8
REDEMPTION
Thirdly we are looked upon as separated from God because by nature we are servants of sin. Really we
should say slaves of sin, for a servant may leave his master, but we were bound like slaves to serve sin. Read
Romans 6:17 and note these words:
`ye were the servants (slaves) of sin'.
God's remedy to set us free from sin is known as redemption. This redemption is provided by the Lord Jesus
Christ through His death and resurrection. Read Titus 2:13,14 where these words appear :
`Our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity'.
An example which may help is found in the history of the people of Israel. They were slaves in Egypt under
hard taskmasters, but God delivered them - He redeemed them. We all know the story of how God brought
them out of Egyptian slavery with Moses as their leader. Read what God said to Moses about this in Exodus 6:6
:
`Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens
of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and
with great judgments'.
What
God
did
for
Israel
in
days
of
old,
He
has
done
for
us who trust in His Son. Sin is no longer our master. We are no longer its slaves. We now have a new master,
even God Himself. This we read in Romans 6:22 in these words:
`being made free from sin, and become servants to God'.
Believers are also looked upon as being servants to righteousness in Romans 6:18 :
`Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness'.
The Lord Jesus, by His death and resurrection, has freed every believer from sin so that they may now serve
God and His righteousness. He paid the price of freedom from sin and death. We will say more about service
to God later.
FORGIVENESS
Fourthly we are looked upon as being separated from God because we are debtors. The justice of God
requires that sin shall be paid for by death. This we have already seen in the first part of Romans 6:23, `the
wages of sin is death'. As sinners we owe our lives to pay for sin - we are in debt in this way.
The Lord Jesus Christ, by dying for our sins, has paid this debt, so that now we can have the forgiveness of
sins. We could have no forgiveness apart from His death. This we can see by reading Hebrews 9:22 :
`without shedding of blood is no remission (forgiveness)'.
The shedding of blood is a way of describing death, and unless the Lord Jesus had died for us, we could not
have forgiveness. By His death He carried our sins. Read 1 Peter 2:24, which speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ says:
`Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on (or to) the tree'.
The `tree' in this verse is the cross on which He died. He carried (bare) our sins so that we might have
forgiveness. The debt has been paid and we who believe in Him are released from it. We are no longer debtors.
Summing up so far.
We have noticed the following important points :
(1)
All people are sinners because of their relationship to Adam.
(2)
Sinners are subject to death and separated from God.
(3)
The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.
(4)
He accepted the punishment for sin and rose again from the dead.