One of the most wonderful things God can ever do for a sinner
is to put that prayer in his heart so that he can truly and gratefully
pray, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. If you would turn back again
with me one more time to the book of Titus. Titus chapter 2, where we've been looking at those
last few verses of this chapter, wherein the apostle talks about
the appearing of our Savior, and also about what grace teaches
the people of God. There is a reason why believers
look with anticipation to that blessed hope to the coming and appearing of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not only for who He is. If you look back in verse 13,
He reminds us of who He is. He says, "...looking for that
blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. The great God is our Savior. He is the just God and the Savior. That's who's coming. That's who's
appearing will take place. But there is also another reason
why we anticipate His appearing, and that is because of what He
has done for us. And that's what we find stated
again in verse 14. who gave himself for us, that
he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works." The one who is appearing is our
glorious Redeemer. When He was announced at His
first coming by that one appointed named John the Baptist, He was
announced in this redemptive character John said, Behold the
Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. We look for Him, we praise Him
because He freely and voluntarily gave Himself to redeem his people. He gave his unique, one-of-a-kind,
sinless self. And when you think about redemption,
redemption automatically presupposes a state of slavery and bondage. And this must have been our state
if we had to be redeemed. But with this redemption is also
involved and requires a ransom. Redemption in the biblical sense
of the word and really all others don't count. But in the biblical
sense of this word and doctrine of redemption, it always shows
in this book that a ransom price was required. And what this book declares is
that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to accomplish
a redemption. a particular redemption of his
elect people by giving, by paying himself as the ransom price for
their deliverance from the bondage and slavery that they fell into. Hold your place here and turn
back to Matthew's Gospel in chapter 20 and listen to the Lord Redeemer
Himself at what He says in verse 28. He says, "...even as the
Son of Man came not to be ministered unto." You cannot do anything
by way of worship or service in any way to God until you learn
that it is not what you do for Him that saves you, it's what
He has done for you. He says, the Son of Man came
not to be ministered unto, or to be served, but to minister,
or to serve, and to give His life a ransom. There it is. The ransom price. To give His life a ransom for
many. Not every person in Adam's race. That is the dooming and damning
doctrine of our day. Universal redemption, which simply
in the mind of man makes redemption possible for all, but doesn't
actually redeem anybody unless they act on what is done. No. He came into this world to
give His life a ransom for many. And Paul shows us here in our
text what we find elsewhere all over this book, and that is that
his death, his sacrifice, is a particular price paid for a
particular people. And anything less makes the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the work and sacrifice of Christ,
really to no effect. He is not glorified by how many
He makes savable. He is not glorified by how many
He makes redeemable. His glory lies in the fact that
those the Father gave Him in that everlasting covenant of
redemption and entrusted into His care that He actually came
and by His death redeemed them. He's the Redeemer. And rather than being general
and universal, this redemptive work of the Lord Jesus is most
definitely particular. Turn in your Bibles over to the
book of Revelation and look in Revelation chapter 14. Because here we have, by the
Spirit of God, a revelation, if you will, of those who will
be redeemed by Christ. Revelation 14 and verse 4. John beholds this glorious company. And he finds out who they are,
and it says, These are they which were not defiled with women,
for they are virgins. And that is not in a physical
sense, that's in a spiritual sense. They were preserved by
God from fully and finally falling into the snares of the harlot
Babylon. She came with all her beauty. She came to them with all her
glorious promises, such as are described in the book of Proverbs,
this harlot who decks herself out and seeks to lure, that in
all ways brings down, it says, her way, the way to her house
is the way of death. But God preserved them. He brought
them out. He delivered them. They'll be
presented as chaste virgins to Christ. But listen to what it
says. These are they which follow the
Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed. Now what are those next three
words? From among men. They weren't
a part of some universal truth that were offered or provided
for. No, they were actually redeemed
from among men. That ought to tell us all about
this redemption being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And this is exactly what we find
all throughout this Scripture about the Redeemer and His redemption. When Paul is talking to those
elders from Ephesus in the book of Acts, he reminds them of the
charge that they've been given by God. He says, "...take heed
therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God." And then he gives a real clear description of that church. You make sure that you take charge
of all your responsibilities in this matter of feeding the
church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood."
