Number one, definition. A definition is understood by the words which are used in the Greek New Testament. There are four. These are taken from the Schofield notes and you'll do well to read a little more about them there. One, the word agorazo, which means to buy in the markets, comes from the word agora, the marketplace. Agarazo is to buy in the marketplace. It could be used of buying or selling anything. For instance, in Romans seven and fourteen, it is used of ourselves as being sold under siege, just as a slave would be sold. Then in Ezekiel eighteen in verse four, you have the same sense Only there there is said to be unto the sentence of death. The soul of sin shall surely die. Same thing is true in John three eighteen and all, where he says we are condemned already if we do not believe. And in Romans six twenty three, where he says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Now the price of the of buying is by his precious blood. First Corinthians six and twenty says you were bought with a price. What a price it was. Second Peter two and one tells us that there are some who even deny the Lord who bought them. And Romans five and verse nine says that we are justified by his blood. So it was a tremendous cost at which he bought us in the market. Now the second word is actually the same word, agarazo, with the prefix x, which means out of. So x agarazo means to buy out of the market. Now this is a wonderful word for redemption. It will do you a world of good if you meditate on it. It means that there is no reselling. Once the Lord has brought us for Himself, He never lets us go. On Galatians three-thirteen we're told Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. I think what that means, you and I were under the curse because We had sinned and broken God's holy law. Now suppose I break that law after I've received Christ. Will I be sold back in the market? No, because the second word is used to buy out of the market. Galatians four or five says that he came to redeem them that were under the law. And redeem is this word we're talking about here, to buy out of the market. Now it's also used in Ephesians five and verse sixteen for ourselves that we are to buy up the time. It says redeeming the time because the days are evil. The idea is that you and I can buy up this time. Now once you've bought it up, of course you couldn't sell it again. You've used it. So naturally that would be the word used there. Now the third word is luke-tra-o. There are two O's, but one is a short O and the other one is the long O, the Omicron and the Omega. And this word means to loose or to let free, to set free. Now it was used in Luke twenty-four and twenty-one where the disciple said, we had hope. that he should have redeemed Israel. This is too bad. They put it in the past tense, but of course the Lord had died and they didn't know yet that he was risen again. And that's the word that they used. We hope that they would set Israel free. That's A. Now B, under that third subdivision, is to free us from sin's dominion. Titus two fourteen, who gave himself for us. that he might redeem us from all iniquity. And you know that iniquity is a very strong word, the word used of rebellion. On First Peter one, verses eighteen and nineteen, it is used in an expression that means to redeem us from an empty way of life. to free us from empty living. And the passage there says, that the Lord Jesus has redeemed us from our vain conversation or empty way of living received by tradition from our fathers. Now we're liberated from this. No Christian ever needs to go on in the empty way of living that belonged to his ancestors. And the last word is a strengthened form of this same word. Number four then is apollutrosis. Apollutrosis. Apoll meaning an intensity form, a strengthened form. It means complete deliverance, total deliverance. Now, it may surprise you that our redemption is not complete yet. First of all, redemption of the tribulation saints is given in Luke twenty-one and twenty-eight. Look up, lift up your heads, for your redemption draws an eye. And then it's used of Christ's fullness to us in I Corinthians one in verse thirty, where we're told that Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Now the strength and form is used there because Christ is total deliverance to us. And yet, as I said, you may be surprised that our redemption is not yet complete. What do I mean? In Romans eight and verse twenty three, he says that we are waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of the body. Now that's the word that's used there in Romans eight twenty three. The total deliverance will include the redemption of the body. Now, if you receive Christ as your Savior, your soul is redeemed, but your body isn't. And the older you get, the more conscious you'll be of that, so I can testify. You're mighty sure your body has been redeemed when it begins falling apart. But it is going to be. We're going to have new bodies. They're going to be just like himself. Now you put these four words together and you know what redemption means. It means that the Lord has purchased us at a tremendous price, that He'll never resell us again, that He has purchased us not in order to make us slaves, but to serve us free and that complete deliverance is still ahead. It's a marvelous thing. Take these