The scripture reading comes from Romans chapter 3 and 1 Peter chapter 1.
Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or your own Bible.
In Romans 3 verse 21, we read,
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law,
although the law and the prophets bear witness to it,
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
Then, in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 14, we read,
Amen.
Great. Thank you so much, Janet.
Good morning, everybody.
On behalf of Claire and myself, I know it's the 10th of January,
but I want to just welcome you to 2021 and say Happy New Year.
I really wish that we could do this face-to-face.
I wish I could see you and give you a big hug,
look you in the eye, and wish you the best for this next year.
But I guess doing it through the screen, it's just not quite the same.
But really, all the best for this new year to each and every one of us.
And I have been praying for us.
The elders have been praying for us as a church.
Many of you, we've been praying for you by name over the last couple of weeks.
And we really are trusting that this year,
despite all the challenges that we face,
will be an outstanding year for us.
A year in which we walk deeply with Christ.
A year in which we experience His grace in a whole new and profound way.
And so really, just trusting for a fantastic year as we walk with God together.
We want you to know that we love you.
We're so grateful to be able to walk this journey called life and ministry
and following Jesus together with you.
And so a warm welcome to you.
Will you join us as we pray together?
I am very excited for this morning.
I have been praying so much for this morning's message.
And I'd love for you to join me as we pray together.
Let's ask God to speak to us from His Word.
So Heavenly Father, as we come to Your Word this morning,
God, we say this so often,
we're not in the least bit interested in hearing the opinions of man.
We are not in the least bit interested, God,
in what I have to say or think.
We want to know what the truth of Your Word is.
We want Your Word, God, to arrest our hearts and to set us free.
And God, this morning as we look at this incredible teaching of Your Word,
how You died, Jesus, to set us free,
God, I pray that that will happen.
I pray, God, that You really, by the power of Your Spirit,
will be at work in our hearts.
And so I pray, God, may Your Word come alive to us this morning.
May You bring healing and restoration,
redemption to our hearts and our lives, God.
I pray, God, by the power of Your Spirit,
won't You be at work?
God, I pray, let us hear and take stock of only that which You want us to hear.
God, come and glorify Your own name.
Come and speak to us this morning.
We want to hear from the living, risen God from Your Word.
And so we ask that in Your powerful and Your gracious name.
Amen.
When I was growing up, I grew up in South Africa.
We had a lot of space.
And our family loved playing sports.
I had two brothers, an older brother, a younger brother.
And we were forever playing sports, cricket, rugby, soccer.
And I had a very happy childhood in many ways.
But one of the challenges was that my dad had a bad back.
The lower vertebra of his back were damaged earlier on in his life.
And so even as he would play sports with us, cricket and soccer,
we were always very aware of the pain in his back and his lack of mobility,
his lack of ability to move.
When I was about 10 or 12 years old, somewhere around there,
my dad had another back operation, I think his third or fourth operation.
And finally in this one, what they did was they took the three vertebra,
the lower part of his back, they put bone in the middle,
cleaned out the disc, and then they put titanium rods
through that kind of new infrastructure and fused these vertebra together.
And thereafter, my dad's back was rock solid, as strong as you could imagine.
After that, he went hiking to Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak of Africa.
He hiked to the base camp of Mount Everest in the Himalayas.
He's gone on motorbike trips and camping trips.
And today my dad is almost 70, and he is as strong and as healthy as most 50-year-olds.
That operation brought a freedom to my dad that I had never seen in the years growing up before that.
Now I'll tell you that story because we're doing this series called Gospel Orthodoxy.
And the word ortho in the beginning of orthodoxy means straight or upright or correct.
And it's the same word that is in the word orthopedics.
An orthopedic surgeon is somebody who is concerned with the skeleton, the bone structure of your body,
to make sure that your body is healthy and strong.
If a body has a healthy or strong skeleton, especially a spine, a backbone,
it gives incredible freedom and mobility and ability to the body to do all sorts of things.
But when your skeleton, when your backbone is damaged, it's broken,
when it's not working well, it restricts you in incredible ways, just like my dad experienced.
In the same way, just like a human body needs to have a strong and healthy skeleton,
needs to be straight and upright and correct,
so our belief structure, what we know and understand about the Gospel,
about who God is, about who we are in God,
needs to be correct and straight and upright
in order for our spiritual lives to flourish, to be healthy and strong.
As any doctor will tell us, that if our bone structure, our skeleton,
is out of joint or damaged or we have a bad posture,
it can really affect us for years to come, often later down the road.
In the same way, when we've got a crooked orthodoxy,
a crooked understanding of who God is and what the Gospel is all about,
it will lead to spiritual disease and decay and apathy in the years to come.