He purchased with His own blood the church. He is bright. And then that's
exactly what Paul is making reference to in Ephesians 5. Now we live
in a day when everything about the family and marriage and all
these things are really so emphasized and made a very critical part
of religion. We want to go to a good family
church. Well, here's a family verse.
He says in Ephesians 5 verse 25, Husbands, love your wives. Even as Christ also loved the
church and gave Himself for it. Isn't that particular? I'm sure
the apostle Paul was not teaching some kind of free love or loose
relationships in the marriage vow. No, he says, love your wives
particularly, sacrificially, definitely, just like Christ
loved the church. He didn't say, love every man's
wife. He said, love your wives. And
the great example of it is how Christ loved His church and gave
Himself for it. And one of the greatest examples
in all of Scripture that we have of this Redeemer and this redemption
is that man Boaz. You know, we read the book of
Ruth, but the book of Ruth is not about Ruth really at all.
It's about Boaz, and Boaz is a type of the kinsman Redeemer. So when he went down to the gates
of the city to redeem Ruth and Naomi, he went down there, first
of all, as one who was willing to redeem her. The kinsman-redeemer
had to be one willing to redeem her. And not only that, he had
to be one who legally could redeem her. There had to be a connection
there. There had to be a family connection
there. And so he went down there as
the one willing to and the one who could redeem, and he had
to be able to. And brother Boaz was able. And
he went down there to that gate. He went down there willingly,
lovingly, able. He went down there and satisfied
every claim against her. And when He did so, He redeemed
her. He didn't redeem every woman
in Israel. But He redeemed His bride. And when you read what the Apostle
writes here, He tells us in our verse, He tells us who it is
that He did give His life for. He said, for us. Do you ever
notice that's what the Bible says many times? How that the
Lord Jesus Christ, He died for us, He died and He gave His life
for us, He purchased us, and this is simply a reference that
everywhere in this book, this book is, you might say, God's
love letter to His people. And outside of the Lord Jesus
Christ, you're just reading somebody else's mail. Whenever you sit
down and read this book as just a historical book, or you read
it as a reference book, or you read it as a moral guide, whatever
it is, and you do not find the Redeemer in it, you missed it. You're blind. You may be able
to quote it. You may be able to talk about
verses and describe doctrines and all that, but this is the
book of redemption. This is about the Redeemer, and
not only the Redeemer, but those He redeemed. He gave His life
for us. He gave His life a ransom for
many, and this agrees with what Christ as the good, great Chief
Shepherd said in John 10. The shepherd said, I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd gives his life for the sheep. I heard a preacher say
once, he said, if you'll do this or that, I forget what it was,
his little prescription, he said, if you'll do this or that or
the other, he said, God will take you from being a goat and
make you one of his sheep. That's the most ridiculous, the
most anti-biblical statement you can make. He looked at those
Pharisees who thoroughly rejected Him and despised Him, sought
to stone Him, and finally exercised His crucifixion, and He said,
you are of your father the devil. And you believe not, because
you're not of my sheep." You're not a goat with a possibility
of being made of sheep. You're a goat, and that's the
way you're going to be from the time that you're here all the
way to that day when He separates the sheep from the goats. He
said, I lay down my life for the sheep. Not only that. He
says, "...as the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father,
and I lay down my life for the sheep." Two times he tells us
that in John 10. Now is that right? That's right. It isn't a possibility mission
he came on. I remember when The president
landed on the deck of that ship, and he said, mission accomplished.
Back, I think, during the whole Iraqi thing, they laughed at
him. Maybe justly, I don't know. But
I know this, when the Lord Jesus Christ sat down on the throne
of glory, being raised from the dead, I don't know if he said
it or not, but it would have been true, mission accomplished. Redemption accomplished. Deliverance accomplished. And
you notice this ransom, it is himself, not in a mere sense
of dedication. I hear people always say, she
gave herself to that, or he dedicated himself to that. That's not the
sense here. It's the sense of sacrifice. It's a sense of giving His life. It's a sense of shedding His
blood. A lot of folks will stand in
religious meetings today and they'll sing about the blood
of Jesus. Nothing but the blood. What can
wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And I like that song, but actually
there's a little bit of an error in the way that's expressed.
