Throughout this book, Paul uses
the word better, better, and once, over and over again. Comparing
the Old Testament sacrifices under the law, especially, to
that better sacrifice that was offered up one time to God. He
says it's better. It doesn't get any better than
that. Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, takes away the sins
of all of His people. It doesn't get any better than
that. I want to speak to you on the subject of real redemption. Real redemption. Now, I could
have chosen many places in God's Word as my text this morning
on that subject of real redemption. If you consider even the types
in the Old Testament, the Passover, for example, it portrayed a real redemption. No, those sacrifices, as Paul
tells us here in chapter 10 of Hebrews, could never take away
sin, but they were a picture, a shadow, foreshadowed, a type
of he that would take away sin by the sacrifice of himself,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to read one verse, verse
12 here at Hebrews chapter 9. Paul says, neither by the blood
of goats and calves but by his own blood, by his own blood he
entered in once into the holy place having obtained, past tense,
having obtained eternal Not temporary. No, no. Eternal redemption for
us. The first thought is this. We
read those blessed words. Redemption obtained. Redemption obtained. Now, all
the churches around us talk about redemption. Redemption by Christ. But they portray it, speak of
it as a redemption that was only made possible. A redemption that
is only made effectual is only successful if the sinner in time
adds something to it, like his faith, or his repentance, or
his willingness to accept that atonement included in redemption. Otherwise, it's useless. Now, am I misrepresenting them? Is that not so? Do they not teach
that everything Christ done is in vain unless you and I agree
to it? Unless we accept it? Nowhere. Nowhere in God's Word. Nowhere
in the Bible. Not one time. Whether you're
studying the types and the pictures of redemption, whether you read
about the redemption Christ made afterwards, or at the time that
he made redemption for his people, nowhere in the Bible is redemption
spoken of as something that wasn't complete. That something that
wasn't complete at the very time Christ died. Not something to
be added to. Not something that needed our
help. No, no. At the time that Christ
died, redemption right then and there was accomplished. Faith. Faith. Now, no sinner is saved
without belief. People hear that you believe
election and sovereign mercy and particular redemption, that
Christ died for his people, and they say, well then, you don't
believe it's necessary to believe that you're just walking down
the street, so to speak, and God just kind of zaps you into
salvation, unaware. Oh, no, no. You must believe.
There's no sinner ever been saved that didn't believe. But our
faith is not something that we add to the redemption of Jesus
Christ. Faith is something that flows from that glorious redemption. It's not an ingredient that we
provide. It's something that flows from
that blessed death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was exalted
a prince and a savior to give repentance to Israel and the
forgiveness of sin. Faith doesn't put away sin. The
blood of Jesus Christ puts away our sins. What can wash away
my sin? Nothing, nothing but the blood
of Jesus. We love to sing that old song,
don't we? Faith doesn't justify the sinner. The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, justifies the sinner. Faith only receives
what Christ has done. Every soul for whom Christ died
was at the very time of his death, legally, in the court of heaven,
by the judge of all the earth, constituted righteous in the
sight of God himself. They're not guilty. They're not
guilty. With his own blood, we just read,
the Lord Jesus Christ entered in once into the holy place,
having by the sacrifice of himself one time, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. We believe, according to the
Word of God, that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished just didn't
make it available, but accomplished the redemption of God's elect
when he died as their substitute under the wrath of God. He took
our place. Substitution. That's the very
heart of the gospel. That's what makes it such glad
tidings, such marvelous good news. Jesus Christ laid down
his life for his people. God made him to be sinned for
us. in our room instead, in our place. And what's the consequence of
that? What's the fruit of that? What's the certain outcome of
that? That we are made the very righteousness of God in Him. That's good news, isn't it? Jesus
Christ actually obtained eternal redemption for us by the merit,
the power, the efficacy of his shed blood. When the fullness
of the time was come, we read in Galatians 4, God sent forth
his son to provide redemption, to make people redeemable. No,
to redeem his people. He didn't just make a redemption
a possibility, He actually redeemed all of His people. The Son of
God redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse
for us. By the blood of His cross, the
Lamb of God actually delivered all those for whom He died from
the curse of God's law. He actually took away all the
sins of His elect throughout the whole world. The Lord of
glory came down here in human flesh to put away sin by satisfying
divine justice as our substitute. And listen, he got the job done.
