Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Wonder of Redemption

D. Matthews beautifully summarizes all that the Lord Jesus accomplished in redeeming us in the following address that was given at the Japan Evangelistic Band's annual conference in 1939. It is recorded in the book titled Personal Holiness:

"'Fear not; I have redeemed thee; thou art Mine.' -- Isaiah 43. 1.

"I suppose every section of people in the world to-day is being moved with fear, and it is only those whose minds are stayed on God who are being kept in perfect peace. Men's minds and hearts are failing them for fear of the things which are coming upon the world. I feel that God has a definite message for us in these days, and it is 'Fear not!' Over and over again He sends it forth through His Word: 'Fear not, Fear not.' It is His command to Joshua. Note it is a command, and if we are afraid and fearing we are disobedient, and we are sinning. We must realise and remember this command in these days.

"First of all we should not fear because God says He has not given us spirit of fear (II Tim. 1. 7). This rules out all fear. Fear never comes from the Lord, but always from the devil. Peter in his epistle says our adversary, 'the devil, as a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour.' We know how the lion passes through the forest and roars in order to terrify his prey, and that prey, which could get away safely, remains rooted to the spot because of the terror by which it is mastered. It is a paralyzing terror, and the devil would terrify us in the same way. In Rev. 2. 10 the Lord Jesus says to the church in Smyrna that they should suffer and be tried and imprisoned, but He says 'Fear not.' 'Be not afraid of them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul.' We need not fear him because God is over all, and so He may deliver a James to the sword and a Peter out of prison. Satan's agents but 'do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel fore-ordained to come to pass.' Are we believing this? Do we believe that God is still on the Throne when the devil is roaring like a lion? Do we believe that God is all the time working out His purpose in our circumstances?

"We need not fear because the devil is a defeated foe. If 'God be for us who can be against us?' In Hebrews 2. 14 we read 'by death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.' He destroyed him that had the power of death. That word destroyed means 'rendered powerless,' in the same way as a bee is absolutely harmless to us if the sting has been removed. Although the devil may roar and the bee without a sting may buzz, they are utterly harmless. Remember this lovely word in Hebrews. He is like a bee without a sting, however much he may roar.

"In Colossians 2. 15, it says how the Lord Jesus by His death spoiled principalities and powers and triumphed over them, and so may we if we are united to Christ. John in his epistle says that the Lord Jesus 'was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.' Therefore the Lord says: 'Fear not,' for whatever the devil may say or do, he is a defeated foe. I think it was Samuel Rutherford who said: 'The devil is but the whetstone to sharpen the faith and patience of the saints. I know he but heweth and polisheth stones all this time for the New Jerusalem.' Let us remember and not fear, but triumph in the Lord.

"The Lord Jesus said to His disciples: 'Behold I give you authority over all the power of the enemy.' It is an authority by virtue of His sacrifice. 'They overcame because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony.' He has given us His own almighty Name, the Name of Jesus, but we have to use it in exactly the same way as a policeman, although he may be a mere nobody himself, has to use the authority which is delegated to him for the time being. He has only to put up his arm and all the traffic stops. Just so the Lord Jesus can give authority over all the power of the enemy. We can say 'Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,' and the devil has to flee. That the devil is a defeated foe, I suggest, is the first reason why we should not fear.

"The second reason why we should not fear is that the Lord Jesus says: 'Fear not, I have redeemed thee.' There are two great enemies, the first is Satan and the other sin. Satan is defeated, but he is still alive and active. The second reason is that the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us, and 'to redeem is to deliver by paying a price.'

REDEMPTION

Our Position. The Price. The Purpose.

"Our Position. Redemption pre-supposes bondage. If to redeem means 'to deliver by paying a price,' it means something or someone is in bondage, and that is Man's position. The Lord Jesus says in John 8, 'Whosoever commiteth sin is the bond-servant of sin,' and that means the 'property of sin.' Servants then were not as to-day when the employment of a servant is a mutual transaction: but bond-slaves were bought in a market just as sheep or oxen were bought, and they thus became the actual property of the buyer, who was able to do exactly as he wanted with them. So the Lord Jesus Christ said 'Everyone that commiteth sin is the bond-servant of sin'--the property of sin. Paul in the sixth of Romans says: 'Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey.' To whom are we yielding ourselves, moment by moment and day by day? You know, but if you do not know, will you lift up your heart to God and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to whom you belong. 'Whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto life.'

"Turn to Romans 7. 14, 19, 20, and there you will find that which is causing all the trouble. 'It is SIN.' People turn over new leaves, try suppressing and reforming themselves, but the trouble here is not with 'I' but 'sin that dwelleth in me,' v. 24, 25. Verse 25 speaks of thanks for deliverance. I never heard of anyone expressing thanks for having been delivered out of trouble if they had not been brought out of it. Yes, Christ has redeemed us from all iniquity. It is redemption, being brought out from this bondage. Sin is lawlessness. Going my own way, having my own plans.

