and not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption
of our body. Romans 8 verse 23, and what is
upon my spirit is completely redeemed. That is, we are redeemed,
our soul is redeemed, our body is to be redeemed, and all has
been ensured, accomplished, at Calvary. In this passage we read
in verse 22, For we know that the whole creation groaneth and
travaileth in pain together until now. So it is picturing the whole
creation. We see everything is touched
by sin. We have the weeds, we have the
thorns, we have the thistles, we have disease in plants, we
have in nature the tsunamis, the winds, the natural disasters
if you like, we have the earthquakes, the whole fabric of The earth
is groaning and under tension in that way. We have all of the
animal kingdom, the birds, the fishes, all dying, all in afflictions,
all in trial, and the whole creation is bearing the effects of the
curse because of man's sin. Yet we have in this passage that
intimation and setting forth of what God shall bring about,
that there shall be a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. And in that new heavens and new
earth there shall be no groaning and travailing, no sin. All shall
be perfect. and no capability like there
was in the Garden of Eden of sinning or defiling of it, but
it being a new everlasting eternal creation. And so the picture
the Apostle has here, this is the whole creation around us,
but then he says even ourselves in our text. Even those that
are converted, that have the first fruit of the Spirit, we
groan within ourselves, we are waiting for the adoption, we
are waiting, and this is what he says, to wit, or what is really
meant here, the redemption of our body. The redemption of our
soul, For those that are converted, it's already taken place in one
sense. But there is to be the redemption
of the body as well. And so I want to look this morning
at a complete redemption. You know, all of us, we need
redemption. Paul is very methodical in his
letter to the Romans, and already he has said before them in chapter
3, and he says in verse 23, for all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Then he says, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ. Jesus. All need redeeming. What is redemption? What is the definition of it? It's always good to look at the
actual definition, yes, the original languages, but very often the
translators have chosen the right word, we believe they have, and
it's good for us to understand our own language. Redemption is regaining or gaining
possession of something in exchange for payment. Clearing a debt. Very similar to the word ransom. Paying a ransom to allow one
to be released. Sometimes you read those terrible
accounts where someone is is taken captive and they demand
a ransom. Someone must pay a certain amount
of money and then they will release that person. And this is another
idea in redemption, set fee by the payment of a prize. I want to look at three things
this morning. Firstly, the redemption at Calvary,
and then secondly, redemption of the soul, and lastly, the
redemption of the body, which particularly is set before us
in the words of our text, where we read, to wit, the redemption
of our body. But firstly, the redemption that
is at Calvary. You would expect that, through
the Old Testament, that there be an anticipating of that which
was to be done at Calvary, the promised seed, the woman that
should bruise the serpent's head, that in various ways and types
and shadows would be shown what is actually meant and what was
to be done at that time. In Psalm 130, we read this in
the last two verses, Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the
Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. For He shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. All his sins, original sins,
all his provoking sins. And we think of with Anna, when
our Lord came and was presented in the temple, she spoke of the
Lord Jesus Christ, then as a little babe, she spoke of him to all
them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem, intimating there
were those that were looking for redemption, looking for to
be set free, looking for the promised redeemer that should
come. Now we must say that it is a
particular redemption. In the book of Numbers, in chapter
3, we have the directions that are given by God to the children
of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. You would remember
the Passover was instituted where the blood of the lamb was shed,
And instead of the firstborn dying, then the lamb was shed
in their place. They were redeemed by the blood
of the lamb. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. And so every firstborn in the
