Heavenly Father, we come before you with expectancy, knowing that you have already gone the distance for us,
that your desire is to bless us, to grow us, to encourage us, to equip us,
to convict us of our sins, to free us from bondage.
Lord, help us to have that expectancy this morning.
Holy Spirit, we ask that you will open our eyes to see, our ears to hear,
open our minds to understand what you would teach us in your word this morning, in Jesus' name.
Amen. Please take a seat.
We'll finish off our summer series on the crucified Messiah this morning,
and we'll be looking at Christ dying as a ransom.
Christ dying as a ransom.
But before we get into the idea of Christ dying for a ransom, we have to talk about slavery.
Slavery is among, if not one of the most detestable evils in the world.
When we talk about evils, evil is bad, evil is evil.
There's kind of degrees of evil.
Slavery is up there.
There are tens of millions of slaves worldwide.
There are Southeast Asians in the Gulf countries that are essentially forced laborers.
We have people that are trafficked into all sorts of prostitution in North America,
in cities all over the place, maybe even Ottawa.
There are some 30 to 40 million slaves worldwide.
I mean, who knows the actual number?
But I want to put forward to you this morning that there are many more than 30 to 40 million slaves.
I want to put forward to you that the very human condition is riddled,
is one with abject, is a condition that is full on with abject slavery.
The idea of ransoming in the scriptures and in our text this morning,
it might bring to mind this idea of somebody kidnapping a rich person's daughter or son
and demanding a ransom, $10 million, or we're going to kill your child.
And although that most certainly is ransoming,
the picture that we're going to see in the Bible is actually the ransoming of one from slavery.
A slave, a bondservant, was somebody without any rights.
They were owned by another human being.
And if they wanted to enjoy freedom, they had to be redeemed.
They had to be ransomed.
In John chapter 8, Jesus speaks to a crowd of Jewish people.
Some were skeptical, antagonistic.
Others were sympathetic.
They were believers.
But he said this to them,
If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.
And you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
They, some of the people that believed in him,
they answered him,
We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.
How is it that you say you will become free?
Interesting.
Just a quick pause.
The Israelites were enslaved to people.
They spent 400 years enslaved in Egypt.
Egyptian slavery.
In fact, every year there is a feast commemorating the exodus from slavery.
It's called Passover.
For them to say such a...
It's like if you're going to lie, you've got to lie well, right?
You don't lie in such a way that is just obvious.
That you're not telling the truth.
And Jesus could have totally refuted them in the same way I just did.
But instead, he doesn't refute them by reminding them of their ethnic experience.
Instead, he appeals to the human experience.
And this is what he says.
Jesus answered them,
Truly, truly, I say to you,
Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
The slave does not remain in the house forever.
The son remains forever.
So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Notice.
Guys, we do the Passover every year.
No, no, no.
He doesn't mention that.
He said, if you practice slavery, or if you practice sin, you are a slave to sin.
You are in bondage.
You are a slave.
And Jesus said it to a group of people 2,000 years ago.
But he says it to us this morning.
There is most certainly slavery throughout the world.
And apart from the obvious crazy stuff that I gave a couple examples of just a few moments ago,
slavery is ubiquitous in our world in the human heart.
For some of us, this might be hard to accept.
It may even be offensive, ridiculous to your ears for me to say such thing.
Look at us.
We are very free people.
We live in a free society.
We have freedom to come and to go, to practice religion,
to acquire wealth, to spend things the way we want.
We're free people.
This sounds a bit ridiculous.
And I can sympathize with that.
If this is you, I would say, just stick with me.
Keep your ears open.
Keep your mind open to the truth that scripture speaks of.
Because, again, if it's true, it will set you free.
Maybe you're a Christian here and you've heard this,
this idea of God redeeming us.
And you're like, yeah, I've heard this.
Like, for the thousandth time, it's old hat.
This is where you hit the off button.
Lights are on, but nobody's home.
You're thinking of whatever sports game or what you have to do when you go home.
I would say to you, keep your ears perked.
Hear this afresh for another time.
One more time.
Because, again, this is truth, and the truth shall set you free.
Let's read our text this morning.
And I'm going to be reading it a number of times.
