Now, I want to read some verses, first of all, from the Old Testament, Exodus chapter six. Now, there's some people told me they couldn't hear me very well this morning. I thought I was speaking quite loudly, but now we've really turned this up about the limit. If we go much higher, it'll whistle. But if you can't hear me, put your hand up and I'll shout a little bit. But I hope you can hear. Two speakers here and two speakers at the back. And unless your ears are very bad, you'll be able to hear all right. Exodus chapter six, verse one. Then the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand shall he let them go. And with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham and unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. And I have also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage. and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore, say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the bondage, under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you. This is the first time the word redeem comes in the Bible. Through Jacob said, the angel who redeemed me out of all my trouble in Exodus, in Genesis forty-eight, sixteen, but the first time with the real meaning of the word redeemed is here. I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgment. And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God. And ye shall know that I am the Lord your God which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will bring you in unto the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you for an heritage. I am the Lord. And Moses spoke so unto the children of Israel, but they hearken not unto Moses, for anguish of spirit. and cruel bondage. Then let's go over to the thirteenth chapter of Exodus. There's a wonderful sequence here. In the twelfth chapter they were sheltered by the blood. In the thirteenth chapter they were sanctified. In the fourteenth chapter they experienced salvation. And in the fifteenth chapter They experience satisfaction. We're reading from the thirteenth, this chapter about sanctification. Now, parenthesis, where God's telling about the deliverance of the children of Israel, then he suddenly stops. He gets them right up to the Red Sea, and then he leaves them there, and we get this parenthesis, chapter thirteen, where he talks about sanctification. He says, now listen, the firstborn of all your sons belong to me. It's the chapter on the firstborn. and even the little donkey that's born. The first one belongs to me. So we'll read chapter thirteen. Verse twelve. Verse thirteen. And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb. And if thou would not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck. And all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. And it shall be When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? Did thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage? And it came to pass when Pharaoh would hardly let them go, hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and firstborn of beast. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord all the firstborn of my children, the males, I redeem them. But all the firstborn of my children, I redeem. And it should be for a token upon thine hand and for frontlets between thine eyes, for by strength of hand the Lord brought us forth out of the land of Egypt. Exodus And now they're out. Satisfaction. First song in the Bible. You can't sing till you're redeemed. And this is the first song in the Bible. Exodus fifteen. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord. And spake saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. He is my God. I will prepare for him a habitation. My Father's God, I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host as he cast into the sea, his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them, they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee. Thou sentest forth thy wrath which consumed them as stubble. And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together. The flood stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoils. My lust should be satisfied upon them. I will draw my sword. My hand should destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind. The sea covered them. They sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchest out thy right hand, and the earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy has led forth thy people which thou hast redeemed. Thou in thy mercy has led forth thy people which thou hast redeemed, and has guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. The people shall hear and be afraid. Sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom should be amazed. The mighty men of Moab trembling should take hold upon them. and all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them. By the greatness of thine arm thou hast been, they shall be as still as a stone to thy people Passover, O Lord, to the people Passover which thou hast purchased. May God bless the reading of his own precious word. Shall we pray? Blessed God our Father, we thank thee for this wonderful, wonderful book. We thank thee for the triumphs of thy redemption. We thank thee for thy mighty power. We think of Pharaoh, this great monarch. They defied thee and said, Who is the Lord God that I should serve him? We thank thee, Lord, thou didst deal with Pharaoh. And we're living in a day when men are saying, God is dead. And when men are saying, Who is God that I should serve him? We believe, blessed God, thou art shortly going to deal with nations as thou didst deal with Pharaoh and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel and crush them beneath thy feet, Lord Jesus, when thou shalt come back in power. We thank thee for the redemption which thou hast wrought for us by the shedding of thy precious blood at the place called Calvary. We ask thee, Lord, that tonight Thou make these things simple and clear that we might understand this wondrous, precious truth from Thy Holy Book. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Sixty-one years ago, last March, in the city of Briscoe, England, one Sunday night, God saved me. I was a little boy of ten, but God saved me. And I was thrilled when I found out that night, just like a flash from heaven, that he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life, and there on the spot I was saved. I could take you to the very spot. When I'm home there in England, sometimes I go and take my hat off. Don't wear a hat anymore, but in the old days take my hat off and stand outside of that little spot where it used to be a meeting house. and say, Lord, I thank you for that spot in there. That's where I was saved. And I know for every one of us here tonight, I'm sure, for every one of us, there's some spot in all this great big world where God saved us, where we accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior, and we passed from death unto life. A simple thing, a tremendous thing which makes eternal difference for you and for me. and we'll never forget to all eternity what God did for us. But you know, I sometimes sit down now, after all these years have gone by, and I've been reading and studying this book ever since. I sometimes sit down and ask myself, what a lot of things, what a lot of things happen that moment when God saved us. I had no idea. I didn't know when God saved me all the consequences were wrapped up in that wonderful thing. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. It was after that that I found out as many as received him to them he gave authority to become children of God. And at that moment I became a child of God. It was years after that that I found that when we accept Christ at that moment, by one spirit we're all baptized into one body and I became a member of the body of Christ. All this happened in a moment. I didn't know it, but that's what took place. And I think we'll go on learning for all eternity what happened the moment we were saved. The things that Peter tells us, is bringing us into an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that faith is not a way reserved in heaven for us or kept. The inheritance is kept for us and we're kept for it. Kept by the power of God. Through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. All this happened that moment I took Christ as my Savior. And I've been trying when I've been speaking here on Sunday nights lately to talk about one or two of the things that happened when I was saved. We spoke about forgiveness. When I accepted Christ as Savior, He forgave all my sins. You know, I sometimes wonder if that's quite true, because I believe, really I believe, that God in His eternal purpose, whom He did foreknow, In his eternal purpose, when the Lord Jesus died upon the cross, I believe he forgave my sins. All that long time ago, when he died, I wasn't born, he knew I'd be born. And when he paid the price, he forgave us. And one of the things I obtained when I was saved was forgiven. And then we talked about justification. Well, the moment I accepted Christ, immediately I was justified. Every charge that Satan could bring against me, every charge that the throne of God, the righteous throne of God, could bring against me a guilty sinner, all gone. And I, a lost sinner, justified in God's sight, as if I'd never sinned at all. All this happened in a moment. Tonight I want to talk about another of these great truths, the truth of redemption. Redemption. I was redeemed when the Lord Jesus said, redeemed. What does that mean? Now, redemption, and I've read several verses tonight, and it's always good to get back to what we call first mentions. This is a, what do you call it? A Bible theory. They talk about it in Bible school. First mentions. get back to the first time a subject is mentioned in the Bible. And that's where you'll find the real meaning of that subject or that word. The first time it's mentioned. And so I said the first time redemption is mentioned as such is in the sixth chapter of Exodus and it says, Therefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt, and I will rid you out of their bondage and redeem you. Redemption is connected with bondage. Redemption is getting people out from under the burden and the chains of a great bondage. In our case, in our case, the bondage was sin. We were chained by sin. In the case of the children of Israel, and here's the type, the Old Testament type. Here were the children of Israel. Down there in Egypt. The Lord says... I like the way he puts it in the third chapter when he talks to... In the second chapter. He says, It came to pass in process of time. The king of Egypt died and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage. And they cried. And they cried, came up to God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then when he spoke to Moses and told him to go to Pharaoh, he says, The Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt. I've heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters. And I know their sorrows. And I've come down to deliver them. Redemption is to do with bondage, being delivered from bondage. Here's the picture. The children of Israel, slaves in Egypt. Suffering by reason of the cruel taskmaster. And when Moses went to tell them, I read the verse just now, Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, but they hearken not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and cruel bondage. God says, I'm going to bring you out of that bondage. That was redemption. That's what we're talking about. Redemption. And here's the picture. Now it says in the New Testament, we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. But