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This morning, I would like to speak to you, and certainly to Seymour in particular, regarding the wonder of God's redeeming grace. We're going to look at some selected passages. But this is a unique service in that it's an ordination service whereby we are going to affirm our brother, who has already been ordained. Many years ago, he was licensed to preach and ordained, but in a theological system that he later discovered was errant, and as he moved into what he would believe, and certainly we would believe is a biblical system. He had never had a church officially ordain him and affirm him. And by the way, that doesn't mean that what he was doing up to that time was somehow ineffective or inappropriate, not at all. But you know, when I heard this and we were talking to him, I said, you know, I think we can handle that. I think we can make something happen here. And it's just great to have a brother that's like minded, and frankly, there's very few of those, and so we rejoice in this opportunity to encourage him.

And you know Seymour,  given your faithfulness as a pastor and your obvious gifting and all -  we've all heard you preach; we've gotten to know you and your dear family - there's nothing that I can say to you necessarily that's going to be instructive to you, but what I do want to do is just encourage you and encourage all of us with respect to what this is all about as a preacher of the gospel. You know, who we are, what we do, why we do it, and I'm going to do that this morning by looking at the wonder of God's redeeming grace. And my goal is to highlight some of those central truths. And as I was thinking about what to share, I was just reminded, you know, I've been in in pastoral ministry now for about 42 years, and at the very core, what is it that is the center of gravity around which my life in ministry orbits? And it is God's redeeming grace. That's what we preach, and that's what motivates us. And so what you are about to hear will not be a well-constructed exposition, but more of the heartfelt ramblings of an old warrior preacher.

Now I want to preface my thoughts by reminding you of a passage in Ephesians 3:2. Paul spoke of quote, "the stewardship of God's grace, which was given to me." Fascinating passage.

You must understand that the apostle Paul did not appoint himself to be an apostle. He did not choose the gospel ministry as a career path. He certainly had no entrepreneurial ambitions that he believed could find fulfillment in gospel preaching, as so many preachers do these days. In fact, he hated Christians and he persecuted them. But rather, what we see from his own testimony, and certainly the testimony therefore of Scripture, is that he was commissioned by the grace of God to be a steward of the grace of God, which must be true for every pastor.

Thus he said in First Timothy one, beginning in verse 12,

"I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service,

even though I was formally a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor."

So indeed, back to Ephesians 3:2. He speaks of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you. Then in verse three, he goes on "that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief." And then he explains it, dropping down to verse six, "...to be specific," here's the mystery, "...that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power."

Brother, this must be a constant reminder to you, as it is to me and frankly, to all of us, because all of us, in various ways, are ministers of the gospel. He went on to add, in verse eight,

"To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places."

And it's for this reason that that he said in First Corinthians nine, beginning in verse 16, "For I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I'm under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will..."  referring there to the sovereign act of God on the road to Damascus, "...if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me." And he therefore requested that men quote "regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God."

I often think about that. This week, I was in the Nashville airport for a while, and then later the San Antonio airport, and as I look around at the people, I am reminded that, by God's grace, I know things that they do not know, and it's my responsibility to tell them those things that they do not know, as it is yours. Now to be sure, all believers are to proclaim the gospel, right? Especially those who have been called by God and gifted to that end; we read about that in Ephesians 4:11 and following about pastors and teachers and so forth. And we are given to the church for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.

But back to Ephesians 3:8, again, may I remind you, God commissioned Paul to preach the "unfathomable riches of Christ and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which, for ages, has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God," referring here to both believing Jews and Gentiles, male and female, children of wrath, deserving of hell. We're now in one body, and he says, these things, "might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places."

My what a statement. In other words, by manifesting the wisdom of God before the angels. I mean, think about this, concerning the redemption of fallen man, they are able to render even greater praise to God; fascinating. This was in accordance, he says, "with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus, our Lord in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him." So just by way of introduction, as we think of these things, we realize that at the very heart of the unfathomable riches of Christ - the manifold wisdom of God that must be made known - at the very heart of all of that is the word redemption. We have been redeemed. And this is always in the forefront of my mind, the wonder of God's redeeming grace. This is the heart of the gospel. And from childhood, I would sing that which I didn't know as much about at the time,

"Redeemed how I love to proclaim it,

redeemed by the blood of the Lamb,

Redeemed through his infinite mercy,

His child and forever I am."

