In Ephesians chapter 3 and verse
10, the Apostle Paul tells us that it is the purpose of God
to show forth his manifold wisdom to principalities and powers
by the redemption and salvation of his elect. I want us tonight
to look at Isaiah 43 and verse 21. Isaiah 43 and verse 21. Here is another display of the
manifold wisdom of God. Redemption, the revelation of
God's glory. Redemption, the revelation of
God's glory. That's my subject tonight. When
Moses asked God, I beseech thee, show me thy glory, he showed
him that he would be merciful to whom he would be merciful,
and gracious to whom he would be gracious, and then showed
him a picture of redemption, his glory passing before Moses,
declaring how that he will by no means clear the guilty, and
at the same time declaring that he forgives iniquity, transgression,
and sin. And therein the glory of God
is revealed. God in infinite wisdom, found
a way for the glory of his name by the redemption work of our
Lord Jesus Christ to show forth his glory as a just God and a
savior. We understand and rejoice in
the fact that God made all things for himself, all things made
to show forth his glory, yea, even the wicked for the day of
judgment, and all things in creation and in providence ultimately
display the glory of God. All his works praise him. His
glory is revealed in all of them. But as one star differs from
another, so the revelation of God's glory in various things
is different. And certainly the clearest, greatest
manifestation and revelation of the glory of God is redemption
by our Lord Jesus Christ. This reveals God's manifold wisdom. For in our redemption in and
by the Lord Jesus, God secures his eternal and universal praise
as the greatest revelation of his glory. In Ephesians chapter
one, The apostle Paul tells us three times. He tells us three
times as he discusses the work of God's grace in redemption,
that he's done it all to the praise of his glory, to the praise
of his glory, to the praise of the glory of his grace. Here
in Isaiah 43, we see the children of Israel in captivity and bondage,
but their bondage was not by accident. They were brought into
the Babylonian captivity because of their sin. They were brought
into bondage because of their transgressions. They were brought
under hard taskmasters because of their iniquities. And yet,
long before Israel sinned against him, long before the king of
Babylon captured them, God determined to glorify himself in the redemption
of his people out of Babylon, the redemption of his elect nation
out of captivity. And he says in verse 21, Isaiah
43, this people have I formed for myself. I formed them as mine. I formed
them to be my people. I formed them for my own purposes. I formed them for my own praise,
for my own glory, because I formed them for myself. They shall show
forth my praise. Now, certainly there are many
ways in which God's elect show forth his praise. We offer praise
to him as we have just done in song and in prayer. We offer
praise to him for his great mercy and grace bestowed upon us in
Christ Jesus. We give praise to God by consecrating
ourselves to him by living in this world for his glory. Brother
Cody just prayed in the office. Let us live for your glory. We want by God's grace while
we live in this world to glorify him in all things. But particularly
here, the prophet is telling us that God made his people for
himself to show forth his praise in his great work of delivering
them. How God showed his praise when
he brought Israel out of Babylon and how God shows his praise. For it brings us out of sin and
darkness and death, out from under the curse of the law, out
from bondage into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. They
shall show forth my praise. That's the message of our text
this evening. I want to show you four things
very plainly from Scripture. And we're just saying suffer
a sinner whose heart overflows, loving his savior to tell what
he knows. I want tonight once more to tell
you what I know from this book and by the experience of God's
grace. Here's the first thing. Redemption is God's work alone. Redemption is God's work alone. Redemption signifies obtaining
something by the payment of a lawful price. Generally, when we talk
about redemption, our thoughts generally are connected specifically
with the work of our Lord Jesus on the cross. But that's really
a mistake. Redemption is almost synonymous
with the word salvation as it's used in scripture. It is certain
our Lord Jesus with his blood by one sacrifice by the merit
of his blood entered into heaven and obtained eternal redemption
for us. But redemption includes much
more than our Lord's act of dying at Calvary. and paying the price
of our ransom. Redemption takes in the whole
work of God in bringing sinners into the glorious liberty of
the sons of God, out from under the curse of the law, out from
under the bondage of sin, out of death into the glorious liberty
of the sons of God, at last in resurrection glory. In fact,
the apostle uses the word particularly with regard to the resurrection
in 1 Corinthians 1.30. when it says, Of him are ye in
Christ Jesus, who of God has made into us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. And there he specifically talks
about the final culminating work of redemption in our resurrection
glory. In the New Testament, There are
three words that are translated redemption, are bought. And you
forgive me for breaking my own rule. I make it a rule never
to refer to the ancient languages when I'm trying to preach to
folks. But sometimes it's needful and helpful. I don't pretend
to be a linguist or a Greek or Hebrew scholar. I feel kind of
like a fellow I heard say one time, I know a little Greek and
a little Hebrew. I know a little Greek who owns a hot dog stand,
a little Hebrew who owns a clothing store. But I know a little bit.
