Redemptioner

“ He has yielded himself to be the servant of sin. He obeys it, and he does its work. If he wishes to get free he cannot. He may long for liberty, but he cannot attain it. He may think with bitter regret of past folly that has led to his ruin. But regret cannot restore. Remorse p. 44cannot set him free. A slave he is, and a slave, unless saved by redemption, he must remain.
How, then, can such an one be redeemed? That is the question. It must clearly be by a redemption price. There was no redemption under the law without a ransom. ”

“ It is the service of the Redeemer Himself. In redeeming us from iniquity He makes us His own, and sets us apart unto Himself. If redeemed we belong to the Redeemer. We love Him, we follow Him, we serve Him, we are His. ”

“ When we realize this, we get some idea of the scope of the redemption which he proclaims. It is not a superficial or a sentimental thing that he proposes; it takes hold of life with the most comprehensive grasp; it proposes to redeem not only man but his environment. ”

“ It is my own belief that a great deal of the confusion respecting the subject arises from the indistinct use of words; and I am thoroughly persuaded that before we can ascertain whom He has redeemed, we must clearly understand what is meant by redemption. If we do not understand redemption itself, we shall never understand its limits. Now I cannot help thinking that I have proved that, throughout the word of God, redemption means deliverance; and in the case of the great salvation, deliverance through atonement. ”

“ The contrivance of our redemption is the most glorious display of Divine love that ever was made, or ever can be made to the children of men.
Underneath all the arches of Scripture history, throughout the whole grand temple of the Scriptures, these two voices ever echo, man is ruined, man is redeemed.
—C. D. Foss. Christ is redemption only as He actually redeems and delivers our nature from sin. If He is not the law and spring of a new spirit of life, He is nothing. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,"—as many, no more. ”

“ We are free from both the imputation and dominion of sin. From the imputation, because the curse is gone; and from the dominion, for we are not under the law but under grace. This part of redemption is not a future thing which we should be always seeking, and never finding; always praying for, and never enjoying; always aiming at, but never reaching. It is the present, blessed, sacred gift of every one of you that is in Christ Jesus. You are not like Israel in bondage in Egypt, nor even like Israel shut in by the rocks at Pi-hahiroth ”

“ There is one sorrow which God never calls us to—the sorrow of a wasted life. By redemption, the Church reveals not only a saving from rebellion, unbelief, and crime, but redemption from sloth, from indifference, from lack of purpose, and from low aims. Redemption looms up as the great economic force of Time—that which inspires and preserves our powers, directs our energies, creates opportunity, brings to pass our most high and holy desires, and fills life with satisfying and abiding things. ”

“ The price that was given, by our great Redeemer, has a value put upon it, in proportion to the dignity of his Person, and lays a sure foundation for our hope of being accepted in the sight of God, on account of his obedience and sacrifice, which was of infinite value: and the application of redemption being a work which the Spirit, who is a divine Person, has undertaken to perform, encourages us to expect that it shall be brought to perfection; so that they, who are the objects of redeeming love and sanctifying grace, shall, in the end, be completely saved. ”

“ The word 'redemption' is meant to suggest a price paid by God, or by Christ, for our being {152} made free; it is the price of the Son's death. He 'gives His life a ransom for many.' The word 'propitiation' again is meant to suggest that the offering of the life in sacrifice was the means to win for us forgiveness from God. So far, both metaphorical words have their clear and harmonious meaning. But in old days the metaphor of redemption was worked out by Origen and others beyond the exact point of the original suggestion. ”

“ It is redemption that is to deliver, redemption that is to raise us from the dead, redemption that removes the difficulty, how then can we ever hope to rise until redemption is applied and realised? If redemption is not sufficient to reach down to one in a state of utter hopelessness, it is insufficient for the conscience-stricken sinner. Remember, therefore, the case of Jeremiah. ”

“ The dream of Redemption. It is not technical creeds for which the Church as a whole stands, but for certain vital principles which concern the life of the soul, and its relation to God and man. Virtue has always been a dream of the heart. But how inaccessible is virtue, with a past of unforgiven sin! The height of our ideal of redemption is conditioned upon the depth of our realization of sin. To the shallow, redemption is an easy-going process, a way of healing the scratches which the world makes. To the deep and serious-minded, redemption involves the regeneration of the race. ”

“ But it must have been very difficult for a slave, who had sold himself because he was ruined, to accumulate sufficient for his own redemption; and it is perfectly clear that it would be utterly impossible for us to accomplish any such redemption for ourselves. Multitudes have p. 45endeavoured to do so. They have striven to gain a freedom by tears and toils, and fastings, and almsdeeds, proportioned to the sin committed. But the only effect has been that the chain has been riveted more firmly than ever on their soul. Instead of providing a ransom they have daily increased their debt. ”

“ There was a transfer of the imputation of guilt, and thus by God’s marvellous grace, blessed be God, in Christ Jesus we are free.
Now all this is done, and done for ever. Nothing can add to it, and nothing can take from it. We have nothing to do with any fresh sacrifice for sin. We want no masses for either the living or the dead, and we know we cannot make up any fresh sacrifice by penance or self-denial. In all such matters the one question is, Is the one redemption by the one substitute sufficient, or is it not? If it is, we want no further sacrifice, for the work is done. ”

