CLEAN SLATE 3: REDEMPTION CHANGES EVERYTHING

I heard Pastor Jerry Shirley say this week, instead of making a resolution to be skinny this year, he had just decided to live and be FAT.

BE F.A.T. IN 2022: FAITHFUL. AVAILABLE. TEACHABLE. 

A clean slate. A second chance. A do-over. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Hebrews 10:25 – “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Redemption: It’s the center theme of the entire Bible. It’s the prophetic story the heavens declare to the Glory of God. It’s what Jesus Christ came to bring and who He himself became. REDEMPTION!

“Redemption is the act of buying something back; paying a price or ransom to return something to your possession.”

Redemption is the English translation of the Greek word agorazo, meaning “to purchase in the marketplace.” In ancient times, it often referred to the act of buying a slave. It carried the meaning of freeing someone from chains, prison, or slavery. – Jack Zavada at ThoughtCo.com

The New Bible Dictionary gives this definition: “Redemption means deliverance from some evil by payment of a price.”

Now think about that amazing definition for a bit. “Deliverance from some evil by payment of a price.” It’s all about confronting the things that own us.

Redemption changes ownership

And when things move from the Kingdom of hell to the Kingdom of Heaven, the King of Kings gets to have His glorious dominion and his will on earth as it is in heaven.

Redemption is beautiful because our redeemer is beautiful.

The power of Redemption is an awesome power God brings to the table. The power to buy back those of us enslaved isn’t paid for with money. Redemption is when Jesus brings Jesus to the table. Only Jesus could redeem us.

Psalms 49:6-9 – Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches, 7 none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him— 8 for the redemption of their souls is costly, and it shall cease forever 9 that he should continue to live eternally, and not see the Pit.

Redemption is single most wonderful and precious “thing” inside or outside of the created Universe.

REDEMPTION CHANGES EVERYTHING. NOT JUST OVER TIME, BUT FOR ALL TIME.

Psalms 103:12 –As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from you.

Time and space (distance) are in perfect continuum. When God says He has removed our transgression from all distance, (East to west) He is also saying Redemption overcomes all time, from the beginning to the end.

WHY NOT FROM THE NORTH TO THE SOUTH? THERE ARE POLES–ENDING POINTS. IT’S ABOUT A 2,000 MILE JOURNEY. I DRIVE THAT FAR IN A WEEK’S TIME. THAT MEANS IT WOULD BE EASY FOR US TO PICK THEM BACK UP AGAIN.

There is nothing created that redemption doesn’t change.

Redemption is what happens when Jesus steps onto any scene and has His amazing way. It’s what He brings every time to everything in time.

Redemption changes lost people to family, hated people to celebrated, wicked people to Holy. Redemption changes leprous bodies to perfect human specimens. Redemption brings enslaved people into freedom and transforms dead things into living things.

Through the transformational power of redemption, messed up minds become gifted for learning; shameful and pitiful people become honored and confident.

This is because of the spotless and pure LIFE of Jesus Christ.

The blood is the life (Leviticus 17:11). His blood is the essence of His life and it was spent and poured out to pay the terrible price of our filth so we would no longer be slaves to sin.

1 Peter 1:18-19  – …knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot

THE REDEEMER BRINGS IT: At His very first sermon, Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah and delivered His mission statement of bringing redemption.

Luke 4:18 – The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised

Now, when the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, that IS different than Him being with you or in you. The Spirit upon you is an anointing for a specific action to accomplish something or to do something amazing.

What was Christ, which means anointed one, anointed to do?

1. By redemption, reach the poor, and people who had never been granted access.

2. By redemption, heal the broken hearted, bring hope and love of life to people who had been broken.

3. By redemption, set captives free, by redemption

4. By redemption, restore sight and understanding to the blind.

5. By redemption, set people free from the things that beat them up, or as the King James boys say, “to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Bruised is when you are beat up on the inside and wounded is when you are beat up on the outside. Jesus did all this by paying a price that only He could pay.   

THE EXCHANGE OF REDEMPTION: If redemption declares we are not guilty, that means none of the penalties of sin or lawlessness are allowed to chain us or enslave us. No shame, guilt or feeling the horrible dishonor of deserved judgment belongs to us once redemption comes.

Christ’s redemption has freed us from guilt, being “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).

At the same time, another declaration is proclaimed. Redemption also declares we are worthy of the gifts, rewards and benefits of being Holy.

The benefits of redemption include:

1. Eternal life (Revelation 5:9-10)
2. Forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7)
3. Righteousness (Romans 5:17)
4. Freedom from the law’s curse (Galatians 3:13)
5. Freedom from guilt and shame (Romans 3:24)
6. Freedom from accusation (John 8:11)
7. Complete justification (Romans 3:24)
8. Adoption into God’s family (Galatians 4:5)

To be redeemed, then, is to be forgiven, made holy, justified, free, adopted, and reconciled. See also Psalm 130:7-8; Luke 2:38; and Acts 20:28.

So, you have to make a big deal out of redemption. Take a moment and consider how redemption changes you.

If you are going to have a true revelation of God’s heart toward you, you must have a true revelation of God’s gift and acts of redemption toward you.

Psalm 103:2 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits

THE BIG HEADLINE:

Redemption is the ultimate game-changer. Redemption is God’s plan for transforming all created things. Redemption is what Jesus brings when He’s invited into place and changes everything.

What this means to you:

If you can believe in the power of redemption, you can believe in the power of transformation.

The act of changing common well water into the best wine you ever tasted is exactly what an act of redemption looks like.

This, the very first miracle of the 37 biblically recorded miracles of King Jesus, shows us exactly what Jesus was supernatural commissioned, or anointed, to bring into our lives.

He changed something common into something extraordinary. He changed a place and a time of sadness into place and time of great joy. He changed a situation from having not near enough into having way more than enough.

He changed a shameful situation of lack and disappointment into a highly honorable situation of opulence and dreams coming true. And all this at the setting of a covenant wedding.

When redemption changes the time, redemption changes everything within that time from a curse to a blessing.

Redemption offers you a clean slate. YOUR DESTINY IS GREATER THAN YOUR HISTORY!