And I want this truth to get deep down.
So Matt read 1 Timothy 2, 1 to 7.
We're actually going to only be in two verses, one sentence.
Verses 5 and 6 is one sentence over two verses.
And I'll begin in verse 5 of 1 Timothy 2.
justamente 2 verse 6.
Again,
For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all,
which is the testimony given at the proper time.
Our text this morning will show us that our only hope for redemption from slavery to sin is through a ransoming.
A ransoming that we have an inability to pay and desperately long for.
It's a ransoming that was done freely and lovingly.
It was carried out according to God's will at his appointed time and was mediated by the only one who could ever mediate it,
Jesus Christ.
He mediates it between the perfect creator God and the broken, sinful humanity.
We are created in God's image and he is reconciling us back to the creator whose image we bear.
So we're going to look at three things in our text that talk about the idea of ransom and what it means to be ransomed.
The first is what are we ransomed from?
The second thing is what are we ransomed for?
The third thing is how is this accomplished?
So what are we ransomed from?
What are we ransomed for?
And how this is accomplished?
So I'm going to read one more time.
First Timothy chapter two, verses five and six.
For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
What are we ransomed from?
I've made mention of being ransomed from slavery to sin, a slavery to sin.
We have transgressed against God himself from the beginning and because of the beginning.
So by virtue of being a human being, you are a transgressor against God's laws.
And it's been happening since the very beginning, since we see in the opening chapters of Genesis in the Bible, our first parents, they chose not to enjoy God and his good creation.
They chose instead to put themselves in the place of God, to make their own desires ultimate things and somehow kick God off the throne as if that were possible.
We have chosen, likewise, not to trust in God, but to pursue our own good life apart from the life giver.
We make good things ultimate things.
And this is what the scriptures talk about idolatry.
This is sin.
So for instance, if a businesswoman has as an ultimate thing, a successful business, she may stomp on employees.
She may fudge numbers.
She may neglect her family if she has one.
Because the ultimate thing has to be achieved.
The ultimate thing has to be accomplished.
The single person who has the good desire to be married, to be in a relationship, making that the ultimate desire, will pursue that desire.
Again, a good desire in an ultimate way that if they don't get in a relationship, their life isn't, it pales.
It's not worth living.
Or if they get in a relationship and a heartbreak happens, devastation, so that life doesn't seem worth living.
And I don't mean in the moment when emotions are high, but just all the time.
The mother who is desperately in love with their child, that makes their child the ultimate thing.
If the child, God forbid, passes away or goes wayward.
That mother's existence, everything she's put her hope and everything that she's put her identity in crumbles.
Making a good thing an ultimate thing.
The married man of 15 years who is just, he wants some adventure.
And his eyes start to wander.
His desires start to wander.
Adventure is not a bad thing.
But when you make a good thing an ultimate thing, it's sin.
The church planter who puts all his eggs in the church planting basket.
And if it fails, he's crushed.
That's making a good thing an ultimate thing.
I mean, listen, the shackles of slavery to sin take on different forms, but they're still shackles.
If you are a slave to sin, you can say, listen, I'm putting a few more links on my chain.
Look how much freedom I have.
You still have shackles on your legs.
If you paint your shackles a nice color, beautiful, glitter, if you're so glittery like that, there's still shackles.
Or if you ignore them and say, there is no shackles on my feet.
It doesn't change the fact that there's not shackles on your feet.
It means you're delusional.
Slavery to sin takes different forms, but it's still slavery.
But it's not just slavery to sin that we're ransomed from.
It's also ransoming from this world and slavery from false religion and false and evil philosophies.
The apostle Paul says in Galatians chapter 4 that Jesus not only saves Christians from slavery to sin,
but also sets them free from slavery to the world, false religions, evil religions, philosophies.
And he says this in verse 7 of chapter 4.
So you are no longer a slave, but a son.
And if a son, then an heir according or an heir through God.
Verse 8,
It means that through Jesus, we are welcomed into God's family.
No longer slaves, no longer slaves, but sons and daughters.
And that means our previous slave masters no longer have authority over us.
So for the Somali man who comes to the Christian faith, genuine faith,
the evil slave master of Islam is no longer over him.
