Sermon Tone Analysis

What, and Who Does Christ Death and Resurrection Redeem?

Jesus is Redeemer

He came into the world for this purpose.

1 Timothy 1:

The coming of the eternal Son of God into the world as the God-Man, Jesus Christ, is a fact of history.

But thousands of Americans fill out Gallup Poll religious surveys that they believe this fact but then live just like everybody else.

They have the same anxieties that good things will be lost and the same frustrations that crummy things can't be changed.

Evidently there is not much power in giving right answers on religious surveys about historical facts.

That's because the coming of the Son of God into the world is so much more than a historical fact.

It was a message of hope sent by God to teenagers and single parents and crabby husbands and sullen wives and overweight women and impotent men and retarded neighbors and homosexuals and preachers and lovers and you.

And since the Son of God lived, died, rose, reigns, and is coming again, God's message through him is more than a historical fact.

It is a gift to you, from the voice of the living God.

Thus says the Lord: the meaning of Christmas is that what is good and precious in your life need never be lost, and what is evil and undesirable in your life can be changed.

The fears that the few good things that make you happy are slipping through your fingers, and the frustrations that the bad things you hate about yourself or your situation can't be changed—these fears and these frustrations are what Christmas came to destroy.

It is God's message of hope this morning that what is good need never be lost and what is bad can be changed.

What is His Purpose?

To be THE Redeemer.

Psalms 44

Titus 2:

Literal Meaning: Sociolegal Redemption

In sociolegal contexts, redemption generally refers to the rescue of an individual from a difficult obligation by means of a monetary payment.

LYTroe

37.128 λυτρόομαι; λύτρωσις, εως f; ἀπολύτρωσις, εως f: to release or set free, with the implied analogy to the process of freeing a slave—‘to set free, to liberate, to deliver, liberation, deliverance.’

This does not just apply to man.

All of creation is being redeemed by the Blood of Christ.

When humanity sinned, the whole of creation was marred and distorted.

And so it was not only humanity that needed to be reconciled to God, but also the rest of creation.

God’s great plan of redemption is not for our benefit alone, but embraces everything that He has made.

His ultimate aim is not to destroy the earth that He created but to renew it

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Which is why “the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed….

The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” ()

Which is why

Grand Canyon

“the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed….

The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” ()

The Creation is Also Redeemed By Christ.

The Gospel is a deeper understanding that all of creation is also being redeemed.

This does two things for us:

It gives us a hope for the future.

It gives us a motivation for the present.

Creation characterized by peace and harmony

The church is a divinely commissioned community of believers, whose faithful efforts presently matter as they proclaim the redeeming and renewing of all things through Jesus Christ.

The world will not always be like it is now.

Groaning under the fall.

Are all people, just as they were lost through Adam, saved through Christ?

No, only those who have surrendered to God (biblical elect) and are united to Christ.

How does the Bible use the word elect?

The word elect is used 17 times in the Bible.

In the original languages its root word can be translated as elect, chosen, chosen one, select or other variations (1).

The first four uses of the word elect can be found in the book of Isaiah (; ; ; ).

We see from the context of these verses that there are several different people being referred to as God’s elect:

• , God’s elect is Jesus Christ.

• , God’s elect are the people of Israel.

• , God’s elect are people that inherit God’s mountains or land.

• , God’s elect are those who inherit the new heavens and a new earth.

In the New Testament, we see the word elect used in a more general sense to indicate people that are favored or chosen by God (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and ).

At the same time, we can see similarities with those in Isaiah:

• The elect can refer to Jesus Christ ().

• The elect can refer to the people of Israel (; ; ; ; ).

• The elect can refer to people that inherit the new heavens and the new earth (; ).

We also see the elect used in a reference that is somewhat different.

When looking at the near context, it often is not fully understood.

In , we see a description of the elect that gives us deeper meaning:

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

In this passage, we see a condition of the election by God.

The condition is according to the foreknowledge of God.

What is the foreknowledge being mentioned here?

The answer is laid out in as follows:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

These verses tell us that God works out all things for good to those who love Him.

But, He also refers to them as those “…whom He did foreknow”.

So, it is telling us that all things work together for good to them that love God, who are called according to God’s purpose and whom He foreknew.

The question is who are those who love God?

The answer can be found in where we see that those who love God are believers!

This then means that those whom God did foreknow that would love Him are believers.

This is confirmed in the far context of Scripture when we look at and in light of .

The elect are those whom God foreknew would love Him.

This is confirmed in where it is talking about believers that have trusted Christ, which says, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?

It is God that justifieth.”

When we put all of this together, we learn that in eternity past, God foreknew who would love Him.

He also foreknew that given every possible situation in your life if you heard the gospel of salvation at the right time and circumstance, you would trust Christ as your Savior.

Likewise, He also foreknew there are some people that no matter what the situation or circumstance, they will never trust Christ as their Savior.

This means that God in His infinite wisdom and foreknowledge, chose to make it so that at the right time and the right circumstance, we would hear the gospel of salvation and trust Christ as our Savior (; ).

He also predestinated that He would put His Spirit into us and seal us until the day of redemption, while changing us to become more like His Son so that one day we could stand before Him in a perfected state just like His Son Jesus (; ).

With each day, as we submit to the leading of the Spirit and study His Word, God changes us to be more and more like Christ so that we would even have the mind of Christ (; ; ).

With this in mind, we would be enabled to love God and our neighbor the way He loves them.

This love of God, which God foreknew, was the basis by which He elected to appoint our day of salvation.

As we saw in the book of Isaiah, because we are children of God by faith in Christ and He is in us, we also become the elect of God through Christ.

Likewise, when we become a child of God by faith, we also become the children of Abraham and God’s elect as part of the family of Israel.

In addition, as children of Abraham, this makes us God’s elect as heirs of the promises that He made to the Israelites (; ).

Finally, as God’s elect, we also inherit the new heavens and the new earth.

All of these things are in store for us as God’s elect.

Conclusion

In many Christian circles, people describe believers as God’s elect.