall die. It is God who had to come up with a way of redeeming you and me from sin. That meant that God had to initiate, God had to create, God had to come up with some kind of an idea whereby He could still remain just, righteous and holy, condemning sin, sending its punishment where it belongs. How could He do that when you and I are sinners having violated every principle of God? How could God still accept us, save us? How could we be accepted in the Beloved and Him still remain just and holy? Then Almighty God sent His only begotten Son.

Now watch this. And when Jesus Christ died on the cross, God the Father who decreed the law of the penalty of sin is death, is the same God who gave His only begotten Son who provided the ransom so that the death of Jesus Christ satisfied the demands of God His Father in the fact that when Jesus died, He satisfied God's requirement for the penalty of sin which is death and the shedding of blood. So that Jesus Christ is the Father's redemption whereby it is possible for us to be saved and accepted in the Beloved and the price for our sins have been paid for in the person of Jesus Christ.

Now let me tell you what that ought to do to you. The next time you sin against God, my friend, remember, it cost Almighty God the best, the only, the only Son He had, it cost Him in order to free you, liberate you, redeem you, capture you, and bring you back from the law of sin and death. And you see, we oftentimes think one little sin is isolated here and one little sin is isolated there and we don't seem to think much about the effect. But remember this, if you had been the only person whom God created on the face of this earth, you're the only one, none other but you, and you sinned against God, God would had to have sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, just for you. Because you see, there is no way for man to save himself. And you think about this, in the mind of God, He sent Him for you anyway. You and I can think of the billions of people in the world, but you know how God sees them? While He sees the billions, He sees that His only begotten Son was sent personally, specifically, particularly for you and you and you and you and you and you. God loves you enough to have sent His only begotten Son just for you.

He substituted Him for you. God Almighty resurrected Him to re-show mankind that when He came before the Father with His own blood to save Father, here is my blood, the ultimate sacrifice for the sin of mankind, proof that Almighty God accepted Jesus Christ, atoning death is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Were there no resurrection, you and I would not have known whether it worked or not. But the fact that He was crucified, that He died, that He was buried, that He rose again, says that He's seated at the Father's right hand is God's declaration of the world that redemption has been accepted, the ransom has been paid, and that's what we mean by redemption. That Almighty God, listen, He purposed to buy you, my friend. He sent His only begotten Son who got on the block and freed you to become the person you want to be simply because He loves you.

And there was not one single thing in any one of us that could merit any of that from Almighty God. Let me ask you a question. How many of you fathers, how many of you moms would go to a slave market and find a wretched, half-naked, bony, weak, helpless, near-to-death slave and say, in order to free you, I want my son to take your place. My son's going to become the slave.

You're going to be free. Let's face it. I doubt if there's a one of us in here who'd do it. But I want to tell you something, my friend. We have a distorted view of sin. We cover it up. We rationalize it.

We do everything imaginable. But God saw you and me sinfully as we are, everything stripped off. He said it's vile. It's wicked. It's rebellious.

It's iniquitous. And He said, Son, for that motley, despicable, unrighteous, ungodly, transgressing crowd, I'm sending you and I'm going to free them. That Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, became the ransom for you and for me. Now listen. When Jesus Christ went to the cross and died, for whose sin did He die?

How many people? He says it's not my will that any man should perish. If it's not His will that any man should perish, then Almighty God, knowing sin, He knows it, knows that He's the only one who can keep anybody from perishing. So God sent His only begotten Son and He said, and I, if I be lifted up, I will do what?

I will draw what? All men unto me so that when Jesus Christ went to the cross, He died for whom? All men. That means, listen, now watch this carefully. That means the sin of all mankind has been what? It's been paid for.

