Who is the Redeemer?

Q: Who is the Redeemer?

A: The only redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man and bore the penalty for sin himself.

INTRODUCTION

The Princess Bride: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Review: Where are we looking for redemption?

The distinguishing marker of Christianity is that we do not ultimately find redemption in our own efforts or in a code of morality: we find it in a person we believe to have been fully God and fully man.

Challenge today: How real is your redemption?

“Christianity is not a game; it’s not a therapy. All of its doctrines flow from who God is and and what he has done in history. They correspond to hard facts. Christianity is more than facts, but not less. There is faith and hope and love. But these don’t float in the air. They grow like great cedar trees in the rock of God’s truth.” - John Piper

Colossians 1:15–23 ESV

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

UNDERSTANDING REDEMPTION

Why do we need to be redeemed?

Colossians 1:21–22 ESV

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

Understanding our alienation.

To be estranged or foreign.

Ephesians 2:11–12 “11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Understanding our hostility.

To be hostile toward or an enemy of.

James 4:4 “4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

What angle are we viewing our need for redemption from?

What does it mean to be redeemed?

Colossians 1:21–22 ESV

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

OT Backgrounds:

A legal redemption (price for wrong to be made right.)

Family redemption (To preserve the inheritance of the family.)

Religious redemption (to “cover” the price to be paid for sin.)

NT Understanding:

Redemption, release, liberation, pardon, cancellation.

INTRODUCING THE REDEEMER

“The only redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man and bore the penalty for sin himself.”

Mark 10:45 ESV

45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus is:

the eternal son of God (v. 15-17)

Colossians 1:15–17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

in whom God became man (v. 19)

Colossians 1:19 “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,”

and bore the penalty for sin himself (v. 20)

Colossians 1:20 “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

LIVING REDEEMED LIVES

Can we find this kind of redemption and not be transformed by it?

Psalm 107:1–2 “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble”

Don’t miss God’s purpose in your redemption.

Colossians 1:21–22 ESV

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

“In order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach.”

Jesus died for our liberation from sin and not to sin.

When we make redemption ME centered, we empty redemption of its real power and purpose.

Don’t miss God’s call for your perseverance.

Colossians 1:23 ESV

23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Are there areas of instability in my discipleship?

Are there competing hopes in my focus?