And so that's what this series is really all about.
And so last week, Chris helped us, we looked at the biblical doctrine of justification.
And justification says that if you are in Christ, you're given a new status before God.
You're no longer under the category of condemned, you're under the category of the righteous.
No longer under the category of guilty, under the category of grace.
Grace.
And this is not because of what we've done, it's because of what Jesus has done.
Christ's righteousness is given to us, credited to us.
You may remember that amazing verse in 2 Corinthians.
It says,
And friends, to the degree to which we understand and know this incredible truth will change your life.
To the degree to which we understand this will be the degree to which we experience freedom,
freedom from condemnation, freedom from guilt, freedom from performance,
freedom from having to worry about whether God loves us and accepts us.
To the degree to which we know this will be the degree to which we experience deep security in God's love and acceptance of us.
Most Christians functionally live as if our acceptance of God is based on our performance.
The gospel tells us that our acceptance before God is found on Christ's performance, on the cross,
and that that is credited to us as if it were our own.
This is the scandalous good news of the gospel.
So that's justification which we looked at last week.
This morning, I want us to look at this another amazing doctrine which is the doctrine of redemption.
Redemption.
If justification means freedom from guilt, redemption means freedom from slavery.
Now when we hear of slavery,
we might think in our minds have this image of 18th century transatlantic slave trade,
where people, many from Africa, were kidnapped, trafficked into slavery,
sent across the ocean to work in the new American colonies.
But actually slavery in the ancient world was very different.
It was not nearly as brutal as that.
It was far more common in many ways.
And slavery in the ancient world,
people found themselves in slavery for a variety of reasons.
It could have been because of warfare or battle.
People were taken as the spoils of war.
But actually a very common form of slavery was
when people got into financial difficulty or debt,
they would often, as a form of indentured servanthood,
submit themselves to a kind of slavery in order to pay off their debt.
In the ancient world, often people put themselves into slavery,
whether voluntarily or involuntarily,
to pay off a debt that they earn.
And yet unlike the 18th century slave trade in North America,
generally speaking, a slave in the ancient world could purchase their freedom,
either through they themselves or someone else paying off their debt
by paying what was called a ransom.
And so what would happen is someone would get into financial difficulty,
maybe debt,
and they would either sell a property of theirs
or maybe themselves into slavery in order to pay off that debt.
And then they would work for a period of time,
a couple of years perhaps,
to work towards their freedom.
But often what would happen is a family member would come
and pay off their debt for them
or buy out their freedom
in order to either restore that property
or restore them to a state of freedom
by paying this ransom price.
And that act of paying money to buy someone's freedom
was called redemption.
And so redemption really means to be released
or set free or restored by way of payment,
to be freed by way of ransom.
In the New Testament,
the word ransom and the word redemption are almost identical.
They have the same Greek root word.
And so having been taken captive or enslaved,
upon the payment of some price,
your freedom was restored.
You were redeemed.
Now, in the Bible,
there's lots of stories or imageries that illustrate this.
One of the best ones is the story of Hosea.
You might know the story,
but Hosea was a prophet,
a well-respected man of God in ancient Israel.
He was given a message by God to speak to God's people.
And one of the ways he delivered this message
was through dramatization,
through acting it out.
And God calls Hosea to marry a lady called Goma.
The trouble is Goma is a prostitute.
And so just as today the case was in the ancient times,
many people found themselves in prostitution,
not by way of career choice.
They found themselves there because they were forced into it.
They were often owned by a pimp,
some kind of master.
And they were maybe sold into prostitution
because of a family debt.
A family member maybe sold someone into prostitution.
Maybe they put themselves into prostitution
because of a debt or poverty that they came across in their lives.
Maybe they were taken as a spoil of all.
But however it happened,
Goma finds herself trapped,
enslaved in the world of prostitution.
And God calls Hosea to marry her.
In order to do so,
he first needs to go and redeem her,
to buy her out of slavery.
And so Hosea goes down to the marketplace,
to the town square,
and he says,
I want to marry Goma.
And her owners say,
okay,
well,
that's going to cost you.
And so Hosea brings a sum of money,
15 silver coins,
350 liters of barley,
a massive amount of harvest of barley.
Together,
it comes to 30 pieces of silver,
the price for a common slave.
And he hands it over,
and he buys Goma out of her slavery.
He redeems her,
and he brings her home.
This time,
not as an object of lust and abuse,
but as his wife.
He brings her home,
not just to satisfy himself,
but to pour out his love upon her.
Hosea wasn't just buying her out of prostitution.