Because the Lord's people can sing that song and sing it like
this, What has washed away my sins? Nothing but the blood of
Jesus. It isn't my application of the
blood to me. It's His application of the blood
for me, and it's like it was in the redemption in Egypt. He says, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Sometimes I don't see the blood
so clearly. Sometimes I'm so full of unbelief
and ignorance and so stumbling in my own sins and so distracted
and all these things, I don't see the blood so clearly. But
He does. He sees the blood. He always
sees the blood. And when he sees the blood, he
passes over his people, because he said in the very beginning
of this book, you know, you eat all these various things and
drink all these various things, but not the blood. Why? He said the life is in the
blood. You see, the requirement was,
and always will be, that the soul that sinneth shall surely
die. You couldn't spend ten lifetimes
as a sinner going around doing so-called good, and somehow undo
the evil that you are by nature, and the evil that occurred when
you fell in Adam, or the evil that characterizes everything
you do. There's just one thing, and that's
death. The soul that sins. Now we have
got to deny that we've sinned. We've got to deny that we're
sinners in any way to have any kind of a peace. Because the
soul that sins shall surely die. That never changed. And God,
in order to save His people, He didn't bypass what He'd already
said. He didn't violate His own law,
and most especially His own holy and just character, just to reach
down and save a wretched piece of mud like we are. He, in great
justice, saves His people. The soul that sins must die. And a sinner cannot die for a
sinner. So the only way to accomplish
a salvation or a redemption is for that one who is made flesh
and dwells among us and who knows no sin to die in our place. And through His death, which
is described as a unique death, as unique as His person, the
Apostle calling it the death of the cross, through this redemption
of all He died for, it's an accomplished thing. And those Old Testament sacrifices,
they pictured this work. Some of them more clearly than
others. But every sacrifice that was
offered under that Mosaic economy, everything that was done to show
a bloodshedding, all these things that were carried out under that
ceremonial law, it was all done as a picture of the Redeemer. No Israelites. After coming out
of Egypt, whether they believed it or not, they would never have
denied that all that goes on around that tabernacle or temple,
it all has to do with blood. Because this is the only way
sinners whose sins require death could be redeemed, and that is
by blood, by a perfect life laid down. In Hebrews, the apostle writes,
and he says, "...neither by the blood of goats and calves." I
can't imagine what would go on if such an economy of religion
were to take place in this country right now. What an outcry there
would be that so many lambs and so many animals were taken and
just slain. Oh, they would raise, Peter would
be in the streets, and there'd be a lot going on. Such a waste,
they'd say. Not if it points to Christ. Nothing
on this earth is so valuable that it ought not be offered
or sacrificed in the name and for the glory of God in Christ. He says, but it wasn't by the
blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood. You can make
fun of a blood redemption or a mercantile redemption, whatever
you want to call it if you want to, that's the only one in this
book. But by His own blood. By His
own sinless, perfect life laid down, by His own blood, He entered
in once into the holy place, not on earth, but in heaven. You see, not only was that blood
typical, but all those tabernacles and those things in the... they
were all typical also of the things in heaven, of the things
of God's glory. But listen to this. He entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. Having obtained. Wounded for our transgressions. Bruised for our iniquities. For the sins of my people, God
says. And He actually, fully, completely,
by Himself obtained eternal redemption for us. He goes on in that same chapter
and says, "...how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" The first
reference there is to those Old Testament sacrifices. That's
what purges. The blood actually shed, that
perfect blood, that sacrifice actually offered up by the substitute
and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's what purges our conscience
from all such other foolishness. And the reason it purges our
conscience is because the matter has already been settled in the
court of heaven, and if we are made to know it's settled in
the court of heaven, then it's settled in the court of our conscience. And this past transaction within
the Godhead is our salvation. Nothing I do can add to that.