children of Israel, they were, in effect, redeemed. They were
set free by the lamb's blood. Those that did not have that
blood to shelter under the Egyptians who did not believe in they perished
the firstborn perished and the Lord would have the children
of Israel remember this and he instituted that the firstborn
of the children of Israel should be redeemed by the number of
the Levites the Levites were not going to have a place of
land in Canaan they were the Lord's portion and the Lord was
their portion and they were to serve in the temple and to serve
the Lord they were to have the cities of refuge that were in
the land of Canaan as their cities given to them in the tribes of
Israel. But the way of redemption was
that the firstborn of Israel had to be counted and the firstborn
of the Levites And it was a redemption, one for one. And if there was
not enough Levites, and there weren't when they first took
that numbering in Numbers 3, then they had to pay five shekels
according to the shekel of the sanctuary for each one. The mismatch was something like
273. But they didn't just say, well,
it didn't matter. It's just a token anyway. It
was very evident a one for one redemption. We have that through
in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes as well. A just balance, a just
way is of the Lord. When you go and you pay for something
in the shop and the price is there, 99 pence, and you might
give them a pound and the shopkeeper gives you one pence back. Now,
someone might say, well, you can keep the pence. But it's
not expected. It's expected. He's asked for
99 pence and he will get it, the exact amount. And anyone
that's in accountancy will know that if you're going to balance
the books, then you've got to account for the last pence. Everything must balance, incoming
to outgoing. And so it is with the Lord. He's
a just God. A just weight and a just balance
are His. And if He is to redeem, then
He will pay the exact price that is required. Without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission. There is a shedding of blood,
not a bull's and of goats, which cannot take away sin, but of
man's blood. And that's why our Lord had to
be made flesh and dwell among us, that He would shed that blood. But from numbers, we would draw
the particular redemption that we hold fast to. The redemption
at Calvary was not a general redemption to make available
forgiveness, pardon to everyone that would just accept it. It was to ensure it. It was a certain redemption,
a certain setting free. There are none whose Sins were
put away at Calvary who were in that particular redemption. There are none that won't get
to heaven. They all will. The debt is paid. They are and they will be loosed. And there is none that go to
hell, those that are lost, for whom Christ shed any blood for
at all. That would be blasphemous. That
would make the redemption of what Christ accomplished at Calvary
to be in man's hand and not in God's hand. If one would choose
not to accept it, then it follows all could have chosen not to
accept it. If God has no power over man
to a veil, if you like, of that redemption, then he is not God
at all. The redemption, the Lord says,
I lay down my life for the sheep. And then he says to those that
would not hear his word, you are not of my sheep, therefore
you hear not my word. It is a particular redemption. It's also a personal redemption. We think of when Naomi went with
her husband Elimelech into the land of Moab, and her two sons
they married, and then Elimelech died, Marlon, Chilion, they died,
the two sons, but they left their widows, Ruth and Orpah. When
Omi then went back to Bethlehem, Ruth claimed to her, and she
went back. But Elimelech had had land in
Bethlehem. That land then would pass to
his oldest son, Marlon. But Marlon had died. And the
law that was given in Deuteronomy 25 made provision that a near
kinsman, whether the brother of Marlon or other near kinsmen
was able to redeem that land. They could pay for that land
and that it would then become theirs. And the Lord did that
way because the land was to be the Lord's forever. And it was
to remain with the tribe that the land belonged to. It wasn't
to pass from tribe to tribe. Therefore, it had to be a near
kinsman of the same tribe that married the widow. And so, not
only then was the land to be redeemed, but when Boaz set forth,
as Ruth had sent her petition to Boaz, and Boaz then speaks
to the near kinsman, the nearer than him, he says, at what time
that thou hast redeemed the land, thou must redeem it at the hand
of Ruth. You must marry Ruth. So Ruth
was being redeemed as well, and the land was being redeemed.