He was redeeming her humanity,
her personhood.
Friends,
can you imagine how Goma must have felt
when she hears that here comes another man
that wants to take her for himself.
Here's going to be another man
she must have thought
is going to treat me like everyone else.
And yet,
unbelievably,
incredibly,
she finds that
Hosea is not going to abuse her and use her.
Hosea is redeeming her
to pour out his love upon her.
Redeeming her
to bring her home
as his wife.
Friends,
you know,
this is what Christianity
is all about.
Christianity is not a self-improvement project
and attempt to be a better person
and attempt to become a more moral person.
Christianity is not a philosophy
about how to get in touch with your inner self
or how to become a more spiritual person.
The declaration of Scripture
is that apart from Christ,
outside of Jesus,
we are lost.
We are enslaved to our sinful nature.
We are enslaved to our sinful habits
and to the power of Satan.
And yet,
Christ Jesus is our Redeemer,
a Deliverer,
one who has come to buy us out of slavery,
buy us out of captivity,
to set us free,
to buy us out of the controlling influence of Satan,
out of the destructive patterns
of our sinful nature
and addictions,
and to bring us into freedom.
Colossians chapter 1 says this,
He has redeemed us
out of the kingdom of darkness
and transferred us
into the kingdom of His beloved Son.
In Jesus,
we have a Redeemer,
one who has come to pay the ransom price,
the redemption price,
not just 30 silver coins,
but with His life.
Remember that great passage
that Janet read to us earlier.
It says this,
you were ransomed,
you were redeemed,
not with perishable things
such as silver or gold.
Jesus didn't come and say,
okay,
let me come,
I got a billion dollars,
I got 50 billion dollars,
how much do you want?
Jesus ransomed us,
Jesus redeemed us
with His precious blood,
with His life on the cross.
Mark chapter 10,
Jesus says this,
the Son of Man has come,
not to be served,
but to serve,
to give His life as a redemption,
as a ransom for you and I.
So there's this great hymn
Francis Light wrote
hundreds of years ago,
Praise my soul,
the King of heaven,
to His feet thy tribute bring,
ransomed,
healed,
restored,
forgiven,
who like thee
His praise should sing.
Friends,
this is the gospel,
this is Christianity,
this is what
the entire Bible is about,
how we were lost
and enslaved
to our sinful nature,
to the forces of Satan,
but Christ has come
to redeem us
and to ransom us,
to buy us out of slavery
and bondage,
ransomed,
healed,
restored,
forgiven,
this is the gospel.
Now,
the question is,
what exactly
has Jesus
ransomed us from?
What does Jesus,
in what way
does Jesus redeem us?
I mean,
not many of us
are walking around
with chains
tied to our ankles
or our feet,
so what exactly
does it mean
when Scripture says
that in Him
we have redemption?
Well,
that's a brilliant question.
redemption.
This morning,
I want us to look
at how the New Testament
speaks of three ways
that we have redemption
in Christ.
In Christ,
we have freedom
from the penalty of sin,
we have freedom
from the power of sin,
and thirdly,
freedom from the very
presence of sin.
Let's look at the first one,
freedom from the penalty
of sin.
Look at me,
look with me
at Romans chapter 3,
and this is what
Janet read to us earlier.
Paul writes this.
We looked at this
last week with Chris.
Paul writes,
For all have sinned
and fallen short
of the glory of God,
but are justified
by His grace
as a gift
through the redemption,
there's our word,
that is in Jesus Christ,
by His blood
to be received
by faith.
In Galatians chapter 3,
Paul says it this way,
he says,
Christ redeemed us,
there's our word,
from the curse
of the law,
by becoming
a curse for us.
Christ redeemed us
from the curse
of the law.
Now,
what on earth
does that mean?
What it means
is that Christ
has redeemed us,
brought us out of slavery,
out of bondage,
from the charge,
the curse,
that was hanging
over our heads,
on account of us
having broken
God's holy law.
So picture this with me.
Imagine you are
traveling in some
foreign country,
you go somewhere
for work,
and you've been
there two weeks,
you've done some work,
you're on your way
back to the airport
to come back home
to Hong Kong.
And while you're in the taxi
on the way to the airport,
you're minding
your own business
and you hear
all these sirens,
these police sirens
and motorbikes
coming up behind you
and you think,
oh, that's interesting.
And the next minute,
they pull in front
of your taxi
and they steer your taxi
off the road
to a standstill.
And the next minute,
these policemen
jump out of the car,
they open the taxi doors,
they pull you out,
tie your hands
behind your back,
they arrest you
and put you
in a police vehicle.
And you say,
what on earth is going on?
