Sin and Redemption

[0:00] That to us. Quite a stern passage of Scripture. And I think it's doing what these chapters do, which is to have a huge contrast between human nature as it is untouched by God, and what God can do and what God can do and what God can do and what God can do and what God can do and what God can do and what God can do and what God can do and what God can do and the fact that it's God who does it.

[0:27] I think that's what those chapters are about. So let me start off by asking you your view of human nature. So somebody said, what a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, in form and moving, how express and admirable, in action like an angel, in apprehension, how like a God, the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals.

[0:54] And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Well, that was Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2, but you all knew that anyway, didn't you? But he's marvelling, what are human beings? How noble, how infinite in faculty, almost like angels and gods.

[1:14] And yet, and yet, this is a hugely important question. It's a fundamental question. What is our understanding and our view of human nature? Human beings, creatures so magnificent and godlike.

[1:32] Godlike. Yet, so fallen and cruel that a nation and culture so advanced and sophisticated as the German one could end up concocting something so imaginably evil as Auschwitz.

[1:52] How can that be? That a creature so godlike could be so evil and sophisticated, educated a culture could be so evil.

[2:06] What is man? Well, the Bible has a view of humankind, so noble as to be almost divine.

[2:16] The Bible says, made a little lower than the angels. Made in the image of God. So, almost like, if you wanted to know what God was like, look at a human being.

[2:27] They ought to be able to show you, in sort of practical, visible, tangible form, what God is like. Made in the image of God. And yet, so thoroughly ruined by sin as to be lost, ruined, blind, dead.

[2:48] And in need of the most radical rescue. In need of the most audacious redemption.

[2:59] Audacious meaning something bold, something striking, something you would never have thought of. But that's what the redemption is. So, I'd like us to look this morning at those two things.

[3:13] What sin is, and what redemption is. What is human sin? What is redemption? And I'm just going to skim these off the surface of the text. I'm sorry, I haven't had time and concentration this week to go any deeper into the text.

[3:26] So, these are just going to be skimmed off the surface. And I'm going to say six things about sin as follows. And I'm going to say six things about redemption.

[3:38] Let me just, before we get into that, just remind you of the context. We have the historical context of the destruction by Babylon and the exile.

[3:50] And then this miraculous return from exile. And it looks as though God's promises are fulfilled when people are in the land. But the theology of being back in the land is like this.

[4:01] Throughout this history, the question is asked, has anything really changed? Has it changed the heart?

[4:14] The heart of human beings, as Calvin said, is a factory of idols. And selfishness, has it changed that deep selfishness? People still don't put others first.

[4:26] They don't love their neighbours themselves. They oppress and they exploit. But God's promises are still the same. Is returning from exile the fulfilment of them?

[4:38] Or actually, is that pointing to a greater fulfilment? And how will they be fulfilled? Will they ever be fulfilled? And who's going to do it? That's the sort of context.

[4:50] So, let's look at sin. Chapter 58, verse 1. Presumably, this is God speaking to Isaiah. Who says, Shout it aloud.

[5:03] Do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet, a shofar. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins.

[5:15] So, that's what he's supposed to do. And that's what I'm going to try and echo this morning. He says, Don't hold back. Don't round off the corners. Say what sin is in its brutal reality.

[5:30] Declare to them their sin. So, that's what I'm going to do. Here's the first of six points. Number one. Religious rituals can be sin. Religious rituals can be sin.

[5:45] And the particular one here is fasting. So, there's about fasting. Verse 3. Why have we fasted, they say, and humbled ourselves. Middle of verse 3.

[5:56] This is the day of fasting. Verse 4, you're fasting. And verse 6, fasting. So, this is a religious ritual. Fasting in the Bible.

[6:08] Actually, the same word is used for going without food if you can't get any. And going without food voluntarily. Same word is used. So, you have to be quite careful if you look up fasting. But this one, he means going without food as an act of religious expression.

[6:23] It's an act of sadness. You know, it's linked with sackcloth and ashes. It's saying we're really sad. We're really sad about our sin. We humble ourselves before you, Lord.

[6:35] That's what the religious act is saying. So, no meals out like that. Verse 3. We humbled ourselves. We've humbled ourselves, God.

[6:45] We've gone without food. Look at us being so humble. But God says it's rubbish. I'm not impressed at all. God hasn't noticed, verse 3.