four words together and study them. Our second division has to do with Old Testament pictures. Sometimes we call these types, although the word type must not be used too loosely. I like the word picture because it's an illustration. Now, first of all, we understand redemption by God's name, Redeemer, Job, I know that my redeemer liveth, Job said. Remember that Job is the oldest piece of literature in the Bible. Remember that Job did not have the full scriptures that we have. He didn't have any scriptures. He only had what God had told him, but he knew that much. So from the Old Testament even, we understand what a redeemer means. Job knew that one of these days he was going to stand before the Lord. Second, we have an Old Testament illustration in the redemption of persons and things. We have four subdivisions under this heading. A of individuals. In Genesis forty-eight and verse sixteen, Jacob said, The angel of the Lord who redeemed me. He said this at the close of his life. in testimony to his son Joseph when he was taken down into Egypt. It's too bad he forgot about it so much of the time during his life, because Jacob's life was largely wasted because he didn't seem to realize that the Lord had redeemed him. But at least it was used of him as an individual. Then, be it was used of the nation. In Psalm twenty-five and twenty-two, we have the prayer, Redeemed Israel, O God. and this was in anticipation of the time when the Lord Jesus would come and redeem the nation. Then see, it was used of animals. In Exodus thirteen and verse thirteen, we have a remarkable verse. It says, Every firstling of an ass shalt thou redeem with a lamb, and if thou wilt not redeem him, then thou shalt break his neck. And all the firstborn among the children of men shalt thou redeem. I don't know how you like being put in the same pen with a donkey, but that's exactly what God does. In one verse, he says, that just as the unclean animal, the donkey, firstborn, had to be redeemed. So all human beings have to be redeemed. And then it was also used of possession. These might be land or any other possessions in Leviticus twenty-five and verse twenty-five. He says that if a man has fallen on bad times and he's lost his property of any kind, then his kinsman may redeem it. So we have these Old Testament illustrations of redemption. then number three under this section we have the teaching in the Old Testament about redemption money now lest you get the idea that it's possible to put some money in the collection plate or give some money to a good cause and thereby in some way aid and abet your own redemption remember that he said in Isaiah fifty two and verse three They have sold themselves for nothing and they shall be redeemed without money. So when I talk about redemption money, we're not talking about the redemption of the soul, but we're talking about the redemption of the firstborn. Now this is given in Exodus chapter thirty, verses eleven to sixteen, and they were told that every man should bring a half shekel It would be a small amount of money, small silver coin. And this was to be for no matter whether they were rich or poor. And it had to do with the redemption of the firstborn, not with the redemption of the soul at all. But it is a wonderful picture. It took the same amount to redeem any as another individual. In Exodus verses twenty-five to twenty-seven we find that this silver formed the foundation for the tabernacle like a note of that and look it up it says a talent of silver shall be in the socket in each socket of the hundred sockets that were used under the boards of the tabernacle now a talent is a hundred and ten pounds and there were two of these under each board And think what a marvelous foundation they had for the tabernacle. They picked this up and carried it through the wilderness. Then they laid it down again. Whenever they set it down, they always set it on the silver foundation. And silver, the silver, came from the redemption money. So redemption is the foundation of all of our worship. That's the teaching that you get from this Old Testament illustration. Spend some time studying that whenever you can. Now the fourth thing we have under these Old Testament pictures is given in Ruth four, verses four to six, and it is called the kinsman redeemer. Kinsman means a kindred or a relative, and we usually spell it hyphenated, K-I-N-S-M-A-N hyphen redeemer. Now the kinsman redeemer refers back to what I had told you about in Leviticus twenty-five in verse twenty-five if a man had lost his property and he was not able to buy it back a relative of his and it had to be a relative if he wished to do so could redeem the property for him now in the case of a widow and this was a widow in a lovely little story of Ruth The man who redeemed the property must also marry the widow so that he could raise up to his dead brother a child that would bear his name. The first child should carry the name of the first husband of this widow. This way, no man's name would be blotted out of Israel. All of this has a very beautiful application to us because the Lord Jesus is our kinsman redeemer. And you know how he became our kinsman by taking humanity, by the incarnation, by the birth through the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Lord Jesus came into this world, became our kinsman in