And all they say is,
you have the right
to remain silent.
Anything you say
can and will be
held against you.
You go to the police station
and you say,
what's going on?
And you find out
that you've broken
some law
of the land,
some very serious law.
Friends,
you are under the curse,
the charge,
of having broken
the law.
You are detained
as you face
the charges
of the law.
Friends,
look at what Paul says here.
He says,
all of us have sinned
and fallen short
of God's standard
of glory.
All of us have come
under the charge
of having broken
God's holy law.
All of us have lived
for ourselves.
We've exalted ourselves
and honored ourselves
rather than Christ
and God our maker.
We have pushed him aside
and we've worshipped ourselves.
We've neither loved God
nor loved others
more than ourselves.
We have broken
God's holy law.
You've done it,
I've done it,
we've all done it.
And the result is
that we are under
a charge,
under a curse
of having broken
God's law.
And so look at
what Galatians says.
He says,
Jesus Christ
redeemed us,
brought us
out of
the bondage
of the curse
of the law
by becoming
a curse for us.
By taking on
that curse himself.
Jesus brought us
out of bondage
by suffering
the consequences
of our guilt
in our place.
Jesus had his life
taken from him
on the cross.
He paid the price
that we deserve
so that we can be
set free
from that charge
that is leveled
against us.
The price has been paid,
the debt has been settled,
the charge of guilt
has been nullified
and removed.
The charge sheet
has been torn in two
and has been cast aside.
Ephesians 1
says it like this,
In him we have redemption.
There's our word.
Through his blood
the forgiveness
of our sins.
Friends,
this is the great news
of the gospel.
Now,
as a sidebar,
the New Testament
says something
very interesting
because it says
that Christ
has also redeemed us
from the power
of Satan.
Now,
in what way
has Jesus redeemed us
from the power
of Satan?
One of the ways
that the Bible
says Satan
torments
and makes life
difficult
for followers
of Jesus
is through
his accusation.
In fact,
the book of Revelation
Satan is called
the accuser.
And Satan
often comes to
believers
and he says,
How can God
love you?
You're such a sinner.
Do you really think
that God loves you,
that God accepts you
when you've done
this and this?
How on earth
can you think
that God loves you?
And he accuses us
and he reminds us
of our sin.
But friends,
in the gospel,
Jesus has dismantled
that accusation
of Satan.
He's taken
his primary weapon
and he's disarmed him.
Look at how
Colossians says it.
Having forgiven us
our trespasses
by cancelling
the record
of debt
that stood
against us
with its legal demands
through his self-offering
at the cross,
Jesus disarmed
the rulers
and the authorities
and put them
to open shame.
Jesus took
the very weapon
that Satan uses,
they're accusing us
of our sin,
and he disarms him.
He renders him
a void.
David Mathis
says it like this,
The decisive weapon
the demons had
against us
was accusation
of our unforgiven sin.
But when Jesus
poured out his blood
in our place
to forgive us
of our sins,
he freed us
from captivity.
He redeemed us
from Satan
and the record
of debt
and legal demands
that stood
against us.
See what's happened there?
Friends,
if you are in Christ,
if you've come to him
in faith and repentance,
Satan comes to you
and says,
You're such a miserable sinner.
How do you think
God could ever love you
or accept you?
And do you know
what you do?
At first,
you start to feel condemned.
You feel guilty.
You feel like,
Yeah,
I'm such a terrible Christian.
How could God
ever love you?
And then suddenly,
you go to CG
or you go to church
and one of your brothers
or sisters
reminds you of the gospel.
They read something
in the scripture
and suddenly you realize,
I've been free.
I've been set free.
And so you say to Satan,
Satan,
shut it.
The debt has been paid.
I have been justified.
I've been redeemed,
ransomed,
healed,
restored,
forgiven.
You preach the gospel
to yourself
and you say,
Jesus is my redeemer.
He has canceled
the record of debt
that stood against me
with its legal demands.
It is finished.
It has been paid
in full.
Friends,
Jesus redeems us
from the penalty
of sin.
Now,
as wonderful
and as powerful
as that is,
in many ways,
that's transaction
that takes place
in the heavens.
But for those of us
that are in Christ,
our record has been settled.
The debt has been paid.
But how does Christ's
redemption work
actually help us today
or tomorrow
or this week?
Well,
that's a great question.
Secondly,
Christ frees us
from the power of sin.
I wonder how many of us
feel like the death
and resurrection of Jesus,
as wonderful as it is
for our past
and as good news
as it is for our future,
has very little bearing
on our lives today.
And yet,
we couldn't possibly
be more wrong.
