Redemption: Sinners' Smartest Option - Part 2

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This is the sixth sermon in a series of messages on the topic of redemption. This message speaks about the work that God does in the heart and life of the individual who is redeemed.

Written Excerpts:

1 Timothy 1:15 (NKJV) ¹⁵ This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
Introduction:

We’ve been doing a series of sermons on the topic of redemption. This is a topic that is woven through the entire Bible from front to back. Every single person is in need of redemption and our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ, has provided a perfect plan.

Salvation and redemption is a free gift offered to everyone. That is, it cannot be earned or deserved by effort. But, it is not automatic. God has clearly outlined the choices and decisions that a person must make in order to acquire the gift for themselves.

Last Sunday we considered our decisions or choices that are conditions for appropriating the plan God has provided.

Today, as we focus on the second part of the topic: “Sinners’ Smartest Option,” we are specifically talking about God’s provisions, and we are going to discuss the actual redeeming process that God works into our lives.

II.  God’s Provisions

We’ve already talked about how desperately humanity needs redeemed, and how effectively Christ provided it with His life, sacrificial death and victorious resurrection. Once an individual follows the admonitions in God’s Word and meets the conditions we spoke about last Sunday, then God begins to effectively apply the power of redeeming grace in the life of the believer.

This is what God does:

A.  He Justifies Us

Jeremiah 31:34 (NKJV) ³⁴ No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

Romans 5:1 (NKJV) ¹ Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Hebrews 8:12 (NKJV) ¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

1 John 1:9 (NKJV) ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

B.  He Regenerates Us (Initial Sanctification)

John 3:3 (NKJV) ³ Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

C.  He Adopts Us

Romans 8:14-17 (NKJV) ¹⁴ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ….

Galatians 4:6-7 (NKJV) ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" ⁷ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Ephesians 2:19 (NKJV) ¹⁹ Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

D.  He Sanctifies Us

I already mentioned earlier that initial sanctification begins at the new birth (regeneration). However, the Bible emphasizes additional need for holiness even for Christians.

John 17:17 (NKJV) ¹⁷ Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV) ¹ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

2 Corinthians 7:1 (NKJV) ¹ Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 (NKJV) ³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, ⁵ not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. ⁷ For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV) ²³ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Cleanse; Set apart for holy purpose, not ordinary.

Some verses are in grammatical forms that denote gradual process. Other verses are in grammatical forms that denote completed process. Both emphases are intended.

E.  He Glorifies Us

The final phase, perfection in every area, occurs when we arrive in heaven.

Romans 8:20-23 (NKJV) ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; ²¹ because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. ²³ Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Romans 13:11 (NKJV) ¹¹ And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

Philippians 3:20-21 (NKJV) ²⁰ For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Conclusion:

One of the reasons I used the title “Sinners’ Smartest Option” is partly because of the choices and decisions that need to be made which we talked about last Sunday. Another reason for the title is because after we understand what God does with us and for us in the process of redemption, who in the world wouldn’t want to experience it?

Forgiveness, pardon, and wiping the record clean; Transforming and recreating us into someone we never could have become; Adopting us into the royal family of God after we had lived outside the kingdom and estranged from the King; Purifying our hearts and lives to conform more and more to the image of Christ. Finally, completely restoring everything that was lost in the Fall – perfect health, perfect understanding…. !

Oh, hallelujah! What a wonderful Savior!

What a Wonderful Savior #345