[6:56] Doesn't seem to have noticed. And verse 5. God says, is this the sort of fast I've chosen? Do I approve of this? Is this something I'm pleased with?

[7:07] Just a sort of day to humble yourself in some outward way? Is that pleasing me? Absolutely not. And there's a lot more on there than that.

[7:17] But I'm just going to stop at this. Religious rituals in themselves can be sin. Just because you fasted doesn't mean God is pleased.

[7:28] Just because you went to church doesn't mean God is pleased. Etc. Outward religious acts don't deal with sin.

[7:44] It misses the mark. And how it misses the mark. Verse 3. It's inconsistent. On the day of fasting, you do as you please.

[7:58] Actually, underneath this translation, there's a lot of uses of the word delight. I mean the thing that you like. You seem to delight in my ways. Yes, you seem to delight for God to come near you.

[8:11] But actually, you delight in the things that you delight in. So, it's just outward. What's going on inside is not. It misses the mark. And you also are inconsistent.

[8:23] Verse 4. Your fasting ends with quarrelling and strife and striking each other with wicked fists. I find that difficult to imagine how that would work. But he's telling us that you have a fast day, but it ends up with a brawl.

[8:37] It's a little bit like the early hours of Saturday morning in Brighton's night time economy. You know, people getting, fighting each other. And is this acceptable?

[8:49] Well, no, it is not. Is this the kind of fasting I have chosen? Verse 5. Well, the people say, oh, we're doing what you asked. You said fast.

[8:59] We're fasting. We haven't eaten a thing. And God says, you know, you haven't done what I asked. Did you think I was so ignorant and superficial that just going without food would impress me?

[9:11] And we think about how God's high standards are so perceptive. God's justly high standards. He's not deceived by just outward stuff that we do when our hearts are far from him.

[9:27] That was number one. Number two. Sin separates people from God. 59. 59.1. Well, sorry, it's 59.2, actually. The arm of the Lord is not short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

[9:41] But your iniquities have separated you from God. Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. So there's the people.

[9:52] There's a huge brick wall between them and God, forming an impenetrable barrier between God and these people. Why are you out of touch with God?

[10:03] Why can't I get through to God? You might say. Answer. Because of sin. Your iniquities have separated you from your God.

[10:17] It's not that you're not educated enough. It's not that you're the wrong culture. What it is, it's sin. Your iniquities have separated you from God.

[10:29] Sin separates. Number three. Sin stains and makes unclean. Look at verse 59, verse 3. Your hands are stained with blood.

[10:41] Your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wicked things. I'll just take a pic out. Just skim this off.

[10:52] Sin stains. It makes unclean. Your hands are stained with blood and your fingers with guilt. It's there in chapter 2, isn't it?

[11:03] Why do you spread out your hands? Wash your hands. Make yourselves clean. Your hands are full of blood. Blood is the unclean thing. It's linked here with violence, isn't it?

[11:17] Oppression. Maybe gang violence. Maybe the powerful making their opponents disappear. That happens in some situations, doesn't it? Maybe it's happening here.

[11:30] But he says, do you think I'm going to listen to you while you fast? But you do all that sort of stuff as well. And then you're thinking, well, I've never hurt anybody.

[11:41] The only blood I've drawn is when I grazed my knee as a child in the playground. And then I think, actually being made unclean is not simply outward bashing somebody with real blood.

[11:59] Do you remember Isaiah's sense of being unclean? I write it in chapter 6, isn't it? Where he says, I am a man of unclean lips.

[12:10] And I dwell in a people of unclean lips. I'm not made unclean by beating people. I'm made unclean by the words that come out of my mouth. I'm made unclean by the thoughts that give rise to the words that come out.

[12:24] The cruel words. The unkind words. The ungracious words. And for Isaiah, he said, he was a prophet, of course. It was his job to speak rightly. He says, you know, even my speech is unclean.

[12:37] I need cleansing from sin which stains. Four. Sin makes beasts of the best. Looking at verses 6 now.

[12:48] 5 and 6. This description. They hatch eggs of vipers and spin a spider's web. Whoever eats their eggs will die. When one is broken, an adder is hatched.

[13:01] Their cobwebs are useless for clothing. They cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds. Their acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin, etc.

[13:14] So if you think of the eggs of the snakes. And it says, whoever eats their eggs will die.

[13:25] So there's something poisonous about sin. Something corrupting about sin. Something that it regenerates so the eggs produce more vipers.

