Colossians chapter 1, and we'll start reading in verse number 9. It's a little bit longer reading section than usual, but it all fits together and it's hard to pull it apart. In fact, even starting in verse number 9, I'm interrupting some of his thought, but at least this is the prayer that he prayed, the Apostle Paul, that he prayed on his friends in the city of Colossae. Colossians 1 and we'll start reading in verse number 9. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. Verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. I remind the devil of that every day. I don't belong to him anymore. I've been delivered from His power. I'm in a new kingdom now. I belong to the Son, Jesus, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. We forget that last part of that verse. Often times when we remember God created all things, I say, well, why? For Him! They're created for Him! I don't know what He's doing with them, but they're for Him! Somehow they bring Him glory and joy, and they're a satisfaction to Him. They're created for Him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist, or hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of the cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, By him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven." And we'll stop there. You see, we could go on and on and on. It's kind of a carrying on of thought. But a great passage of scripture. This city to which he wrote this letter, the believers in that city of Colossae, was just to the east of Ephesus. We don't know, historically, who founded that church. It wasn't Paul, as far as we know. There's at least no record of it. But Paul knew of their faith and knew there were believers there. And so he wrote to them this letter. And the gist of the letter is this. The significance of Christ. The whole book of Colossians deals with the significance of Christ. And it does so from a variety of aspects. First of all, He's the Lord of creation. He's the head of the church. His supremacy, His uniqueness, His centrality. There is nothing else but Christ. Everything was for Him and by Him and to Him. So Christ is the center of this book. And it was written to refute heresy. And starting in chapter 2, primarily in chapter 2 and thereafter, it outlines the specific heresies that were beginning to infiltrate into this young church in the city of Colossae, and Paul wrote this book on the centrality of Christ to refute those heresies. We won't get into that on this occasion, but just to give you a little bit of a gist of the book and the emphasis of it and why Paul wrote it. The prayer that we just read, or at least most of it, of the prayer, there were little parts before that we didn't read, there's two things here in this prayer that I want us to see. There's a lot in this prayer that we don't have time to examine, but there are two things in this prayer that Paul makes reference to, and that's the cross. Twice he makes mention of the cross. The first time he mentions about in the cross we have redemption and the forgiveness of sin. The second time he mentions the cross he talks about reconciliation with God and having peace with God because of the reconciliation that is in the cross. Well I'd like us to look tonight at just one of them and that's the first one. The redemption that is in the cross. Because of the cross we have and can experience redemption. This is a very important issue and doctrine for us to examine for a variety of reasons. First, for that day, it was part of Paul's refutation of heresy. And how we see in our day how we so far miss the boat in our dealing with our culture and cultures around the world. We do everything except present the cross. And Paul, in dealing with heresy and subduing and refuting heresy, he went to the cross. He talked about the cross, that that was the thing that refuted and put down heresy. Well, in our day, we make a habit and a pretense of presenting a gospel, which is not the gospel, but it's one that leads out redemption. We spend more time in our presentation of the gospel as circus barkers trying to get people in line to buy their tickets for heaven. That's what we talk about. Well, you want to go to heaven, don't you? Oh yeah, who wouldn't want to go to heaven? Well, you want to go to hell? Oh no, nobody wants to go to hell. Oh sure, right. Sign me up. I want to go to heaven. Okay, get your ticket right here. And I'll just say Jesus is a good man or something. Never rementioned redemption. And it's very interesting that they don't because they also make a habit of stating that they don't talk about sin. Well, of course they're not going to talk about redemption because if you talk about redemption, what are you redeemed from? You can't be redeemed from a bad marriage. Although God can certainly work in a bad marriage. But that's not what redemption has to do with. Redemption doesn't have to do with straightening out your bank account either. And those are big issues in our day. We spend a lot of time talking about those things. And the 12-step programs and all that, we never talk about redemption. Because if you talk about redemption, you've got to talk about sin. Professing church today doesn't want to talk about sin. If you talk about sin, the crowds won't come, and I want the crowds. Which do you prefer to do, to have the crowds or to preach the truth? Sadly, they prefer the crowds. Well, we need to talk about redemption because people don't know about redemption and what it is that was purchased on the cross. It's a benefit of the cross, redemption of sinners. We need to know the truth. And some of us know parts of the truth, of this truth. It's good for us to re-examine it. And to look at it again, and see it from a different vantage