Listen, now watch this. That means that everybody, that all men have been redeemed. That does not mean they're saved because listen, there's a difference in having been redeemed, having my sins paid for, having my penalty taken care of. There's a difference in that and my accepting the payment of that sin, receiving Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord, and experiencing personal redemption. And until I by faith accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, repenting of my sins, God's whole redemptive plan, Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 in the fullness of time, in the garden of Eden, all the prophecies, all the types, all the lamb, all the blood that was shed. He says all of that is null and void and absolutely useless and to no avail whatsoever to the individual who refuses to confess, repent, acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and turn their life over to Him. Because my sin has been atoned for, because I have been redeemed does not mean I'm free. I'm not free until I am willing to experience by faith Christ as my Savior, my Lord and my Redeemer. But any man on the face of this earth can walk into the presence of Jesus Christ confessing and repenting of his sins and he will be saved instantaneously because Jesus Christ no longer has to go to the cross.

Here's what I want you to see. That when a man rejects the Lord Jesus Christ, you know what he's doing? He's saying God, nothing doing.

You say that's the only way, that's not the only way because I have another way. What he's doing is he's saying I'm going to be saved, I'm going to be made acceptable some other way. But you see, what is it that makes us acceptable? It is God's grace, His justice, His love and His mercy providing a ransom whereby our sins are atoned for, the penalty's been paid and we are captured and released and liberated from a life of sin. The man who's looking for another way does not understand God's whole economy of salvation, nor does he understand who God is, what He's like, nor does he understand the attributes of God.

Now watch this carefully. When I say that every man has been redeemed, I mean by that, get me clearly, that all the price that can ever be paid has been paid. All the ransom that need ever be paid has been paid. All the ransom that can atone for man's sin has been atoned for. All that anybody can ever do has been done by God through His Son, nothing else to be done. And now it is man's choice to accept God's redemption in Christ Jesus. And if by repentance of His sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he, listen, man chooses to accept redemption, then it is his. Until he was willing to accept it, God's redemptive plan is null and void to him. He is lost and on his way to hell and there is no way for man to save himself.

Because if there had been, God would not have done what he did in order to save mankind. Now I want you to think about something for a moment. If you were on the slave block, half naked, poorly fed, a slave laborer with no hope of escape, no way out, and your only hope of changing things would be death and somebody came along, and the price was one million dollars for you, and somebody said, I'll redeem him.

I'll redeem her. And the man who made that decision was well dressed. You knew he could afford the money. And so they took you off the block. When you come to the man, he takes the chains off your hands, shackles off your feet, and he says to you, you're free. You say, what do you mean I'm free? You're just free. Well, I've come to be your slave, haven't you bought me? I bought you to free you, not to make you a slave. And the man said to you, for the rest of your life, you're free. You can now become what you were meant to become. You can now begin to be what your maker wanted you to be. You are a free human being.

Let me ask you something. What would be your response? Would you not drop at his feet and kiss his feet in humility and thanksgiving and gratitude? Would we not be willing to say to him, Master, because you've freed me, I choose voluntarily to serve you the rest of my life. I choose voluntarily to go where you want me to go, do what you want me to do, be what you want me to be. You paid an enormous price to free me. I want you to know that I'm willingly choosing to be your servant. Master, I choose to serve you because I love you.

And my friend, let me ask you a question. Isn't that what God has already done for you and me? We were hell bound and God gave his only begotten son far more valuable than a million dollars to redeem you and me. And let me ask you one simple question. Since the day you, by faith, experienced redemption, have you been loving him, serving him, giving to him, following him, obeying him, motivated by the simple understanding that God did something for you, nobody on the face of this earth could do?

Let me tell you something. When you and I examine our lives, how little we give, how little we do in the light of what he did, freeing us to become all that we could possibly be. Every single one of us, every saint of God ought to bow on their knees, their face before God every day, thanksgiving and praise and adoration and worship and devotion, never questioning giving, never questioning service, never questioning obeying, never questioning our devotion to him and what he's saying to you and to me. I freed you. And if you choose to serve me, you'll have life's best here and hereafter. And when I look at the cross, I know he deserves all of me. Thank you for listening to You Are Redeemed. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.