My faith, if God enables me to believe it, that doesn't make
it effectual. He said, it's finished. Now,
because it's finished, out of that flows the gift of faith
that the Spirit of God gives to His people. But that's not
the cause of the accomplishment of it. He redeemed us. When Paul writes to the church
at Ephesus, he says, in whom you trusted after that you heard
the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation." You know
what gospel goes around in our day? There's no telling how many
million times it will be proclaimed today. The gospel of how to be
saved. The gospel of what you need to
do to be saved. Paul said, you didn't trust Him
until after you heard the Word of Truth. The gospel of your
salvation. The good news that God in the
redeeming work and character of His Son saved you altogether. You see, He is coming to get
us because He has bought us with a price, Paul says. Proud sinners don't like such
possession. I came to learn that it's who
possesses you that counts. Now if another sinner possesses
me, that might not be such a good thing. But if the Lord of glory
possesses me. If I can say as His bride says
there in the song of Solomon, I am my beloved's and He is mine. That's wonderful. That's marvelous. He says, "...for you are bought
with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your
spirit which are God's." Then he says again, "...you are bought
with a price, be ye not the servants of men." This is why the gospel is a saver
of life to some. The glad tidings that He has
redeemed us. The truth that He has given to
us, salvation, and that salvation is in His Son. Turn over to Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1, and look
down in verse 7 at what Paul says. He says, in whom? In Christ. We have redemption
through His blood. You see that? He writes to these
believers at the church at Ephesus. And He says, we've got it. It's
ours in Christ. He says, we have redemption through
His blood. What does that involve? The forgiveness
of sins. The remission of sins. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. That word remission and that
word forgiveness in the New Testament original, it is the same oftentimes. There is no forgiveness in a
priest. There certainly is not any forgiveness
in a preacher standing down at the front of the building. I
ought to know, I made enough trips as a young person. I went
to rededicate my life. I didn't know much about what
sin was, but I knew I had sinned. And here's this fellow standing
at the front of the building down the aisle, and you go down
there and shake his hands and rededicate, they say, your life. How are you going to rededicate
something you don't have? I didn't have life. Just death. Just blindness. Just ignorance. Lostness. It's always in Christ. And it's
always through Christ crucified. In whom we have redemption. Through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins. According to the riches of His
grace." I hear that word used all the time, grace. Grace. But it usually comes out something
like this, we believe in salvation by grace, but no. No but follows grace. Salvation
is all of grace. You could not buy it. You could
not make it. You could not accomplish it.
You don't deserve it. It's by grace. And when you admit
to salvation by grace, what you're admitting to and confessing is,
there's no way that I could ever deserve what I've got. That's why I look for my Redeemer. My wife's done a lot of things
for me. And you as a church have done
a lot of things for me. You as individuals have done
a lot of things for me. But you none could ever do the
one thing I need most of all, and that is to save my wretched
lost soul. Redeem me from sin. Paul writes
the same thing in Colossians 1 and verse 14, he said, "...in
whom we have redemption." And God makes all His people to know
this and to be assured of this when He gives them faith to believe
the gospel, which is good news, that He simply did not make redemption
possible, but He redeemed a people chosen in Christ and given to
Him in an everlasting covenant of redemption. That covenant. has to be a covenant of redemption. You say, why? How do you know
that? Because the Lord Jesus Christ in the shedding of His
blood, His blood is called the blood of the everlasting covenant. Do you remember what God says
in that reading we had of Job chapter 33? He describes that
awful condition of man. He describes all these things.
And then He says that when man's like this, unable to do anything,
God steps in in grace. And He says, deliver him from
going down to the pit. But he deserves it. He says,
I have found a ransom. I found a ransom. Look over in
1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter 1 at verse 18. Peter writing to these believers,
he says in verse 18 of chapter 1 of 1 Peter, that you were not redeemed with
corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers." Many of those he wrote
this letter to were straight out of the legalism and the works
religion that Judaism had become. He said, you know you were not
redeemed by those things. You know you're not redeemed
by those traditions of men. That's a wonderful thing when
the Lord brings us out of these traditions such as the Pharisees
who taught the traditions of men as being the law and Word
of God. No. You're not redeemed by these
things. You know you're not. He says,
But with the precious blood, priceless blood of Christ as
of a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's what redemption
is about. But look at that next verse,
"...who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you." Redemption
is not an afterthought of God. It's the purpose of God. It's
the will of God. Christ is described as that Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. And what has He redeemed us from?
