The Power Of Redemption ( 2)
d) Some are slaves to the opinions of the world. Many are pre- occupied with the opinions, ideas, concepts and philosophies of this world. Only Christ can deliver man from all these bondages.
( B) The Mystery Of Our Redemption.
Our redemption mentioned in Colossians 1: 14 is not a simple matter at all. Christ did not redeem us by simply revealing the truth to us leaving us to figure out our way. Christ did not redeem us by just showing us an example. But Christ has redeemed us by suffering in our stead. He shed His blood to redeem us for “without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.” ( Heb. 9: 22) The blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us. ( 1 John 1: 7). Redemption is more than mere rescue. If you see a man in danger and you pluck him out, you save but not redeem him. If you see a man under oppression and you snatch him from his enemy, you deliver but not redeem him. But redemption is the release of a man by the payment of a ransom. By our transgressions, we have exposed ourselves to God’s law and its punishment unless we are delivered. But if that penalty is paid, we are redeemed and our forgiveness is connected to our redemption. It is not about what we have done, but all about the price Jesus has paid.
Conclusion
A man named John Welsh was imprisoned in Chicago under the sentence of death. His friends tried to get his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. As at the day before the one fixed for his execution, there was no favourable reply. As John Welsh sat in his cell listening and longing earnestly for a respite, he heard the rumbling of a vehicle that brought materials for the scaffold and soon he heard the stroke of hammers and he pictured himself hanging on the scaffold he could hear them raising. That sound drove him agitated and he pleaded that he might be taken anywhere away from the dreadful noise.
He was taken to a distant cell, and there he sat on the edge of his bed, haunted with gloomy thoughts, all hope was gone. Suddenly, the key was thrust into the lock and one of the prison officers stood before him. He held in his hand a paper signed by the Governor of the State of Illinois and it was a commutation of his sentence. Could this be true? When the paper was handed to him, he could not read it for tears but hugged and kissed this paper that was bringing him back his life. In the same vein, Christ our redeemer has paid the full price for our redemption to give us hope of life eternal.
( Col. 1: 27). Let us, therefore, besiege the throne of grace in expectation, in appreciation and in total dedication to him. Shalom.
Shepherdhill Baptist Church, ( Sanctuary of Grace & Glory), Baptist Academy Compound, Obanikoro, Lagos.