So now we're going to switch to another passage; I told you this would be rambling, so bear with me. First Peter, chapter one. If you want to turn there, I want to remind each of us and certainly encourage you, dear brother, regarding the wonder of redeeming grace. And this passage stands out to that end. First Peter, chapter one, let me read verses 14 through 21 and comment on them,

"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours and your ignorance,

"but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;

"because it is written, 'YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.'

"If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;

"knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your feudal way of life inherited from your forefathers,

"but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

"For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you,

"who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."

Now bear in mind here, Peter has been calling saints to holiness, reminding them that "You shall be holy, for I am holy." He is reminding them that their lifestyles need to be radically different than non-Christian, because you have been transformed by the power of God's grace, and therefore you should walk differently. And if you don't, you have no basis to claim genuine saving faith. And since judgment is inevitable, Christians should live with a sense of reverential awe. And then in verse 18, he says,

"...knowing that," or it could be translated "for you know," here technically, it's a Greek participle that is grammatically subordinate to the command, "conduct yourselves" in verse 17, in other words, literally, conduct yourselves in godliness, "knowing that" or because you know what Christ has accomplished; and what is he referring to? Our redemption.

Verse 18, "...knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from you," but verse 19, "with precious blood, as a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ."

Now the term "redeemed" in verse 18 from the root "lytroō”; it means "to be set free, or to be set free by a ransom that has been paid." That's the idea. It was even a technical term. It was used in ancient Rome to describe making a payment to free a slave from his or her bondage. And in first century Rome, there were really only three kinds of people. You had slaves, you had free men, and you had freed men and women. A freed man was one who was formerly a slave but had been redeemed. And the term also described buying someone back that was headed for judgment, as they would sometimes do with prisoners of war.

So beloved redemption is the heart of Christianity. It's at the very heart of the gospel. Jesus is our Redeemer. A great Puritan, Thomas Watson said this "Great was the work of creation, but greater the work of redemption. It cost more to redeem us than to make us. In the one, there was but the speaking of a word. In the other, there was shedding of blood. The creation was but the work of God's fingers; redemption is the work of his arm."

And it is so sad to see how few Christians, how few churches preach on redemption. The message has shifted to prosperity theology and social justice, and we are witnessing, even today in our country, a powerful satanic assault on the church, where virtually every vestige of morality and biblical truth is under attack and the invisible forces of Satan's kingdom of darkness is at work in a profound way. In fact, as you think about it, our country, is no longer falling into an abyss of immorality and insanity, sexual perversion, lawlessness. Folks, we are in the abyss. We are in the abyss, but we should never despair. Christ has promised to build his church, and our responsibility is to make disciples of all nations. Matthew 28, right? Teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded. Redemption - my what a powerful truth.

And I would just like to remind us all of the scarlet thread, shall we say, of redemption, that has been woven through the tapestry of Scripture. I'm compelled to remind you of the historical background here from which Peter was drawing such vivid imagery for a moment. Remember, in Genesis three, you have Adam and Eve in the garden, innocence was replaced by guilt and shame because of their sin, and frantically they tried to soothe their conscience by making for themselves fig leaves to cover their nakedness. But as they stood guilty before a holy God covered only with the leaves of their own efforts, God cursed them. And in Genesis 3:21 we read, "And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed in them." And although Adam and Eve should have died, we witness the genesis of divine grace spring into action. And here we see the need for a substitute that needed to die, an innocent substitute that needed to die to cover sin. And of course, this was a shadow of a coming Redeemer that would one day make atonement for sin. God himself, provided that substitute. And thus, an innocent animal was killed, the first death of his creation. And because of that sacrifice, God took that garment and he covered their shame; an innocent substitute died in their place to pay a price that would temporarily appease the justice of a holy God.