And listen to these words. The first word that's translated
redemption in the scriptures is the word agorazo. Now you
don't need to remember the word, just remember the meaning. The
word is translated redeemed, bought, and purchased. Revelation
5 9 thou hast redeemed us bought us purchased us This is the word
that is used in 2nd Peter chapter 2 and verse 1 where speaks of
false prophets Who bring in damnable heresies? Denying the Lord who
bought them Now, if you talk to somebody about the effectual
limited atonement of our Lord Jesus describing how that Christ
died and redeemed only his elect, they're sure to bring up second
Peter chapter two, one say there, the Lord died for false prophets.
The word Algarazzo bought simply means to pay a price and take
possession. to pay a price and take possession. I don't own any property, but
if I were going out to look for a piece of property to purchase,
I find the price of the property and I pay the property price
and I have the deed signed over in my name. I don't move the
property. I don't take the property, put
it somewhere else. I simply take possession as owner
of the property. And in that sense, our Lord Jesus
Christ, as the God-man mediator, bought the right to rule over
and dispose of all the world. He bought the right to be Lord
over all. And the scriptures plainly declare
that. He describes himself like this. A man goes out and he finds
treasure. hid in the field. And he goes
and sells all that he has and buys that field, not because
he wants the field, but because he wants the treasure. So our
Lord Jesus, as our God-man mediator, as the last Adam, bought the
right to rule over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given him. The second word translated redemption
or redeemed is the word ek-agarazo. Just a little addition to that,
a little prefix, ek, ek agarazo. That word means to buy out, to
buy out of. It's the word that you would
use if you went to the pawn shop. When I was a young man, I've
told you before, I came home from school at Springfield, Missouri
to first year college, and Shelby and I were getting married the
next week, and I needed some money. So I went down to the
pawn shop. I had a leather suitcase. And
I took it to the pawn shop, had no intention of going back to
get it. That's just the quickest way to get 20 bucks. And I pawned
my leather suitcase for $20 back in 1969 when you could get a
leather suitcase for something like that. But I pawned it for
20 bucks and I walked out. with a pawn ticket in my wallet.
That meant I could come back within 90 days and pay interest
and pay the price and lay down the pawn ticket and the money
and walk out with that suitcase again. I have bought back that
which was lost to the pawnbroker. That's the word that's used when
the scriptures speak of our Lord Jesus dying for and redeeming
his people. He bought us out from under the
curse of the law. That's exactly what the apostle
says in Galatians 3, 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. He bought us out from under the
curse of God's law and justice by the sacrifice of himself.
Paying the ransom price for us, he redeemed us. He paid the ransom
price to God Almighty into the hands of divine justice, a lawful
price for the ransom of our souls. The third word, translated redeemed,
or bought, is the word lutrao. It's used in 1 Peter 1.18. You're
not bought, redeemed, with corruptible things as silver and gold, but
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb who verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world. But the word redeemed
there means to loose or to set free. The Lord Jesus comes by
the power of his spirit in the saving operations of his grace
and effectually applies his work of redemption to our hearts.
And when he does, he sets the prisoner free. He turns us loose. Loosen and let him go. That's
the word the Lord Jesus by the power of his blood by the merit
and efficacy of his blood by the right of divine justice in
Redemption sets free his people. He sets free his prisoners called
prisoners of hope Our redemption in the scriptures is typified
and prophesied in numerous ways when you read the Old Testament
scriptures in And you read the ceremonies and sacrifices of
the law in the tabernacle, in the temple, the priesthood, and
the services and ordinances of the law. They're all about redemption. They're all about redemption.
Lindsay and Diane's granddaughter here, Eloise, asked me a very,
very good question this morning. Why are the scriptures not given
to us in chronological order? And they're not. Their mom is
reading through the scriptures, reading chronologically this
year, and that's a good idea, but it doesn't make for real
comfortable reading. The chronological reading, putting
the Psalms in the right order and so forth, it's a little difficult
to do it, but it doesn't make for real comfortable reading.
