Redemption and Forgiveness

It’s good to be with you again at the beginning of a new week, sharing with you Keys to Successful Living which God has placed in my hand through many years of personal experience and Christian ministry.

This week I’ll be continuing with the theme which I commenced last week: How to Overcome Evil.

But first, let me say thank you to those of you who’ve been writing to me. Before I finish this talk, we’ll be giving you a mailing address to which you may write. It means a great deal to me to hear how this radio ministry of mine has been helping you and blessing you. So please take time to write, even if it’s only a brief personal note.

Now back to our theme: How to Overcome Evil.

In my talks last week I explained that evil is not “something,” but someone, someone known as Satan or the devil, and I gave you a brief outline of the history of Lucifer, the bright, beaufitul, wise, archangel that fell and led his angels in rebellion against God and set up a rival kingdom.

The Scripture pictures Satan in various ways, none of them pleasant. He’s called a dragon, a serpent, a murderer, a liar, the father of lies, and a thief. The Scripture reveals he has three objectives when he comes into our lives: to steal, to kill, and to destroy. However, the good news of the Gospel is that through His death on the cross, Jesus defeated Satan on our behalf in two main ways. First, He made it possible for us to obtain forgiveness of past sins. Second, He made it possible for us to receive God’s righteousness by faith without having to observe the law. In this way, Jesus deprived Satan of his main weapon against us which is guilt. In turn, Jesus has put in our hands spiritual weapons with which we can administer His victory over Satan.

Last week we looked at one New Testament passage which describes most vividly the weapons that we can use and their effect on Satan and I’m going to turn back to that passage again now. It’s Revelation, chapter 12, verses 10 and 11, immediately following the passage in which Satan is described as the dragon and the serpent. This is how these verses read:

“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, [Remember, that’s Satan] the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. [Then we come to the crucial statement] They [That’s the Believers] overcame him [that’s Satan, notice the direct person to person conflict, ‘they over came him.’ Now come the weapons] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; [And then we have the statement of total commitment] they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.’” (NIV)

I interpreted that for you in a simple, practical way in this form. We overcome Satan when we testify personally to what the Word of God says that the blood of Jesus does for us. There are the three weapons, the blood of Jesus, the Word of God, and our personal testimony, and we put them together and make them effective when we testify personally to what the Word of God says, that the blood of Jesus does for us. I am going to repeat that once more; it’s so important. We overcome Satan when we testify personally to what the Word of God says, that the blood of Jesus does for us.

Now to do this effectively, one thing is essential. We must know what the Word of God says about the blood of Jesus, otherwise we can’t make the testimony. Now that’s what we’re going to study together this week. We’re going to look at various passages which speak about what the blood of Jesus does for us and we’re going to see how we can testify personally about them in such a way as to make them effective in our lives.

Let me remind you briefly of the example of the Passover Ceremony, how the blood of the Passover lamb under the Old Covenant was applied to the homes of the Israelites. The father of each family slew the Passover lamb, collected the blood in a basin, and then transferred the blood from the basin to where it was needed, that’s his home, with just one simple little instrument or means of provision, a little bunch of hyssop. He dipped the bunch of hyssop in the blood and then sprinkled the blood on his home. So, although the hyssop was such a simple, humble thing, it was absolutely essential because the blood in the basin protected no one, but the blood on the home protected the home, and to get the blood from the basin to the home, he had to use the hyssop. Now, our hyssop is our testimony. When we testify about what the Word of God says, the blood of Jesus does, that’s like taking the blood from the basin and sprinkling it over ourselves where it’s needed.

Now, let’s look at certain statements made in Scripture about the blood of Jesus. We’ll turn first of all to Ephesians 1, verse 7.

“In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” (NIV)

There are two things that are provided for us by the blood of Jesus. The first is redemption, the second is forgiveness of sins. Let me read those words again and you listen for those two provisions of the blood of Jesus. “In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” So, through the blood of Jesus, we are redeemed and our redemption is based on the fact that through the blood of Jesus, our sins are forgiven. Thus, the two things there stated to be provided by the blood of Jesus are first, redemption, and second, forgiveness, but in order to make them effective in our lives, we have to make the appropriate testimony. This is clearly brought out in regard to redemption in a verse in the Old Testament, Psalm 107, verse 2, which says:

“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” (KJV)

So to make our redemption effective, we have to say so. We have to declare boldly. We have to make our personal testimony, “I am redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” The enemy, of course, is Satan.

Now we need to understand briefly what redemption is. Redemption is buying someone back. We were, as sinners, exposed in Satan’s slave market, exposed for sale. We had no option; we had no choice. The grace and mercy of God is that Jesus walked into Satan’s slave market and bought us back out of the hand of Satan with his own precious blood. Listen to what Peter says in 1st Peter 1:18 and 19:

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (NIV)

Notice again the use of the word lamb. Again, Jesus is compared to the Passover lamb and with his precious blood, we have been redeemed from the hand of the enemy because our sins have been forgiven.

Let’s go back to Ephesians 1:7 and just go through that verse once more. It’s the key to what we’re speaking about right now.

“In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” (NIV)

So we have two things made available through the blood of Jesus, redemption and the forgiveness of sin. So, we make that effective by our personal testimony and now I am going to show you how to do it. We say it like this: “Through the blood of Jesus, all my sins are forgiven. Through the blood of Jesus, I have been redeemed out of the hand of Satan.” That testimony, when we make it personally with our own lips, is like the hyssop; it transfers the blood from the basin to the place where we need it, where we live.

I’m going to say that again and then I’m going to give you the privilege of joining with me once more in repeating those two decisive testimonies. First, “Through the blood of Jesus, all my  sins  are forgiven.” Second, “Through the blood of Jesus,  I have been redeemed out of the hand of Satan.” Now if you can do it, I want you to repeat those after me as I say them, phrase by phrase. Are you ready now? “Through the blood of Jesus, all my sins are forgiven.” Remember that word, “all;” that’s important. The second, “Through the blood of Jesus, I have been redeemed out of the hand of Satan.” I think we’ll say that second one again; it’s so good, isn’t it? Didn’t you feel better when you said that? Now follow me again. “Through the blood of Jesus, I have been redeemed out of the hand of Satan.” So that’s how we sprinkle the blood of Jesus with our testimony. We say out loud with our mouths what the Word of God says the blood of Jesus does for us. That’s the hyssop with which we take the blood from the basin and sprinkle it over our lives.

Our time is up for today. I’ll be back with you again tomorrow at this time. Tomorrow I’ll be speaking about another wonderful provision that has been made for us by the blood of Jesus.