I remember when I was a boy, the brethren were very emphatic about something here in Exodus. They used to say, rightly or wrong, I think they were right. That the children of Israel in Egypt were sheltered by the blood. The blood was put on the lintel and the two side posts. Remember that spotless lamb that was slain. The blood was sprinkled on the lintel and the two side posts. And he says, when I go through the land and slay the firstborn, if I see the blood on the house, I'll pass over you. The Passover. And they were sheltered by blood. We're redeemed by blood. Sheltered by blood. But the next day they were redeemed. Not by blood. but redeemed by power. The mighty power of God. I read of it. He divided the waters of the Red Sea. He brought them through on dry land and poured the waters in upon the enemy. And it says in the end of chapter thirty-one, Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. That's how God redeemed them. Sheltered by blood, redeemed by power. This is the distinction we'll come back to presently. Sheltered by blood, redeemed by power. And here's the picture. God said to the children of Israel, now this month, this month Abib, it should be the very first month of the year unto you. And on the first day, he gives them the very day, in the tenth day of this month, they should take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the souls, every man according to his eating, shall make your count of the lamb, your lamb shall be without spot and without blemish. It's interesting to note the articles here. It says, A lamb. A Lamb. And then it says, If the household be too little for the Lamb. And then when you get to the next verse, it says, Your Lamb. Isn't that lovely? You see, A Lamb, the Son of God. Behold, the Lamb of God. A Lamb. Yep, but is the Lamb. And if you and I have accepted him as our Savior, we can say he's my Lamb. He died for me. And the Lamb's blood was taken and put in a basin. And as I said, sprinkled on the door. And the destroying angel went through the land. And in the houses of Egypt, in every house, from the king upon his throne to the servant that was grinding down in the middle, there was not one house where there was not one dead. The firstborn in all the land, the slaves. That's why God says in the next chapter, the firstborn, they all belong to me. They all belong to me. And he said, for you children of Israel, here's a rule for all time for you. The firstborn is mine. The firstborn son is mine. The firstborn little donkey that's born is mine. I claim it. And the only way you could ever have that little donkey back for your own self. is to take a lamb, break his neck, and the lamb should die instead of the donkey. Here's an interesting little thing I found out maybe fifty-five years ago, I was reading the Bible one day and I came across this. In the thirteenth chapter of Genesis, chapter thirteen and verse thirteen, they say thirteen is an unlucky number. Chapter thirteen, thirteen of Genesis, you get the word sin for the first time in the Bible. Thirteen, thirteen sins. The men of Sodom were sinners exceedingly in the sight of the Lord. And then when you get to Exodus thirteen, it says, Every first thing of an hour shalt thou redeem with a lamb. The men of Sodom were sinners. But there's redemption for sinners. Exodus thirteen. And Leviticus thirteen. It says it's in the story of the cleansing of the leper. It says that, I've never heard a preacher say this from a platform, but I discovered it one day, Leviticus, Thirteen, Thirteen. It says that when the priest should look upon the leper and consider him, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean. Strange thing, isn't it? Here's a leper. He's got a leper sore. And he's put aside for so many days. Always saying unclean, unclean. Nobody can touch it. And after a described number of days, he has to go back to the priest. And the priest looks at him. And if that man in his loneliness has been considering himself and his leprosy. If that leprosy is spread all through him. And he's white with leprosy all over. What do you think the priest is? He's unsaved. She's a leper all over. He says it's clean. Can you understand that? A wonderful picture. You see, it's when you and I can shut ourselves up. We're unsaved if we're unsaved. And we can shut ourselves up alone for days and study ourselves and finally come to the great conclusion. I'm just a poor lost sinner. From head to foot, I'm unclean. That's when God says you're clean. You know, God doesn't save righteous men. He saves unrighteous men. And when we can come to say to the Lord, I'm a sinner, save me, a sinner, that's when God's going to save us. And that's when the priest says he's clean. He's found out he's dead in trespasses and sins, and there's only one hope. God alone can save us. And he saves us. But I'm wondering from my subject, redemption. So we get this wonderful type in the Old Testament of the children of Israel in Egypt. Now there's another sweet little picture in the Old Testament in Ruth, the book of Ruth. Boaz was a rich man in Israel. Ruth was a poor girl. And Limelech and his wife Naomi, who lived at Bethlehem, In a time of famine, when they sold all they had and they were just about starving, they decided to leave the house of bread there for him and go down to Moab. And God had told them not to go into these foreign countries or never to make any marriages with the daughters or the sons of these foreign countries. But this man, he left the house of bread because of troubles. God sends trouble sometimes to bring us to himself. But that's not what he did. He went away from God when the trouble came and he went down to Moab. And after he'd been down there a while, his two daughters married and they married Moabites against God's rule. Then a little bit