Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Philippians chapter 1 as we look at the work of redemption, what it is all about. As you are turning there, listen to this story that will help set the stage for what we will be studying this morning, the work of redemption. We are told:
The price Jesus paid for our redemption was terrible indeed. When we think of the extreme suffering He endured to purchase our freedom from sin’s penalty, our hearts should overflow with love for Him. Leslie B. Flynn told a story that illustrates this truth.
An orphaned boy was living with his grandmother when their house caught fire. The grandmother, trying to get upstairs to rescue the boy, perished in the flames. The boy’s cries for help were finally answered by a man who climbed an iron drainpipe and came back down with the boy hanging tightly to his neck.
Several weeks later, a public hearing was held to determine who would receive custody of the child. A farmer, a teacher, a town’s wealthiest citizen all gave the reasons they felt they should be chosen to give the boy a home. But as they talked, the lad’s eyes remained focused on the floor. Then a stranger walked to the front and slowly took his hands from his pockets, revealing severe scars on them. As the crowd gasped, the boy cried out in recognition. This was the man who had saved his life. His hands had been burned when he climbed the hot pipe. With a leap the boy threw his arms around the man’s neck and held on for dear life. The other men silently walked away, leaving the boy and his rescuer alone. Those marred hands had settled the issue.
Many voices are calling for our attention. Among them is the One whose nail-pierced hands remind us that He has rescued us from sin and its deadly consequences. To Him belongs our love and devotion. – D.C.E.
- Our Daily Bread, December 26
Too often when it comes to our redemption we take it for granted, it becomes common place for us, we can be flippant about it, but the price paid for our redemption was costly and it is multifaceted as we are going to see this morning. So with that said, let’s begin reading in Philippians chapter 1, starting in verse 3, and see what the Lord has for us this morning.
I don’t know about you, but if I was in prison, chained to a guard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I don’t know if I would be writing a letter of joy like Paul was. My letter might go like this:
Hey, where are you guys? I thought you loved me. I thought you might come and help me escape from this miserable, god forsaken rat infested hole? The food stinks. The bathroom facilities – I don’t even want to go there, and I mean it! I have these Roman soldiers chained to me all the time, I never have any free time, no peace, no rest, no time to be alone, not even to go to the bathroom! My trial is coming up and you know Nero, the guy is a nut case. I could be put to death for something I didn’t even do. In fact, I was serving God, preaching the Gospel and this is what I get. Where is God – did He forsake me like you have done? How can I work under these conditions? Is anyone listening to me?
Your servant in Christ,
Joe
Did you notice what the focus was all about – the unholy trinity of Me, Myself and I! But not Paul, his focus was on the Lord, it was on the brethren in Philippi, it was on the work of God moving forward and instead of despair and sorrow he was encouraged and filled with joy.
You see, joy, true biblical joy is not based upon outward circumstances, which are in a constant state of flux, they keep changing. Biblical joy is based on an inward reality that God is in control, He is still on the throne, and He will never leave us or forsake us. In knowing that we can rest in Him, knowing the situations we are in, the ones we are going through He will use for His glory and to help us to mature, grow in the faith. It is as David Hocking said, “There is ‘joy’ in the midst of trial when we understand God’s purposes and realize what He is accomplishing in our lives.” Paul knew it and he was filled with joy and may we also know that and apply it to our lives so that we will be filled with joy!
In regards to our redemption, Paul was “confident” or PEITHO (pi’-tho) in the Greek and Paul is not saying that he was hopeful in regards to our redemption, the work of redemption in our lives. He is saying that he is absolutely confident that what God has started, the work He has begun in us, He will complete. You see, God does not partially save us, or halfway save us, or even three-quarters of the way save us, but He saves us completely, totally and we can have full assurance of that fact.