Verse 14 in our text says, "...all iniquity." All our sins, our original sin
in Adam, all our sins of commission and all our sins of omission,
it is the forgiveness of sins, all sins, past, present, future. My sins were all. future when
He died. Except my sin and Adam. You know sometimes that hangs
over our head. We ought to be conscious and
seek grace that we are, this is our goal as John says, sin
not. But don't you kid yourself one
bit. There's never been an hour in this day or any day in your
life, nor ever will there be a time that you do not sin. We sin because we're sinners. Sin pollutes everything we do. I was messing with some liver
dye the other day, and I was going to try to be so careful,
you know. I can still see it around my
fingernails. It's just everything you touch. I shocked my wife
this morning. I got up and started washing
dishes. My motive is we're not pure.
I want to get my hands clean. But everything we do, because we're sinners, But He came to save His people
from their sins. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
us from all sins. That word cleanseth has that
ETH in the Old English which speaks of a continual action.
When John saw Him in the Revelation, he said, I saw Him as a lamb
newly slain. His work is finished, but it's
always fresh. Cleanseth us from our sins. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Some people put up
the Ten Commandments as if it's going to pronounce Some goodness
to them or not. Well, some people wear them around
their neck. All the law, all the Ten Commandments can do is
pronounce you guilty. That's right. But it can never
pronounce the Lord's children guilty. Because He redeemed them
from the curse of the law by being made a curse for them. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on the tree." He redeems us from all
sin. And I have mentioned this to
you before because I believe this is the experience of most
of the Lord's people. And that is that there is a sin
that haunts them. The sin that they did that to
this day, the very thought of it, makes them cringe. How awful it was. How... Oh, I wish I could go back and
undo that. It's just... all sins. The blood of Jesus
Christ cleanseth us from all sins. Aren't you glad of that? I know I am. Cleanseth us from all sins. I like what that old hymn writer
said. He said, My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part, but the
whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise
the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! All of it. It's a full redemption. He didn't
redeem us from most of our sins and say to us, you get the rest
of it straight now. You pay for the rest of it. No. And He did it as a gift. He gave
Himself. They went to that garden and
they laid hold of it. But just to let us know that
they were in control, when he asked who it was they were for,
he simply said, after they called his name, I am, and every one
of those soldiers fell backwards. You think they were taking him
against his will? I don't think so. They took Him
and they led Him down that street, bearing His own cross, and they
spit on Him and mocked Him and beat Him and everything else.
You think all of that was done against His sovereign, high,
almighty will? And when they hung Him on that
cross, nailed those nails in His hand, pierced His side, crowned
Him with thorns, He said, I could call 10,000 leagues angels. They said, if you be the Son
of God, come down off that cross. No, he stayed on that cross because
he is the Son of God. And he did something no man and
woman has ever done before. I know some people think that
suicide is the same thing. Let me tell you it's not. I know people who've tried to
end it. It didn't work for them. It says He yielded up the ghost. He literally laid down His life. He gave as a gift of all the
Godhead's free and sovereign grace Himself. Look over in Romans chapter 3. Look down at verse 24 of Romans
3. Being. The sense of that is literally
this. Having been. Having been justified. Declared perfectly righteous
by God freely. Freely. I love free. Can't help it. I'm cheap. I love
free. Freely here is the same word
that is translated in another place in the Gospels concerning
Christ. It's translated this way, without
a cause. It says, they hated Him without
a cause. Same word. So, without a cause
in us, we're justified freely by His grace. But let me tell you something
about God's grace. His grace is righteous grace.
It's that grace that reigns through righteousness. He doesn't sweep
our sins under the carpet. He doesn't violate His character
in our forgiveness, in our redemption. He pays the price Himself. freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." He's right to forgive his people
through the blood of Christ. Satisfied justice says to all
that Christ died for, you must go free. When they came to get
him, he said, you come after me? They said, yeah. Well, these
must go free. That's the way justice is. Christ
died for me, I must go free. I wouldn't dare go out and try
to preach anything to anybody in the hopes that they'd do something. I try to preach with the message
of what Christ has already done. I know His people. His sheep
will hear His voice and follow Him. And they'll rejoice in it. and they'll look for their Redeemer. You see, it must be of grace
we cannot redeem ourselves, and God is just. He says, "...they
that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude
of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother,
nor give to God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their
soul is precious, and it ceases forever." We don't have anything
to give. They may say, give God your time,
your talents and your tithe, but He owns all that. But we need a ransom, a redemption. And under that law of Moses,
I guess one of the best pictures of us and what's necessary to
redeem us is under that law that says that the first sling of
an ass, the first offspring of this donkey, he's got to be redeemed
by a lamb. What? You're going to take? scrawny, ugly critter that has
just been born of this donkey and you're going to take a perfect
lamb over here and cut its throat and shed its blood in order to
redeem it and let it live? Take my word for it, that's not
even a real good contrast comparing the Lord Jesus Christ and me.
