I'm at the age, like some of
you, I have many dear friends seated around the throne of God
in heaven today. One of them is Brother Harold
Martin. I've told you about him a number of times. Brother Martin
is one of the deacons, a faithful deacon in the church I pastored
at Lookout West Virginia for nine years. Just a short time
before I moved here, the Lord called Brother Martin to glory.
After having prostate surgery just about a year later, he took
him home to glory. When he could no longer stay
by himself, he went out to Washington, D.C. to stay with his daughter,
his only surviving daughter. His wife had died a year earlier.
And I got word that he was in the hospital in Washington, D.C.
So I decided to fly out and visit with him one day. flew out in
the morning, came back late in the evening, and spent the day
with Brother Harold. And most of the time, he just
slept. I didn't realize how near he was to leaving the world.
But when he was awake, we would chat. And the only thing he wanted
to talk about, the only thing he wanted to talk about, it's
interesting, when a man's about to leave this world, the only
thing he wanted to talk about was Christ and redemption and
grace and God's salvation. And so whenever he was awake,
we'd chat about the things of God. I had the privilege of hearing
Harold speak his last cognizant words, his very last cognizant
words. He took my hand and gripped as
firmly as he could and said, Preacher, it's good to know Everything
is under the blood. It's good to know everything
is under the blood. I want you to know it's good
to know everything is under the blood. I can't think of anything
this side of eternity more comforting, more delightful, more peaceful
than that. Everything is under the blood. Turn with me to Romans chapter
3. I want, as God enables me, to try to talk to you about redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. The redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. We'll begin at Romans chapter
3 and verse 19. Now we know that what things
whoever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law.
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law of God is given
for only this purpose. It is given to identify and condemn
sin. That's the only reason it's given.
The law of God is not given to be a rule of life. It's not given
to be a means of salvation. The law of God is given to identify
what sin is and to condemn sin. That's the only purpose for the
law, thereby shutting us up to and pointing us to the Lord Jesus
Christ alone, by whom alone we are saved, justified, sanctified,
and redeemed. cannot save. The law just stops
the sinner's mouth and makes the sinner recognize his guilt
before God. Verse 21, but now the righteousness
of God without the law, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
that it is openly displayed, being witnessed, that is testified
to by the law and the prophets. so that the righteousness of
God, that righteousness which Messiah is promised to bring
in, that righteousness of God that is established by the obedience
and death of God's darling son, that righteousness without the
law, without our obedience to the law, is manifested in the
Old Testament scriptures by the law God gave, by the commandments
and ordinances of the law, and by the prophets of all the Old
Testament scriptures. Even the righteousness of God,
watch this now, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, not righteousness
accomplished by faith in Jesus Christ, righteousness accomplished
by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe. For there is no difference for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have
sinned. Missed the mark of being in life
for God's glory of living this life for God's glory God created
man for his glory, but we've sinned and missed that mark We've
come short of the glory of God now. What's verse 24? being justified
freely last week by the Lindsay pointed out in John 15 when our
Lord said they hated me without a cause the word is right here
without a cause being justified without a cause without any calls
in ourselves without any calls arising from ourselves justified
freely by God's grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus justified freely on our part But oh, how costly on his
part. Grace is free to us, but it comes
to us at great cost from the Son of God. Grace accomplishes
what the law never could. That is the free justification
of every guilty sinner who believes on the Son of God. I call you
now, believe on him. I urge you, believe on him. plead with you, believe on the
Son of God. All who believe are justified
freely by God's free grace in Jesus Christ the Lord. This free
justification through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus is my
subject this morning. Look at verse 25. Whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation Through faith in his blood, God
sent forth the Lord Jesus, our crucified Redeemer, in the law,
in the prophets, and now in the gospel revealed through all the
New Testament. He set him forth from everlasting
in his sovereign purpose, and he sets him forth in the preaching
of the gospel. Sets him forth to be a propitiation,
a satisfaction. through faith. Now, the propitiation
in this part, it speaks, the word is mercy-seek. It speaks
of that propitiation, something that we experience in our souls.