He did it. He said he did. Didn't he? He
himself said he did. He who is the truth. He who could
not lie. He who was God in flesh. After
he offered himself without spot to God. After he had trod by
himself the winepress of the fierceness of God's wrath all
by himself. What did he say? What did he
say concerning putting away sin? Bringing in an everlasting righteousness.
Doing away with the transgressions of his people. making atonement
for their sin, redeeming his people with his own precious
blood. What did he say when he did all that? He said, it's finished.
Glory to God, it's finished. That's what we celebrate. in
the Lord's Supper. We don't celebrate something
he attempted, something that needs us to add to it before
it is successful. No, we celebrate a completed
redemption. We celebrate that he in reality
put away the sins of all of his people again. He didn't merely
provide for sin to be put away, he put away the sins by the sacrifice
of himself. That's worth remembering, is
it not? That's worth remembering. He
did not fail. Again, let me repeat. Christ
didn't put us in a redeemable state or make it possible for
us to be redeemed, leaving some aspect of the work to be done
by us, but He redeemed us. He redeemed us. Our faith is
not the cause of redemption in any way. It's the fruit of redemption. We sang it just a moment ago.
Good news the gospel herald bears that banish all our slavish fears. Christ on the great atoning day
took all of his people's sins away. This is what we remember
in the Lord's Supper. Redemption done. Redemption obtained. We rejoice to know that the Lord
Jesus Christ put away our sins, paid our debt, and satisfied
the justice of God. Exodus chapter 12, the Passover. This is a picture of it, such
a clear picture of it. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Exodus 12 verse 21, Moses speaking as God commanded him to the children
of Israel. A picture of real redemption
with a real deliverance. This is why we sing redeemed,
how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Here
in Exodus 12 verse 21. Then Moses called for the elders
of Israel and said unto them, draw out and take you a lamb
according to your families and kill the Passover. And you shall
take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the
basin and strike the lentil in the two side posts with the blood
that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out
at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will
pass through to smite the Egyptians And when he seeth the blood upon
the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over
the door." Oh, he'll pass over the door. God has not appointed
us to wrath, oh no, but to obtain salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not suffer the destroyer
to come in unto you, and to your houses to smite you. Why? What was the reason? What made
them to differ? I mean, were they better than
the Egyptians? Were they better than the firstborn
who suffered the wrath of God? Oh no. What made them different?
What did God see? It wasn't anything in them. It
was the blood applied to the house that they were in. God
led forth the people which he had redeemed. In the New Testament,
There are three words used in reference to the redemption by
Jesus Christ, three Greek words all translated redeemed in our
Bible, and I'm not going to try to pronounce those words, but
I'll just give you the meaning of them. The first one is this.
It means to buy. Redeemed means to buy. You and
I who believe have been bought. That's what Peter said. You're
not your own. You don't belong to yourself anymore. You've been
bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We've been bought
unto God from among men by the blood of Christ. It's the word
you would use to describe the purchase of a house. If you would
buy a house or a car, you take ownership of it. It's yours.