Later, we can look in Scripture and in history; we can go to Genesis, chapter 22 where we have a graphic illustration of the need of an eventual perfect sacrifice to make atonement for sin, a lamb that only God himself would supply, or could supply. We see that in the story of Abraham and Isaac, remember on Mount Moriah. Genesis 22 beginning in verse seven. "Behold," Isaac said, "the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And he did. And once again, the scarlet thread of innocent blood is woven through the fabric of holy writ, foreshadowing a future payment that must be made to purchase our redemption.

Then, of course, in Exodus 12, you have God giving Moses instructions pertaining to the unblemished lamb for the Passover deliverance. Remember the background early before that, you have one of the patriarchs of Israel, by the name of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers, and eventually he becomes the prime minister, shall we say, of Egypt, alongside Pharaoh Ramesses II in this case. There was a severe famine, and Joseph's family, with Jacob, they come to Egypt to survive. I think there were 70 of them as I recall. Pharaoh gave them land; he gave them livestock; they settled in a place called Goshen. And in Exodus one and verse seven, we read that, "the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly and multiplied and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them."

So you have explosive growth, probably several millions, which became a threat to the Egyptians. And eventually, then Pharaoh decided that I need to make them slaves and force them into labor for some 400 years, and eventually God hears their cry. Remember the 10 plagues, and the last plague was that of the firstborn, of every animal, every child of every family, cataclysmic judgment was coming in order for them to be spared from the death angel. They had to have an innocent lamb to be slain and to put the blood on the doorposts - the lentil - and there you have Passover.

And in First Peter, we once again see the need for the innocent lamb's life to be given for a substitute. Though God redeemed us, but that demanded a price to be paid to avoid his judgment. Graphic imagery in all of that. I would just remind you that two weeks ahead of that time, they had to take that lamb, that innocent lamb, into their home, to live with it, anticipating the horror and the need for salvation; they had to love it, essentially became a household pet for a while, but soon it had to die as a substitute for the firstborn, and that evening, they had to be gathered around the table, sandals on, loins girded ready to leave quickly. Staffs in their hands, ready to walk quickly. They had to eat hastily, be prepared to flee in the night, because there would be a divine assassination that night.

In Exodus 12, we read that they were told to get out quickly. Get them out quickly, lest we all die. And that amazing picture of redemption, of course, was called the Passover. You're familiar with it; to be celebrated once every year to remind them of the deliverance that God provided for them. And this was at the heart of the Old Testament sacrificial system. Even in the New Testament, in life of Christ, millions of lambs were slain, and all of these pictured the price that had to be paid for sinners, and all of it foreshadowed the cross where that provision for redemption was made. We were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And again, the wages of sin is death. But the ransom price that God required was also death - the death of an innocent lamb. And all of that was pictured in the Passover.

In Mark 10, verse 45 Jesus says, "The Son of Man came to give his life for the ransom of many."  It's an amazing thought that redemption focuses on how salvation is to be achieved, and it has to do with a purchase by payment of a price. God bought us from our bondage of sin. He paid the price. He views man's condition as hopeless. We are hopeless. We are helpless. And all of this is behind Peter's words that you were redeemed.

So as we look at the text just for a few minutes, there's three crucial concepts about our redemption, very humbling as we look at them, that put salvation in perspective, and I might add that these are essential in presenting the gospel. What we see in Peter's words is that we are redeemed from sin. We are redeemed with the blood of Christ, and we are redeemed by a glorious Savior. Let me comment on these things for a moment.

First of all, we are redeemed from sin, and he's going to demonstrate this by using four key concepts that describe just the pervasive nature of our sin. And let me pause for a moment. People don't like to hear about sin, and typically, when they do, they've got a very shallow definition of sin, very superficial understanding of it. It's kind of like, yeah, we blow it sometimes. We all make mistakes, right? It's way beyond that. What we see is that sin offends our holy God. And the truth is, man is so sinful compared to a holy God that that he is hopelessly doomed by divine judgment. And when you understand what sin is biblically, you see that it is an innate inability to conform to the moral character and desires of God. You see that all that man is and all that man does is fundamentally offensive to a holy God, because even his good deeds are done for reasons other than to bring glory to God; very often, just to bring glory to himself.

And many people don't understand the concept of lawlessness, but we read, for example, in First John three, that sin is lawlessness. It's rebellion against the Most High God. We resent his holy standard, and we're unable to attain it, so we are in a serious pickle, if you will.