So that Christ, the Redeemer, the crucified Christ is set forth
in the gospel to you. so that your own consciences
and your own hearts may find satisfaction. That's what I must
have. That's what I need. That's what
my soul demands. I must have perpetuation, ransom
by Christ the Lord through faith in his blood. Believe him and
your conscience says that's enough. Believe him and your conscience
agrees with God. Christ is sufficient. Read on. to declare his righteousness,
to declare God's righteousness for the remission of sins that
have passed through the forbearance of God. How can God be just and
justify a sinner? Only through the blood atonement
of Jesus Christ the Lord. Read on. That he might be just
and the justifier of him which believeth. But where does that
leave us? Where is boasting then? Where
is boasting then? Where is boasting? Men everywhere
like to brag. We are horribly proud creatures. We like to think of how we distinguish
ourselves, how we set ourselves apart, how we're different from
other people. We wouldn't do what others do.
We do it all the time in every aspect of life. Not here. Not here. Who maketh thee to
differ from another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? And if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Where
is boasting then? Well, I believe in Jesus. That
was my choice. No boasting here. I believe in
Jesus. I made that decision. No boasting
here. I'm saved by God's grace. I accepted
the Lord. No boasting here. Where is boasting
then? What do you have to boast of?
Christ accomplished the redemption. God set him forth to be the Redeemer.
God purposed it. God chose you. God gave you faith. Where is boasting then? It is
excluded. No room to boast. It is excluded
by what law? Of works? Oh, no. Oh, no. If
salvation depends on you, if somehow salvation is earned by
you, merited by you, conditioned on you, if anything about salvation
depends on you, you've got reason to boast, strut before God and
say, I did that. Oh, no. No, no. But by the law
of faith. That is, faith in Christ says,
I did nothing. Faith in Christ says I am nothing. Faith in Christ says nothing
depends on me. I trust Christ. Oh, God help
you now to trust his darling son and find redemption through
his blood. Faith's empty hand, faith's empty
hand receives the free gifts of God's grace and that very
fact excludes boasting. This is the most comforting,
soul-cheering revelation of God in Holy Scripture. The Apostle
Paul calls it in verse 24, the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Hear what God says to His chosen.
Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. Fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. That means, Charlie Meadows,
if you're redeemed, everything's all right. Fear not. Fear not what? Anything. Fear
not what circumstance. Fear not what difficulty. Fear
not what will that may come upon you. Fear not! I have redeemed thee. I bought
you. You're mine. Fear not, for I
have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
and thou art mine. That's how God comforts his people. We have hope in the Lord because
with him is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption. We have
hope and hope that is based upon that which God has revealed for
he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. The only hope
for a guilty sinner, the only hope you can possibly have is
redemption through his blood. Redemption that includes atonement
for sin, satisfaction for justice, effectual deliverance from the
guilt, the power, the dominion, and all the evil consequences
of sin. The only hope for your soul is
a effectual redemption. That redemption set forth in
the scriptures by Jesus Christ through his blood. Such a redemption
could only be accomplished by God's darling son and such a
redemption has been accomplished by him. It could not be accomplished
any other way and blessed be his name, it has been accomplished
by Christ and Christ alone. If one picture is worth a thousand
words, then I've got 5,000 words to give you this morning, but
I'll be brief. I want to show you five Old Testament pictures
of redemption. Now, these are things we've looked
at before. In fact, just about four or five weeks ago, I showed
you, referred to two or three of these in one of the messages,
but I want us to look at them again, and I want you to turn
with me to the scriptures. We'll begin in Psalm 106. The scriptures tell us that the
law has a shadow. The law, that is all the Old
Testament scriptures, gave a shadow of good things to come. The law
portrayed, it pictured, All the prophets, all the types, all
the ceremonies, all the history of Israel, all the deliverance
of Israel by the judges, all of those things were shadows,
shadows of good things to come. And those good things to come,
come to us by the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The
complete deliverance of our souls from sin and death and hell. Are you listening now? Redemption. Redemption is not just what our
Lord accomplished, and I hate to use the word just, but redemption
doesn't only refer to what our Lord accomplished at Calvary.