“ He did not trust without a reason, but said, ‘Into thy hand I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth;’ and we have to consider what he meant by that expression, ‘Thou hast redeemed me.’ In answer to this question, I have no hesitation in expressing my firm conviction that the redemption to which he referred was precisely the same as that on which we ourselves rest, the redemption from the guilt of sin wrought out by the Lord Jesus on the cross. There has never been any other redemption which could be the foundation of trust either in life or in death ”

“ It is a redemption through the most precious blood of the Lamb.
The deliverance, or the gathering, is not simply an exercise of power, but is the result of atonement by blood. It is not merely the act of the Holy Ghost calling the sinner, but the act of God making atonement, or giving Christ to die for him. Before one soul could be drawn out from the ruin of the world, and gathered in to God, the barrier of the curse must be taken out of the way, and the law satisfied by its complete fulfilment in the Person of our Redeeming Head. ”

“ But if you have been saved from that condemnation, so that now you ‘have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins:’ you have also a great deal more, for you have besides it and resting on it, the unspeakable blessedness of a Father’s love. You may daily fall back on the satisfaction of the law, and in consequence of that satisfaction, like loving children may cry, ‘Abba, Father,’ and claim a Father’s forbearance and a Father’s tenderness, a Father’s provision, and a Father’s forgiveness. ”

“ But the whole difficulty is met in God’s great plan of redemption, as revealed in those wonderful words, ‘Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.’ The forgiveness resulting from the great act of redemption is exactly what we want, a legal and judicial remission of a legal and judicial sentence. The sentence of the law has been as fully carried out in the person of our most Blessed Redeemer as it would have been had the whole race been cast into hell for ever. ”

“ The deliverance is the consequence of atonement, and the atonement is the cause of deliverance, but both one and the other are included in the full idea of redemption, as we may see, for example, in the song sung before the throne, ‘Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.’ Rev. ”

“ If we are brought to the bottom of the pit, by sorrow, by sickness, by calamity, by the approach of death, or by the deep and painful sense of sin, all true source of strength must ever be in the great work of redemption wrought out for us by the Son of God. It is that which opens the way to the throne, and which enables us to rest in the assurance of the love of God. You may find many difficulties in the way of faith, and many drawbacks under the profound sense of your own unworthiness. But it is wonderful to find how they disappear before the cross of Christ ”

“ He must stoop to reach you before you can rise to reach Him. Your first act of faith must be when you are at the bottom. It will be there, and not at the top, or half-way up, that for the first time you will realise a finished redemption. If ever you have the unspeakable joy of saying in all the happiness of personal appropriation, ‘Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life,’ you will have to do so before you have risen above your present level. Do not therefore wait to make some poor, feeble, ineffective effort to rise ”

“ There God made the people, there He redeemed them. In lawbook as in prophecy, it is the fact of redemption which forms the main ground of His appeal. Redeemed by Him, the people are not their own, but His. ”

“ Everything of the nature of satisfaction or merit on the part of the offender is precluded, by the utterly gratuitous nature of the gift, by the sufficiency of the Redeemer's expiation. Every assertion of the necessity of works or merit on the side of the offender, as the ground of forgiveness, is a disparagement of the Redeemer's Mercy and of his expiatory office. Faith, thus laying hold of a free forgiveness and reconnecting the soul with God, is the fountain of a new life of holiness, which depends not on fear and homage to law, but on gratitude and on filial sentiments. ”

“ For in cases of natural redemption the price must be paid to him who holds the captive in his power. If (as the doctrine admits) mankind was in bondage to Satan, then the price of redemption was due to him, and not to God the Father as the doctrine teaches. 4. It mars the beauty and perfection of God's character, representing Him as a monster of injustice and cruelty. For what could be more unjust or cruel than to release sinners from the penalty due to their transgressions, and accept the sufferings of a perfectly innocent being as the price of their redemption? ”

“ But there can be no such freedom without redemption from the curse of sin. You remember that when a man had sold himself to be a slave, the only way in which he could obtain his liberty was by his kinsman legally redeeming him from his master. So it seems to be here. Christ our kinsman has paid the ransom p. 148in order that we, being redeemed, may be freemen unto God, and may now as freemen have the joy of serving Him. ”

“ There is another reason for the mysterious manner of our redemption, a further explanation of the extreme condescension on the part of our Lord towards the frail creatures whom He came to save. Had he come to us in a foreign attire, with a nature unlike our own, would it not have been difficult for us to approach Him, and to put our confidence and trust in Him? If He had appeared like an angel, all bright and dazzling with glory, if He had come as an earthly king and ruler, crowned and clad in regal splendor, would it not have been hard for the poor ones of earth? ”

“ May the Redeemer own and bless what is sent in it! Then all will be well. I know your prayers will not be wanting. I am glad you have found out another thief, that lay hid in the chambers of imagery, which are in your heart. Time and temptation will draw out ten thousand more, which as yet, you know nothing of. Happy they, who can discover, pluck out, and cut off their right hand and right eye corruptions. This must be done, or we shall only take up with the bare semblance of holiness. The Redeemer must sit as a refiner’s fire upon our hearts, or we shall never be purified as gold or silver. ”

“ Redemption is too often looked at from its negative side as deliverance from: its real glory is the positive element of being redeemed unto Himself. Full possession of a house means occupation: if I own a house without occupying it, it may be the home of all that is foul and evil. God has redeemed me and made me His own with the view of getting complete possession of me. He says of my soul, ‘It is mine,’ and seeks to have His right of ownership acknowledged and made fully manifest. ”