But why are the scriptures not given to us in that order? By
the arrangement of divine providence, I think. Any other opinion is
all right, but I think this is accurate. by the arrangement
of divine providence as we're given our Bibles, they're given
in the order they are, because they're given to us to reveal
the gospel of God's grace as it is experienced in our souls. One clear example, in Exodus,
the book of Exodus, God shows us a picture of our experience
of redemption, the lucid, the deliverance. But in the book
of Leviticus, we have a whole book about laws and ceremonies
and sacrifices and holy days. And in the book of Leviticus,
he's showing us how redemption's accomplished by the sacrifice
of Christ. Well, why is Leviticus given
after the book of Exodus? Because that's the way we experience
it. We cannot know what Christ did at Calvary until we experience
it in the deliverance of our souls. Our Lord Jesus is portrayed
in many ways as our Redeemer and our redemptions pictured
in many things in the Scriptures. The most obvious being the deliverance
of the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage in the book
of Exodus. As a matter of fact, when our
Lord Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration just before his
crucifixion, Moses and Elijah came and spoke to him about the
redemption he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Do you know the
word that's translated there? Redemption? The exodus. The exodus he should accomplish
at Jerusalem. By his death, he accomplished
the exodus, the deliverance of his people. The Jews were in
bondage in Egypt because of their sin. It was a self-imposed bondage
in that they went there because of their unbelief and their transgressions,
because of their iniquities, a self-imposed bondage arranged
by the decree and providence of God, but a self-imposed bondage. They were under cruel taskmasters.
What a picture that is of man by nature in sin. Man by nature
is fallen. He's under the curse of the law.
He's in the bondage of sin, sold under sin. It's a self-imposed
bondage. But this is by the arrangement
of God's providence that he may show forth his glory in the redemption
of his people by Jesus Christ our Lord. And particularly the
deliverance of Israel out of Egypt portrays this redemption
by Christ. Some things are obvious. Some
things are obvious. The children of Israel are brought
out of the land of Egypt, brought out by power and brought out
by the blood of the Paschal Lamb. Now, these are things clear in
their connection with Christ, our Savior and our redemption.
Israel alone was redeemed. The redemption out of Egypt was
the redemption of a particular chosen people. In fact, when
God sent Moses to tell the children of Israel about the Passover
sacrifice, he said, go tell this in the ears of the children of
Israel. Don't even tell the Egyptians anything about it. It wasn't
his intention to bring the Egyptians out of Egypt. It was his intention
to bring the chosen seed out of Egypt exactly as he had promised
in his covenant to Abraham. It was a redemption promised
by God in covenant. It was a redemption accomplished
by a man, a remarkable man specifically raised up by God to deliver his
people. and God raised up Moses and sent
him to bring his people out. Moses being a type of our Lord
Jesus, that man anointed and raised up by God to be our deliverer. This redemption of Israel out
of Egypt was by blood, by the blood of the Paschal Lamb. Wherever
blood was shed and sprinkled on the doorpost and lentil, Their
redemption was for that house, just for that house. Over here
is a house, there's no blood, there's no redemption, no deliverance,
but only death. Here is a house with blood, a
blood-stained house, blood of a Paschal lamb, God-ordained,
picturing Christ the Redeemer. Their redemption is accomplished,
and it's redemption by power. Power shone forth in the children
of Israel, brought across the Red Sea by the hand of God. Another
picture is found in Exodus chapter 30. The people of Israel were
to be numbered every year. And the men of Israel, being
numbered every year, had to pay atonement money, a half shekel
of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary. All the men
of Israel every year paid a half shekel of silver for atonement
money for their redemption. This too pictures our Lord Jesus
and redemption by Him. None but Israel were numbered
and none but Israel were ransomed. The ransom price was the same
for every Israelite, a half shekel. And the ransom price was paid
only for those who were numbered, no one else. So it is with the
redemptive work of Christ. When we speak about redemption,
I stress and stress every time I have opportunity with deliberate
intention. I stress the matter of limited
atonement, particular effectual redemption for this reason. Today,
men who even, even men who profess to believe the gospel of God's
grace do everything they can to kind of compromise this issue. To say that Christ died for all
men, to say that Christ died to redeem folks who are in hell
is to declare that he is a failure in his most important work. It