Redemption is synonymous with salvation in many ways. It refers
to the complete deliverance of our souls from sin and death
and hell by the blood of Christ and the power of God's omnipotent
grace applying that blood to us. This redemption. This redemption
is the whole purpose of God in creating the world. Redemption
by Christ Jesus. Everything God does has reference
to redemption. His purpose is the purpose of
redemption. His purchase is the purchase
of redemption. His providence is the outworking
of redemption. His regeneration is the application
of redemption. His effectual call is receiving
redemption. His preservation is by blood
redemption. The second coming is the redemption
of the purchased possession. And the presentation of our souls
in everlasting glory, in the perfection of his glory, is the
consummation of redemption by Christ Jesus. Let's look at the
scriptures now, beginning in Psalm 106. Here's the first picture. We have sinned, verse six. Psalm
106, verse six. We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We
have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not thy
wonders in Egypt. The deliverance of Israel out
of Egyptian bondage portrays our redemption by Christ Jesus.
David sang this psalm. He wrote the psalm and sang the
song. Israel was Led in this song through the Old Testament
scriptures, our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. Oh God help us to understand
this. Skip Gladfelter, everything God
does is a wonder. He only doeth wondrously. All his works are wonders, wonders
that can only be understood and appreciated by divine revelation. What wonders is he talking about?
Israel going down to Egypt, Joseph being there waiting for them,
the land of Goshen being set aside for them, God preserving
them, multiplying and increasing them, for 400 years in bondage,
the bondage, the taskmasters. God sending, raising up Moses,
preserving Moses in the midst of the command that all the male
children be put to death. God raising Moses in Pharaoh's
household. God giving Moses power and influence
both in Pharaoh's house and with the children of Israel. God bringing
Moses at the time of redemption. God sending the plagues upon
Egypt and none upon Israel. Wonders performed in Egypt. God
bringing Israel out of Egypt. Read this. Our fathers understood
not thy wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude
of thy mercies, but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red
Sea. Nevertheless, nevertheless, we
often ask why? Why did God save me? Why did
God save sinners? Here's the answer. He saved them
for his namesake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red Sea also,
and it was dried up. So he led them through the depths
as through the wilderness. And he saved them from the hand
of him that hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
And the waters covered their enemies There was not one of
them left. The waters covered their enemies. There was not one of them left.
Pharaoh and the Egyptian army were drowned in the Red Sea by
which God redeemed Israel. And so our Savior, by his blood,
has taken captivity captive and destroyed our enemies. Then they
believed his words. They sang his praise. When the
redemption was experienced, when it was accomplished, all the
wonders God did in Egypt, all that God did in Egypt, they didn't
believe that. They didn't understand that.
They didn't understand what God was doing. They thought God was
just increasing their troubles. All that was going on, all those
times, he sent the plagues in Egypt. But then, when they came
across the Red Sea, and Pharaoh and his armies were Pursuing
hard after them Israel comes to the Red Sea and they're terrified.
They're terrified Moses What have you done? And they murmured
against God and complained against God standing at the Red Sea Then
Moses said stand still and see the salvation of the Lord God
opened up the sea and they walked across dry shot and soon as they
got across God engulfed Pharaoh and his armies in the Red Sea
And they'd look back, and they'd say, well, that's what God was
doing. That's what God was doing all
the time, and gathered up the spoils out of Egypt. This deliverance
of Israel out of Egypt was a special, remarkable picture and type of
our redemption by Christ Jesus. It's called the Exodus. And that
same thing, same word is used In Luke's gospel when we read
about Moses and Elijah speaking to our Savior about his death
that he should accomplish at Jerusalem, his exodus he should
accomplish at Jerusalem. Israel was brought into Egypt
because of sin. and redeemed out of Egypt by
a man God raised up, Moses, the deliverer. The price of redemption
was the blood of a paschal lamb, and the power by which it was
accomplished was the power of God's omnipotent grace. This
redemption portrays that for which we sing and give praise
to God. Look in Exodus chapter 14, Exodus
14. I'm sorry, chapter 15. After the Redemption's over,
the story actually begins in chapter 12 where God gives Moses
command concerning the Paschal Lamb. When the Redemption's over,
Israel's across on the other side of the Red Sea. And we read
in verse 1 of chapter 15, Then sang Moses and the children of
Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing
unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his
rider hath he thrown into the sea. If you read the book of
Revelation, you find God's people standing around the throne in
glory, and they sing a song that nobody knows except them. It's
called the song of Moses and of the Lamb. It's what the singing
is what is saying? He hath triumphed gloriously
the horse and his rider had to thrown into the sea verse 2 The
Lord is my strength and song and he has become my salvation
He is my God and I will prepare him and habitation my father's
God and I will exalt him Now look down in verse 16 and then
verse 16 this speaks prophetically fear and dread shall fall upon
them. By the greatness of thine arm
they shall be as still as a stone till the people pass over." The