Now I want you to notice four terms that are used in this text that help us understand the nature of our sin, and when you understand the nature of sin, you will be able to better comprehend the glory of our redemption. So first of all, I want you to notice in verse 14 that, apart from redemption, man is in bondage to sin morally. Notice verse 14, "do not be conformed to the former lusts." The term lust, it speaks of a strong desire for an object. In this context, a longing in the heart for that which is evil, that is just man apart from Christ. James one, verse, 14, man is "carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." Genesis six and verse five, "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent..." The term carries the idea of imagination, everything in his imagination, "...every intent of the thoughts of his heart, was only evil continually."

And so in the secret recesses of their thoughts, they would devise evil. They would crave that which is evil. They were controlled by the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life. And how many people we know that are ruled by their evil lusts, their imaginations, their fantasies, were hopelessly prone to selfishness and immorality and rebellion against God. Things are no different today.

But not only apart from redemption, man is in bondage to sin morally, but he's also in bondage to sin mentally. Back to verse 14, "do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance." You see, unredeemed man not only has no desire to honor God morally, but he has no ability to mentally discern that which is pleasing to God, unless God does something. We read about that in First Corinthians 2:14 that to a natural man, an unsaved man, he does not accept the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because he is spiritually appraised.  Appraised - "anakrinō," a Greek term that was a legal term, actually, and it carried the idea of someone who was unable to render a decision because they cannot recognize the facts right before them. And all we have to do is look around in our culture, we see that so they're unable to discern, they're unable to examine scripture; and that, by the way, is why it's so ridiculous to try to moralize the unredeemed. You can explain the law of God and what he expects, and no matter how you do it, two plus two is going to equal five. He just doesn't get it.

Romans 1 speaks of how the unredeemed, they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They have a worthless mind. They have no capacity to comprehend the character of God. They have no fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. In Ephesians four, we read how that the unregenerate are darkened in their understanding. They're excluded. The text says, from the life of God; their heart is hard, they're callous. The text says that they're given over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of evil with greediness.

So apart from redemption, man is in bondage to sin, morally, mentally but also socially. Notice verse 18, "...you are not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life..." Futile, a term that means vain. It means empty, meaningless, pointless, a life that is going absolutely nowhere. You live your life, you get old, you get sick and you die. Without Christ, you spend an eternity in hell apart from redemption. Man's life is a god forsaken wasteland. Again, I'm reminded of being in the airport. I guess it was Friday in San Antonio, and I looked around and just realized these dear people are lost in their sin. It is a God forsaken wasteland. You could see it by how they dress, how they conduct themselves, the way they talk. You know all the great politicians and scientists and architects and artists and philosophers and military leaders, all of the athletes, all of the rock stars, all of them live and die without ever contributing to the glory of God. Their lives are eternally inconsequential. That's why Solomon repeatedly said in Ecclesiastes, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity." Mark 8:36, Jesus asked, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?"

So man is in bondage to sin, morally, mentally, socially and apart from redemption, he is also in bondage to sin spiritually. Notice again in verse 18 at the end, Peter describes their "futile way of life inherited from your fathers," literally, your vain way of life handed down from your fathers. And in this case, he's speaking of the religious tradition in Peter's background; it would be apostate Judaism for the Gentiles. It's idolatrous paganism, mindless spirituality, religious fervor that betrays their utter ignorance of who God is. They're totally depraved, no knowledge of the true God, no love for him. So they make up their own idols, their own way of dealing with life.

So again, all of this to say that the unredeemed beloved, those without Christ are in bondage to sin, morally, mentally, socially and spiritually. Everything about us, apart from Christ is in rebellion to God, and for this reason, we are worthy of eternal judgment. In God's eyes, the unredeemed, think about it, are literally prisoners in the dungeon of wickedness, and they love it. I have friends that love their wickedness. I have loved ones that love their wickedness. Some men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. They are utterly alienated from God. The Bible says they are incapable of freeing themselves, not even capable of knowing their need to be freed. And you suggest it to them, and they think you're an idiot. Please understand the unsaved are according to Ephesians 2:1, "dead in their trespasses and sin." Paul goes on to describe them as those who "walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." That sons of disobedience was a Hebrew expression used to describe the chief characteristic of man, which is disobedience. Apart from Christ, people just live for the lust of their flesh. They indulge the desires of their flesh and their mind; they're by nature, children of wrath. They're headed for condemnation, and it's so sad, people dead in their sins, cannot extricate themselves from that tyranny. They're helpless to do so unless God does something. And what God does to extricate them from that is he uses instruments of righteousness - the redeemed - especially preachers, to preach the gospel that they might believe. There is nothing more helpless than a corpse, right? Nothing more helpless than a corpse. Once man enjoyed sweet fellowship with God in the garden, and now his companions are fools and demons.