[13:36] And when one is broken, an adder is hatched. So something that produces more and more uncleanness. And the spider's webs.

[13:47] Well, they tangle people. Sin tangles us up. But it gives no protection. It says about the spider's webs. Their cobwebs are useless for clothing.

[13:59] They cannot cover themselves with what they make. They give no protection. And he has this description, which he just piles it on, doesn't he? They're violent. They rush into sin. Their thoughts are evil.

[14:11] They don't know the way of peace. Interesting that when Jesus was talking about prayer, do you remember him saying what he thought about human beings?

[14:22] He said, which of you fathers, if your child asks you for an egg, will give... Which way was it? Was it a stone? Scorpion.

[14:33] Or asks for bread, will give a stone, wasn't it? And he says, if you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.

[14:45] Jesus was very clear about human nature. There is an evil in it. And you're going to say, well, surely it's not us. No, let me just back that off. If you're a Christian, you will say, actually that was me.

[14:59] And I've been lifted from that. And if you're not a Christian, I want to try and persuade you that this is absolutely fundamental. This is God saying, this is how you are without Jesus Christ.

[15:13] This is an analysis of human nature. Surely not us, you might say. Well, I mean, let's... I've never watched Love Island. I have no intention of watching it.

[15:26] But I would have thought, from the name, it would be a place of peace. And of kindness. Without violence.

[15:38] Without nastiness. Without jealousy. Without falsehood. I do see the BBC news thing flashes up to me about all the conflicts.

[15:50] And nastiness. And nastiness. On what's supposed to be an island of love. Well, this is an example. Or think of the royal family. Surely the best bred.

[16:03] The best brought up family in the whole of the United Kingdom. So they don't have any problems with sin, do they? And then I'm going to say, what about us?

[16:16] If you look into your own heart. Would you say, I'm no worse than anybody else. Quite good. Or would you say, like Paul.

[16:30] I am the chief of sinners. I deserve nothing from God. If you look right down deep. I'm a sinner who's lost.

[16:42] And who needs grace to lift me and forgive me. Think of one's own foulness. And cruelty. And selfishness. Now, human sin is different in expression.

[16:56] Different in opportunity. But sin is sin. It's there in the human heart. And that's what we need to be redeemed from. I'll just stop to point out.

[17:08] There is one person who is an exception to this. And that's Jesus of Nazareth. And I put before you how remarkable it is.

[17:18] That as he is depicted for us in the Gospels. He never ever has to apologise for anything. He never ever comes to his father and confesses sin.

[17:32] And nobody can point out a single way in which he has sinned. He's a remarkable person, isn't he? Without sin.

[17:44] And yet, he received the death penalty. Sin makes beasts of the best. Sin blinds and makes lost.

[17:55] I'm just picking this off the surface of the text in verse 10. We've now moved into confession. So it isn't you, your lips. It's we.

[18:06] It becomes we. Justice is far from us. Verse 9. We look for light, but all is darkness. For brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. This is Israel confessing.

[18:18] God is right in saying this. Like the blind, we grope along the wall. Feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday, we stumble as if it were twilight.

[18:29] Among the strong, we are like the dead. We look for light, but all is darkness. Like the blind, we grope along the wall. It's the language of confession. And I want to invite everybody here to confess.

[18:48] This is the truth about human nature. Without Christ. Without grace. Once I was lost. I was blind.

[18:59] I was dead. And that's the confession of those people. And they're not just putting it on.

[19:10] They're not just saying it because it's, you know, in the prayer book or something. Verse 12. Our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us.

[19:22] Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities. So they're not just saying it because they've been told to say it. By God's grace, they actually realize the truth of this.

[19:36] In the New Testament, Jesus says it's the work of the Holy Spirit to convict people, to convince them, to show to them sin and righteousness and judgment.

[19:48] Our offenses are ever with us. We acknowledge our iniquities, our rebellion, and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on God. Number six.

[19:59] Sin spills out into society. Sin spills out into society.

[20:32] He's saying that sin that's within spills out into society. What goes on in the heart is echoed on the street corners. It's the logical outcome of sin in the heart.

[20:45] Now, let's just think about society for a quick moment. Much good can be done for society and should be done for society. As Christians, we should care to be people who do good and try and make the world a better place.

[20:59] God, in his grace, prevents evil growing out of all proportion. In theology, it's called his common grace.

[21:11] That's to say, the grace that he spreads around to everybody. He gives everybody good things like food and sunshine and beautiful views.