is to declare that he's a failure in that by which God would reveal
his glory. It is denial of the very Godhead
of our Savior. Limited atonement is the essential
aspect of the gospel that can never be compromised. Only those
who were numbered, the Israelites, were redeemed. And only God's
elect, only God's Israel, those numbered by God before the world
was, are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. And then in
Leviticus 25, we're told about the kinsmen redeemer. The redemption
of an Israelite who, by reason of poverty, sold himself into
slavery is another picture of this redemption. The slavery,
again, was self-imposed. A man sold himself into slavery
by accident. He had become so impoverished
that he sold himself, or by mismanagement, sold himself because he had lost
everything. But it was a self-imposed slavery. The Redeemer was a near
kinsman, Christ Jesus our Lord. and redemption is portrayed and
taught in the word of God as an effectual work of God's almighty
grace. He shall not fail. I love those words in Isaiah
42 and verse 4 concerning God's righteous servant, our Lord Jesus. He shall not fail. He came here to save his people
from their sins. He shall not fail. He came here to bring in everlasting
righteousness. He shall not fail. He came here to put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself. He shall not fail. Redemption is effectual redemption. If it is not effectual redemption,
it is not redemption. God chose the people He would
redeem. God provided the Redeemer. God
accomplished the work of redemption and God applies the redemption
he accomplished to the people he's redeemed. All right, here's
the second thing. First, redemption. Redemption
is God's work, God's work alone. Number two, this redemption glorifies
God in all his attributes. I've referred to Exodus 33 several
times in the last two or three weeks. Moses said, show me your
glory. And God showed him a picture
of redemption, how that he can be a just God and Savior, both
declaring, I will by no means clear the guilty, and declaring
that I will forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin. Well,
that sounds like a contradiction. How is it that God will not forgive
sin and does forgive sin? How is it that God will not punish
sin and does punish sin? How is it possible for God to
be just, fulfilling his law, fulfilling his righteousness,
maintaining his own holy character and yet forgive sin and deal
with sinners as though they had never sinned? Look at Psalm 85,
Psalm 85. Here is the manifold wisdom of
God. He found a way to redeem and
save his people, a way that would magnify, exalt, and glorify every
attribute of his holy being. Psalm 85, verse 7. Show us thy
mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God
the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people and
to his saints. but let them not turn again to
folly. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him, that
glory may dwell in our land." Now watch this, mercy and truth
are met together. By mercy and by truth, Solomon
said, iniquity is purged. In Christ crucified, in the precious
shed blood of our dear Redeemer, God's mercy, that forgives and
God's truth that will not forgive. God's mercy that says the sinner
must live and God's truth that says the sinner must die meet
together. Righteousness and peace. Righteousness, God's holy righteous
character, God's righteous law, God's justice and peace meet
together. What so terrifies a man as God's
righteousness? What so terrifies you who yet
believe not as God's justice? What so terrifies you as the
fact that you know yourself to be seeing and God to be holy?
What so terrifies you? And yet the psalmist says here
in the crucifixion, in the death of Christ, righteousness and
peace meet together. Righteousness and peace here.
I see God fully righteous as righteous. as if he never forgave
any sin. And I find perfect peace because
God has put away my sin." Read on. Verse 11, truth, I am the
truth, shall spring out of the earth. Speaking of our Lord's
resurrection and righteousness, our Lord Jesus sitting on the
throne of glory shall look down from heaven Yea, the Lord shall
give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase.
Righteousness shall go before him. Now watch this, and set
us in the way of his steps. How is it that God Almighty can
set Bobby Estes in his way and accept him? Only in righteousness. God cannot and will not violate
his own character to forgive sin. Our Lord Jesus glorifies
the holiness of God in our redemption. You see, God cannot compromise
his holiness. He cannot save sinners at the
expense of justice, but never was the holiness and justice
of God more fully revealed than when God found sin upon his own
darling son. When God found sin upon his son,
he cried, awake, O sword, against one that is my fellow, smite
and slay the shepherd. The Lord Jesus was tormented. He was forsaken by his father. And the Lord God slew his darling
son because God's righteous. Our redemption by Christ glorifies
his truth, the truth of his threat. This is what he said. The soul
that sinneth, it shall die. That means you've got to die.
