What does Redemption mean to me?
1. I now belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 6:20. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
According to the passage, I discover that Christ owns me completely and totally because He bought me. Therefore:
- To whom does my money belong? Christ
- To whom do my possessions belong? (car, house, clothes, etc.)? Christ
- To whom does my body belong? Christ
- To whom does my time belong? Christ
2. I have a supreme duty because I am redeemed.
According to 1 Corinthians 6:20, because I am bought with a price, and because Christ has redeemed me unto Himself, what is my supreme duty? To glorify God in my body, and in my spirit
3. Because I am redeemed, I am now a love-slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:1. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
Jude calls himself the servant (slave) of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Compare Titus 1:1 (Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness), James 1:1 (James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting), 2 Peter 1:1 (Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ)
In each of these verses, the word servant means slave. When you were redeemed, you were set free, but you also became a Slave. 🤔
I was bought by blood, and now I am bound by love. No man is totally free. A person is either a slave of sin, or a slave of Christ. What kind of slave would you rather be?
According to Ephesians 6:5, and Colossians 3:22, what is the number one responsiblity of slaves to their masters? obedience (Ephesians 6:5. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ), (Colossians 3:22. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God). Compare 1 Peter 2:18 (Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward).
- Who is the believer's master and Lord? the Lord Jesus Christ.
- What then is the believer's responsibility towards Him? Obedience.
Romans 6:22. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
According to Romans 6:22, because I am redeemed, I am free from sin. The moment we were saved, we were freed from the power of sin in our lives. No longer do we need to be slaves to sin. We are now free to serve Christ, and to live lives that are holy. Does this mean that the Christian is sinless? No. 1 John 1:8-10 (If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us)
Here is an illustration
Before we were saved, we were all in the prison-house of sin. There was no way to escape. The prison doors were locked shut. We lived in continual and constant sin. It was impossible for us to please God as Hebrews 11:6 says (But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him). The moment we were saved, the prison doors flew open. We were set free. Joyfully we passed through the jail doors into liberty. We could now live a life pleasing to Christ, having our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life, according to Romans 6:22 (But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life).
However, the prison doors remain open and it's possible for us to walk back into jail. How foolish it is to walk back into bondage, especially in light of all that Christ has done to set us free. And yet, when we yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, according to Romans 6:13, we find ourselves right back in jail. (Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God). The doors are still open and yet we have chosen to remain in the bondage of sin. And yet we soon learn to confess our sins, as 1 John 1:9 says (If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness). we soon learn to confess our sins and go through the jail doors into freedom once again.
The mature believer is the person who spends most of his time out of jail. Someday, the Lord Jesus will come again, and at that time, our redemption will be complete. At that time, the jail doors will be closed, never to be opened again. We will be on the outside of the prison and it will be impossible for us to return again to bondage. Not only will be free from the power of sin, but we will be free from the very presence of sin in our lives.
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