Redeemed

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

Galatians 1:3-5

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines redeem as, “to free from distresses or harms: such as, to free from captivity by payment of ransom.” It also says that freedom can be a release from blame or debt. It means all of those things to me. As a sinner, I was held captive by sin. A chorus that I like to sing says it all:

He paid a debt he did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay,

I needed someone to wash my sins away.

And now I sing a brand new song, Amazing Grace!

Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.

Thank you Lord for redeeming me from sin! Our redemption (or rescue) was paid for with the blood of Christ. Not living in Christ’s redemptive power is the same as saying Christ’s blood was not sufficient or His pain was in vain. Christ willingly gave Himself for every sin you have ever committed. It doesn’t matter if it was a little white lie or murder. Sin is sin and Christ died for OUR sin.

I use the example of a rock and piece of paper waded up in a ball. If I hold them both above my head and drop them, which one do you think would hit the ground first? The paper because it is light? What about the rock? It is heavy, will it move slower? The answer is neither one will hit the ground first. The paper (a little white lie) will hit the ground at the same time as the rock (murder). Sin is sin. It doesn’t matter what you have done. Christ died so that you could be rescued from:

the trap of sin,
the guilt of sin and,
the punishment of sin.

He removes your sin as far as the east is from the west never to be brought up again.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12

God has moved on. You need to also. You are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb! Don’t let Satan convince you to stay in the pit. Christ’s forgiveness has paid your ransom. You are free! Tell Satan to get out of your way! You are moving on!