I've got to die. You can't escape hell. It's not
going to happen. You cannot escape the judgment
of God. It won't happen. The soul that
sinneth, it shall die. And yet all the truth of God's
promises are fulfilled as well in the forgiveness of iniquity,
transgression, and sin. How can that be? In Christ, one
with Christ, I died with Christ. Oh, wondrous mystery. I can't
begin to explain it. I don't understand it, but oh,
how my soul rejoices in it. I am so thoroughly, truly, perfectly
one with Christ that when he lived on this earth, I lived
in him. And when he died under the wrath
of God, I died in him. I'm crucified with Christ. I
suffered all the vengeance and terror of God's holy law under
the full satisfaction of justice. When Christ said, it's finished,
I fulfilled all the requirements of the law. And now, raised together
with Christ, I live in Him. You see, the believer, God's
elect, are one with Him. And in Christ Jesus, God in holiness,
justice, and truth redeemed our souls. Turn to Romans chapter
3. We'll look at this in more detail
in a few weeks as we go through the book of Romans. But here
in Romans 3, the apostle writes by divine inspiration and tells
us that the redemption of our souls by the work of our Lord
Jesus Christ glorifies God's righteousness and his justice. Romans 3, 24. We are justified
freely by God's grace, justified through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation,
a satisfaction of justice, a mercy seat, Through faith in his blood,
we recognize that God is satisfied, that God requires no more than
Christ. When we believe on him, our consciences are purged from
guilt. To declare God's righteousness for the remission of sins that
are past. What? What? To declare God's righteousness? Cody, that's the only way God
can forgive your sin, is in righteousness. Somebody says, don't give me
justice, give me grace. You can't have grace without
justice. Grace flows to sinners through
the satisfaction of justice by the Son of God as our substitute.
You see that? We have God's salvation through
God's righteousness in Jesus Christ the Lord. Look at it.
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 God might be just and the
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. God is so strictly and immutably
just that he will not save the people he loves without the satisfaction
of his law and justice. so strictly and immutably just
that he would not spare his own darling son when he took our
sins upon himself and became the sinner's substitute. God
would not release his son of one debt. He would not spare
his son one requirement. He would not relieve his son
of one obligation. Justice must be satisfied, though
it cost God his son and cost God's son his own life in the
extraordinary indescribably painful, shameful, ignominious death of
the cross. Brother Henry Mahan used to tell
a story, heard him tell it many times, of a poor Indian tribe
many years ago. And they were having a problem
with somebody stealing chickens. And they couldn't find out who
it was. And the chief made an order. He said, find the person
who's stealing the chickens, and they'll be beaten on the
bare back. And they kept looking and finally
they found the thief. And it was the chief's own mother.
But his law must stand or he has to give up his rule. His
law must stand or chaos rules. And so the chief said the punishment
must be executed. And he took off the robe on his
back and walked over and wrapped his arms around his mother and
he said, pour out the whip. And thus he bore the wrath for
his mother wrapped in his arms. So it is our Redeemer bore all
the fury of God's wrath and justice for us wrapped in his very being. The accomplishment of redemption
by Christ glorifies God in his power as well. What great inconceivable
power is revealed in the person of our Redeemer, God, becomes
a man in one glorious person without deifying humanity and
without humanizing deity, God, man, Christ Jesus. The power
of God appears gloriously in the actual work of redemption.
Our savior said, now is the judgment of this world. Now is the prince
of this world cast out. And I, if I be lifted up, will
draw all men unto me. And the power of God is revealed
in the application of redemption. God, the Holy Spirit, purges
our consciences from dead works by the sprinkling of the blood
of Christ, creating faith in us, overcoming the opposition
of hell, overcoming the opposition of our own hearts, overcoming
the opposition of our own wills, overcoming the opposition of
our own sins. He conquered us by his grace, giving us faith
in Christ Jesus. And our redemption shows, as
nothing else can, the praise and glory of God's mercy, grace,
and love. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons
of God. He takes such things as he finds
in the dung heap of humanity and makes us to be the sons of
God. by the precious blood of Christ,
being united to Christ, accepted into beloved, we are made to
be the sons of God with Christ our Redeemer. Here's the third
thing. Our redemption is the work of
God alone. It glorifies all the attributes
of God. And third, our redemption by
Christ glorifies all three persons in the sacred Trinity. Again,
I refer to Ephesians 1, and this is referred to in many places
in the New Testament. It is certainly true. The triune
God has exalted Christ as our Redeemer, given Him preeminence
in redemption, given Him preeminence in all things because of His
accomplishment of redemption. But all three persons of the