a special sense, and was able to lay down his life for our redemption. Now under section three, we're going to consider the price of redemption. First in the Old Testament, I have three illustrations to give you here, or three thoughts to give you, connection with the price of redemption. A, God alone can redeem. psalm forty nine verse seven says none can redeem his brother this is an important thing to notice there are a lot of things you can do for each other but it comes for to redemption only God can redeem no human agency no rabbi no priest no minister no pastor no elder, no brother, no friend, no human being can effect redemption. This must be done by the Lord Jesus himself. In Exodus three, verses seven and eight, the Lord said, I have heard the cries of the children of Israel and I am come down to redeem them. And that's the story in the book of Exodus. The book of Exodus is the book of redemption. That's the topic all through that book. So in Exodus chapter twelve, I've given you three verses here because these thirteen, twenty-three and twenty-seven reiterate the same statements. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. The blood shall be to you a token upon the door and so on. So it was by shed blood. Redemption in the Old Testament was by the shedding of blood. I remember that there was a token redemption through the shekel of money, but true redemption of the soul could only take place through the shedding of blood. But Exodus chapter six and verse six, also in the thirteenth chapter and verse fourteen, tells us that we were not only that they were not only redeemed by blood but they were redeemed by power that is they were delivered out of Egypt now the blood on the door was enough to cause God to pass over that door to protect that door so that the destroying angel couldn't come in the blood was enough to save them from death but God did more than that God took them out of Egypt through the Red Sea by a very powerful thing because redemption never leaves the man where he was. There's no such thing as a redeemed soul going right on living just the same as he did before. Being still interested only in this world and materialistic things and living in the same old rotten way and the same habits that he had before. Redemption always anticipates a change the person's life and so they were redeemed by power as well as by blood now the second part of this third section the price of redemption by the offering of the Lord Jesus the Old Testament pictures only pointed on the offering of the Lord Jesus himself in first Timothy two and verse six It says, who gave himself a ransom for all. Now we use the word ransom when we're referring to a kidnapping and somebody demands a certain amount of money. In the case of ourselves, we were taken captive by Satan of his will. We were overpowered by sin. We were under bondage to death. There are many things that we could say. And we'll talk about this a little later in the results of this. But the Lord Jesus redeemed us out of this at the cost of himself. And then in Mark ten in verse forty-five it says that the Lord Jesus did not come to be ministered unto but to minister. That is he didn't come to be served but to serve others and to give his life a ransom for many. His life. not only himself, but his life. The Lord Jesus, I say this reverently and respectfully, but it's true. The Lord Jesus could not redeem us simply by his presence or by saying the word. He must give himself. And this is brought out further in the last line of this section in Ephesians one and verse seven. again in first peter one eighteen and nineteen we're told that it is through his blood we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins ephesians one seven says and in first peter one eighteen and nineteen it says we are redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of christ now this is a tremendous price for him to pay and those of us who are redeemed ought never to forget it. You cost the Lord Jesus far more than your worth. You cost him enough that you ought to be glad to give yourself to him without reservation. If he bought you, he has a right to you, and he bought you at a tremendous cost. Now the results of redemption, our last section. deliverance from sins you remember in Matthew he said the Lord Jesus should be called Jesus because he will save his people from their sins so we have two passages here Romans three twenty four where it says justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and Ephesians one and seven to which we've already referred in whom we have redemption. And there he's talking about redemption from sins. Now the second thing is deliverance from coming wrath. First Thessalonians one and ten. Where it says, who also delivered us from the wrath to come or from coming wrath? There are some people who don't like to believe that God ever gets angry. seem to think that's wrong but the Bible plainly says God is angry with the wicked every day there's nothing wrong with being angry at sin we're up to all of us to be angry at sin and because God is righteous there is wrath the Old Testament passage says because there is wrath beware lest he take thee away with a stroke I believe in the eternal punishment because the Bible teaches it and because it certainly is due for our sins. But we've been delivered