Turn with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 77. Psalm 77. And let's look at verse
11. I will remember the works of
the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders
of old. I will meditate also of all thy
work and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our
God? Thou art the God that doest wonders,
that hath declared thy strength among the people. Now verse 15
is gonna be our text. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed
thy people, the sons of Jacob, and Joseph. Thou hast with thine
arm redeemed thy people. Redeemed how I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed by the blood of the
lamb. Redeemed through his infinite
mercy. Infinite mercy. His child and
forever I am. I know I shall see in his beauty. I was just enjoying that song
while we were singing it, and I thought, I wonder who wrote
this song. Guess who it was? Fanny Crosby. I love that woman. Stricken with blindness, she
said, I know I will see in his beauty. I know I will. Just like Job. I know with these
eyes, I'm going to see the Lord. I know I shall see in his beauty
the king in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps
and giveth me songs in the night, redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed through his infinite mercy, his
child and forever I am. I want us to think on the subject
of redemption this morning. The redemption of God's chosen
people. Our redemption. The subject matter
of eternity. That is the subject matter of
eternity. It strikes me that in the book
of the Revelation, when it talks about God's people eternally
crying out to Him in thankfulness and praise, it strikes me that
it does not say And if you really think about what I'm about to
say here, we can understand why it could say this. But it strikes
me that it does not say, we give the great thanks because we finally
fulfilled the law. It does not say we give glory
and honor to the fact that we finally attained in the flesh
what is satisfactory to you. It doesn't say that. Over and over again it says this
will be the theme of glory. For all eternity we will cry
thou art worthy. for thou wast slain and redeemed
us to God by thy blood. Now unto him that loved us and
washed us from our sin in his own blood. That's the issue, that is the
theme, that is the subject matter right now and it will be for
all eternity. That subject matter will not
change ever, never. Many years ago, a man said to
his pastor at that time, And this pastor was very strong on
the truth and the gospel of Christ crucified, but this man was not
satisfied with that. And I was there, I heard this
with my own two ears. This man said to his pastor, there is more to this than how
sinners are justified before God. There is more to this than redemption
in the blood of Jesus Christ. He said, we need to be delving
off into some of these other things, like man's responsibility. I was much younger than I am
now, but even back then I thought, I listened to that and I thought,
what a fool. What a fool. Go stand before
the judgment throne of God and say, there are some other things
I want to plead. There are some other things that
I want to add to the finished work of Christ. See how that
goes. See how that goes. That pastor
responded to that man by saying, I am determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Redeemed. Oh, how I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite mercy. Would you like to dwell
on that for a while? Just think about the word infinite,
infinite mercy. His child and forever I am. I want us to go through some
scriptures and establish everything that we just said. I want us
to have a full scope overview of redemption. And what I mean
by that is with what limited capacity of it I have, and what
limited time we have, I want us to see as much as we can of
this subject of redemption. Verse 15 right here says, thou
hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob
and Joseph. That tells us who did it, thou. That tells us how successful
he was in doing it. Hast. Thou hast. That tells us how he did it. With thine arm. That tells us who he did it for. Thy people. And that tells us what they were
and what they were redeemed from, the sons of Jacob and Joseph,
sinners redeemed from their sin. Sinners redeemed from their sin. That's how we can know that he
did this for us. God has a people. He did it for
his people. Call his name Jesus. He'll save
his people from their sin. That's how we can know we're
one of them. He did this for sinners. Sinners. Jacob is a picture of us. Joseph
is a picture of Christ. Sinners redeemed from their sin. Let's prove this through the
word. Who did this? Turn with me to
Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43 verse 1 says, but now
thus saith the Lord that created thee. Who is the Lord that created
us? Who is the creator of all things? Who is the creator of all things? John chapter 1 says it's Jesus
Christ. All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made that was made. Colossians
chapter one says, by Him, by Jesus Christ, were all things
created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. Verse one says, but now thus
saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee,
O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called
thee by thy name, thou art mine. That's the message. That's the
word of the Spirit to the heart of one of God's own when he calls
that child to himself. I have redeemed thee. I'm calling
you. Me? Yes, you. You're mine. Well, don't I have
to make a decision? No, you're mine. Well, what if
I reject you? You can't. You're mine. I bought
you. I own you. You're mine. Who did this? The Lord did this. It's the Lord. Verse 14 right
here says, thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel. Who is the Holy One of Israel?
When those devils said, we know who you are, the Holy One of
Israel, who were they talking to? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. I love his name,
sweetest name I know, Jesus Christ. Look at Isaiah 44. Verse 23,
Isaiah 44, 23. Sing, oh ye heavens, for the
Lord hath done it. Shout ye lower parts of the earth,
break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every
tree therein, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified
himself in Israel. The Lord hath done it. The Lord
hath done it. You know, that is the message. That's the message. What are
we here to hear? The Lord hath done it. That's the gospel. That's
the truth. The Lord has done it. The Lord Jesus Christ, he redeemed
Jacob. And in the process of doing that,
he glorified himself in Israel. That's one of my favorite 150,000
verses. If any man glory, let him glory
in the Lord. The Lord redeemed me. From what? What did he redeem me from? Look
at verse 22. Isaiah 44 verse 22. He said, I have blotted out as
a thick cloud thy transgressions. What does he mean blotted out?
