Redeemed

Psalm 51:1–4 NLT

1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. 2 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. 3 For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. 4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.

There are some failures, wrongs, whatever people say it is, what we call sins, where their is a horrific reveal of just how bad we are. Perhaps realizing while throwing up into a toilet, seeing the tears in the eyes of another, or maybe feeling the jail bars. That intense incredible weight of we are wrong.

The words I began with are from the Bible, a part written by King David after he realized the full weight of the sin he had done.

There are no excuses in this. He owned it. He was telling on himself.

“I have done what is evil in your sight.”

Like David those rimes of realizing your sin, how you deeply hurt someone and more importantly God. You took something. It will never come back maybe property or maybe something that can’t return like innocence or life.

Some try to hide from this horror of what they have done by going to drinking or other addictions. We might hide in excuses or blaming others like how we were raised or the fact that people do way worse things.

Yet you know. You can stuff it down for a while but the consequences will come back. And sometimes we go looking for the consequences. Like Bad things will happen and you’ll wonder if this is the punishment for it. Are you just getting what you deserve. Or maybe nothing happens and then you’ll lay yourself down at night and the anxiety really kicks in.

You know that something needs to fix it.

You hear listen to podcasts, go to doctors, go to therapy, and yet the guilt remains.

Today is an important day. We have been looking at the truths from God as they relate to the songs that we sing. Today, A truth rings loud about Jesus in the song we are going to talk about. A song that is so powerful that I recall it over and over when I might have anxiety about these kind of memories of my failures.

It begins in the place that I opened with this morning, this horrible state,

Seems like all I could see was the struggle / Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past / Bound up in shackles of all my failures / Wondering how long is this gonna last

If you have ever been in a toxic relationship you might too wonder how long is this going to last. If you are in a toxic relationship with yourself than, well, no one knows your past and those memories as well as you do. Its not going to end. You can bring those up any time.

I hear from people often who have these memories of failures and struggles and do so much to get rid of them. A day is judged as good if it is a day that a person doesn’t remember their own feelings.

But the song points to a incredibly powerful, very real, absolutely true, way that these failures end.

Then you look at this prisoner and say to me "Son, stop fighting a fight, its already been won"

The you is Jesus. The prisoner is you to the nightmare of what you have done. What you are guilty of.

Jesus looks at you and says, “stop fighting a fight, its already been won.”

Today, there will be two football teams that win games. After this game they will get to go play in the superbowl. As a fan of one of those teams who lost this game last year, when the Niners lost to the Eagles I really wanted some way for the Niners to get to play in the Super Bowl last year but after the game, after the Eagles won, no amount of “but Purdy was injured” mattered. The game was over. The Eagles won. The results are final. They would play in the Super Bowl.

In your life, you have done evil. You know it. You battle with it. Everyone does.

Romans 3:23 CSB

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

But that battle is over, that game already has a winner. It is already over.

Titus 3:3–5 NLT

3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. 4 But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

Romans 6:23 CSB

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus won.

We singing the winning this way.

I am redeemed, You set me free/

This is how you know you are a winner, You are a redeemed follower of Jesus. How do you know you are a follower of Jesus Christ. You believe that Jesus lived, redeemed you by dying on the cross for your sins, all your sins. You repent of those sins and accept His forgiveness of them through the cross and you call him the Lord, the God, the boss of your life one whom you cannot say no to, than you are a follower of Jesus Christ. He won you. He redeemed you.

Redeem means to pay the ransom

Jesus did it. He, Jesus paid off your ransom. You are freed. What was the ransom? The ransom is death

Romans 6:23 CSB

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But Jesus paid the death. So you have a free gift.

My friend, being a follower of Jesus has benefits. You are free with a purpose!

Romans 6:22 MSG

22 But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way!

We talked about it last week, you have promises. You have life. You have freedom.

Jesus said,

John 8:36 CSB

36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

That freedom is forgiveness of sin. That game is over. Jesus did it. You’ve graduated from Sin High School by the Jesus Certificate Plan. It’s over. No going back. Sin school is over, Jesus life has begun!

Yet memory is powerful. Just because we are saved, just because we are forgiven doesn’t mean that we forget what we have done. Yet even as we remember the old that we did, we can accept the reality that yes we did, but that's not who Jesus has made us now. We also have the reality of the forgiveness of Jesus. Yes we did it. as well as yes we are forgiven.

That battle is over. You are redeemed

So I'll shake off these heavy chains/ Wipe away every stain / That I'm not who I used to be / I am redeemed, I'm redeemed You are redeemed, Set free.

What are you free from?

Yes, you can answer think it through, any guilt, any past sin, and say Jesus paid the price for that.

In our culture today it is very popular to take on labels. I am this condition, I have this preference, this is me.

But Jesus changes all of that. There is real Holy Spirit making us new. Their is redemption, God changes people, ransoming them from the old way to a whole new way.

We are redeemed

Romans 8:7–12 NLT

7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. 9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. 12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.

You don’t have to live in addiction. You don’t have to be self-centered. You aren’t an angry person. You don’t have to do the sinful urges. You aren’t any label the world puts on you.

Yes, we are of the Holy Spirit. I’m speaking some big time theology here. Yes you are imperfect, but the Holy Spirit is making you new. You don’t need to wait until Jesus fixes all of you. Jesus is at work around you inviting you to be involved in His work. You are ready now. You are freed now because you live in the Spirit. The effects of such living in the Spirit are easily seen.