The student who is headlong into a philosophy degree, eating stuff up, comes to faith,
no longer are they subject to narcissistic or reductionistic philosophies that belittle God,
that belittle his creation and him as creator.
That talk about Christ as a fairy tale or as one of many different insurrectionists 2,000 years ago.
To the Christian sitting in the pew, it means the Christian in the pew that thinks Christianity,
whether consciously or just as a matter of everyday practicality lives the Christian life in such a way that they think good deeds will merit ultimate love from God towards them.
You are no longer slaves to that evil master.
Sons and daughters of the living God, God saves us, ransoms us from the world and from slavery to false and evil religion and philosophies.
There is complete freedom that awaits.
If you are here struggling with your faith, curious about the faith, true freedom awaits.
We are ransomed.
It means we are no longer, again, answerable to our former slave masters.
There is a beautiful scene at the end of 12 Years a Slave when, is it Solomon Northup,
this old friend from New York comes and through the sheriff, he is essentially a free man and he is getting in the carriage.
And as he is walking, his slave master is calling him names and saying,
you are my slave, I paid for you.
And he disregards that slave owner because he is no longer a slave.
And that is a beautiful picture of what it means to no longer be in slavery.
But we're also ransomed from slavery to death.
Death has touched us all in some kind of way.
We have friends or families, family members that have died.
I've never met Kobe Bryant in my life.
I was bummed out for a long time when he died.
Death, it's so final and aggressive and it takes everybody.
And all of us will taste death.
But we're no longer slaves to death if we are ransomed.
Because as Christ has died, but was on the third day rose again from the grave,
we are united to him.
So we too will rise again.
Death will not have the final word.
Death will no longer be a slave master to us.
Ransomed from the grave.
So we are ransomed from slavery, but we are also ransomed for something.
God doesn't rescue the Israelites from Egypt and just puts them out in the desert and said,
Hey, you're free.
He saves them for something.
Brings them to the promised land.
Blesses them.
Makes a covenant with them.
Renews his covenant that he made with Abraham,
but also gives them a new identity.
So what are we ransomed for?
Simply put, it's freedom.
But what exactly do we mean by freedom?
Do we define freedom on our own terms?
Is freedom simply to live unencumbered from responsibility?
Well, then I think desire, your desires would take over.
You just do whatever you wanted.
Then your desire becomes your slave master.
You become a slave to your desires.
How about freedom from responsibility?
Like complete freedom to do whatever you want,
to walk your own path.
Well, how about if walking your own path is at the expense of others?
For your freedom to truly exist,
it means somebody else's freedom has to be curtailed.
Is that really freedom?
Is that true freedom?
We are ransomed for freedom,
but consider this.
The true freedom is to know God and be known by him.
It says that, we read this a few moments ago in Galatians chapter 4.
To know God and be known by him.
God is our creator and he is good.
And his desire for us to bless us can be trusted.
And God is, he is not the type of maker who,
like a watchmaker, makes this beautiful timepiece,
sets the mechanism,
and then his job is done.
God has made creation,
and all of creation is upheld by him.
He is deeply intertwined with his,
excuse me,
creation.
That he is active in his creation,
and he has created the cosmos,
and at the very,
at the very pinnacle of all of his creation,
is you and I,
is humanity.
Because we are made in his image.
We are image bearers of God.
Male and female,
whatever language you speak,
wherever you come from,
if you are a human being,
you're an image bearer of God.
And you are at the pinnacle of his creation.
God does not want a relationship
with the environment.
He does not want a relationship
with any kind of animal,
or a relationship with the stars.
He wants a relationship
with you and I.
He is deeply,
deeply,
deeply involved
in his creation.
As image bearers,
we are made to enjoy
this deep friendship with God.
God,
this is what true freedom is.
To live in the way
that we were created to live.
When sin,
the temptation of sin,
comes knocking,
we don't have to say yes.
When the world
tempts us
to compromise,
we don't have to say yes.
When a false religion,
or philosophy,
says this is,
this is a better way,
we don't have to say yes.
And when death
is knocking at our door,
we can laugh in a sense,
because death will never have
the final word.