The New Testament
tells us again and again
that the death of Christ
has ransomed us,
redeemed us,
set us free
on account of His death,
not only from the record
of sin of our past,
but also from the power
of sin in our present,
today.
Look at how
the Apostle Peter says it.
Janice read this
to us earlier.
He says this,
As God's children,
do not be conformed
to the passions
of your former ignorance,
but as He who called you
is holy,
so you also be holy
in all your conduct.
Since it is written,
You shall be holy
for I am holy.
So let's just pause it.
Just think about that.
God is saying that
it's His will
that as Christians,
our lives reflect something
of Jesus' nature
and character.
Just as God is holy,
we ought to be holy.
God doesn't want us
to live
in the way
that we lived
when we were ignorant
about the gospel
and who God is.
He doesn't want us
to live as if
we don't know
who Jesus is,
we don't understand
the gospel,
we don't know
about the holiness
of God.
Friends,
if you're a Christian,
we shouldn't say,
Well,
Jesus died for my sin,
I can just carry on sinning,
it doesn't matter,
it's all forgiven anyway.
God is holy
and He wants our lives
to reflect His holiness.
Just as it is written,
You shall be holy
just as God is holy.
But then He says,
Knowing that,
so there's something
that we should know
or understand,
something we need
to believe
that's going to help us
to live lives
of holiness.
Okay?
Knowing what?
Knowing that you were
ransomed
from the futile ways
inherited from your forefathers,
not with perishable things
such as silver or gold,
but with the precious
blood of Christ.
Friends,
you see what Peter is saying?
Jesus' death on the cross
wasn't just to forgive us,
wasn't just to pay
for the penalty of sin,
as wonderful as that is,
Jesus' death on the cross
also redeems us
from the futile ways
that we live naturally,
that we inherit
from our forefathers,
the futile ways of life
outside of the gospel.
What Christians
in previous generations
called our besetting sins.
Those sins that keep
on plaguing us
and tormenting us
that we struggle
to get free from,
Jesus died to set us
free from that.
Friends,
I wonder what areas
of our lives
don't reflect
the holiness
and the beauty
of Jesus.
Don't reflect
the redeeming,
ransoming power
of Christ.
Friends,
when you look
at your life,
what patterns,
what behavior
keep on tripping you up?
Things you just can't seem
to get the better of.
Friends,
what sinful patterns
of behavior?
What sinful patterns
of thought?
What destructive
coping mechanisms?
What toxic relationships
do you find
you keep going back to?
Friends,
what addictions
do you find yourself
trapped in?
Addictions that you hate
but you just can't seem
to get the better of?
Friends,
what idols
do you find yourself
trusting in again
and again
out of fear
or insecurity?
Christ's death
on the cross
was meant to ransom us,
redeem us,
even out of those
patterns of our life.
In my life,
over the last couple
of years,
I've become aware
of just how
enslaved I am
to people's approval
and affirmation
of me.
I find it
often very difficult
to say no
to people.
I find it very difficult
to disagree,
extremely difficult
to disagree
with anyone
in authority.
Often I find it
difficult to say no
to requests
that are made of me.
Even if I know
it's not a good idea,
I will go along
with it.
I often find
that I hate
making people
feel uncomfortable
or awkward.
I find that
this leads me
from time to time
to being less than honest.
I find myself
talking to someone
and even though
I disagree with
everything that they're saying,
I find myself
nodding my head
and saying,
yeah,
I agree with you.
All out of this fear
of what will people
think of me
if I disagree with them
or what will
out of this fear
of
people not
approving me
or affirming me.
I find that
I get myself
in situations
I don't want to be in
or because I'm afraid
to disagree with people
or say what I really feel.
And as I've thought
about this
over the years,
one of the things
I've realized
is that actually
in a very deep
part of my heart,
I love
and treasure
and value
the approval
of people
actually more
than I value
and treasure
God
and who He is
and what He has
to say about me.
In many ways,
there's this idol
that's deeply rooted
in my heart
that is the idol
of I find security
and comfort
and peace
in people affirming me
and people approving me
even more than I do
in who God is.
Now,
I'm sure I'm not
the only one
that feels like this,
but one of the things
I found fascinating
is that even though
I hate it,
even though
it has this controlling
influence of my life,
every year,
at New Year's,
I make a New Year's
resolution.
This is the year
I'm going to be courageous.
This is the year
I'm going to be bold.
This is the year
I'm not going to give in
to people pleasing.
And yet,
a couple of weeks,
months down the road,
I find that I'm
controlled by this
and I find myself
giving in to it.
And the besetting sin
of people pleasing
seems to have this
hold on me.
