***This series is taken from a sermon preached by Bob Roberts at Word of Life Slavic Baptist Church on December 24th, 2023. Find this section from the sermon at the bottom of this post. Note: The sermon is being interpreted into Russian for the largely Slavic congregation.***
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Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)
Galatians 3:13
Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
1 Peter 1:18
There are a lot of passages in Scripture that use the word picture of purchasing or better understood, redemption to talk about what Christ accomplished on the cross. Big, Old Testament events help us to understand this concept as well.
And I prayed to the LORD, ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
Deuteronomy 9:26
Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage!
Psalm 74:2a
The Psalmist from the second quote is referring back to the events found in the first quote. It is the same story repeated again and again throughout the Old Testament in which God’s chosen people ask for forgiveness and “remind” God of His first initial redemption of them from slavery in Egypt. More importantly, it is a foreshadowing of an even greater rescue to come. This time, Jesus Christ would be redeeming us from slavery to sin, and the power of sin, death. (Romans 6; Romans 8)
God re-established His covenant with His chosen people through Moses at Mount Sinai, where He gave His law and instituted the sacrificial system of worship to help them understand the costly payment of sin. These sacrifices could never take away sin, but they could only cover sin and point to a greater sacrifice to come.
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption… For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Hebrews 9:11-12, 24-28
Questions to Consider
- Not all payment refers to giving money to a person. Sometimes we use payment in the sense of natural consequences. For example: ” I did a 10-mile hike yesterday after not exercising in months, and today I sure am paying for it!” According to Romans 6:23, what is the payment for sin? What consequences have we “earned” because of our active rebellion against God?
- Since God, specifically the person of Jesus Christ, is the source and creator of all life, love, joy, and goodness, why is it natural to assume that rejecting Him would lead to death? Consider the first lies told to Eve in the Garden of Eden. How are we still tempted to choose death over life today without realizing it?
- What makes Jesus Christ’s payment for sin final according to the passages given above? Why can we rest in His ultimate payment for sin on our behalf? Is there anything else for us to pay?