We are saved
for relationship
with the living God,
and it means everything.
So we are saved
from slavery,
we are saved
for something,
we are ransomed
for something.
How is all of this accomplished?
Let's take another look.
1 Timothy,
chapter 2,
verses 5 and 6.
For there is one God,
and there is one mediator
between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself
as a ransom for all,
which is the testimony
given at the proper time.
Our scripture text
talks of the ransoming
by Jesus
of us,
but it actually talks
of other things as well.
it makes some heavy-duty
truth claims.
One sentence,
this one sentence
is so packed,
so concise
of a deep,
deep theology
that it is worth
memorizing.
At the end of
our time together,
I'll encourage you guys
to memorize this one
verse,
but it is a packed verse,
and there are truth claims
intertwined
in this sentence
so that
Jesus ransoming us
doesn't work
unless there is
one true God.
Jesus ransoming us
doesn't work
unless we truly
are sinful
and God truly
is holy.
The ransoming
of us by Jesus,
it doesn't work
if the incarnation
is a joke
or if it's false.
The ransoming us
from slavery
doesn't work
if God didn't
send Christ
to freely
give himself
in a specific time
in a specific place.
These truth claims
are very much
intertwined.
Christine actually
helped me with this.
I've never heard
of this before,
but I totally
heard of it before.
The theory of
irreducible complexity
and could you put up
the slides?
This is a great example
of the theory
of irreducible complexity
because the mouse trap
doesn't work
unless each of its
component parts
are there.
So,
I'm not talking about
a fancy dancy
mouse trap.
I'm talking about
the standard
Victor mouse trap,
not Victor's mouse trap.
I have no idea
if Victor has mouse traps.
This is a Victor mouse trap
and the Victor mouse trap
doesn't work
unless there is
a wooden board
and it doesn't work
unless there is
a bar that holds
the spring down
and it doesn't work
unless there is
a trigger
and it won't work
unless there is
a bit of bait
on the trigger
and it definitely
won't work
if you can't set it up.
These things are
impossible to set up.
I don't know if you guys,
that's why people
get the clippy ones now.
But anyways,
you understand
what I'm trying to say.
You can take it down now.
Thanks.
The theory of
irreducible complexity.
God ransoming us
doesn't work
if there are
more than one God
because
if there are
more than one God,
if
the God of the Bible
didn't scratch
my itch,
I just find
another God
with a different
set of values.
If
this God
wasn't perfect
and us being sinful,
we would need no
we'd have no need
to be ransomed.
If
Christ wasn't
a mediator
and a mediator
being one
that enjoys
the confidence
of both parties
that are
at odds
to one another
that is
a suitable
representative
of both parties.
So if
our mediator
Christ Jesus
wasn't fully God
representing
God
and fully man
representing man,
how could he
properly mediate
for us?
This wouldn't work.
The ransoming
wouldn't work.
If
Christ didn't
freely give
of himself,
it would be
an injustice
and how could
that
ransoming
work?
You guys
see the point.
For God
to ransom
us
it is
this
verse,
it is
the gospel
itself.
It is
the gospel
itself.
This doesn't
work if
one of the
component parts
don't exist
or is
false.
So what
happens?
God
sends
his son,
God,
the son of
God,
to take on
human flesh,
fully God,
fully man,
and to ransom
us,
but not
with a large
sum of
money,
not with
years of
hard labor,
but with
his very
blood.
He spills
for you
and for I.
There's a
deep desire
in us
for reconciliation
to God,
for the good
life,
to know
no pain,
to know
true
joy in
relationships.
All of this
stuff points
to something.
This deep
desire for
reconciliation
to God,
but it's
very clear
we have an
inability to
achieve this
ourselves.
What a
frustration
that must
be.
In
Psalm 49
verses 7
to 9
and then
in verse
15 it
says this,
verses 7
to 9,
truly no
one can
ransom
another
or give
to God
the price
of his
life.
For the
ransom of
their life
is costly
and can
never suffice
that he
should live
on forever
and never
see the
pit.
And then
in verse
15 it
says this,
but God
will ransom
my soul
from the
power of
Sheol or
the grave
for he
will receive
me.
Who can
ransom
one's own
life?