later, Elimalik died. And then the two sons-in-law, Malon and Chilan, they died. And poor Naomi is left down there in Moab, with two daughters-in-law, all the men gone. And she comes to her senses like this leper and finds out what's happened and said, Let's go back to God. Let's go back to Bethlehem. And on the way back, she says to the daughters, Now go on back to your own country. Go back to your gods. And one said, I'll go, the other said, listen. Where thou goest, I will go. Where thou dwellest, I will dwell. Where thou dwellest, I will die, and there will I be buried. Thy God shall be my God, and God do so to me, and more also, if anything separates me from you. And she went back to Bethesda, a stranger, a widow, but God had his eye on this girl. Do you know if she became the grandmother of David? Do you know if she became one in the royal line of descent of which the Savior was born, the Lord Jesus Christ? God had his eye on her. And Boaz, this rich man down there, she came into contact, and she was distantly related to Boaz. And Boaz fell in love with her, and he wanted her. But there was something that came between. There was a, we can't go into details, but there was a law in Israel, the law of inheritance. You see, when poor old Alimalik got so poor, he sold all his possessions. But you see, in Israel, you couldn't go out and buy a piece of land like you can here and say, this is mine, and sell it to somebody else tomorrow. And they say, oh, I can make a lot more money, I'll sell it to somebody else. He couldn't do that in those things. God divided the land. God told them this is yours, this is for this tribe and this is for that tribe, and each family and each household had its plot of land, its possession. And it was theirs for posterity. They couldn't sell it, it belonged to God. God gave it to them. And when times of poverty came and they sold their land, to get it back, that land had to be redeemed. And the Malik had sold the land. And boys wanted to marry this girl. But the land that she really was really hers, but it was gone. It had to be bought back. But the law of redemption said, it can only be redeemed by a kinsman. Only be redeemed by some close near relatives. You see, it had to be in a family. That was God's plan. It had to be in a family. And some outsider couldn't come and get it. So it had to be a kinsman. And Moab, Boaz, was a kinsman of Ruth. But there was another brother that came much nearer. And so he says, in the fourth chapter of Ruth, boys went up to the gate and sat down there and behold the kinsman of whom boys spake came by, unto whom he said, Ho, such a one, turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here, and they sat down. And he said unto the kinsman, Naiomai, that has come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land which was our brother Elimilix. And I thought to advertise these saying, Buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it. If thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me that I may know. For there is none to redeem it besides thee, and I am after thee. and he said, I will redeem it. Ah, but Boya said, wait a minute, something goes with it. If you buy this land, you buy this girl. Boya said, what day thou buyest a field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I can buy it. I'd like to have the land, but I don't want the girl. But boys, he did want the girl. And boys said, all right, you've had your chance. I'm the next kinsman. I'll buy the land. And that's how he bought the girl. And he married Ruth. And Ruth, as I said, her firstborn son was called Obed. And he is the father of Jesse, the father of David. And she was in the royal line of descent in God's eternal plan. to bring his son into this world. Now these are two Old Testament types of redemption. Now let's go right over to the New Testament. Romans chapter three, verse twenty-four. Romans three, twenty-four. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now, I don't think I know of a better way of describing this word redemption than to refer you if you've got your Schofield Reference Bible. You just look down to note one in your Schofield Bible. I'll read it to you. Redemption. To deliver by paying a price. That's to say to deliver out of bondage by paying a price. To deliver by paying a price. The New Testament records the fulfillment of the Old Testament types and prophecies of redemption through the sacrifice of Christ. The completed truth is set forth in the three words which are translated redemption, the Greek words, agorazo, agorazo to purchase in the market. The underlying thought is of a slave market. The subjects of redemption are sold under sin. I told you it was to do with bondage. The subjects of redemption are sold under sin. But are, moreover, under sentence of death, the soul that sineth it must die, and so on. The purchased price is the blood of the Redeemer who dies in their stead. Now the next meaning of the next word from which redemption is translated is the word ex-agorazo. The first was agorazo to redeem, to purchase in the market. Ex-agorazo, the little prefix ex, means out of, you know. to buy out of the market, the redeemed are never again to be exposed for sale. And there's a third word, Greek word, lute-ro, which is to lose, to set free by paying a price. Now this is a wonderful definition of redemption. See, redemption is to set free by paying a price, to buy out of a slave market, to buy in a slave market, and to buy out, ex-Agarazo, to buy out of a slave market. Now let's try and apply all these things. My time is going. Let's try and apply the things that we have talked about. You and I were sinners, slaves in bondage. Not only slaves, but sentenced to death. The soul that sinned, it must die. So we're in the slave market and there's nothing for us but death because of