What I want you to understand as we look at Scripture is that there is not one faculty that sin has not somehow defiled. It's like a deadly virus or a deadly cancer that just eats up every aspect of a person's being, and so the unregenerate wander aimlessly in the darkness that he loves, again because his deeds are evil and he's unable to even comprehend the light. He's totally blind. He gropes in the darkness of his wickedness, and he falls over and over again, repeating his folly, as we see history repeating itself. Scripture speaks of a dog returning to its vomit. You know, if there's one thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history, right?

If you're hearing me this morning, and you kind of think maybe I'm a little bit over the top depicting man's depravity, I wish you could spend just a week in my study. I wish you could sit there and hear the sobs of a grieving mother over a wayward child. I wish you could watch grown men drop to their knees in agony because they just found out that their wife was having an affair and was leaving him. I dealt with that even this last week. I wish you could hear parents agonize over the discovery of sexual abuse. I wish you could hear the cries of a homosexual who just found out that he has a dreadful disease that's typically part of that lifestyle. I wish you could plead with an angry, dying man to repent and trust in Christ, only to have him growl at you. Folks, sin is far more deadly than you can ever imagine. So don't tell me that I have exaggerated the seriousness and consequences of sin.

God has made it clear, for example, in Romans 3, I'll just summarize it, unredeemed man does not understand or seek after God. The text says he's useless. What comes from their mouth stinks like an open grave. They are liars, full of poison, cursing, bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths. They have no fear of God before their eyes. Beloved, if it were not for sovereign grace, no man would ever be saved, and God uses the power of the gospel preached to save sinners like you and me. This is the dreadful bondage of sin from which we are redeemed.

So we are redeemed from sin, hurrying along here, we are redeemed with the blood of Christ. He says in verse 18, not with "silver or gold." In other words, not with any perishable commodity, some decaying product. There is nothing on earth that could pay this price. I mean silver and gold may be precious on Earth, but they cannot purchase a soul. All that can do is weigh it down to perdition. There's no price that can be placed upon the eternal soul of a man or a woman. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, "For what will it profit a man? Or for what will a man be profited if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"

So beloved we have been redeemed, according to verse 19, "with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ." The blood here is just a vivid depiction of death; death of a perfect, spotless, precious lamb that was required for the payment. Spurgeon reminds us of the words that are found in Hebrews 9:22, that great text that says, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And he says this, "Indeed, there is no remission without the blood of propitiation." By the way, propitiation means to appease or to satisfy to placate. He went on to say, "Never, though you strained yourselves in prayer, never though you wept yourselves away in tears, never though you groaned and cried till your heartstrings broke. Never in this world, nor in that which is to come, can the forgiveness of sins be procured on any other ground than redemption by the blood of Christ. And never can the conscience be cleansed but by faith in that sacrifice."

The fact is beloved, there is no use for you to satisfy your hearts with anything less than what satisfied God, the Father. Without the shedding of blood, nothing would appease his justice, and without the application of that same blood, nothing can purge your consciences. He's right. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who mourn," mourning over their sin, "for they shall be comforted." Dear friends, there is no balm that can soothe a sin sick soul, save Jesus. Hallelujah, we've been redeemed from sin. We've been redeemed with the blood of Christ. And finally, Peter tells us we are redeemed by a glorious Savior.