[21:22] And in many ways, things like marriage is a good gift to the whole of society. So, he gives good things and he stops people being as bad as they possibly could be.

[21:34] But, the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. The heart of the problem of society is the problem of the human heart.

[21:44] Let's give you the example of St. Augustine. You saw St. Augustine was a great teacher of the church in sort of 400, I think, AD. And how did he become a Christian?

[21:59] He became a Christian. Well, I think he heard a girl on the swing next door shouting something from the Bible. That struck him.

[22:09] But, also what had struck him was something about himself. And he looked back when he was a lad. He went to steal some apples from an orchard. And he really thought about this.

[22:22] And he thought, stealing apples isn't that bad. You know, you don't get executed for stealing apples. But it's still evil. Why would I want to steal apples? He said, I wasn't hungry.

[22:33] I didn't need an apple. But it was just something about taking something that wasn't mine and getting away with it. That seemed like a really good idea. And this made Augustine think, you know, what sort of creature am I?

[22:46] That I could do that. What's going on inside me? I need Christ and his salvation. That was number six. Sin spills out into society.

[22:58] Let's do six quick things about redemption. And again, I'm just going to skim them off the surface of the text. Declare their sin. That's the sinfulness of sin. I'll give you the list later on of what we just said.

[23:10] But let's look at what God can do by way of redemption. These are the six. Enlightens, heals, restores relationship, irrigates, rebuilds and rejoices.

[23:24] Okay, let's do those very quickly. Number one, enlightens. This is what redemption does. 58 verses 7 and 8. I'm on the wrong page.

[23:36] 58 verses 7 and 8. Actually, I've gone down to verse 8. If, then, your light will break forth like the dawn and your healing will quickly appear.

[23:52] Your light will break forth like the dawn. I think there's another reference to light as well. It's in verse, second half of verse 10. Your light will rise in the darkness.

[24:03] Your night will become like noonday. He says you used to be blind and it was like being in the darkness. But when redemption comes, light will break out. You won't be in darkness.

[24:14] Light will shine on you. This is what Paul picks up in Ephesians. And he says, once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

[24:26] Once you were blind. You know, it was like being in a blacked out room spiritually. But now, the room is flooded with light. And the light shines on you.

[24:38] Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. And Paul will say to Christian people, so walk as children of light. Don't walk in the shadows. Don't walk in the darkness.

[24:49] Don't be like a woodlouse that aims for the shadows. Be like a moth that goes towards the light. Number two. Redemption heals. And that's in verse 8 as well.

[25:02] There's a lot in this world that is broken. There are some things that will not be mended in this life. But God's redemption brings healing. That's it in verse 8.

[25:15] Your healing will quickly appear. God's redemption is at work within human people to heal.

[25:26] Ransomed. Healed. Ransomed. Healed. Restored. Forgiven. Who like me his praise should sing. And that healing doesn't, it's not complete and instantaneous.

[25:39] It has a progress to it. The first healing is an inner healing of the heart. A new heart. The first resurrection, if you like. The new birth. A resurrection spiritually.

[25:51] And God works in the heart. And sort of gradually works that out into behavior patterns and attitudes. And that's the process of what the Bible would call sanctification.

[26:06] Becoming more holy. More like Jesus Christ. So there is a healing that starts with the first thing. The spiritual resurrection.

[26:16] The new birth is sometimes what it's called. And the second stage is the physical healing. Where that work is completed in the resurrection. The resurrection body.

[26:28] First it's what goes inside. And then it's what happens to our whole physical bodies. Redemption heals. And in the course of that, there are things like healing of conscience.

[26:40] Healing of the tongue. Healing of the wallet. You know. An unhealed wallet is closed to God. And a healed wallet is open to God.

[26:54] And I remember reading somewhere that one of the marks of really being changed as a Christian was what happens to your bank balance. You start to say, actually this money is mine.

[27:06] No, it isn't. It's the Lord's. And I can give that away. Very deliberately. Healing of the wallet. Healing of the eyes. The way we see things.

[27:17] Healing of the motives. The reason we do things. Number two. Redemption heals. Number three. Redemption restores relationships. And I'm thinking of verses eight and nine where it says, Righteousness will go before you.

[27:33] The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. You will call. 58 verse nine. You will call. And the Lord will. I put 59.