point, see it in another textual setting, another way that it is presented by the writer. And to see that it is a truth of gospel. It is in the scriptures. This isn't some phantasm, this isn't some made up doctrine. This is the truth of scripture, redemption. And we need to understand it, and recover the truth. and reform our lives according to the truth and to remember the truth and let it remind us of the Lord Jesus and what He did on the cross for sinners like you and me. And interestingly enough, this is one of the doctrines that is most frequently preached and is preached during times of revival in the church. Redemption through the blood of Jesus on the cross. And especially tonight I want us to examine it because we're going to celebrate the Lord's table following our time of study. And it's good for us to remember what the Lord Jesus did on the cross. We're told by Him to remember. Remember me. Don't forget me. As often as you do this, remember me and what I did. And that's the blood of the covenant and my promises. Remember them. So I want us to look at just four things. dealing with the redemption through his blood. First of all, what is redemption? What do we mean when we talk about redemption? Secondly, redemption implies there are captives. Who are the captives? And what does it mean to be a captive and someone in bondage? Third, then we'll look at the application of redemption to the captives. And what that means. and then we'll look at some confirmation in scripture how that isn't just in this one setting but the scriptures confirm this truth and they restate it in other ways in other places and we'll look at those confirmations and then we'll close. So first I want us to look at what do we mean when we talk about redemption. We'll just talk about redemption in a general sense and then we will apply it in a spiritual sense as applying to the cross and through the blood of Jesus. Well first of all we talk about redemption we talk about deliverance from bondage. Someone or something is in bondage or in captivity and it is redeemed or they are redeemed or he or she is redeemed and that person or thing that is redeemed is then liberated of course from the misery that they were experiencing while in bondage. So not only is the person in bondage, but they are suffering. They are in misery while in bondage or in captivity. And there are things that contribute to that misery. That's redemption. And there are some various kinds of contributions that are part of or that bring about redemption. That was the concept of redemption. Now these are the little things that bring about redemption or that cause it to happen. There is intervention by someone on behalf of the captives who pays the payment to the one who holds them captive. The one who holds them captive is now paid off Those held in captivity and bondage are now released and set free and at liberty because the payment has been made on their behalf. They are being held captive because of their failure. They have done something to the one holding them. They have a debt to him. They have violated him in some fashion, his law, his control over them. He has taken them captive. A Redeemer comes, pays the one holding them captive. He is satisfied. Those prisoners, those once held captive, are now set free. So the consequences, if you will, of redemption, of the price being paid on behalf of those held captive, is that they are now set at liberty. They are set free. They are released. because their debt has now been canceled, paid for. And whatever penalty that they needed to suffer and have paid in order to satisfy the one holding them in bondage, that payment has been made. So they now are released. Well, why are they released? Because the payment's been made. They no longer have to make payment. They are released. They are set free. In addition to that, they are set free to be at the disposal of the one who paid their debt. That is redemption. Just looking at it in a generalized fashion. Now secondly, let's take a look at the captives. and get a little bit of a picture and understanding. I mentioned a few things about the captives as I was explaining redemption, but let's look again at just the captives to make sure we get a grasp of who the captives are. And I'll do it first of all by means of a picture. We have a rather good understanding of what it means to be thrown in prison or in jail. The person thrown in prison or sent to prison and in jail has violated the law. And the judge, the one who is in charge of administering the law, finds them guilty. A variety of ways to do that, but they're judged guilty. And the penalty is to be imprisoned. To be set aside. They are sent to prison. And when they send them to prison, there is someone in charge of the prison. Someone who is now in charge of them and who watches over them, controls them, sees that they endure their judgment, their punishment, their penalty that was handed out by the judge. And during that time they're sometimes shackled, sometimes just confinement in a room, a variety of ways where they detain the prisoners who are in captivity. They are put in condemnation because of their violation of the law. They didn't pay a debt or they did a violation of the law, a crime. They are judged guilty and thus put in prison. Now let's apply these things to a spiritual sense. Mankind is judged guilty. We are guilty on two counts. We are guilty from the standpoint of debt. We have not given to God what He deserves and what is rightfully His and what belongs to Him. So first of all, we are indebted to God. We are debtors to God. We are in no position to pay Him what He owes. So we are held captive because we are debtors. A second way we are held captive by our sin is because we are not only