GRACE FOR TODAY Radio Message #433 - 434
THE CAUSE OF OUR
REDEMPTION BY CHRIST
Pastor
Don Fortner
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road
Danville,
Kentucky 40422-9438
Writing to the saints at
Corinth on the subject of redemption and salvation by Christ, the Apostle Paul
says, “all things are of God.” As in
all other aspects of salvation, our redemption by Christ is attributed to the
Lord God alone. As we read the Scriptures, we cannot avoid being confronted
with the fact that in this matter of salvation, nothing is ever ascribed to us,
caused by us, or dependent upon us. But “all
things are of God.” That is the
language of the Bible (Deut. 7:6-9; Ps. 106:8; 115:1).
Deuteronomy
7:6-9 "For thou art an holy people unto the
LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto
himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7 The LORD did
not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than
any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8 But because the LORD loved
you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers,
hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the
house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that
the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy
with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand
generations;"
Psalms
106:8 "Nevertheless he saved them for his
name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known."
Psalms
115:1 "Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but
unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake."
Romans 9:16 "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."
The cause of our redemption by Christ is to be found in the Lord God
himself, and in him alone. This fact is as plainly revealed in the Word of God as the noonday sun.
Yet, it is a fact that is as precious as rubies, as sparkling as diamonds, as
deep as the mines from which they come, and as profound as God himself to those
who are enabled by grace to behold it. The cause of our redemption by Christ
must be found in the love, grace, mercy, and purpose of God.
THE REDEMPTION OF OUR SOULS BY THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST ORIGINATES
IN, RISES, AND FLOWS TO US FROM THE EVERLASTING LOVE OF GOD FOR US (John 3:16; Rom. 5:6-8; 1
John 3:16; 4:9-10, 19). The cause of our redemption, the original source from
whence it springs and flows, is the everlasting love of God for his elect.
Indeed, this is the source and spring of every blessing of grace: election and
adoption, regeneration and effectual calling, and redemption, justification,
sanctification, preservation, and glorification (Eph. 1:3-6).
The gift of Christ to be the Redeemer of his people flows from God’s
everlasting love. Christ was given to be a Redeemer before he was sent into the world
to redeem us. When he was given for a covenant to the people, he was given in
covenant to be our Redeemer. This gift of Christ by the Father was the effect
of his love. To this Christ himself ascribes it; "God so loved the world (the world of his elect), that he gave his only begotten Son."
God gave his Son to be our Redeemer long before he actually came to
redeem us.
In those earliest days of time, Job knew the Son of God as his living Redeemer
(Job 19:25-27). All the Old Testament saints waited for Christ to come as the
Lamb of God to redeem his people from their sins (Gen. 22:8). The mission of
Christ, in the fulness of time to be the propitiation for our sins and to
redeem us from all iniquity, was given as a manifest, clear, and undoubted
instance of his everlasting, free love for us. "In this was manifested the love of God." "Herein is love." In the words
of John Gill, “God's not sparing his Son, but delivering him into the hands of
justice and death, to die in the room and stead of sinners, while they were
such, is a full demonstration and high commendation of his great love unto
them.”
WE TRACE OUR REDEMPYION BY CHRIST TO THE FREE AND SOVEREIGN GRACE OF
GOD IN CHRIST. Whenever I mention the grace of God, I commonly use the adjectives free and sovereign to describe it because few in these days of religious
darkness and delusion understand that grace is of necessity both free and
sovereign. It is the free grace of God because grace, if it is not altogether
free, is not grace. This is, like the love of God, unmerited, clear of all
conditions, merit and motives in the creature. It is sovereign grace because it
is bestowed entirely, according to the will of our great, Divine Benefactor
(Rom. 9:13-18). The foundation and basis of our redemption by Christ is God’s
free and sovereign grace. We are "justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
That redemption which is in and by Christ is the work of God’s free and
sovereign grace! The gift of Christ is a free grace gift (1 Cor. 9:15). His being sent
and delivered up to death are owing to the grace of God. It was "by the grace of God he tasted death
for everyone," for everyone of the sons of God (Heb. 2:9). This cannot
be attributed to any merit or desert in those for whom Christ died; since we
were without strength, ungodly, wicked, the chief of sinners, and enemies in
our minds by wicked works. We contribute nothing to the work of Christ in
redemption, not even by our faith. Our faith in Christ is the fruit and effect
of redemption, not the cause! We receive the atonement by faith; but we do not
make atonement by faith! Read Romans 5:10-11.
WE TRACE OUR REDEMPTION BY CHRIST TO THE MERCY OF GOD. Mercy, which is no other
than the love and grace of God, exercised towards miserable creatures, gives
rise to this blessing of redemption: God first resolved to have mercy on sinful
men. Then he determined to redeem and save them by his Son. It is through the
tender mercy of our God, that Christ, the dayspring from on high, visited and
redeemed his people; and so performed the mercy promised to us (Luke 1:68, 69,
72, 78). Therefore, God is said to save men according to his mercy. Mercy is
glorified in their salvation and redemption by Christ. We, therefore, ought to
sing of mercy to praise the Lord our God and give thanks unto him for it (Tit.
3:5; Ps. 107:1, 2; 136:23, 24). It was by the love, grace, and mercy of God to
sinful men that his will was determined and his resolution fixed to redeem us.
WE TRACE OUR REDEMPTION BY CHRIST TO THE PURPOSE OF GOD. It was according to that
eternal purpose he purposed in Christ; who was foreordained before the
foundation of the world. In order to redeem us from our vain conversation, with
his precious blood, our Savior was set forth, in the decree and purpose of God,
to be the propitiation for sin. God appointed him to be the Redeemer and
Saviour; and appointed us, not unto wrath, which we deserved, but to obtain
salvation by him; as vessels of mercy afore prepared for glory. Being moved by
his love, grace, and mercy to redeem and save his elect, his wisdom found the
way to accomplish the work in total consistency with his justice. A council was
held in which God was in Christ, forming a scheme of peace, reconciliation, and
redemption; in which he has
"abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence," laying help for
us upon One that is mighty. Christ was and is the only proper person to be our
Redeemer. The only means by which the holy Lord God could be “a just God and a Savior,” the only
means by which he could accomplish redemption for us, was by the
substitutionary, penal sacrifice and death of his dear Son in our place for the
satisfaction of justice.