picture is of God's people passing over Jordan's chilly waters into
heavenly glory. The pictures of a believer with
all his enemies surrounding him, pursuing him, but he's going
now to meet God, our Savior, in his glory. And all who would
destroy, all who would disturb, all who would accuse shall be
as still as a stone until thy people pass over, O Lord, till
the people pass over which thou purchased. Now these things in
the picture of redemption are obvious. Three things. Three
things are obvious in the redemption of Israel out of Egypt. It was
redemption by blood, redemption effectually accomplished, and
the redemption of a particular people. Redemption by blood,
redemption effectually accomplished, and the redemption of a particular
people. The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. And the Son of God sends his
spirit in omnipotent power at the appointed time of love and
called me by his grace. It's redemption by blood. Redemption
by omnipotent effectual power of a particular people. Now I
stress this, and I stress this to you somewhat in preparation
of conference, I stress this to you all the time in this place. Nothing in this book, nothing
in the Word of God is of any significance if you deny the
effectual accomplished redemption of God's elect by Christ Jesus. To deny the effectual accomplished
redemption of God's elect by Jesus Christ is to make this
whole book meaningless, null, and void. Second, turn to Exodus
chapter 30. Exodus chapter 30. The atonement money paid by Israel
when Israel was numbered once a year portrays this redemption
by Christ. Look at verse 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel
after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom
for his soul unto the Lord. When thou numberest them, that
there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them, this
they shall give. Everyone that passeth among them
that are numbered hath a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary
In verse 15 the rich shall not give more and the poor shall
not give less than half a shekel When they give an offering unto
the Lord to make atonement for your souls in verse 16 He calls
it atonement money Atonement money. Now the numbering of the
children of Israel again portrays the ransom, the redemption of
a particular people by a special price and that price paid by
all the people who were redeemed and that price giving an efficacy
of salvation to those people. Let me show you. None but Israelites
were to be ransomed. Specific numbered people go count
up the number of the children of Israel Moses now every male
about 20 years He's to give a ransom money. He's to give a shekel
after the half shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary The rich
didn't give more the poor didn't give less all were redeemed ransom
with the same money and that ransom money that atonement money
will preserve you from any plague. The fact that you're redeemed
preserves you from any harm. The fact that you're redeemed
preserves you from any harm. We were redeemed before the world
began by the blood of Christ, the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world in whom we were accepted in the beloved. The
fact that we've been redeemed, all numbered among God's elect,
redeemed with the ransom money of Christ's precious blood, are
preserved from all harm. Now hear me. Now hear me. This shocks the boots off some
folks. I hope it causes your heart to leap with joy. You and
I suffered no harm in the Adam fall. And though we came forth from
our mother's womb speaking lies, Merle, all the days of our rebellion
brought us no harm. Not really. Not really. Oh, we
experienced much. We felt much, but no real harm. No real harm. No real. All the
path by which we walked in this world, God ordered to bring us
to his son. It means people aren't responsible
for their sin. Oh, yes, you are. Yes, you are. You're responsible for every
evil thing you say or do or think. That's what you are. But bless
God, he overrules even the Adam fall and even our nature of rebellion
for our good. How can you say that? Listen
to what scripture says. There shall no evil happen to
the just. Next time you get all bent out
of shape because of some evil happens to you, you think it's
evil, somebody cusses you, somebody slanders you, somebody hurts
you or injures you, you get sick, you go to the hospital, your
children cause you heartache, there shall no Evil happened
to the just. Skip Gladfelter, I've never experienced
evil of any kind in my life. I've experienced a lot I thought
was evil, and I've done a lot that was evil, but I've never
experienced any evil. Evil can't touch me. I'm in God's
Son. You got that Frank? There shall
no evil happen to the just. There shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. But preacher, you've had cancer,
you've had heart difficulties, you've been sick, you've had
pneumonia. What do you mean no plague come
nigh your dwelling? Nothing's touched me yet. Nothing
touched me yet. Oh, they touched this body, but
it ain't touched me. Oh, no, it's it's hurt. This
body hadn't hurt me. Oh, no, there's no evil happened
to the just. No plague will come nigh thy
dwelling. Either that so or this book is
not so. I just read it to you from Proverbs
and from Psalms. Number three, look at the Leviticus
25, Leviticus 25. Here's a picture of the kinsman
redeemer, this law given by God to the children of Israel about
buying again a slave, an Israelite who by some reason had sold himself
into slavery and is ransomed by a near kinsman, Leviticus
25 verse 47. And if a sojourner or stranger
wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor,
and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the
stock of the stranger's family, after that he is sold, he may
be redeemed again. One of his brethren may redeem
him, either his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him, or
any that is nigh akin unto him of his family may redeem him.