And the law of Israel had this, so they knew what it was like
to have a redemption, having a gaining back or regaining that
which had been lost or sold or lost because of death. And the Book of Ruth is a beautiful
illustration of that. The scriptures, the Old Testament
scriptures, had these times that were pointing to what our Lord
would do at Calvary. That is why He had to be a near
kinsman to us, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, of the seed
of Abraham, that He was God manifest in the flesh, made under the
law, made of a woman to redeem them that are under the law. and this had to be then done
at Calvary and was done by our Lord Jesus Christ. His life was
to be a righteousness, to give to his people, but it was also
to ensure that he was that spotless Lamb of God. When he was baptised
and John Baptist said that I have need to be baptised of thee,
the Lord said that it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,
that is to do those things that the law provided for and that
was the right to do for righteousness sake. In all that the Lord did,
it was done. rightly, perfectly, no sin in
thought, word or deed. And after he was baptized, led
not by Satan, but by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil. Whereas our first parents were
tempted in the Garden of Eden, they had plenty. Our Lord, he
did not eat for 40 days, fasted 40 days and then hungered And
then the tempter came, and as the hymn writer says, our captain
stood the fiery test. We shall stand through him. But
it's vital that it be proved that the second Adam, the Lord
Jesus Christ, that he was not capable of being tempted by Satan,
that he was pure, that Satan had nothing in him. He had no
power against him. And he was then coming to bruise
the serpent's head. And so what was done then at
Calvary? Our Lord is led forth and, of
course, first in the Garden of Gethsemane, he hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all, and is being pressed down, and sweating
great drops of blood. It can be seen very plainly that
there is that which is not seemingly the naked eye laid on him, but
he is bearing the weight of it. If we saw someone trying to carry
something very, very heavy, we would see what they were carrying. But we'd also see them staggering
and bent over under that load and really struggling to walk
and struggling to get along. And we would convey the same,
the two thing, we'd look at the two things, we'd look at the
weight And we look at how they were acting under that weight,
and we'd understand that caused them to act in that way. You
can have someone as well. Mentally, they've got something
that's really trying them, really worrying them, and burning them
down. You might be aware of what that
thing is, that illness, or that worry, that financial worry,
or that trial. and you might be aware of what
they're under, and then you see them, and you see them tired,
and you might see them crying, and you might see them really
struggling to cope with it, or maybe snapping at you, or being
short with you, and you think this is all the effect of what
they're going through. Well, with our Lord Jesus Christ,
you cannot see the sin, and you cannot see the burden that's
on Him, but what you do see is the effect. And you see him sweating
the great drops of blood, you see him bow down to the earth,
you hear him praying, if it be possible let this cup pass from
me, nevertheless not my will but thy will be done. You see
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we see a man
that is bearing, bearing a burden not visual to the eye, and yet
nevertheless, a real burden he had laid on him, the iniquity
of us all. And he is then to carry that
away, to bring it to Calvary and to pay the debt, to settle
the debt, to make redemption, that redemption payment. And
how do we know it was done? It was done because the empty
tomb, the Lord rising again, death could have no power over
him. The debt is settled, he hath
given that assurance unto all men. There shall be a judgment
day, for there was in that sense a judgment day at Calvary, with
the Lord taking the sins of his dear people, laying them on his
Son, his Son paying the debt, redeeming them, setting them
free, purchasing them. Ye are bought with a price, wherefore
glorify God in your body and in your spirit. which are His. And so we have this, what was
done at Calvary, once for all. Abel, Adam, redeemed at Calvary,
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, the last one that
shall be called, redeemed at Calvary, is only one Lamb of
God. There's only one time, one place,
one redemption, one offering for sin, and it is the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is set forth in the ordinance
of the Lord's Supper, and all that join with that, they are
all equal in that, and the Lord has done for them a redemption
at one time and one place, at Calvary. So redemption at Calvary,
is the first thing and it's vital that that was done and done for
all of the people of God, all of those given by the Father
to the Son to redeem, all of those loved with an everlasting
love, all of those that shall comprise that innumerable multitude
in heaven at the end of the world. I want to look then, secondly,
at the redemption of the soul. Now this is when there is the
first indication, or the first realising of that redemption
in a particular sinner's life. We said that all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3. All need redeeming. And yet the Lord has provided
a redemption for His people. How are His people known? How
are they shown? Who the Lord died for? Who He
redeemed? Why, how they are shown is that
their souls first are redeemed. They know the redemption. They
know the setting free by the payment of a price. Our election
is known by our calling. The redemption of the soul happens