And even though
I hate it,
I feel incapable
of breaking free from it.
A couple of months ago,
I realized this
and was processing this
and praying through it
and I realized that
I had to confess
that this controlling
influence of my life
is not just because
of my personality,
it's not just because
of my culture,
it's not just middle
child syndrome
or some other
psychological thing
I want to blame it on.
Actually,
deep in my heart,
in my psychology,
I guess,
there is an idol there
that treasures
and loves
to prove with people
more than God.
There is an idol
that I've set up
that I trust
and hope in
more than Jesus.
And so over the process
of a couple of weeks,
I really felt like
I did deep confession.
I started to hate
and despise this idol
and bring it into the light
and started to do
deep repentance
as I brought this
before God
and said,
God,
I'm so sorry
that actually
in my heart of hearts,
I often love people
more than I love you.
God,
I'm sorry,
won't you forgive me?
And as I did
the deep soul work
of confession
and repentance,
I started to discover
the most amazing thing.
I started to discover
a freedom
that I had not experienced
for years
and years
and years.
Now,
I can't pretend
that I've got it all sorted
and that it never rears its head.
But friends,
for the first time
in years and years,
I've experienced
this freedom
from this deep-seated
hold
and idolatry
in my life.
Now,
look again
at what Peter says.
He says,
As children of God,
do not be conformed
to the passions
of your former ignorance,
for He has called you
to be holy,
since it's written,
you shall be holy
as I am holy,
knowing this,
that you were ransomed
from the futile ways
inherited
from your forefathers,
generations,
not with perishable things
such as silver or gold,
but with the precious
blood of Jesus.
The Apostle Paul
says it the same way
when he writes it
to Titus.
He says this,
Our Savior,
Jesus Christ,
gave Himself for us
to redeem us,
there's our word,
from the lawlessness
and to purify for Himself
a people
for His own possession.
Galatians tells us
that Christ redeemed us
from the curse of the law,
the charge that hangs
over our head
that says guilty.
Paul tells us
in Titus
and Peter
that Christ has redeemed us.
What?
Not just from the charge,
but from the futile ways
that have a bondage
over our life,
that control us.
Christ has redeemed us
to set us free
so that we can become
the people
that He's called us to be.
We sang it earlier,
What can take away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Friends,
the gospel is not just
that Jesus died
to take away your sin,
but now you've just
got to suffer
and live as if
one day you'll get to heaven
but it has no bearing
in your life.
This day,
this week,
Christ's power
of overcoming the grave
is given to you
to set you free
from the besetting,
controlling,
addictive,
powerful sins
in your life.
Friends,
for those of us
who are in Christ,
addiction is an
illegitimate master.
It's a trapment.
Scripture says
it is for freedom
that Christ has set you free.
Stand firm then
in your freedom
and do not be enslaved
by a pattern of slavery.
Friends,
your freedom
has been purchased.
The price has been paid
by the power of the Spirit.
Christ says,
walk in the freedom
that He's purchased
for you.
Freedom
from the penalty of sin,
freedom
from the power of sin.
Thirdly and finally,
this will be quick,
freedom
from the presence of sin.
One day,
Jesus is going to return
and He's going to
take us home.
And when we get
to be with Him
in glory,
there will be
no more brokenness,
no more sin,
no more defection,
no more anything
that's wrong
with our lives,
our hearts,
our bodies,
with our souls.
We will be completely,
finally,
and fully redeemed.
In Luke chapter 21,
Jesus is talking
to His disciples
and He's telling them
about the time
when He's going to
return again.
and He says this,
when you see
these signs
beginning to take place,
straighten up,
lift up your head
because your redemption
is near.
Now,
He's not talking
about your salvation.
That happens
the day you put
your faith in Christ.
He's talking
about this other redemption,
this full and final
redemption
that's going to take place
when Christ returns
and He takes us
with Him to glory.
We sang it earlier,
there we will rise
to meet the Lord,
their sin and death
will be destroyed.
This final redemption
that's coming.
So Romans chapter 8
says like this,
We know that the whole
of creation
has been groaning together
in the pains of childbirth
until now.
It's talking about how
our world is broken,
our own bodies are broken,
we feel the effects
of sin in our life.
Sorry,
someone's just trying
to call me there
on my iPad.
Okay,
Romans 8.
We know that the whole
creation's been groaning,
not only creation,
but we ourselves,
our own bodies
feel the effect of it.
We who have the first
fruits of the Spirit,
we groan inwardly
as we await eagerly
our adoption,
the redemption
of our bodies.
And so this Christian life
in many ways,
there are these various stages.