On this section of Scripture, H. A. Ironside tells us:
It is noticeable that the apostle had no doubt as to the final outcome for every true believer. He was absolutely confident that the One who had begun a good work in them, would never leave off until He had perfected that which He Himself had commenced. But this would only be attained and manifested in the day of Jesus Christ. A godly old brother used often to say, “The Lord always looks at His people as they will be when they are done.” And it is well for us if we can learn to look at them in the same way. An incident is told of an artist who had conceived in his mind a great picture, which he meant to be the masterpiece of his life. He was working on a large canvas, putting in the drabs and grays that were to compose the background, when a friend entered, unnoticed.
The artist worked on with enthusiasm not aware of the onlooker’s presence. But, finally happening to turn, he saw him, and exclaimed, “What do you think of this? I intend it to be the greatest work I have ever done.” His friend burst into a laugh, and exclaimed, “Why, to be frank, I don’t think much of it. It seems to me to be only a great daub.” “Ah,” replied the artist, at once sensing the situation, “you cannot see what is going to be there. I can.” And so it is with God our Father. He sees in every believer that which will be fully brought out at the judgment-seat of Christ, and He is working now toward that end.
We too often see the present imperfection and forget the future glory. But, in the day of Jesus Christ, when all shall be manifested, every believer will be conformed to the image of God’s blessed Son. Surely we can join with the apostle even now and say, “It is meet [right] for me to think this of you all.” Thus, to look upon God’s people will deliver from much strife, and from disappointment, when we see crudities and carnalities in those from whom we had expected better things. It is humbling and healthful too to remember that others probably see similar imperfections in us.
- H. A. Ironside, Philippians – Colossians – Thessalonians, pp. 19-20
Now, as we look at the work of redemption Paul, as I have said, is totally confident that the work God has begun in us, He will complete. What is the work of redemption that Paul is speaking of? It is salvation, sanctification, service, and finally, glorification. And so with the reset of our time this morning we are going to look at the four-fold working of redemption in our lives and see what the Lord has for us, what we can apply to our lives from this study.
Now before we look at those areas specifically, let’s look at what redemption is all about, what the word means. According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, the word “redemption” speaks of:
. . . the purchase back of something that had been lost, by the payment of a ransom. The Greek word so rendered is apolutrosis, a word occurring nine times in Scripture, and always with the idea of a ransom or price paid . . . There are many passages in the New Testament which represent Christ’s sufferings under the idea of a ransom or price, and the result thereby secured is a purchase of redemption (comp. Acts 20:28; 1 Cor 6:19, 20; Gal 3:13; 4:4, 5; Eph 1:7; Col 1:14; 1 Tim 2:5,6; Titus 2:14; Heb 9:12; 1 Peter 1:18, 19; Rev 5:9) . . . The debt against us is not viewed as simply cancelled, but is fully paid. Christ’s blood or life, which he surrendered for them, is the “ransom” by which the deliverance of his people from the servitude of sin and from its penal consequences is secured. It is plain doctrine of Scripture that “Christ saves us neither by the mere exercise of power, nor by his doctrine, nor by his example, nor by the moral influence which he exerted, nor by any subjective influence on his people, whether natural or mystical, but as a satisfaction to divine justice, as an expiation [punishment] for sin, and as a ransom from the curse and authority of the law, thus reconciling us to God by making it consistent with his perfection to exercise mercy towards sinners” (Hodge’s Systematic Theology).
- Easton’s Bible Dictionary
It is as Peter tells us in I Peter 1:18-19, “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.” And thus, with that said, let’s look at those four areas in regards to the work of redemption, for I believe they are important for us to understand and grow by.
1. THE WORK GOD DOES FOR US – SALVATION
I have said this many times before but it bears repeating. The only thing we have added to the work of salvation is SIN! God has done the rest to save us and all we must do is receive that free gift that is all wrapped up in Jesus. Paul tells us this in Ephesians 2:8-9, ”For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Notice it is not by the Law through works but by Grace through faith.
Too often people try to earn their way to heaven by doing this and not doing that, by being good, by going to church and the list can go on-and-on. It is as this story illustrates for us. We are told:
A young man named Sinner once received from his Father a beautiful, bright-red convertible. He named it Salvation – sparkling, new, clean, modern, powerful.