debtors, but we have violated his law. We are guilty of violating his law, which is a crime. And so we are twice judged guilty. And we are in bondage to God. We are held by him. He has set us aside in condemnation because of our sin. And there is a jailer, if you will. Who is the jailer? Well, that's the devil. That's the evil one. That's the one who works in the minds of disobedience. The evil one. He's the jailer, if you go back to the picture. And the things that are like fetters, The things that help bind us in our prison are our sins in the world and the things in our flesh that compound our circumstance and bring about the misery of our captivity. Scriptures speak to this issue and describe it in John chapter 3. We've read it on previous occasions. I'll just read it again to remind you that that's our condition without Christ. John chapter 3, I'll just read a few verses to remind you that that's our condition. John chapter 3, starting in verse number 17, For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." We are under the just condemnation of God because of our sin. A sin of debt and a sin of crime. We have violated His law, we have not given to Him what He rightly deserves, and we are in no position to pay either debt. We cannot pay the debt we owe Him, nor can we satisfy the judgment that we rightly deserve for violation of His law. Now comes redemption. Remember the brief description I gave a few moments ago about redemption? That's what Jesus did. Jesus came to redeem the captives. And notice what it is that pays the redemption price. His blood. The scriptures tell us in verse number 14, in whom, talking about Jesus, in whom we have redemption through His blood. The blood of Jesus satisfied the two requirements that God, the judge, has against us because of our sin. And Jesus satisfied them both. He paid the debt, and he paid the penalty that we rightly deserve for our violation of God's law, which is death. And the Lord Jesus paid both of those on behalf of sinners like you and me. He paid it. It isn't a picture payment. It isn't a figmentary payment. It isn't a proposed payment. It's a payment. He paid it. So that all those we read in John 3, all those who have come to faith in Christ, what is true of them regarding their position to the Father and their captivity? No longer captives. And the one who would serve, as you will, according to the picture that I used to help explain the conditions, the devil, the evil one, he no longer has authority over you. He no longer has power over you. And those sins that we have done in the past that judged us guilty, those have all been paid for. The penalty that they deserved has been paid. And here's the beautiful part that's hard for us to grasp and understand. Those sins that you do tomorrow are paid as well. All of them. Till the day you die, those are paid. For all who have come to faith in Christ, they are no longer captives." We read it there, didn't we? No longer in condemnation, no longer under the authority of the evil one, no longer in bondage to those shackles that brought about such misery in our lives, the sin of our flesh and of our minds and our hearts, and the impression and the influence of the world upon us and the misery that it brings, they don't have any authority over us anymore. That I want you to see. That I want you to see. Because that is what is inherent in this transaction that the Lord Jesus did on the cross with His blood. He paid the fee of redemption. That means we are free. We are released. They no longer have any authority over us whatsoever. Notice that it starts, at the tail end of verse number 14, it starts with the forgiveness. Do you know what it means to be forgiven? Do you know what the definition of forgiveness in the scriptures, the words that are used in scriptures for forgiveness, do you know what they really mean? It's describing a business transaction of someone who owes a debt to another person. And that other person, the creditor, releases the debt, cancels it out, so the debtor no longer owes whatever he previously owed to the creditor, that it's been forgiven. It's been cancelled. It isn't due anymore. And that's exactly what Jesus did on the cross. When He shed His blood, He made payment on behalf of all those who come to faith in Him. And that debt is cancelled. It's no longer due. So we have forgiveness of sin. And might I just inject in parentheses here, Those of us who deal with on everyday occasions where we need to forgive other people, what does it mean then to forgive someone else? They have wronged you. They have hurt you. They have violated you in some fashion. And you have ought against them. And the scriptures tell us we are to forgive until 90 times 70. What is it, 70 times 7, which is 490 times? What does it mean to forgive? It means you take a piece of paper that describes the debt and you tear it in two and you destroy it. It's cancelled. There isn't a debt anymore. They don't owe you anymore. They don't owe you anything. They don't owe you an apology. They don't owe you a smile. They don't owe you a handshake. They don't owe you a hug. They don't owe you anything. You have cancelled the debt. You have forgiven them. Because that's what happened to you. That's what happened to you in Christ. And we are to forgive as He has forgiven us, the Scriptures say. Well, that's just kind of an insert here on dealing with forgiveness. Now I want us to see the confirmation of Scripture. The Scriptures that confirm these things that I have just tried to feeble fashion explained to you. First of all, notice starting in verse number 13, talking about the evil one. The Father has done something on our behalf because of the blood of Jesus. What has He done in regards to the evil one? Notice