OUR REDEMPTION

[Peace Baptist Church]

One of the simplest things and yet also one of the deepest things theologically is our Redemption In Christ. A person does not have to understand it in
order to be saved, to be redeemed from death. One just
has to understand that man must be redeemed from sin by
GOD. Once a person is born again
it is very good to understand just exactly what their
redemption is and why it is so. It is much more than
having your own sins forgiven. I once heard it said that
being redeemed is more than fire insurance. It is being
freed from mans condition of Spiritual Death. I Peter
1:18-19, "Forasmuch as ye
know that ye were not redeemed
with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your
vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers; But with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot." The object of the
Incarnation of God becoming man was that man might be
given the right to become a child of God. That man could
once again be in God's family. John 1:12 tells us, "But as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on his name." Man
could only become a child of God by receiving the nature
of God. We could say that Christ came that we, that man,
might receive Eternal Life. Jesus said in John 10:10, "I am come that they might have
life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
Man could receive Eternal Life only after he had been
legally redeemed from Satan's authority. Colossians
1:13-14, "Who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom
we have redemption through his blood, even the
forgiveness of sins:" Man's redemption
is legal. It is related to something we will call
Identification.

Identification is two-fold. Man's identification first of all with Adam. And then man's identification with Christ. The entire plan of redemption
revolves around this two-fold identification of man with
Adam and with Christ. Paul was given the revelation of
our redemption and the present ministry of Christ. In
Romans 16:25-26 he calls it "my gospel". He
tells us in Galatians 1:12, "For
I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it but I
received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ".
Paul's revelation was man's identification with Adam and
with Christ. It was necessary that Paul be given the
revelation he received. The scripture calls it the
revelation of Christ. A revelation given by the Holy
Spirit was necessary to get man out of the realm of his
five senses and into the realm of the Spirit. The apostle
John tells us in I John 1:1-2, "That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of
the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we
have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that
eternal life, which was with the Father, and was
manifested unto us;)." Man saw with his
physical eyes Jesus the Christ and His deeds. The life of
the Son of God was lived before John and the others. They
heard with their ears the words He spoke. They could
touch Jesus with their hands. The knowledge man possessed
of Christ during His life on earth was gained by his
physical senses. This physical revelation of Christ was
not sufficient for man's faith in Jesus as the Son of
God. This physical revelation was not sufficient for
understanding of the redemption through Him. In Matthew
16:15-17 Peter declared , "thou
art the Christ". Jesus replied to him, "flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in
heaven." That which is flesh is flesh
and that which is spirit is spirit. By means of the five
senses of his nervous system, his flesh, he had not been
given this knowledge. It had come as a special revelation
from God. The disciples even saw the death and
resurrection of Christ through physical eyes. They saw
the beating, nails, crown of thorns, the dead lifeless
body, the tomb, the stone rolled away, then they saw and
handled the resurrected body of Jesus. They saw only the
physical suffering. They knew not where Christ's spirit
was or what He was doing during the time His physical
body lay in the tomb. They knew nothing of the conquering
of Satan. They knew nothing of the ascension of Christ
with His own blood into the Holy of Holies; and they knew
nothing of the ministry of Christ at the Father's right
hand. They were all spiritually dead men. Even though
they walked with Jesus, they were held captive and
blinded by Spiritual Death, as was all of mankind.

What they needed. What we need. What we must have is a revelation form the Holy Spirit to the spirit of man. That was made possible and accomplished in the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ. I Corinthians 2:9-10
says, "Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man, the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his
Spirit." The revelation which was needed
could not be given until after Pentecost. The Holy Spirit
came to guide them into all truth. The Holy Spirit will
guide us into all truth. There was a necessity of a
revelation of redemption and how this redemption was
accomplished by Identification. First is man's
identification with Adam. Romans 5:12-21 gives us a clear
picture of what I am referring to as identification.
Genesis chapter three gives to us Adam's sin of high
treason. For 4,000 years revelation had been silent on
this subject. Now Paul reveals it. The human race is
identified with Adam in his transgression of God's words
and in Adam's spiritual death. Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"
It was no only physical death but spiritual death, the
nature of Satan was taken on by man. The scriptures tell
us God had said the very day man disobeyed he would die.
This was Spiritual Death. Romans 5:14-19 tells us this
death even reigned over those who had not committed high
treason. Verse 15 states that, "through
the offence of one many be dead," or
through identification with him the many had died. Verse
18 says that through Adam all men were made sinners and
sinners by nature. Paul reveals that down through the
ages and to the present day, sin reigned the realm of
death, where Satan is lord, because the human race was
identified with the first man Adam. Adam had the world to
do with as he would. God gave it to him. All dominion and
all authority were Adam's. He disobeyed God, broke
fellowship and the world which had been given him by God
fell to the hands of Satan.

