Redemption by Tim Mathis

To listen to the audio from Tim’s message on Wednesday night, click the play button on the player below.

Today I want to discuss an illness that we are all born with. That illness is sin. And because we sin we will die. I don’t want you to think that I’m making this up or this is just what I think, so we are going to look at Romans 3:23, and Romans 6:23. Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” So we see from the first verse that we all have sin and in the first part of the second verse we see that the wages of our sin is death.

Because we were born into sin we are a slave to that sin. A slave is “A person who is the property of and wholly subject to another;”, or “A person entirely under the domination of some influence or person:.” Since we are slaves to our sin we are under the total control of that sin. 2 Peter 2:19b “For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” So when we are overcome by this world and thing of it we are in our slavery to sin. Titus 3:3 says “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures…” This tells us that we are slaves to our sins.

We need a redeemer because we can’t save ourselves from this slavery. Eph. 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” The only thing that can save us is a redeemer. To redeem something is to “buy or pay off” or “to buy back”. We need someone to buy/give us our freedom from our slavery. That person, or redeemer, is Jesus Christ. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— and Romans 6:6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. He died for us so that we no longer had to endure this slavery we were under. He came as our payment. Mark 10:45 “for even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as ransom for many.”

If your reading this and you have already accepted Jesus Christ as your savior I would like to encourage you by letting you know that your not a slave anymore. You have already been redeemed by the blood of the lamb and so if you ever feel like sin is controlling you just remember that your not sins slave anymore.

But if your reading this and you’ve never accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior I would like to show you how you can be bought away from the slavery in which your in right now. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord” I want to break this verse down. First the wages of sin is death, so what we earn from breaking God’s law is eternal separation from God. Next, But the Gift of God is eternal life. Because we earn eternal separation God want to give us this free gift because he loves us, and that gift is eternal life. But we must accept this gift. And lastly he gives us this gift through Jesus Christ our Lord, the one who died on the cross for our sins.