God
can.
And he
has.
In the
book of
Revelation,
the culmination
of all
of time
is this
wonderful
picture of
Christ on
the throne
with,
I mean,
it's really
an epic
picture of
all of
creation
worshiping
God.
And this
is what it
says in
verse 5.
And they,
this is the
four living
creatures and
the 24
elders,
it's just
crazy,
epic,
cosmic
scene.
And they
start to
sing a
new song
to Jesus.
And they
say this,
worthy are
you to
take the
scroll and
to open
its seals,
for you
were slain
and by
your blood
you ransomed
people for
God.
From every
tribe and
language and
people and
nation,
and you
have made
them a
kingdom and
priests to
our God
and they
shall reign
on the
earth.
That at
the culmination
of all
time,
there is
this new
song sung
to the
king of
kings and
rate inserted
in there is
about how he
has ransomed
you and
I.
Your life is
worth something.
There's purpose
for your life.
It's a wonderful
picture.
I will
encourage you
guys now to
read and
memorize this
one sentence
and to think
about how you
were ransomed.
To think about
how God is
the creator,
the one and
only creator,
how Christ is
our mediator
between us
and God,
how Jesus
is fully
man,
fully God,
how he
ransoms
us by
his blood
freely,
lovingly,
and how it
was done
in a specific
time in a
specific place
and it is
finished.
And read
this over
and memorize
that.
Let that
form you
this week,
next week,
the week
after,
your whole
life.
Here's the
thing.
This is why
we need to
be reminded.
If you're
not a
Christian,
if you've
never come
to a
saving
faith,
today,
I've laid
out the
case for
you.
Come to
a saving
faith in
Christ Jesus.
Be free
from your
slavery.
But if
you're a
Christian,
don't wander
back into
slavery.
Don't do
it.
You don't
have to.
The
Israelites are
in the
desert.
They know
they will
be delivered
into the
promised land.
They've
seen God's
mighty work.
And then
they start
complaining
about the
stew that
they wanted,
that they used
to eat back
in Egypt,
and then they
want it
again.
But God
has a whole
land for
you,
flowing with
bounty.
And you
want stew
that you
ate,
this is
our problem
as well.
We are
sons and
daughters of
the living
God if you
put your
faith and
trust and
hope in
Christ.
But all
too often
you go back
to being a
slave to
sin.
You go
back to
being a
slave to
the world.
You go
back to
being a
slave to
false
religion,
to false
philosophies,
to an
utter fear
of death
that is
crippling.
you go
back to
being a
slave.
But guess
what?
The shackle
is no
longer on
your ankle.
It's gone
if you are
in Christ
Jesus.
We need
to be
reminded
of this,
refreshed
by this,
renewed
by this.
That's why
the gospel
isn't just
the doorway,
it is the
life of
the Christian
faith.
So let's
read again
1 Timothy
chapter 2
verses 5
and 6.
Let's
memorize
this.
Let it
form our
very hearts.
Let us
remember
always that
we are
sons and
daughters of
the living
God.
Let's
pray.
Heavenly
Father,
we thank
you so
much that
you have
sent your
son to
ransom us
from slavery.
No longer
is there a
shackle on
our ankles,
no longer
are we
free,
no longer
do we
have zero
rights,
we have
been
ransomed,
not with
money that
can be
spent or
a prize that
can be
spent or
some kind
of labor
that can
be spent,
but by
the very
incorruptible
blood of
Christ
himself.
That if
we are
free,
whom the
son sets
free,
is free
indeed.
Lord,
help us
to walk
in that.
And for
my friends
that are
skeptical,
or maybe
they don't
yet know
you,
or maybe
somebody is
here that
has thought
they've
known you,
thought they've
known a
saving faith
for their
entire life,
but maybe
that is
coming into
question.
Lord,
I pray
that they
will cry
out for
your
ransoming,
for your
redemption,
for your
son to
set them
free,
and that
they will
live as
free men,
free women.
Lord,
thank you
that
Christianity
is not a
religion of
bondage,
but it is
truly a
religion of
freedom.
Help us
learn how
to walk
as free
people.
We pray
all these
things in
Jesus' name.
are you
our
ы