[27:43] 58 verse nine. You will call and the Lord will answer. You will cry for help. And he will say, here am I. The words for help aren't in the original.

[27:54] It just says you'll cry. What about that? Redemption restores this relationship with God. The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

[28:06] They say this in American movies, don't they? Don't worry, kid. I got your back. Meaning I'm protecting you. Yeah, that's right, isn't it?

[28:17] That's what I say. I got your back. This is God saying, I got your back. I got your back. I'm protecting you. Don't worry. I'm with you. The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

[28:30] You will call and he will answer. What a thing that is, isn't it? Redemption does. Before we were redeemed, our iniquities were a brick wall between us and God.

[28:42] But for the redeemed, that brick wall is taken away. And you will call, he says, and the Lord will answer. Isn't that brilliant?

[28:52] Brilliant. It's a lot better than the British gas helpline. I can tell you that. I was on the phone for about three quarters of an hour trying to get through to the right person. And I called. And no one answered.

[29:03] When I got an answer, it was completely the wrong department. It says about here, you will call and he will answer. It's brilliant, isn't it?

[29:14] Don't know what the answer will be. But it says we will be heard. God won't say, your call is very valuable, but I'm going to put you on hold for three quarters of an hour because I've got more important people to deal with.

[29:27] Your call will be heard. Your cry will be listened to. I think that's a great comfort, isn't it? And you'll be noticed. Perhaps you never get on a panorama or a headline in the Argus, apart from, I don't know.

[29:46] But, and you never come to the attention of the wide world, but God says, I notice you. If you call to me, I will listen because you're important to me, really.

[30:00] Not just saying that. And be answered. Answers can come in various forms. You know that, don't you? An answer might be yes. An answer might be no. An answer might be wait.

[30:12] But you call, you'll be answered. I think that's ever so comforting, don't you? It was said of Saul of Tarsus, the rabbi who became an apostle of Jesus Christ.

[30:25] At the moment of his conversion, it was said of him, look, he's praying. A key thing. Somebody who doesn't have a brick wall between them and God, but somebody of whom they call and God answers.

[30:43] Look, Saul's praying. Have you tried praying? If you're on the edge of these things, have you said to God, will you show me what's right?

[30:56] If you show me what's right, I'll do it. Just show me. Have you said that to God? Number four. Redemption irrigates.

[31:07] And see if I've got the reference right this time. It's verse 58, verse 11. The Lord will guide you always.

[31:18] He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land. The word for needs, as I looked it up, is nefesh, which is actually soul. So he's saying, he will satisfy your soul in an adverse climate, in a scorched land.

[31:40] He will satisfy your soul. And it says, you will be like, this is chapter 58, verse 11. He will strengthen your frame, or strengthen your bones.

[31:53] You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. That's what redemption does. It irrigates. Like a spring whose waters never fail.

[32:05] What a grand thing to be. This world dries us out, generally speaking, doesn't it? We're left desiccated by this world.

[32:18] But God says, redemption just is like having water poured on you. Like a plant at home. Ria's up there, so I'll just be very careful how I phrase this.

[32:28] Sometimes our plants need watering. So let's water a plant. And God waters you.

[32:40] He irrigates you. It was Jesus who focused this. And he said, I give living water. Do you remember when Jesus met the woman at the well?

[32:53] And he said to the woman, give me a drink. This started a very fascinating conversation. And she said, how come you, as a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan, to share a cup of water?

[33:07] And he said, if you knew who was asking you, you would have asked me, and I would have given you living water. And then she says something like, hmm.

[33:18] Our father, was it our father Jacob built this well? Well, it's very deep. Are you more important than him? Well, anyway, that's how the conversation went on. And Jesus, it says, he spoke of the spirit.

[33:34] He spoke of the Holy Spirit. The spirit is sometimes likened to water. So, let's not go too far into that. But just to say that redemption waters us.

[33:48] It irrigates. We're no longer dried up and brittle and dead like an old fossil dug out of the ground. But like an oasis or a garden or a spring of water.

[34:01] Number five. Redemption rebuilds. Rebuilds. And let's see if I've got the price. This is 58, verse 12. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations.

[34:17] You will be called repairer of broken walls, restorer of streets with dwellings. Now, I don't want to get too far into. There's a sense in which, literally, God was interested in rebuilding the city.

[34:31] And when they came back from exile, they rebuilt the temple. But at the same time, they were conscious that it wasn't the temple that it used to be. And there's always that sense that the bricks and mortar fulfillment never quite gets to what God is really on about.