at conversion. The Lord says, I give unto them
eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of mine hand. And that eternal life is given
at conversion. We read of it also in Revelation
5 verse 9, they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take
the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and
has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and
tongue and people and nation. And with that redemption also
comes the forgiveness of sins. Paul, when he writes to the Ephesians,
he joins the redemption to the forgiveness of sins. In the first
chapter, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace. And going back
to Romans and chapter five, We read of the righteousness that
also comes through that same redemption. Verse 17, for if
by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which
receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall
reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, Judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men and
to justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the offense of one shall many
be made righteous. And here's the Lord that redeems
and redeems us as he Paul says to the Galatians, who has redeemed
us from the curse of the law, be made a curse for us, for cursed
is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. And it is the deliverance
from the bondage of sin, the holding of sin that binds us
by nature. As we're born into this world,
We are Satan's slaves, we are held under the law and under
sin. But Paul, when he writes to Titus,
he says that redeeming from sin and the power of sin in the second
chapter, who gave himself for us, that is Jesus Christ, that
he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works." And Peter, in his epistle, the
first epistle in chapter 1, he speaks also of that redemption. As obedient children, not fasting
yourselves, according to the former lusts in your ignorance. But as he which hath called you
is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because
it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And the redemption
of our Lord then delivers from that power and dominion of sin. Paul speaks in the previous chapter
to the one where our text is, how that he was alive without
the law once, but when sin, the law came, sin revived and I died. He was brought as a transgressor. And really all of those that
are redeemed will know in themselves they need redeeming. They need
setting free. They feel the bondage. They need
that. And if we went back to the type
of the children of Israel in Egypt, they knew they needed
to be set free. They knew that nothing, all those
nine signs never set them free. They knew that there needed to
be something else to give them liberty, to deliver them from
Egyptian bondage in this world. is too strong for us. Our sinful
nature, our old nature is too strong for us. We need the Lord
to set us free. We need the Lord to give us a
new nature, a new birth, which is holy right from the beginning.
It is at the point of the new birth, I pass by thee when thou
wast in thy blood, when thou wast in thy blood, I bid thee
live. It is at that point that the redemption of the soul is
realized. You might say, well, is it not
realized at death when the soul is released from the body and
returns to God that gave it? In one sense it is, but there's
no real change in the state of that soul. The soul is alive
from the moment it is quickened into life. And the apostle is
speaking here to the Romans as are those that are already set
free, they are already alive, they have already the first fruits
of the Spirit, the earlier part of our text, which have the first
fruits of the Spirit, already they are set free. None of us have been to Calvary,
even if we were there, we could not see. literally, our sins
on our Lord. But all, all will know the real
effect. We spoke of the effect on Christ
groaning under his sin. And if we are called by grace
and given that new birth and life in our souls, we'll know
first what our own sins are in some some way, smaller or greater,
the weight and burden of sin. And then we will know, as the
Spirit leads us to view Christ and to be blessed with the Spirit
revealing, I, if I be lifted up above the earth will draw
all men unto me. To view the Lord, to believe
on Him, to believe what He has done, that will loose from that
burden and from that bondage and set free from that. And there
will be the difference, the weight taken away. Bunyan pictures it
all the time that his Christian had fled from the city of destruction. He was bearing this burden and
he couldn't get it free, couldn't be loose from it in any way.
until He came to the cross, until He viewed the cross, and then
it dropped off and into Christ's grave. And it is the only way
that sin shall be atoned for, that we shall realise the deliverance
from its power, its weight, its bondage, its guilt, is all in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so redemption of the soul
is known by the effects. And Barnabas, when he saw those
that believed at Antioch, he saw the grace of God and was
glad. If you want to know the effects,
look at the first part of the first chapter in Colossians. It is given there what the Apostle
is seeing in those Colossians believers. as real effects of
the grace of God. In fact, many, many of the epistles
of the Apostle, the first part, he gives thanks for them, and
he narrates exactly what he's giving thanks for, and it's the
fruits and effects of God's grace giving life to the soul, redeeming
to the soul. But I want to look at the second,
that is the redemption of the body, because At this present
time, God's people still are in the body. They're not perfect
bodies, and they still have the flesh which lusts against the
spirit. There is still that conflict.