You don't move it, but you own it. This is how the word is used
in Revelation chapter 14. And they sung as it were a new
song before the throne. and before the four beasts and
the elders, and no man could learn that song but the hundred
and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the
earth. These are they which were not
defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which
follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed
from among men." God made a difference. These were redeemed from among
men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. The second
word means this. It's used for redemption. It
means to buy out. Not just to take ownership, but
to buy out of. God's elect have been bought
out of the hands of offended justice by the blood of Christ. Christ set aside justice. This
is the word we would use if we were talking about redeeming
an item, for example, from a pawn shop. We take it out. We take it out. Or buying groceries,
or buying a car, or any other item. It's both purchased and
delivered from the possession of one into the possession of
another. A good picture of that. One of
my favorites, and I think it is some of yours too. In John
18, the Lord Jesus we read, knowing all things that would come upon
him, went forward and asked that mob, whom seek ye? Who do you
want? Jesus of Nazareth. They fell,
they arise. Whom seek ye? Our Lord asked
again. Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am he. I am he. If it's me you seek, let these
go their way. They're mine. They're bought,
they're paid for, they're delivered. You can't have us both. And when
God's justice fell upon the spotless Lamb of God, it no longer falls
upon us. We're delivered from the wrath
of come by the sacrifice of God's Son. And God's justice? God's
justice smiles upon us and says, let these go their way. It's not possible for a child
of God to suffer the same wrath that the Son of God suffered
as their substitute. If they should, then what is
the death of Christ worth? This is how the word is used
in Galatians 3 verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us. Past
tense again. It's done. It's done. Obtained
past tense. Accomplished past tense. Finished
past tense again. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. And the third word
means this, to set free or to loose. It's the word that would
be used to describe the deliverance of a slave or of a prisoner from
bondage out of captivity by paying a ransom price for him. He's
free. This is the sense that is used
in Matthew 20 when our Lord said this, Matthew 20 verse 28, even
as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister
and to give his life a ransom for many. Hmm, a ransom. Redemption is the unaided, unassisted,
effectual work of Jesus Christ alone, all by himself. Christ has redeemed us. Redemption is always spoken of
as the effectual redemption of a particular people. It is never,
not even one time, ever represented as a failed effort. Oh no. hundreds of years before the
Son of God came to redeem his people. God the Father said,
behold my righteous servant. Behold him. Behold him in whom
I am well pleased. He shall not fail. Glory to his name. Whatever Jesus
Christ came to do, he did. He did. He was successful. I once heard a preacher say,
that if he'd been there that day, Christ was carrying his
cross up to Mount Calvary, this fellow, a well-known preacher,
he's on TV, he said, I would have stopped him. Can you imagine
that, John? I thought, well, you ignorant rascal. You would
have stopped him? Oh, I wouldn't have allowed him
to die for my sins. Well, then you'd go to hell?
No, no, no. We don't weep over the cure,
the death of Jesus Christ. Weep over the cause of our sins,
but don't weep over the cure Jesus Christ took away our sins.
This same book, chapter 1 of Hebrews, verse 3, who being the
brightness of his glory, that is Christ, and the expressed
image of his person, very God of very God, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself, oh, when
you take the bread and the wine, oh, may God remind us that Jesus
Christ by himself purged our sins. He put away our sins and
he sat down because he was finished. The work was done. He sat down
at the right hand of the majesty on high. The Lord Jesus Christ
bought his people from among the fallen sons of Adam out of
the hands of God's offended justice and delivered us from our sins
by the shedding of his precious blood. That is what redemption
is. Anything less than that is not
redemption. And you notice the word, or rather
our text says the redemption which he obtained for us is an
eternal redemption. It has everlasting consequences. It is by God's eternal purpose. It has an eternal fruit, consequence,
and it has an eternal duration. We shall live with Christ forever. Forever. Now my little, what
little bit of gray matter I have just can't get a hold of that.
ever? Oh, but that is what the promise
tells us. Those who think that they exalt
the redemption of Christ by saying it was universal, that is for
everybody, they really do the very opposite. They cheapen it. They make it worthless. If people
that were redeemed, if people that Jesus Christ redeemed end
up going to hell anyway, what difference did the death of Christ
make? What difference did it make?
Nothing at all. Nothing at all. 300 years ago,
a man by the name of John Owen presented three statements in
defense of the doctrine of particular redemption, that Christ died
for his people. And this is what he said. First,
either Christ atoned for all the sins of all men, which means
that all will be saved. Now if he did, if Christ died
for all the sins of all men, all men will be saved. For if
all sin has been atoned for, there is no grounds for punishment
and universal redemption is true and universal salvation must
follow and we know that that's not true. Secondly, Christ atoned
for some of the sins of all men, which means that there are some
sins for which we must make atonement ourselves. And if that is the
truth, then we must conclude that none will be saved. The
third one, that Christ made atonement for all the sins of some. And
that some is a multitude that no man could number, which is
the doctrine of Holy Scripture. And it gives the sinner, the
doctrine of universal redemption, really gives the sinner no hope
at all. No hope at all. It's on the basis
of redemption obtained that we exhort sinners to come to Christ.