That's when they used to take hyssop and dip it in the blood
of the sacrifice. I've blotted out as a thick cloud
thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto me, for
I have redeemed thee. Redeemed, redeemed from what? Redeemed from sin. Redeemed from
sin. How can I know if he did this
for me? How can I know if I'm included
in this? Well, are you a sinner? There's
going to be a yes or no answer. And incredibly, some people won't
say yes. I'm a sinner. Are you a sinner? Are you a great sinner in need
of great mercy and redemption in the blood of Jesus Christ?
Yes. Well then verse 22, he is saying
to you, I have blotted out as a thick cloud your transgression.
And as a cloud, your sins return unto me, for I've redeemed thee. Psalm 136 verse 24 says, he redeemed
us from our enemies. Do you know what our greatest
enemy is? Our sin. I'm my own greatest enemy. My greatest enemy is the sin
that lives right inside of me. I can deal with other people
a lot better than I can deal with myself. He, Christ, redeemed us from
our sin and the effects of our sin and the result of our sin. In Hosea 13, verse 14, he said,
I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them
from death. Psalm 103 says, bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all
thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth
thy life from destruction." Our Lord Jesus Christ redeemed His
people from their sin, from the grave of death, and from eternal
destruction. He paid the price to set them
free. That's what redeemed means. It
means paying the price. Paying the price in full. Christ
paid the price in full. In its fullness. Well, how much
do I owe? Nothing. He paid the price in
full. Well, did we go in halves on
it? No. He paid the price in full. Well,
can I at least give a tip? No. He paid the price in full. He paid the price in full. What
did he pay it with? What was the price? Look at Isaiah
52. Isaiah 52 verse 1, it says, Awake,
awake, put on thy strength, O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem. the holy city, for henceforth
there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the
unclean. Shake thyself from the dust,
arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bands
of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus saith the Lord,
you have sold yourselves for naught, and you shall be redeemed
without money. He said, the price is going to
be paid, but it's not going to be paid with money. Peter said,
you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. By His own ability, by His own
strength, and perfection, and spotlessness, and holiness, and
value, and worth, Christ gave Himself for the redemption of
His people. He gave Himself. He gave His
body. He gave His blood. He gave His
back to the smiters. He gave His head to the thorns. His body was broken. His body
was broken. His blood was poured out. Look
at verse 14, Isaiah 52, verse 14. As many were astonished at
thee. His visage was so marred more
than any man and His form more than the sons of men. Why? Because that was the price that
had to be paid for sin against God. God's chosen people couldn't
pay it, could not pay it. So Christ came and He paid it
for them. Look at chapter 53, verse 4. It says, Surely he hath
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Verse 5 says, He
was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. Verse 6 says, All we like sheep
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. The Lord laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Verse seven says, he was oppressed, he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment and who shall declare his generation for he was cut
off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. He was stricken. He was cut off.
Verse 9 says He died. Verse 10 says it pleased the
Lord to do all that to Him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him for the redemption of His people. Galatians 3.13 says Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the law. How? by being made a curse for us. I wish people knew that. I wish
people knew that and could understand what that meant. How did he redeem
us? By being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. That was the price of our redemption,
his curse. He was made sin so we could be
made the righteousness of God in Him. By one sacrifice of Himself,
He once entered into the holy place with His own blood. And by the offering of His own blood
once, He obtained eternal redemption for us. Eternal redemption for
every soul that the Father placed in Him. Every soul that the Father
gave Him to make that payment for. And now because of that,
because the payment is made and the redemption of God's people
is finished, it is finished. It's paid in full. It is paid. And because of that, turn with
me to Isaiah 62. I can't wait to read this to
you. Isaiah 62, because it's finished,
redemption is made. The price is paid in full for
all of God's people. Isaiah 62 verse 10 says, go through,
go through the gates, prepare ye the way of the people. You see that? Prepare ye the
way of the people. Cast up, cast up the highway,
gather out the stones. That's God's people. Lift up
a standard for the people. That's Christ. Behold, the Lord
hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye to the daughter
of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh. That's a person. Behold,
his reward is with him, that's his people, and his work before
him. That's the redemption of his
people. Verse 12 says, and they shall call them the holy people,
the redeemed of the Lord, and thou shalt be called sought out,
a city not forsaken. For how long? How long are they
going to be called that? How long are they going to be
called the redeemed of the Lord, the holy people of God, the sought
out city that shall not be forsaken? How long? Forever. Eternal redemption is forever,
forever and ever. Amen. Eternal redemption. In closing, go with me to Revelation
5. This is the end result for all
of the redeemed in Christ. Every soul who has received faith
in the redeeming blood of Christ alone. Verse 9, Revelation 5
verse 9, it says, and they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy. That old song that they used
to sing was, I am worthy, we are worthy. But now they have
a new song. 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 has made us unto our God kings and priests
and we shall reign on the earth And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast and
the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000
and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is
the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and
strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature
which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such
as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying, blessing
and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon
the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four
beasts said, Amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever." Fell down
and worshiped him. Worshipped him, you know what
they were crying in their worship? Redeemed how I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed by the blood of the
lamb. Redeemed through his infinite mercy, his child, and forever
I am. I will forever sing of my Redeemer
and his wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross he suffered
from the curse to set me free. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer.
With his blood he purchased me. On the cross he sealed my pardon.