It delighted the young man so much, especially because it was a gift. He could never have afforded it. So delighted, the boy even changed his name from Sinner to Saved.
He polished his car every week. Took pictures of it. Sent it to friends. Looked it over – front, back, under, top, bottom, inside out. Never – never tired of telling others about the gift. “My Father gave it to me. It was free!”
Some days later Saved was seen out on the highway, pushing Salvation. An individual named Helper walked up and introduced himself and asked if he could assist.
“Oh, no thanks. Just out enjoying my new car,” as he wiped the sweat off his face. “Just had a little trouble because my bumper kept cutting my hands, especially on these hills. But then a nice man helped me. Showed me how to mount little rubber cushions right here, underneath the bumper, and now I can push this thing for hours without a blister. Also, I’ve been trying something new lately. They use it over in England. You put your back against the car, lift, and it works like a charm, especially on muddy roads.”
Helper asked, “Have you pushed the car very far?”
“Well, about 200 miles altogether. It’s been hard, but since it was a gift from my Father, that’s the least I can do in return to thank him.”
Helper opened the door on the right side and said, “Get in.”
After hesitation, he decided it was worth a try and he slid in on the passenger side and rested for the first time since he’d been given the car. Helper walked around, opened the door, slid behind the wheel, and started the car.
“What’s all that noise?” he said. Moments later they were moving down the highway quietly, at fifty, sixty miles an hour. He was taken aback. It all seemed to fall into place. It was even exciting. He knew he needed this Salvation Car to be admitted through the gate at the end of the highway. But somehow he felt that getting there was his responsibility.
- Larry Christenson, The Renewed Mind
If that is true, which it is, why do people try to work their way into heaven? Many times it is because they don’t want to submit to the authority of Jesus Christ and so they do their own thing, which is meaningless before God, it is not accepted, for works don’t save a person! Peter, in Acts 4:11-12 tells us, “This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” There is no other way; there is no other name besides Jesus that we can be saved by, period! Jesus Himself put it this way in John 14:6, “ . . . ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” Thus, the work that God does for us – SALVATION, is based upon His faithfulness, His finished work on the cross of Calvary and He presents it to us as a free gift to receive by faith!
2. THE WORK GOD DOES IN US – SANCTIFICATION
Not only does God save us but He also sanctifies us or the moment we get saved God is molding and shaping us to be the men and women He wants us to be. He wants us to be holy as He is holy. It is a lifelong process but He does not give up, He will complete the work He is doing in us. It is as Oswald Chambers tells us in regards to the sanctification process. He said:
Sanctification means intense concentration on God’s point of view. It means every power of body, soul, and spirit is chained and kept for God’s purpose only. It will cause an intense narrowing of all our interests on earth, and an immense broadening of all our interests in God. Are we prepared for God to do all in us that He separated us for? The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized its meaning from God’s standpoint. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the disposition that ruled Him will rule us. Jesus has prayed that we might be one with Him as He is one with the Father. The one and only characteristic of the Holy Spirit in a person is a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ and freedom from everything that is unlike Him.
- Oswald Chambers
Folks, again this is God working in us. Paul put it this way in I Thessalonians 5:23-24, “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. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” God is working and He will set us apart, completely, for His glory, He will finish the work! We can resist the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can reject what He is doing, but God will keep working because in the end, John tells us, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” I John 3:2-3. Thus, why wait, why resist, but submit to His direction now!
You see, the work God does in us is the sanctification process, making us into His image, making us more like Him every day. Let us not get in His way, the work He is doing in us. I like the way that John Newton put it as he said, “I am not what I might be, I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be, I am not what I hope to be. But I thank God I am not what I once was, and I can say with the great apostle, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’”
3. THE WORK GOD DOES THROUGH US –
SERVICE
God not only works for us in saving us. God not only works in us to sanctify us. God is also working through us so that we might serve Him. You see, we are His mouth to speak forth the truths of God. We are His hands to go and do the work of God, touching people’s lives. We are His feet that we might travel to bring the Gospel message to the lost. Paul, in Ephesians 2:10 put it this way, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].”