You can't know Christ died for you. Until you come, until you
believe, then you can know. But why bother to come? Why bother
to waste your time if the death of Jesus Christ did no more than
just make redemption a possibility? Oh, thank God it's not so. Listen
to the words of the psalmist. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. Oh, the redemption of Jesus Christ
is limitless merit and value and he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. Isaiah chapter 44, sing O 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 complete atonement top lady wrote Complete atonement
thou hast made, and to the utmost farthing paid, whate'er thy people
owed. How then can wrath on me take
place, if sheltered in thy righteousness, and sprinkled with thy blood? Here's the second thing. Redemption,
atonement, accepted. Accepted. The redemption that
Christ obtained for his people, it was for his people, but not
to his people. Redemption is never presented
in scripture as something for your acceptance. Something that
you approve of. No, no. He offered himself to
God. He made atonement redeem his
people, but he did so, he offered himself to God. It was to meet
God's demands. It was to satisfy God's law. And bless God, he did it. Christ
did it. Scott Richardson used to say,
God must do something for himself before he can do anything for
you. When God Almighty bestows his
mercy and grace, when God saves a sinner, When a sinner is raised
to life and granted, given the gift of precious faith. When
his eyes are opened that he should behold the Lamb of God. It's never done in violation
of God's justice. He never sets aside his law.
Rather, Christ satisfied justice. He removed the curse by being
made a curse for his people. Now the justice of God, now the
justice, a child of God need not fear the justice of God.
The justice of God now cries as much for our forgiveness as
God's mercy does. It's as much an argument, it's
as if justice steps away as from being the accuser or being rather
the standing with mercy as a reason why God should forgive our sins.
And that's exactly what we read in 1 John 1 verse 9. If we confess
our sins, He is, that is God. He's faithful and just to forgive
us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He's faithful to do so. Faithful
to His character as God, faithful to His promise, and faithful
to His Son. God showed His satisfaction and
his acceptance of the sacrifice of Christ when he raised him
from the dead and seated him at his own right hand in heaven.
As we mentioned a moment ago, when Christ, after Christ had
offered himself to God, he cried with a loud voice, it is finished. Oh, may God remind us of that
again when we drink that wine and eat that bread. Salvation
redemption, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, it's all finished. And when God raised Christ from
the dead, it was as though he said, Amen, my son, it is finished. Christ perfectly satisfied all
the claims of God in the room of his people. And his presence
before God proves that. His very presence before God
speaks satisfaction to the Lord God. Look down here in this same
chapter, verses 24 through 26, here in Hebrews chapter 9, verse
24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, verses 24 through 26, I'm sorry,
made with hands which are the figures of the true, but into
heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. There's a commercial that runs
on TV. It seems like every five minutes a lawyer that says, call
me Alabama. Let me represent you. I can get
you the big, big cheese check. Oh, listen. I have someone who
satisfies God, who paid the penalty of all my sins. And he now appears
in the presence of God for me. His very presence there is testimony
that God accepted his sacrifice. And he appears there as my representative,
as my advocate with the Father. And his presence there, a man
in glory, the God-man, his presence before the throne of God Almighty,
proving his acceptance, also guarantees the acceptance of
every one of those he represents. Now think about that. Verse 25,
nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest
entered into the holy place every year with the blood of others,
for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now once, once, once was enough, once got the job done,
once satisfied God, but now once in the end of the world has he
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and he succeeded. Job said, Then he is gracious
unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit.
I have found a ransom. And this is what God himself
declares concerning the sacrifice of his son. I'm satisfied. It's enough. It's enough. Chapter
13 here in Hebrews verse 20. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep."
The Pharisees surrounded him on one occasion and said, how
long do you make us to doubt if you're really the Messiah?
Won't you just tell us plainly? And he said, I've told you. I've
told you. And you don't believe me. You
believe not. He said, you don't believe because you're not my
sheep. You're not my sheep. My sheep will hear my voice.
And when they do, they'll follow me. And I'll give them eternal
life and they'll never perish. That great shepherd of the sheep
through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Through the blood.