Look at this. And here again, we are reminded just of the excellencies of Christ, the glorious attributes of our Lord and Savior who gave Himself for us to satisfy the justice of God. Notice what he says about Christ in verse 20, "For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world." Foreknown - "proginōskō", the term in the context implies predestination. God planned our redemption before the foundation of the world, he predestined that Jesus, our Redeemer, would come and rescue us from sin. Beloved Jesus is our Redeemer, and he was, shall we say, the predestined one before creation, before time began, as we read in Titus 1:2 and Second Timothy 1:9, which I might add, also means that he was part of the Trinity even then. Before his crucifixion, you remember Jesus prayed for those whom he was about to redeem. In John 17:24, he says, "Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me. For Thou didst love Me," catch this, "before the foundation of the world." I mean, what a staggering testimony to the sovereignty of God. To realize that Jesus was foreknown before the foundation of the world.

And notice also he was not only foreknown, he was incarnated in verse 20, it says, "but has appeared in these last times." Again, he did not appear as a mortal man who somehow ascended to deity, like the Mormons would have us believe. But he was the pre-incarnate Christ, the second member of the Triune Godhead, who has appeared to us in these last times. So he was predestined and he was incarnated - "phaneroō" - it means to make plain or to make clear, to be manifested or to reveal. So think about this. He was chosen in eternity, and he was revealed in time. That's who Jesus is, our Redeemer. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He appeared through the virgin birth, and this ransom lamb was therefore predestined and incarnated.

And thirdly, he was resurrected. Verse 21 again, God "...raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory."  I mean, think about this: unlike all the tombs of man-made gods, the tomb of Jesus is empty because our Redeemer lives. His resurrection was a divine affirmation that his sacrifice perfectly satisfied the justice of God, the ransom price was paid in full. But God not only raised him from the dead, it says that he gave him glory, a reference to his ascension, now seated at the right hand of God. Beloved, we have been redeemed by, think about this, the predestined, the incarnated, the risen and the ascended Christ, and he did this verse, 20, "for the sake of you." Can there be a more humbling statement than that? For the sake of you, all of us? It's amazing.

And notice what our redemption produces. Verse 21, "who through Him are believers in God." In other words, we become believers in God by his mercy, by his grace, by his power; not just any God, but the one true God, the God of the Bible. We have been reconciled to him. In verse 21 it says, "...so that your faith and hope are in God." Oh, how the world needs this hope, but they will never have it apart from faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. Brother, that's your job, my job. It's all of our job, but especially ours.

Well, perhaps you can better understand Peter's doxology of praise; by the way, he knew when he's writing all this and he was going to be crucified at the end of his life. Can you imagine that Jesus had told him that? Yet notice what he says in chapter one, verses three through nine,

 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved In heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God, through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in this last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; though you have not seen Him, you love Him, though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls."

Oh, dear friends, remember this when you present the gospel. Celebrate your redemption. Ephesians one verse seven, says, "In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us."

I want to close by offering my testimony in poem form.

Once in sin's dread bondage I lay

Never a thought there would come a day when the wages of sin would be called to account

and my Creator would judge me my sins to recount.

Dead and blind and shackled to sin, driven by lust and rebellion within,.

I groped in the darkness and hated the light, scoffed at the gospel and sinned with delight,

Without a desire to follow Christ and not understanding his sacrifice,

I wandered along until one day my conscience screamed out, 'My sin I must pay.'

Then by the Spirit's irresistible power, repentance came forth in that glorious hour,

The bondage was broken, His mercy I'd found

My ransom was paid by the blood of the Lamb,

And now I rejoice for in eternity past, the Savior was promised to come at last,

The incarnate Lord Jesus in love to redeem.

Oh, what a glorious Savior and King.

Dear brother. This is what we preach, and this is why we preach. May God strengthen you to proclaim the unfathomable, unsearchable riches of Christ in the days to come.

Let's pray, Father, we thank you for the great truths of your word that remind us that we have been purchased by the precious blood of the Lamb. Oh, thank you, Lord Jesus for being our Redeemer. And I pray, if there be one within the sound of my voice that knows nothing of your saving grace, won't you bring such overwhelming conviction that they will have no rest until they fall at the foot of the cross and plead for the mercy they do not deserve and the grace that they think they could never have, for only then will they receive that glorious gift. Lord, we commit your word and all that is said and done here today to you, to the praise of your glory in Jesus’ name, Amen.