"We may be missionaries, or church workers, etc., but have we got our own plans and ways? We say, 'Yes, I will go to this place, but not to that; I will work with this person but not with that.' All that is sin. Whatever our experience was last year, sin has crept in. It is lawlessness, disobedience to God. God wants us to have hearts obedient, trustful, going His way, and everything else is sin, rebellion which works out in disobedience to God's great command--'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself.' Do we do that? Read I Corinthians 13. 1-8. If I find some person or condition difficult, I go to the thirteenth of Corinthians and read it through, and invariably one point or another convicts me or shows me what to do. It is often a case of 'not covering all things,' or of 'not bearing all things.' Love has failed somewhere, and that is lawlessness, the failing to love as shown in this chapter . . . That is what Jesus came to deliver us from.

"'Oh, my iniquity crimson hath been,
Infinite, infinite, sin upon sin,
Sin of not trusting Thee,
Infinite sin. Infinite sin.'

"Does He convict us? Does He convict you? The sin of not loving Him, of not trusting Him? Infinite sin! Not trusting Him about everyday life, about friendships, about a career, about the future, about everything. About your Salvation, about your service for Him. Are you trusting Him, or are you worrying? Oh, the sin of not loving Him, not trusting Him, infinite sin! Has God burned that into your soul? The sin of not trusting Him, not loving Him. That is sin. We worry about such petty little things, such trivialities.

"But what about our Love. As I was seeking God recently feeling the poverty of my love for others, God spoke about the poverty of my love for the Japanese. I feel that God means one great thing out of this Convention, and this is a mighty revival of prayer and love for the Japanese. Do we love them with God's love? How do we feel about all that is going on in China? Are we mourning over them, are our eyes running with tears for all they are heaping up for themselves, for they will surely reap the harvest of to-day! Are we seeking to love them, for Jesus Christ came to redeem us out of the awful bondage of sin, the disobedience to the law of God, our inability to love our neighbour as ourselves. Our position is 'redeemed.' Which is yours?

"Scofield says, with regard to redemption, that 'the completed truth is set forth in the N. T. in three words which are translated redemption. The first means 'to purchase in the market.' Jesus did that, he came down to where we were in the market, with our chains and rags of our own righteousness, and all the filth and pollution of our sin. But He did more than that. Secondly it means He bought us out of the market. He came and not only bought us, but brought us out of the market, not to put further chains on us, but to loose us. Thirdly it means to set free by paying the price. To be loosed. Free from this awful sin. This indwelling sin which binds us and blinds us, and makes us hard and critical, to free us from everything that prevents the Spirit of the Living God possessing, inspiring and flowing out through us. He has bought us out of the market and says 'Now you are free.' That is the position. Free! 'If the Son shall make you free ye shall be free indeed.' Hallelujah for our wonderful Saviour.

"The Price. 'Set free by paying the price.' When we think of this we feel we ought to go away and get on our knees. I feel I can hardly speak of this. 'He loved me and gave Himself for me.' In Titus 2. 14, we read 'He gave Himself that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works.' As I was praying this morning, it came to me that roughly speaking we are two hundred people staying here. What is God and His Kingdom going to get out of this great expenditure of money. What could not be done in the mission field with that sum? But that is a small point. That is a big enough price, but the price to buy us out of the market, to set us free from sin, to give us a pure heart, what of that? 'Not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious Blood of Christ.' And still one more terrific verse in Galatians. 'Christ redeemed us--having become a curse for us.' Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to your soul, the amazing, stupendous love, of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, that He should be made a curse! That was the price. What do you feel about being holy? About having a heart by blood made clean? About 'going out set free' from this awful indwelling sin when such a price was necessary, when such a price has been paid? Do you say you cannot with impunity continue in your sin; live a carnal life in which sin is still striving with the Spirit of God in your heart? Oh! what awful condemnation there will be for everyone that is not holy as He is holy, because of the Price that has been paid to make us so. He was made a curse!

"The Purpose. (a) 'For freedom did Christ set us free.' That we might be free from indwelling sin. (b) He was made a curse 'that we might receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.' He redeemed us from all iniquity that He might have 'a people for His own possession, zealous of good works.' Is. 43. 1 reads: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; thou art Mine.' Has He said that to you? If so you will never be lonely, whoever you may be, man or woman, whether you go to a desert island or in the throng. (c) There is no cause for any more fear. In Jeremiah we read: 'They shall fight against thee but they shall not prevail, for I am with thee to deliver thee. The Almighty One, the Great Redeemer says: "Thou are Mine."' I think only those words in Zephaniah can express this wonderful love of God brooding over us. (3: 17). He looks at us as if we were that lost piece of silver which was found, and says: 'Thou are Mine.' We are His cherished possession and He rejoices over us, and comes to us to seek fruit. The fruit of the Spirit. In these days of unbelief and lawlessness and rebellion does He say 'I can go to that heart and I know I shall find love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, self-control, there? I shall be satisfied with that heart.' Is He getting that out of your heart and mine? We have not to be clever people, nor to know a great deal, but to be just His! It is the Holy Ghost who takes possession of us, not we who take possession of Him. The great thing is, 'I am His.' 'Thou art Mine,' He says.

"In Luke 1. 74, we read that 'we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life'--because we are His, and He is dwelling in us, reigning in us. We do not fear mistakes, failures, nor the enemy because 'greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.' And the responsibility of our service is 'the Surety of the New Covenant,' and He has promised that He will make us just the servants He wants us to be. Nothing more, nothing less. 'Fear not; I have redeemed thee; thou art Mine.'"

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