from this. We've been redeemed from it. Now the third thing is deliverance from the world, Galatians one and four. And world here is not used of the planet on which we live, but rather of the world system, which Satan founded and which we see all around us, the world's way of living. We are delivered from this present evil world, Galatians one four says. Incidentally, the word evil there is the word, is the same word from which we get our English word, pernicious, which means incurable. Now, number four, we are delivered from an empty life. We've already referred to First Peter one, eighteen. from your vain conversation or your empty way of living received by tradition from your fathers. You don't have to go on living an empty, unsatisfying, self-centered, worthless life. We've been redeemed from this. Number five, we have been delivered from bondage. Deliverance from bondage is set forth in Hebrews two in verse fifteen. where he says to deliver them who through all their lifetime were subject to bondage, that is, bondage to Satan. Just as the children of Israel were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, we were slaves in this world to Satan. We probably didn't realize that we didn't think so. Most young men, when they reach the age of twenty-one, think that they're free at last. That's more imaginary than real. And certainly if they're not redeemed, they're not free at all. Now the sixth thing is deliverance from the law. Galatians four and verse five, where he says, To redeem them that were under the law, in order that they might receive the adoption of sons. So he took us out from under the law and gave us the place of full-grown sons. we saw and we studied adoption. We're set free from the law. Now, that doesn't mean that we're lawless. Anthonomianism or being against control of law isn't liberty. There are a lot of people in the world today who are demanding liberty. What they really want is license. They want permission to do anything that they want to do. That isn't liberty. They're the slaves of their own lust. and of their own evil ways. But deliverance from the law means that we are no longer under its condemnation, and as Christians we are no longer living by that standard. We have a much higher and a much more wonderful standard under grace. And the seventh thing is deliverance from iniquity, which really means rebellion. Titus two in verse thirteen. where he says, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity. So these seven things taken together give you a composite picture of our deliverance as a result of redemption. Now there's some other things. Let me know this briefly. Number eight, we are now united to our kinsman redeemer. I mentioned this from the book of Ruth. And if you'll read that little book of only four chapters, you'll understand the kinsmen redeemed were better. In Revelation five and verse nine, we're told what we're going to sing in heaven. We're going to sing to the Lord Jesus, thou art worthy, for thou hast redeemed us to God. It's not only being redeemed from some things, but being redeemed to him. Redemption always anticipates that we shall not only come out of something as the children of Israel came out of Egypt but that we shall enter into a relationship with God as Israel did God became their Redeemer and he led them right into the land and so when we receive the Lord Jesus and we accept redemption we become his own one day shall be part of his spiritual bride now number nine We now have the privilege of voluntary love slavery. What do I mean by this? When you read Exodus twenty-one, one to six, with the parallel passage in Deuteronomy fifteen, and you'll get a lovely picture of two things. First, in Exodus twenty-one, the Hebrew servant, who, because he loved his master and his wife and his children, would not be free. He was legally free, but he chose to remain in slavery out of love to his loved ones. And in Deuteronomy fifteen, he applies this to us. We too have this privilege. And I've appended the note here that every New Testament writer called himself the bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word doulos means a bond slave. Now, he didn't call us this. The Lord Jesus himself called us friends. He says in John fifteen and fifteen, I have not called you servants. I have called you friends. But we, in response to his love to us, call ourselves his bond slaves. You look it up. Every writer in the New Testament said this about himself. And this is a voluntary thing. We choose, having been set free, we choose to be His servants forever. Just in the same way that in marriage, two people will give themselves to each other and pledge to each other that they will remain together. And this is a holy promise. God says what God has joined together, let not man put us under. They choose to serve each other. Our girl will say, I'm not working now, I'm married. And yet she's working longer hours for less pay than she ever did in her life. But she doesn't consider herself to be employed. She considers herself to be married to the one whom she loves and serves voluntarily. That's the ideal at least. Now in the tenth one, Ephesians one and fourteen, our bodies will yet be redeemed. the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. So the final result of redemption will be the redeeming of our bodies.