And he said, if you don't do that, You've got to break his
neck. Break his neck. This is a substitutionary,
a vicarious redemption. He says it's for us. And the
redeemed are those that God brings to look to the Lord Jesus Christ,
to salvation by His free and sovereign grace, who are brought
to love this redemption and have it as their only hope I could
say and be true, if you want to know about my salvation, it's
my Redeemer. It's my Redeemer. It says He
gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
It will be made manifest who He redeemed. Revelation 5, when John saw them
again, it says, "...and they sung a new song, saying, Thou
art worthy to open the book, and to open the seals thereof,
for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God." We're not
just redeemed from sin, we're redeemed to God. "...by Thy blood, out of..."
every kindred and tongue and people and nation." And so he says to his people,
they have two names given to them to describe them. Though in actuality these were
the same names of one man. One name that describes them
is the character they are in themselves, Jacob. wretched,
conniving, lying, tricking Jacobs. The other name that God gave
him was Israel, Prince of God. So he says, Fear not thou worm
Jacob. Do you ever forget what you are
in yourself? Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and
ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." The other great picture of redemption
in this book is the redemption you read about in the book of
Hosea. You talk about the wisdom of God not being the wisdom of
man. God told him, He said, you go
and marry this wretched woman. Take her for your wife by the
name of Gomer. And Gomer, without any surprise
to God, did just exactly what she had the character and nature
to do. She went a-whoring. She had her lovers. She did all
these things. fell into the very depths of
sin, even thinking that what was provided for her was provided
by these lovers, so-called, when all the time it was Hosea laying
in at the door. Well, he ought to just write
her off, I guess. No, God says no. You go get her. And so Hosea
goes down to the slave market. There she is. What a... The worst crack-headed prostitute
in all the town. She'd be in our day. And he goes
down there. He loves her. And he goes down
there and he pays the price required to deliver her. And God says
of His Israel, I will love her freely. What could Hosea possibly
get out of this? Nothing. But it says, he went
down there and he says, and I bought her to myself. Nobody else wanted
her. Nobody else could buy her or
would buy her. But He redeemed her. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did for His people. They're wretches. They fell so
far in at Him, they couldn't get back if they wanted to. But
because of that fall, they didn't even want to. They weren't looking
for Him. If I were preaching to people who
were searching after Jesus, I'd just go home. There's none that
seeketh after God. If I was looking for a few good
men like the Marines said they were, I'd quit. There's none
good, no not one. But there's a bunch of sinners
out here in this world somewhere. And I've come with the council
note, the receipt of redemption. And the Lord's going to make
it known to them. And when he does, they'll rejoice. And bless his name, I'll rejoice
with them. And we'll probably just hang
around for the rest of time rejoicing over it. You think Ruth was a
tickled gal when Boaz redeemed her? Gomer when Hosea redeemed
her? I expect so. And then this redemption has
another part. It's going to be the redemption
of the body. The price is already paid. As we say, He bought us
lock, stock, and barrel. And one day, He's going to give
us that new body. That will be a wonderful thing
to behold the appearing, that epiphany of our Redeemer. Our Redeemer is coming. There are a lot of people in
this world that if I could see them today, I'd be really glad. Maybe some who died, if I could
see them again, we'd be glad, wouldn't we? But not like this
one. He redeemed us to God from among
men by His own blood. Can't nobody undo that paid price. Father, this morning we give
You thanks. What a delightful thing to think
and talk about that perfect, particular, precious redemption
that is in our Lord Jesus Christ. All glory be to Your name. We
say with that redeemed company, worthy is the Lamb that was slain,
that redeemed us from among men. All different in so many ways,
yet all sinners. All saved by your grace and for
your glory. We thank you this day and pray
that you'd bless the word to the hearts of your people. Maybe
call out one of your sheep and cause them to rejoice in a full
redemption. Give them faith in your blood. But we pray and ask it and praise
you and thank you in Christ's name, Amen. Amen.