There's the day
you put your faith in Jesus,
you become a follower
of Jesus,
you are redeemed
from the penalty of sin.
There's this day
in the future
when our bodies
will be redeemed
from the defective
effects of sin
in this world.
No more cancer,
no more anxiety,
no more depression,
no more COVID,
no more hunger,
no more anger,
no more worry.
But then in between
this Christ's redemption,
redeeming power
is at work
in our lives
as He starts
to redeem us
from even the effects
of sin in our life
and from the power
of sin.
Friends,
Jesus has come
to do this for us.
This is the power
of the gospel.
Let me close
with a personal story
of when I experienced
the redeeming power
of God in my life.
It's a story
I haven't told
to many people
so if we can just
keep it between
the 300 of us
that would be great.
I say that jokingly.
But it's a story
I haven't shared
with many people
but I grew up in,
as I said,
the most amazing,
wonderful family.
The best family
you could ever
hope and wish for.
And I had a very
happy childhood
in many ways.
When I was 17,
someone who was
not a family member
but somebody
that I was very close to,
there was a breakdown
in the relationship
and this person
said a whole bunch
of things to me,
words to me
that were very hurtful
and harmful
and for some reason,
I'm not sure why,
but for some reason,
these words
lodged deeply
in my heart
and they went
deep inside of me
and they kind of
stayed there.
They're almost like
the tentacles
of these words
put roots
deep in my heart.
And for the next
couple of years,
I would go through
these seasons
where these words
would just ring
in my mind
and I would
absolutely hate myself.
I'd go through
these seasons
where I just felt
useless and miserable,
a pile of nothingness.
And so for the next
couple of years,
I would go through
these seasons
where for two or three
weeks at a time,
I would wake up
and the very first thought
I had in the morning,
before I knew
what day it was,
what time it was,
where I was,
while I was still
trying to wake up,
I'd have this thought
in my mind,
I'd hear this voice
that was as clear as day
and I would say
these things like,
Kevin,
you're such an idiot.
You're so useless.
You're such a disgrace.
And I was kind of
half awake.
I didn't even know
what day it was
or what time it was,
but absolutely
I knew
that I was a disgrace.
I was useless.
And so I'd go through
a couple of weeks
of just where
this voice in my mind
just controlled me.
And throughout the day,
I would just feel
beaten up.
And then it would
dissipate
and a couple of months later,
I'd go through
one of these seasons again.
And I couldn't
break free from it.
And so for four
or five years,
this happened.
And eventually,
one day,
I was about 21, 22,
I was on a mission trip
in Lesotho.
Lesotho is a small
African country
next to South Africa.
I was there
with a bunch of friends
and I was in one
of these funk stages.
And I remember
one morning,
I woke up
and I didn't even know
where I was,
but one thing I knew,
I was an idiot.
I was a disgrace.
I was useless.
And I was convinced
that nobody and nothing
could ever love me
or accept me.
And later on that day,
we were in a church service
and there's a time
of sung worship
and I was just
feeling miserable
and I heard this voice.
It wasn't audible,
but it almost
could have been audible.
It was so clear.
I heard this voice
and the voice was God
saying to me,
and this is what he said.
He said,
Kevin,
my power is in this place.
What do you want me
to do for you?
And I remember
I crossed my arms like this
and I said,
God,
I want you to set me free
from hating myself.
And in an instant,
I felt the love of God
in a way I've never felt it.
I felt the power of God
in a way I've never felt it.
And friends,
from that day,
I have never once
gone through one of those stages again.
Not once in the last 14 years
has that ever come back.
I was set free.
I was redeemed
in a moment
by the power of God
from the effects of sin
and other people's sin
in my life.
Friends,
I tell you that story
because Jesus Christ
is our great Redeemer.
He's gone to the cross.
He laid down His life.
He redeemed us
from the penalty of sin.
That's true.
But He also has come
to redeem us
from the power of sin.
The power of sin
in our own life,
but also the power
that other people's sin
have over us.
Friends,
one day Jesus will redeem us
from the very presence of sin.
Friends,
this week I've been praying for us.
I've been praying for many of us
by name.
I've been praying
and I really do believe
that God wants to set
some of us free today.
For some of us,
it's from the power of sin
in our own lives.
It's addictions that hold us
and we just can't feel
that we can ever get free from it.
Friends,
the Bible says that actually
the way to be free
and the way to start
the redemption process
is actually through confession
and repentance.
Without confession and repentance,
there is no freedom.
And so even the smallest step
requires us just to
confess and acknowledge,
God, I need you.
I'm so sorry.