Or if he's able, he may redeem himself. Well, we were not able
to redeem ourselves, but bless God, we have a near kinsman who's
come to redeem us. His name is Christ the Lord,
our deliverer, our redeemer. The whole book of Ruth, those
four chapters of that majestic little book called Ruth, is about
a kinsman redeemer. Ruth by her marriage to the son of Naomi
and Boaz was brought into the family of the children of Israel.
But her father-in-law, Elimelech, in a horrible, horrible act of
selfishness, took his riches and left his brethren in Bethlehem,
Judah, and went to dwell down in Moab, where there was no God
and no prophet and no one, no place to worship God and no one
with whom to worship God. And he went down there and took
his family to preserve his wealth. And while he was there, his sons
married Moabitess women. One of them was a woman named
Ruth, a Moabitess woman, a woman under a peculiar curse. She's a child of the abominable
incest between Lot and one of his daughters. Specifically cursed. Specifically
cursed. But now she's married into the
family of Israel. Proselytized into the children
of Israel. And she goes back with Naomi.
Naomi heard the Lord had visited Moab. Now visited Bethlehem,
Judah, and they prospered again. And she came back empty and poor
and broken with nothing. But all along the journey, all
along the journey, she'd been talking to Ruth. She'd been talking
to Ruth about a kinsman. Maybe, maybe we have a kinsman. Maybe there's a kinsman in Israel
who will buy back for us all that stinking husband of mine,
a Limelech, lost. And Ruth went out one day to
glean in the fields. And she gleaned in the fields
of a man named Boaz. And Boaz looked on Ruth, and
he commanded the men, let handfuls of purpose fall for her. And
man, she carried back all the grain she could carry back. And
Naomi said, honey, where have you been? She said, over yonder
in the field. Been out there all day long.
Who still was that? Boaz. Oh, he's a near kinsman. He's a near kinsman. You go back
and do whatever that man tells you to do, perhaps he'll redeem
you. And Boaz continued his mercy
toward Ruth, and Naomi said to her, said, you go lay down at
his feet. He won't rest until this work's done. That's Christ,
our savior, our kinsman, redeemer. He became one of us specifically
for one purpose, that he might save his people from their sins. And he did. Here's another one
in Zechariah chapter, or in Isaiah chapter 63, Isaiah 63. We have a picture of a debtor
delivered from prison. A picture of our redemption by
Christ. Isaiah chapter 61 and verse 1. The spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, and the day of the vengeance of our God,
to proclaim vengeance accomplished, to comfort all that mourn, to
appoint to them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty
for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be
glorified. In ancient times, a man in debt
was liable to be arrested and cast into prison. And there he'd
have to remain in bondage until his debt was paid. Our sins put
us in debt to God's law. There are debts we can never
pay. We're therefore shut up as prisoners by nature, shut
up under the law. But Christ, paid our debt, and
he in the gospel of his grace proclaims liberty to the captives
and sets prisoners free. I was arrested one night shortly
before God saved And I didn't know what they were
going to do with me. A jailer locked me up. And there was a fellow who came by, a police
officer, who knew me. And he undertook my cause. And he sent me home. And when I walked out, Oh, it
must have been one or two o'clock in the morning. I never felt
such freedom in my life until the day God set me free from
this prison of sin and death. You have any idea what freedom
tastes like? Not unless you've been locked
up. Not unless you've been shut up. Not unless you have been
without it. You don't have any idea what
freedom tastes like. I have a niece by marriage. She's from Russia. She was raised
in Russia. And this will shock you. This
will shock you. She remembers the days. I've
never discussed it with her. Her mother-in-law, my sister,
just told me this a couple of weeks ago. She remembers the
days before things got bad. Before things got bad. You know
when they got bad? when the Soviet Union collapsed. She said, at least before things
got bad, we could get bread. After that, we couldn't get any.