our sin. And what happened? Have you heard the story of the Roman prince, you know, a story I heard years ago of the Roman prince that went down into a slave market one day looking for slaves? And they captured some people away up in the Netherlands somewhere and brought them down. and their skin was fair. Oh, I think it was people they brought from England, because when they asked who they were, they said angles, or something. And the prince said, not angles, but angels, because they had their fair skin. And he looked at one of them and he said, what's the price? And he paid the price and bought the girl out of the market, this prince. And she thought, I wonder what kind of a life I'm going to be subjected to now. And what do you think? He took her home to his house and took off the slave raiment. And he bought beautiful raiment for her and dressed her. And he trained her. Took her to his palace. And he married her. And she became his bride and his wife. Bought out of the slave market. Into a life of luxury. This is what happened for you and me. The Lord Jesus came down into the slave market. And he saw us. And he bought us and bought us out. What's the kinsman got to do with? You can only be redeemed. It could only be redeemed by a kinsman. A wonderful picture, a wonderful type. Let me turn with you to Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter two. Verse fourteen. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil, and deliver them, redeem them, who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage. It had to be a kinsman. For the Son of God, about whom we were speaking this morning, the Creator of all things, the Eternal Son of God, for him to leave that majesty and glory and come down here and save me. He had to become a kinsman. He had to become a kinsman. He had to partake of flesh and blood. He belonged to heaven. Flesh and blood was nothing to do with it. But he had to stoop so low and come down so low that he partook of flesh and blood. And he became a kinsman to you and me. God became human. Divine. He became human. He became man. He became a kinsman. He became like us, apart from our sin, in all points tempted like we are, apart from sin. And that's how he was able to redeem it. He never could have done it. That's why that beautiful story comes in to get the type and the picture of what God was going to do by and by in the personal work of his beloved son. He partook of flesh and blood. The word became flesh, as we said this morning, and dwelt among us. And that's how he redeemed us. Now to redeem in Egypt, to be sheltered, they had to... slay the lamb and put the blood on the side post and the lintel and for you and I to be redeemed. Let me read the wonderful verses in Ephesians chapter one verse seven let me read it. In whom we have redemption through his blood. Isn't that tremendous? In whom we have redemption through his blood. The price that was paid that you and I might be redeemed, that we might be bought out of the slave market of sin, that the chains might be freed and we might be let free and loose from our sin. The price that was paid was the precious blood of Christ. Peter talks about it. The precious blood of Christ slain as the land before the foundation of the world. That was the tremendous price of our redemption. Ephesians one, verse seven, in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sin. But the children of Israel were sheltered by blood. The next day they were redeemed by the mighty power of God. What's that got to do with it? Who would she remember? Let's go back to Ephesians one again. Ephesians one, verse seven, in whom we have redemption through his blood. not something we're going to get, something we have redemption through his Son. But look at this. Verse thirteen, in whom ye also trusted, after that he heard the word of the truth of the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that he were believed, after ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. Listen, read it. Until the redemption of the purchased possession. Unto the praise of his glory. What does that mean? The redemption of the purchased possession. Let's go back to Romans. We read in Romans three. But let's read in Romans eight. Romans eight. Verse twenty-one, the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. We're talking about coming out of bondage now. The creature itself shall be delivered out of the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together unto now. And not only they, but we, not only they, but ourselves also. which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting what? Waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. The redemption of our body. We have been redeemed by blood. We are going to be redeemed by power. Israel was sheltered by blood and the next day redeemed by the power of God. We have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, but we're going to be redeemed by the power of God. What do I mean? He bought us out of the slave market, out of bondage. So he did. He set us free. But if you read Romans six and Romans seven, you'll find that there's a lot of the old nature still in it. so that even Paul could say, oh, wretched man, that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin? Terrible picture Paul gives us, you know. One of the terrible punishments, death sentences, that the Romans passed upon the people they condemned to death, they invented that awful thing called crucifixion, the Romans. But there was another awful way of killing a man. They took his body and they strapped on the back of a living man, they strap the body of a dead man, body of dead. And that putrefying dead body, with all its smell and putrefaction, worked through into the body of the living man until he died too. And Paul takes that Roman picture and he says, Who should deliver me from this body of death? Who can do it? I thank God, he says, the Lord Jesus can do it. And you and I still have that old nature. But there's a wonderful day coming when we're going to have the full redemption, the redemption of our body. First Corinthians chapter fifteen. First Corinthians chapter fifteen. Behold, I show your mystery. Verse fifty-one. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. that the last trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying which is written, Death is swelled up of victory. All death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us a victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So there's two aspects to redemption. The Lord shed his precious blood at the place called Calvary and paid the tremendous price of our redemption and bought us back out of the slave market of sin. That's Agarazo. But Ex-Agorazo is to take us right out of the slave market. put us in a palace like a prince did. That's what the Lord is going to do. By his mighty power, he's going to redeem these bodies. Maybe tonight. Maybe this week, I believe it's going to be so soon. We're going to hear the shout and we're going to be caught up and be redeemed, our bodies, all of us, and taken to the glory of heaven. Have you ever heard the story of a little boy? He lived in a Little fishing village, you know, oh, sorry, we heard many years ago. He lived at a fishing village, and he loved the sea, and he loved the boats, and he loved doing a bit of carpentry, and he made himself a boat. He spent many, many, many hours, and he shaped the hull, and he made the mast, and he put in the sails, and he made a beautiful model of a boat, like the boats he saw going out from the fishing village. And he took it down to the sea and sailed it. But one day the wind blew up and carried his little boat all out to sea. God. And he went home crying to his father, he said, I've lost my boat. And he was so sad. Some days went by and he's going down the little street of the fishing village. And in a window he said, Dad, it's my boat. And he went, he said, it's a man. You've got my boat in the shop. Give me my boat. He said, what do you mean in your boat? That's my boat. I bought it. He said, a fisherman found that out at sea and brought it in and I paid for it. It's mine. You can't have it. The boy said, but I made it. Look, see all those details. I did that. That's mine. You can't have it. He said, it's got to be bought. It's got to be bought. And he went home to his father. And he got the money. And he went down to the little fishing shop there. He said, Here, mister, here's the money. Give me back my boat. And he bought the boat back. And he took it in his arms and he hugged it. He said, It's twice mine. It's mine because I made it. It's mine because I bought it. Do you think the Lord Jesus said tonight? He who created all things. and created us by the word of his power. We are his because he made us. And tonight, and with the glory of heaven, as he looks down upon you and me, you and me, saved by the blood of Christ. He says, twice mine, mine because I made them, and mine because I bought them. This is redemption. Bought back at a price. Oh, may God write it on our hearts. Redemption. One of the great things we got. that moment that God takes it. Let's sing a hymn. We don't very often sing a hymn so. Andy, can you come up and lead us into hymn? Number one hundred and forty-nine. We'll stand and sing. Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed through his infinite mercy, his child, and forever I am. One forty-nine. Just one verse more. Now we all stand. We sing all the verses, all the four verses. Reading how I'd love to proclaim it, Reading by the blood of the Lamb. Reading through his intermittency, In silence forever I am. to redeem redeem redeem redeem if you are there forever i am reaching and so happy is jesus no language my last church i tell i know that i shall express my with me does your feeling well. Begin, begin, begin by the blood of God. Begin, begin, begin, in God that forever I think of my beloved Redeemer. I think of him all the day long. I think of I cannot be silent. In love is the dream of my God. Be clear, be clear. be by the blood of God. Redeem, redeem, in time forever forever. I know I shall see if it is given me, that when you draw my delight, the lovingly God is my footsteps, and given me soft in the light. raising, radiating by the blood of Allah, be healing, being filled with God and forever. Thank you. We remain standing please. Blessed God, how we thank thee for the wonderful truth in those words justified freely by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. We thank thee, blessed God, for giving thy Son. We thank thee for Lord Jesus for coming down here to become our kins to meet all the claims and needs that the throne of God demanded that we might be saved. And we thank thee when thou didst see us in cruel bondage, suffering because of the cruelty of the bondage of sin, under a terrible slave master Satan. We thank thee thou didst set thy love upon us, and by us at infinite price. The precious blood of Christ. We thank thee for buying us back to thyself. And we wait for that triumphant moment. We still have the trouble with the flesh and this whole nature. But we wait for that triumphant moment. When by thy mighty power, blessed Lord, we shall hear thy voice. The voice of the archangel and the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remain to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. What a wonderful moment, the redemption of our bodies, to be in the eternal palace of heaven with the King himself. We thank thee and adore thee and we praise thee for all eternity, for the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Accept our thanks in his precious name. Amen. Thank you. so so