In my own life,
the idolatry of people pleasing it,
God has broken the power of that
as I've taken the small step
of confessing and repenting that.
Friends,
I wonder how many of us
this morning
need to be free
from destructive patterns
of sin in our own life,
destructive patterns
of behavior.
Friends,
will you come to Jesus
this morning
in confession and repentance?
Will you come and acknowledge
there's this idol
that out of fear
or insecurity
you just hold on to?
Confess it.
Christ wants to set you free.
Friends,
for some of us,
we need to be set free
from bitterness
and resentment
and forgiveness.
For some of us,
it's anger
in our hearts.
It has this controlling power
over us
that we just can't get free
and we excuse it
and justify it.
We use all these arguments
why we justified.
Friends,
it's idolatry.
It's sin.
Jesus wants to set us free
from it today.
Friends,
for some of us,
it's sexual addiction,
pornography.
Friends,
for some of us,
it's people pleasing.
Some of us,
maybe it's other addictions
like comfort eating,
spending money uncontrollably.
It's greed.
It's these other things
that hold us
and we can't be free from it.
Friends,
will you come to Jesus
your great redeemer?
He wants to set you free.
Friends,
for some of us,
it's not so much
the sins of our life.
It's those that have
sinned against us.
It's hurts and wounds
of the past.
It's words that people
have said over us.
Friends,
Christ,
the great redeemer,
wants to come
and set us free.
Friends,
for some of us,
it's the words
of our parents.
It's the lack of love
that they showed us.
It's the affirmation
we long for
and we never get.
Friends,
Christ,
your redeemer,
who went to the cross
not only to pay for your sin
but to break the power
of sin over your life.
Jesus died
to set you free.
Can I ask you
to stand with me
if you're comfortable?
Maybe if you don't
want to stand,
you might want to get
on your knees.
Maybe you want to lift
up your hands
and
will you join me
as we pray together?
I'd love to pray for us
that Christ,
our great redeemer,
will set us free.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus Christ,
awesome and magnificent God,
the sovereign God of the heavens,
you who are seated
on the throne,
you rule and you reign,
but God,
you are not just transcendent
and distant,
you are intensely
near and imminent,
you are personal
and close.
God,
I pray for us
this morning,
I pray for myself,
I pray for my brothers
and sisters across Hong Kong.
God,
for those of us
that are in Christ,
I pray that you will come
and set us free.
God,
I pray
that you set us free
from
patterns of sin.
God,
from idols in our life
that have controlled us
for too long.
God,
from the accusations
and the lies
of the devil,
where Satan has come
and told us
that we will never be free,
it's just who we are.
God,
where Satan has told us
that you will never love us
and accept us,
that we're just mediocre.
Christ,
I pray that the power
of the Spirit
will break into our lives
and set people free now.
God,
come and do that,
I pray.
Set people free,
God.
God,
I pray for those of us
that feel enslaved
and trapped to anger.
Christ,
set us free
as we confess that
and repent it.
God,
where there's addiction
to sexual sin
and pornography,
Christ,
set us free
as we confess that
and admit the reality
of that.
Jesus set us free.
Christ,
for those of us
that feel trapped,
enslaved,
by the sins
that have been
sinned against us,
words spoken of us,
beatings,
physical abuse,
emotional abuse,
psychological abuse,
Christ,
I pray
by the power
of the risen God,
that Jesus,
you who died
and rose again
to conquer
the power of Satan,
God,
once you set your people free,
Jesus,
come and have your way.
God,
just as you set me free
all those years ago,
I pray that you'll do that
for my brothers and sisters
today.
God,
I pray tomorrow morning
we'll wake up
with a new sense of life
and freedom
and joy
and power in God
because we've experienced
the living God.
Oh God,
we need you.
God,
we stand secure
in our justification
and the fact
that the penalty
has been paid.
We are free from it.
We stand secure.
God,
now we pray,
come and make us free
that the power of sin,
the power of Satan,
will have no
hold effect
in our lives.
We experience
what it means
to be
sons and daughters of you.
You pray this,
God,
in your powerful name.
Friends,
as we continue
to worship
and sing songs
of adoration,
I urge you,
take whatever posture
you want.
You can stand,
you can jump,
jump.
If you need to
shout it out,
if you need to say something,
if you need to just
lie flat on the floor,
do whatever you want.
But friends,
come to Christ,
your great Redeemer.
He died to set you free.
He's given you
the spirit
to set you free.
Galatians 5 says,
it is for freedom
that Christ
has set us free.
Stand firm then
and do not allow yourself
to be yoked again
by a spirit of bondage.
Friends,
Jesus,
come to set us free.
Amen.