You wonder why folks are content to live in that kind of system?
Because they never knew freedom. They never knew freedom. Let me tell you something. She
ain't about to move back to Russia. She's tasted freedom. Freedom. Christ comes and sets prisoners
free by his omnipotent mercy and grace. Long my imprisoned
spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye
diffused the quickening ray. I woke the dungeon flame with
night. My chains fell off. My heart
was free. I rose, went forth, and followed
thee. No condemnation now I dread. Jesus and all in him is mine. Alive in him, my living head,
and clothed in righteousness divine. Bold I approach the eternal
throne and claim the crown through Christ my own. Now let's skip
the other. Let me give you some lessons. sinners need a Redeemer. You need a Redeemer. You can't redeem yourself. You
need one to redeem you. That Redeemer is Christ the Lord. Oh God give you grace to trust
him. Save me oh God for the waters
will come into my soul. I sink in deep mire where there's
no standing, I'm coming to deep waters where the floods overflow
me. Second, redemption, deliverance
from sin, is by the blood of Christ alone. It is redemption
that delivers us from sin. God, by the power of his grace,
sprinkling the conscience from dead works, delivers us from
sin, and at last will deliver us from all the consequences
of sin in resurrection glory. Oh, God give you grace to trust
this redeemer. Here's a third lesson. This redemption
is the unaided, unassisted, effectual work of Jesus Christ. Christ
hath redeemed us. He says over and over and over
again, I have redeemed thee. It is a work performed for a
particular people. It is redemption accomplished
by blood atonement, the shedding of his blood. And it's always
effectual. That is to say, all for whom
Christ died shall at last be delivered from all sin and all
the evil consequences of sin. I haven't told this story in
a long time. I read it a long time ago. You may know the name
of Eddie Rickenbacker. He flew the Flying Fortress and
was shot down in 1942. He was a famous pilot. He had
eight men with him, he and seven men, an eight-man crew. And they
were stranded in the middle of the ocean in a life raft and
thought that they would perish there, hundreds of miles from
shore. After the first eight days, their food ran out. And
every day they'd read scripture, pray in the afternoon, After
playing one day, Mr. Rickenbacker laid his head on
the side of the raft and pulled his hat down over his face and
laid there trying to sleep. And just a little while, he felt
something on his hat. Immediately, he realizes a seagull. And everybody on the raft saw
it. And nobody said a word or moved
a muscle. But Rickenbacker managed somehow with great speed to grab
that seagull. And they plucked it and ate the
bird and used his entrails for bait and survived for 30 days
at sea. When there's an old man down
in Switzerland, Florida, just a little ways from Jacksonville,
every afternoon as the sun was setting, he'd go out on a pier
with a bucket, bucket full of shrimp. And just a little bit,
you'd see hundreds of seagulls flying in. Mr. Rickenbacker just
throwing shrimp out. He never forgot that unexpected,
sacrificial guest by whom his life was preserved. And he'd
go out every week, once a week, throw out shrimp. and the seagulls
would come and light all over the place, some of them light
on him, and he'd stand there and watch them feast. Why? The only thing he could do was
say, thank you. That's all. Thank you. And all
we can do in reality, in response to Christ our Redeemer, is give
ourselves to Him. and say thank you, thank you,
thank you. Through this blood atonement
our sins are forgiven and they who have been forgiven much love
much. God helped me to know every day
how much I've been forgiven and calls me as only you can to love
my Redeemer accordingly. Amen.