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

Does sin still exist in our lives? Yes and no. When we allow it. When we forget who we are and what our freedom means. We can easily go back to thinking like we are all chained up to sin.

That’s what they meant when Big Daddy Weave, the band that wrote this song, wrote the line

So I'll shake off these heavy chains

Sinful desires are heavy chains and It’s pretty clear what part of the Bible Big Daddy Weave thought about with that line which is from Hebrews

Hebrews 12:1–3 NLT

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

You are redeemed. You are different. If Jesus is Lord of your life you do not need to chase being important. You do not need to chase being wealthy. You do not need to chase others love. You do not need to chase anything of this world.

You won’t matter once you have arrived. You matter now!

You have so much value that Jesus redeemed you with his own life.

Yet you have to remember this. You can forget it. Everything in our culture, day after day, advertisement after advertisement, song after song, tik after tok or whatever it is, urges us to forget the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.

My friends remember, You are free!

What the son sets free is free indeed. God freed you to power to love God and love others. You have Holy Spirit Power in you. Don’t be controlled by what can’t control you.

Ever heard that an Elephant never forgets? Not exactly true but it is a powerful part of their training. Adult elephants are stronger than any human. Yet they are also used as work animals. They are controlled by humans. How are they trained?

Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations (Habit—force of)

According to the Speaker’s sourcebook, The people of Thailand break wild elephants to domestic use by chaining them to banyan trees. The pain the elephants experience by pulling against the chain gradually breaks their will to resist. When an elephant finally refuses to lift its massive leg in an effort to free itself, the workers release it from the tree and secure it to a circus stake. The elephant could pull the stake from the ground like a toothpick, but it remembers the pain and doesn’t know circumstances have changed. It is free. Although Christians are freed from Satan’s power, we sometimes act as if we are still imprisoned by it. He lies, telling us we cannot escape. But we are not elephants; we know the situation has changed! The heavy chains aren’t really there! Shake them off. Feel the freedom Christ brings us. He has entered our dungeon and set us free! Why continue to be chained to a spiritual stake when Jesus has freed us?

I know, I know, you have a brain. You have a powerful memory. Sometimes other people are more than wiling to remind you of your past foolishness. Of all the times you didn’t measure up. I told you the truth last week. There are people who hate you, think you are dumb, all kinds of negative things. Some who don’t forgive.

To that we have verse 2 of the song.

All my life I have been called unworthy / Named by the voice of my shame and regret / But when I hear you whisper "Child, lift up your head" / I remember, oh God, You're not done with me yet

God isn’t done with you! His freedom just began in you. I need to give you an example.

This week I helped out in another classroom at a different school. This wonderful substitute teacher had been working in this job for only a couple of months. She thought back in August she would only be there for a week or two. It’s January and almost February. She cares and loves the children but didn’t know much at all about the job. She began to tell me about her day and we talked about the students. Then I started to share with her some things she could do in her classroom. It was a moment when I realized how much I know about teaching and forget that other people don’t know. You see I don’t feel I know a lot about teaching because there are things that I don’t do well yet, but I forget how much I have learned. I am around some great special ed teachers who know a lot too. So I can feel like a failure, like I don’t know enough. But in reality, while there is a lot I don’t know, I also do know enough to teach those who don’t know.

Friends, many of you know that you are no where close to Jesus. You know why you know this? Because you know Jesus. You know and you learn more about God and you see how much more amazing He is. But friends, God has and is changing you. You are not who you used to be. You can look back and be grateful but also look forward and be grateful.Because he who began a good work in you, will complete it! And You can even look to the now!

Look at this scripture for the “what now”

Titus 3:3–8 NLT

3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. 4 But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone.

What are we to devote ourselves to? Doing good.

He is not done with us yet. We are called to devote ourselves to doing good. Good as God defines it. We are free from trying to get everyone to like us. We just go do good. We are free from getting other people to admire us. We just do good. We are free. Let every encounter with you this week bring good in the lives of others.

You are freed to do so.

Come on Child, lift up your head, He isn’t done with you yet.

Because I don't have to be the old man inside of me / 'Cause his day is long dead and gone / Because I've got a new name a new life / I'm not the same and a hope that will carry me home

This song, memorize this song, not because it’s perfect but because it is singing the implications of the Gospel of Jesus in your life. If you are a woman it is right to say I don’t have to be the old woman inside of me as well. You do have a new name, and a new life.

You don’t go back. You are new.

Romans 6:5–6 NLT

5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

FREE!! FREE!

Shake off the sin of self-hatred, having to be liked by everybody. Shake off the sin of self-importance, Shake off any of that old junk. Christ has set us FREE!

My elephant friends, lift up your powerful feet! There are no chains of sin! There are no chains of the past! Life up those powerful feet. Because

You have been made to do good. You those feet to Love God, to Love others. Do Good. Good to those who may hate you. Good to those who may ignore you! Good to those who may use you! Because your payback doesn’t come from them, Your payback is at home! Your payback is with Jesus.

Matthew 6:19–21 CSB

19 “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

My friends! You have a hope in a new home. You are freed from this.

Why? Because your awesome or deserve it? No. Because you made some large donation. No. Because Jesus paid the ransom for you, He redeemed you and you accept it with the faith in Jesus.

You are redeemed by Jesus. Child Lift up Your Head.

Titus 3:6–7 NLT

6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.

Let all the redeemed pray!