Paul says in chapter 7 of Romans that the good that he would,
I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do. He says, now
if I do that, I would not, it is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. I delight in the law
of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity,
the law of sin which is in my members." And this is why he
says, a wretched man that I am. He might say the animal instincts
of our fallen nature are only corrupt. We have all the infirmities,
all the evidences of sin still working in our bodies, every
pain, every affliction, and also troubling our minds as well.
And yet there is to be a redemption of the body. Paul says that we
groan, not that we should be unclothed but clothed upon. We do not groan. We're looking
for death that shall then release that soul to return to God and
that be the end. No, he says, the body also She
is redeemed. Job says that, though after my
skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. Our bodies are redeemed as well. They shall be raised again at
the last day. Paul, when he writes to the Thessalonians,
at the end of chapter 4 on the first epistle to them, I would
not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no
hope. Their souls are departed, their
souls are with the Lord. If we believe that Christ Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus,
God will bring with Him." And he's speaking. of the resurrection
of the dead. Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. And so we are changed, like Elijah,
like Enoch. And the beautiful first chapter,
the first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 15, and the apostle goes
into the resurrection. There were those in that church
that said there's no resurrection of the dead. In that whole long
chapter, Paul says if there's no resurrection of the dead,
then is Christ not raised? Our faith is vain, our hope is
vain. There is a resurrection of the
body. This is why we are cautioned
about taking them, our members, and making them join to an harlot. You might say, but it's only
the body, it's not the soul. No, it's joined to it. We're
to take care of our bodies, and even at death. Though Worms said
Job will destroy his body, Yet the right way is for burial,
not cremation. And especially if we have loved
ones that would not honour that request, we should make provision
in a will or make it very clear that we desire to follow our
Lord in burial and all of those of the fathers and the people
of God and not those that were not God's people that were cremated. It doesn't mean to say one is
cremated that one cannot go to heaven. No. But if we fear the
Lord, we want to do with our bodies, showing that respect. And you think how Jacob, Joseph
showed respect and Abraham to the bodies of their relatives. They spoke of them as if that
was still them. It wasn't just a carcass. It was that person that would
rise again. Yes, the soul is the person that
ascends up into heaven, but we respect those mortal remains,
as that one day the Lord will quicken and raise them again,
and they are as much redeemed as what the soul is. It is a
precious truth. There shall be a new heavens,
a new earth, and we shall have a new body. a sinless, perfect
body, and be one, complete, in the kingdom of God. As much as
we can physically see things here below, heaven is not less
real, it is just as real, more happy, but not more secure. The
glorified saints above, that one time there shall be, that
brings safely above, and that we shall be clothed in a body
that is a perfect one and be like unto the Lord and the angels
in heaven. Now may we be clear, there is
to be yet a redemption of the body and here below this is what
we're waiting for, to be adopted, joined, brought to heaven and
joined again with our redeemed body, waiting for the adoption
to wit, the redemption of our body. May we be like those then
that wait, that expect, that look, and amidst all the groaning,
infirmities, and the wrestlings, and the conflict between sin
and the old nature, and the new man of grace, we look for that
time, that conflict, will not be there. We can hardly picture
it, can we? Here below we have that conflict
between that new nature and our old nature, and to think that
there shall come a time that we shall have a body, but there
be a complete harmony between body and soul, no conflict at
all, no internal temptation or warfare, but a complete oneness. And as much as the Lord gives
that first redemption of the soul, he will give the second. And he will bring both together,
completely redeemed, to be with him forever and ever. May the
Lord grant us to be partaker of the first and to have that
hope of the redemption of the body too. The Lord bless his
word. Amen.