Godhead are glorified in this work. Paul describes our redemption
by Christ this way. In Ephesians 1, it was planned,
purposed by God the Father to the praise of His glory. And
it was purchased by God the Son to the praise of His glory. And
it is performed in us by God the Holy Spirit to the praise
of the glory of His grace. God, the son, God, the father,
and God, the spirit glorious in redemption. Our redemption
is the work of God, the father, God, the son, and God, the Holy
spirit planned and purposed by the father purchased by the precious
blood of Christ and graciously effectually applied to us by
God, the Holy spirit, who is described in the scripture as
the seal, the seal. By Him, we are sealed unto the
redemption of the body unto the day of resurrection. He seals
to us all the blessings of grace and He seals us in God's grace
so that nothing can break His seal. And He being the seal of
God's grace, He is our comforter, giving us the blessed comfort
of redemption. Now, one last thing, and I want
to spend a couple of minutes here and I'll be done. This redemption,
Redemption by Christ inspires and motivates saved sinners in
all their lives to glorify God. I am determined never to revert
to the whip of the law to get you or anyone else to do anything. I never seek to promote faithfulness,
sacrifice, devotion in anybody by a promise of reward or threat
of punishment. God's people are not mercenaries. Rex, we either serve God because
we want to or we don't serve God. All who are in God's kingdom
are volunteers in his kingdom. And all who serve in his cause
are volunteers in his service. Well, how do you motivate folks? I point them to the crucified
Christ. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and he urges them to be generous,
to take care of the needy poor saints elsewhere. And he said,
he said, you profess to love Christ, now prove the sincerity
of your love. And let me give you an example.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through
his poverty might be made rich. What's needed? Where is it needed? Let me do what I can. I've been
redeemed. You're not your own. You're not
your own, he says. You're bought with a price. Therefore
glorify God in your bodies and in your spirits, which are God's. Isn't it amazing? He said, glorify
God in your bodies and in your spirit. That means glorify God
by the way you live in this world. Seek in all that you do as a
husband, a father, an employee, an employer, seek by all you
do God's glory. God give me grace so to live
for the glory of God. I've been redeemed. I've been
redeemed. We beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, a living
sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto the Lord. Present your bodies,
all of us, all of us, present our lives, one living sacrifice. How is that? We present ourselves
to God in Christ the sacrifice. and we are accepted. Oh my soul, God accepts us in
the totality of our lives and in all our efforts to serve him,
accepts us in Christ Jesus, the sacrifice. And that's just your
reasonable service. What else could be expected from
somebody who's been redeemed? except utter, total consecration
to the Son of God. That's what faith in Christ is.
It is the giving up of your life to Jesus Christ, the Lord. Before
Christ redeemed us, we were like Israel and Egypt in bondage and
captivity under the dominion of sin and the sentence of the
law. Before he redeemed us, we were held in subjection to death
and now The curse is gone. The guilt of sin is gone. The
dominion of our chains and captivity are broken. And redemption by
Christ gives us complete deliverance. Deliverance from sin. Complete deliverance. That deliverance
is not yet experienced in his fullness, but complete. So complete that God beholds
not iniquity in Jacob. God sees no sin in Israel. How can that be? He put it away
by the sacrifice of his darling son to the praise of the glory
of his grace. And here is the manifold wisdom
of God redeemed. I love the story of Dr. A.J.
Gordon, pastor up in Boston many years ago. One winter, he was
walking back from his office going home in the afternoon and
saw some boys down the alley by the church building and just
kind of peeked around to see what they were doing. They had
a couple of blackbirds, a couple of snowbirds they'd caught. They
were kind of tormenting them like boys are wont to do. And
Dr. Gordon walked over and said to
them, said, boys, what are y'all doing? They said, we'll catch
you these blackbirds, preacher. We caught these blackbirds, said,
we're just playing with them. He said, what you going to do
with them? He said, oh, we'll play with them a little while
and kill them a wrecking. Dr. Gordon said, I'd like to
buy them. What do you want with these blackbirds?
I'd like to buy them. I'll give you $2 for them, cage
and all. Two dollars for these worthless blackbirds? Yeah, two
dollars, cage and all. And they looked at each other
and said, you got a deal, handing them blackbirds, cage and all.
And they took their two dollars, going around the corner, figuring
out what they were going to spend it on. And as soon as they got around the
corner, Dr. Gordon held up the cage. He said,
I bought you. You're mine. And he opened the
door. shoot him out, and he said, as they flew up through the alley
into the sky, I could almost hear him saying, 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. And that shows the manifold wisdom
of God, his glory in redemption. Amen.