I love this for Paul is telling us that God, in His sovereignty, has prepared specific work for us to do in this life. Not only does He do that but He also prepares us for the work! He doesn’t just say, “Here’s the work, good luck!” No, He prepares the work and He prepares us to do it! In Proverbs 3:5-6 Solomon makes this very practical and important point. He tells us, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
His point is simple. We are to learn to trust in the Lord – His Word and what He is doing in our lives. We are to have full confidence in Him. Our understanding of a situation is limited but God’s is unlimited. He is all-knowing and so it just makes sense to trust in Him and not our own understanding of a situation. As we do that He will direct our paths, He will guide us as we spend time with Him, as we listen to His still small voice.
Now let’s put this into perspective, our service to the Lord, the work He is doing through us. We are told:
The following ad occurred in a London newspaper: “Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.” The ad was signed by Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer. Thousands responded instantly to the call. They were ready to sacrifice all for the elation of adventure and uncertain honor. Should God’s children do less.
- Selected
I think service for the Lord becomes difficult when it infringes on our time, when we take our eyes off the Lord, when we forget He is in control of all the situations we are in and nothing is going to happen to us without His knowledge. You see, Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” You are to rejoice, delight, fill yourself up with the Lord, and as you do your desires will come to pass. Now let me clarify that. As you delight in the Lord what happens is His desires become your desires for your life and as God opens the door for service, you step through!
And in the end, our service is to bring glory to God as Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” So the work that God does through us is service as we go forward representing Him to a dark and lost world. Paul put it this way in
II Corinthians 5:17-20, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.” May we serve Him faithfully!
4. THE FINISHED WORK OF GOD – GLORIFICATION
We have seen the work God does for us – salvation. We have seen the work that God does in us – sanctification. We have seen the work God does through us – service. And now we see the finished work of God – glorification. You see, it is as Paul said, the work that God started in us, when we were first saved, He will finish, He will complete – our glorification as we go to be with Him! It is as this story shows us:
Near Cripple Creek Colorado, gold and tellurium occur mixed as tellurite ore. The refining methods of the early mining camps could not separate the two elements, so the ore was thrown into a scrap heap.
One day a miner mistook a lump of ore for coal and tossed it into his stove. Later, while removing ashes from the stove, he found the bottom littered with beads of pure gold. The heat had burned away the tellurium, leaving the gold in a purified state. The discarded ore was reworked and yielded a fortune.
People are like tellurite ore. We have gold inside of us, but it often takes some trial in the fiery furnace of life to transform us.
- Brian Cavanaugh, T.O.R., Sower’s Seeds
God will use our life experiences to make us like Him, to purify us and in the end we will be raised in glory. I do realize that as we look at our lives we have a long way to go, it almost seems impossible, but remember that with God all things are possible, not only our salvation, not only our sanctification, not only our service, but also our glorification.
Paul, in Romans 8:29-30 tells us, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” The word “glorified” is in the aorist tense. Paul is not saying that one day we will be glorified but right now we are seen as glorified in the Father’s eyes. “You have to be kidding, I’m glorified?” I know, you may feel like that but the reality is, that is how God sees you, the finished project, a finished work of art. That is how certain our glorification is, 100%!
You see, as one person put it, “The Lord always looks at His people as they will be when they are done.” I like that! Jude put it this way, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.” Jude 24, 25. God can and will do that! And yes, it is a lifelong process as Alan Redpath tells us, “The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, but the making of a saint is the task of a lifetime.” (Alan Redpath, The Making of a Man of God).
Thus, as we have seen here this morning, the work of redemption is four-fold. The work God does for us – salvation. The work God does in us – sanctification. The work God does through us – service. And the finished work of God – glorification! That is what God is doing in our lives. And He will complete it because He already sees the finished product. And what God has started, He is more than able to finish. Praise Him for that, for His love, for His work for us, in us, through us, which leads to His finished work – our glorification!