[34:48] And here it's about building. Redemption is rebuilding. Edifying. Edification. Building up. And the Apostle Paul talks about what we're doing this morning.

[35:02] Meeting together. And he says, what we're doing is building something. We're building up. He says, when you come, build one another up. Do it for edification of the body, he says.

[35:16] So I would say, before you go home, see whether you can edify somebody. See whether you can say something edifying to them before you go home.

[35:26] And, you know, he might say, how are you? I care about you. Or he might say, I've been praying for you. Or, how did your exam go? Or something like that. Something up-building. Be up-built.

[35:38] Be a builder. Redemption rebuilds. Sixth. Redemption rejoices. So looking at verse 13.

[35:51] If you keep your feet from, the word breaking isn't in the original. It just says, from the Sabbath. And from doing as you please. So it's your delight on my holy day.

[36:01] If you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy, the word day isn't in the original. Honorable. If you honor it by not going your own way, not doing your delight or speaking.

[36:12] Speaking. It doesn't have the word idle in the original. It just says speaking words. Then you will find joy in the Lord. You will find joy in the Lord. And you will have a high life.

[36:24] It says, I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land. And to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The new person. The redeemed person.

[36:36] Which in some ways here is the Sabbath person. I'm not going to make that too complicated. But the new person finds joy in the Lord.

[36:47] It says, verse 14. You will find joy in the Lord. What characterizes the redeemed person?

[36:57] What is at the bottom of their lives? And I'm going to say, it used to be ugliness. It used to be corruption. It used to be selfishness.

[37:08] It used to be foulness. But now, the bottom of the life of the redeemed is joy. The bottom of the life of the redeemed is joy.

[37:19] You will find joy in the Lord. I know there are low times and sad times. There are up times and down times. But underneath. Where in Deuteronomy it says, underneath are the everlasting arms.

[37:34] Underneath is joy. Because at root, I'm right with God. At root, I'm a member of his family.

[37:45] At root, my sins are forgiven. At root, I'm promised that he'll take me home. At root, I'm loved with a love with dimensions of length and breadth and height and depth that I can hardly begin to comprehend.

[38:01] At root, it's okay. Yeah? At root, it's good. At root, all the issues have been dealt with. At root, I have something to be glad about.

[38:14] Something to thank God for. Something to praise him for. At root, there is joy. So, I gave you those six things. And I'll flick over to them in a minute.

[38:27] But the question still arises, how do we get from sin to redemption? How does a person move from being lost in sin to being found by grace?

[38:44] What is the transition? And although the text might seem to say, if only you would do something, I don't think that's really what it's getting at.

[38:55] It's saying, you need something. And in the next bit, which we'll come to in a couple of weeks, because Ben's going to be preaching the next couple of weeks, we find that it's the Lord who does this.

[39:08] That redemption is done, not by me, but by the Redeemer. How does redemption come? Redemption does not come from ourselves, but from the Lord.

[39:20] That's his name, isn't it? The Redeemer. And you get a hint of it, perhaps more than a hint, in 59 verse 1, where it says, Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

[39:38] That's what it says. Surely, God can do this. Surely, he can lift me. I was in a miry pit.

[39:50] I was stuck. Lord, help me. He lifted me. With a mighty arm, he lifted me. With an outstretched hand, he lifted me. Surely, the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

[40:05] I'm just going to leave it at that. I'm not going to go into any more detail on that. But just to say, it's he who redeems. Is it not? He redeemed me. Would you not say that? Amazing grace.

[40:18] He. It's his grace. Once I was blind, but now I see because he opened my eyes. He opened my heart. He forgave my sin.

[40:29] He lifted me. And if you haven't been lifted, he's the one to call on. For you to say, I'm still down there. I need lifting. And if you're a redeemed person, just remember, you don't stand by your own power and virtue.

[40:46] You stand because the Redeemer redeemed me. So, that's Paul's thesis in Romans chapter 5, isn't it? We stand in grace. We stand in a place of grace.

[40:57] Undeserved favor. That's where we stand. Because he redeemed me. And the focus of his redemption is in none other than Jesus Christ. Where are God's redeeming purposes focused?

[41:11] In this Jesus. Because he died on the cross for our sins. And rose again from the dead for our justification. He stands at the right hand of God as our high priest.

[41:23] And he leads us home to glory. Sing together. Sing together.