Meaning, because of the blood. In acceptance of the blood. According to his complete satisfaction
with the blood. God says to every redeemed sinner,
When I see the blood, how about that, Billy? When I see the blood,
I will pass over you. I know I've told you this story
probably more than once, but dear brother Hubert Montgomery,
when he got old and his memory was failing, that was Judy's
daddy and Maurice Montgomery's father as well. But when he grew
old and his memory began to fail, he called Don his pastor. And
he said, Don, I'm worried. And Don said, what's the matter,
Hubert? He said, Don, I can't see the blood. I don't seem to
grasp the blood. And Don said, Hubert. The scripture
says, it's not when you see the blood, but when God sees the
blood. When those lights in the house
that the blood was applied to that night, they couldn't see
the blood. They were inside. God said, when I see it, when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. That's what God says
to you and I. There is therefore now no condemnation. Then which are in Christ Jesus,
there's that expression again. in Christ Jesus, who walked not
after the flesh but after the Spirit. In that same chapter
Paul says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's effect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Again, Mr. Toplady's hymn,
if thou as my discharge procured, and freely in my room endured
the whole of wrath divine, payment God cannot twice demand, first
at my bleeding surety's hand and then again at mine. One more thing, third thing,
all the joy, the joy of redemption, all the sweet joy of knowing
that Jesus Christ paid my debt, put away my sins, all the joy
When God sprinkles the blood on a sinner's conscience and
says, I'm satisfied. There was a deacon in the church
I pastored for a year or two back in West Virginia, many years
ago. We'd have the Lord's Supper and I'd call upon him to pray.
Brother Waldo Arthur, I'll never forget it. He'd say, Father,
we're remembering the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
that was made sin for us, that we might be made righteous in
him. And Father, We feast on that sacrifice. Christ said,
except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you have no life in you. The Catholic Church, the idiots,
they say that's literal, but not so. And Waldo said, Father,
you feast on it, and we feast on it, and we're both satisfied.
We're both satisfied. God's satisfied with it, and
so are all of those Christ's redeemed. Oh, be ye glad and
rejoiced, the prophet said, For ever in that which I create,
for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a
joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem."
This is God speaking concerning His people. So thorough, so complete
is the death of Jesus Christ, making His people acceptable
before God, that God says, I will joy in my people. And the voice
of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. The only hope for a guilty, helpless
sinner is redemption obtained. A real redemption that really
atones, really satisfies justice, and really delivers us from the
consequences of all of our sin. That's the redemption that Jesus
Christ obtained for his people. And every sinner, listen, every
sinner that believes on Christ is assured this redemption was
for him. I know Christ died. I know He
put away, how do I know? Because I believe in Him. I believe
on Him. I believe on the Son of God.
We rejoice in eternal redemption, singing praises unto Christ,
Thou art worthy for Thou was slain, and has redeemed us to
God by Thine own blood. Praise the Lord for full salvation. God still reigns upon His throne,
and I know that the blood still reaches deeper and deeper than
the stain has gone, Romans 5 and 11. And not only so, but we rejoice,
or rather, we also joy in God through the Lord Jesus Christ
by whom we have now received the atonement, meaning the benefits
of the atonement, the blood applied to the conscience, the sweet
experience in time of sin put away. Oh, what a comfort that
is to know. Redemption was effectually accomplished
by Christ on the cross. and redemption is affectionately
applied by Christ from the throne and he does both successfully. Ephesians 1 verse 7, in whom
we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of his grace. Verse 14 here in Hebrews
9, 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." I like this statement
Don made, Don Fortner. Believing sinners leaned their
souls upon the same sacrifice that God Almighty leaned His
wrath, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He bears the weight of both.
So let us come to the Lord's table reverently Let us come
humbly. Let us come, of course, thankfully.
But let us come with the joy that Jesus Christ has obtained
eternal redemption for us. Arise, my soul, arise. Shake
off thy guilty fears. The bleeding sacrifice in my
behalf appears. Before the throne, my surety
stands, and my name is written on his hands. He ever lives above
for me to intercede, His all-redeeming love, His precious blood to plead,
His blood atoned for all His race, and sprinkles now the throne
of grace. Jesus Christ entered one time
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Let's remember Him as we observe
the Lord's table. God bless you.