Call to Worship

Redeemed

1 Peter 1:18–19 LEB

because you know that you were redeemed from your futile way of life inherited from your ancestors not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb

(Ill): A handful of times I have had the embarrassing moment. I am at the store, I gather my groceries, I pull out my card, and I stick it in. Then it says declined. You try to hide it. You stick it in harder the second time. Then it says declined. Sometimes the cards chip has gone bad. One time I had someone call me and basically say, I think someone is stealing your card. “It’s just me.” It’s worse when your friend so graciously buys it for you. They bail you out. And that is what Christ did for you. Except He didn’t buy something for you. He bought you.

The idea of redemption is a strange concept to us. We are going to talk about three words greek words that describe redemption.

1. Agoradzo, (to buy, purchase)

2. Exagoradzo, “to buy out of”

3. Lutroo, “to loose, set free”

With the word Redemption, there is a picture that is trying to be painted. It see’s man’s state as sinner’s as terrible crises. They are like slaves that are bond in captivity. We had talked about total depravity weeks ago and we see that man is totally stuck in his situation as a sinner. The slave in this situation will not be buying himself his freedom. But he needs a master who is good who will buy his freedom.

That is redemption! But the price is very strange. It was the blood of Christ, the blood of the master for the slave. It says in verse 18 that we were not purchased with anything corruptible. Sliver or gold. People often value money way to much, but it has an expiration date and has no use in redeeming even a single human being. v. 18. It doesn’t come from man’s futile attempts through religion. It comes from Christ’s blood because He is the perfect lamb without blemish. Verse 21 states that are faith and our hope are found in God. The Bible often tries to change our focus on what we can do to earn our salvation to what Christ has already done. Christ has paid price to set you free.

This freedom is a little bit strange (Read 1 Cor 6:19-20) There is a change of masters. Wait, Justin, you said there is freedom. This is the hard thing to understand. Freedom means I can now serve Christ. It doesn’t mean that I can do whatever I want. That attitude comes from being under the control of sin. Freedom is only found under the good master, Jesus Christ. Redemption is a beautiful story of a Master whose creation turned there back on Him. But He was willing to pay the price, His own blood on a tree for a rebellious people to be delivered from a master that is cruel and unrelenting that is sin. We bought from the slave market.

There is this beautiful redemption story in the Old Testament that shows how bad we are compared to how good God is. The story of the prophet Hosea and Gomer. God commanded to Hosea that He marry this girl Gomer. This lady had red flags all over her. She is going to be unfaithful to you Hosea. And she becomes unfaithful and commits adultery. Hosea has every right to command she be put to death under the Mosiac Law, but God commands that He show love to Her again after being rejected by her, and He pays a price to buy her back, that she would be faithful to Him. This is what Christ did for us. We have all played the harlot with God. We have all been unfaithful again. Romans 5:8 But God demostrates His own love toward us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.