Actually we were not in The Garden with Adam. Legally his death, his bondage, his judgement, and all that spiritual death made him became ours. A spiritually dead
being could only bring forth spiritually dead
descendants. This is our identification. Now God has
redeemed man completely from every result of Adam's
treason through identification of the human race with
Jesus His Son. This is the real message of Romans
5:12-21. Our redemption through our identification with
Christ, but we can not understand our identification with
Jesus until we see our identification with Adam. Which
Paul explains. Then we can see the identification of the
human race with Christ. If the lordship of Satan over man
was due to identification of humanity with Adam in his
crime of high treason, then it is legally possible for
the works of Satan to be destroyed by the identification
of man with the Son of God, the second Adam. First we see
Christ had to be identified with our humanity. This must
be done because of the legal side of man's redemption.
This identification took place in His Incarnation. John
1:14 says, "and the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us."
Hebrews 2:14, "Since then
the children are sharers in flesh and blood, He also
Himself in like manner partook of the same."
Jesus walked as the first man should have walked doing
the will of the Father God. He lived the perfect life,
but that was not enough. Isaiah 53:4-6 tells us, "and the LORD hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all." II Corinthians
5:21, " For he hath made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him."
The Bible never says of an animal that it became sin for
a man. God actually made Him to become sin for us. The
Why!!! In the eye of God, it is not Christ who hung on
the cross, but it was the entire human race. All of
mankind. We can say with Paul, "I
was crucified with Christ"(Galatians
2:20) In The Garden we were not actually with Adam but
legally we were. We actually were not on the cross with
Christ but legally we were. The identification of man
with Christ was just as complete as was his
identification with Adam. If it is not then no one can be
saved. Now that the Identification of Christ with
humanity was accomplished in the incarnation(God becoming
a man), the steps of redemption began. Now man must be
identified with Christ.

When Christ ascended into Heaven with His own blood he obtained eternal redemption for us on the basis of His substitutionary death and resurrection on our behalf. He
died in our stead, in our place. Hebrews 9:12 tells us, "Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us." Under Jewish law sacrifices had to
be continually offered up by the priests. Yet Hebrews
10:4 says, "For it is not
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take
away sins." But of Jesus it says in
Hebrews 10:12-14, "But
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for
ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by
one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified." Paul realized his
identification with Christ when he said, "I have been crucified with
Christ." Romans 6:6 says the old man was
crucified with Him. God made Him to become sin for us. It
was our spiritual death and our trespasses that He bore.
Romans 4:25 states, "He
was delivered up for our trespasses and raised up for our
justification." We are identified with
this death according to Romans 6:5 & 8. The scripture
tells us in Colossians 2:13, "And
you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, hath he quickened(made alive) together with
him." Ephesians 2:5 tells us that even
when we were dead through our trespasses He made us alive
together with Christ. The scriptures tell us he was the
first born from the dead, from spiritual death to eternal
life. Romans 6:9-10 says that, "......death
hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he
died unto sin once." Romans 8:29 tells
us, "For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren." Many brethren were
legally identified with Him in His birth out of death
into eternal life. It is as if Adam could have paid the
penalty of his sin and freed mankind from Spiritual Death
right from the beginning. Which he did not and could not
do. Adam could not redeem all those who would follow
after him. I believe one reason is because Adam was
spiritually dead and could no longer perceive the things
of the spirit world of God. He could not hear nor
understand the things of the Spirit. What Adam could not
do Christ the second Adam did do. I Corinthians 15:22
plainly states, "For as in
Adam all die; so also in Christ shall all be made
alive." At the New Birth a man passes
from the authority of Satan into the Lordship of Christ.
Colossians 1:13, "Who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son."
God delivered us out of the authority of Satan and into
the Lordship of Christ. We see that we are identified
with Christ in His death and He with us and our sin
nature. Ephesians 2:6 speaking of God and Christ, says,
"and raised us up with
Him" there by we see we are also
identified with Him in His resurrection.

When He returned from the dead He also returned as victor over the devil. Colossians 2:15, "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it." Jesus did
not conquer Satan for Himself. He was always greater than
Satan. He did it because of His identification with us
and our sin. It was just as though we did it. Ephesians
1:20-23 tells of Christ being raised up and seated at the
right hand of the Father. Ephesians 2:6 states that God
raised us up and seated us with Him in Heavenly Places
with Christ Jesus. Our identification with Adam and
Christ is summed up in Romans 14-19:
"14 Nevertheless death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not
sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who
is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For
if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the
grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man,
Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift:
for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free
gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much
more they which receive abundance of grace and of the
gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon
all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of
one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made
sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made
righteous."

Tags:

Sin reigned over all of those after Adam even though they nor we have committed the sin Adam did. We have all been born in bondage to the lord of this world and to our
flesh, our reason. If by the one offence of Adam we were
all spiritually dead then by the same obedience of the
one Jesus Christ we can all be made spiritually alive. To
stand in fellowship with God, Holy and Righteous just as
if we paid the price our self. Just as if we defeated
Satan our self. Justified: Just-as-if-I-never-sinned.