what it says, He's delivered us from the power of darkness. He's delivered us. Think about that, my friends. Think about that for a moment. If you have come to faith in Jesus Christ and you trust Him as your Lord and Master and Savior, what is true of you regarding the evil one? You've been delivered from him. He has no authority over you anymore. None. None. You can stand and look him in the face and you say, you have no authority over me. I have been delivered from your power. I live now in a new kingdom, and that kingdom is the kingdom of the Son of the Father, none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm in His kingdom now. I'm under His authority, not yours anymore. I want you to see that that's stated elsewhere in Scripture. If you want to follow, you can. I'll read them. Ephesians chapter 1, verse number 7, talking about redemption that we have. Paul is writing to his friends at Ephesus, and he's talking about the cross and the blood, and here's what he says, in Christ, in whom, verse number 7, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. That's ours in Christ. Through His blood. I want you to notice another reference. Hebrews chapter 2, verse number 14. That one referred to the forgiveness of sin that we have, that we have redemption through the blood of Christ. Now this verse in Hebrews 2, verse number 14, respects and makes reference to the evil one and what has happened there in our behalf by the Lord Jesus. Hebrews 2, verse number 14, it says, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He, Christ, also himself likewise took part of the same." Why did he do that? What was one of the reasons why the Lord Jesus came down from the glories and splendors of heaven with the Father and came down and took on flesh and blood like you and I have? Why did he do that? Here's why. That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." We've been delivered, my friends, through the blood of Jesus. The evil one no longer has authority over us. He's no longer our jailer. Turn further back to Titus chapter 2. We find another reference here to redemption and the blood of Jesus. Hebrews chapter 2 Verse number 14. Go back up to verse number 13 to catch the drift. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity. Those sins of our flesh and of our minds and our hearts, and that the world would impress and influence upon us, we've been redeemed from those. Redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. They no longer have authority over us. We no longer have to do them. We're not in bondage to them anymore. We've been released. The payment's been made. The blood of Jesus has been redeemed us and set us free and liberated us. One last one. Galatians chapter 6, verse number 14. This is talking about the world. We've seen what the blood of Jesus has done regarding the devil. We've seen what the blood of Jesus has done regarding our sins and their influence upon us. And now we see what the blood of Jesus has done for us through redemption regarding the world. Verse number 14, but God forbid, chapter 6 of Galatians, but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. The world doesn't have authority over us anymore either. We've been redeemed. We've been released, we've been liberated, we've been set free. Now what does that mean? Let's look at some implications of that truth. We've been redeemed, forgiven, set free from those powers that would oppress us. First of all, a few corollaries. Because that is true, There are some other things that are true that I want us to see, and I won't go into them in great explanation, just briefly mention and highlight them. First of all, notice the nature of God. Notice the nature of God that is true in the redemption of the blood of Jesus. First of all, His grace. We won't take the time, but when you get a moment, go back and read Ephesians chapter 1. And read about the grace of God. that is shown to usward who believe the grace of God, unmerited, undeserved, unearned, ours through Christ. Notice also the love of God, the love of God in Christ, and the love of Christ for us that caused Him to leave His Father's throne. He counted it not sin to be equal with God, but He took upon Himself flesh Why? Because He loved us. He loved us. Notice furthermore, the justice of God. God doesn't overlook sin. Every sin is judged. Your sin, my sin, your neighbor's sin, the sins of all the world, every sin is judged. God didn't overlook your sin in Jesus. The penalty that your sin deserves was paid. Oh, we need to grasp that. That helps us value the salvation that we have in Christ even more so and give honor and glory to the Lord Jesus for what He did for us because it's paid. Notice furthermore that salvation is only through Christ. There's a price that has to be paid. Someone has to pay that price. Are you going to pay that price? You can't pay that price. You aren't capable of paying that price. Furthermore, you don't want to pay that price. But a Redeemer came, and He paid the price on your behalf, because He loved you. And He wanted to demonstrate His love towards you. And that while we were yet sinners, as it says, Christ died for us. Notice furthermore, that the death that He died was a particular death. That death that He died could not have been for every man, woman, and child that has ever lived or will ever live, because they weren't all redeemed. My friends, that makes your redemption even more special. If you have come to faith in Christ, it is because He redeemed you. He chose you. He bought you. He paid the price of your sin. Furthermore, we see the doctrine of the perseverance of those who do believe. Those who come to faith in Christ will believe and trust Christ throughout their lives. They won't waver. They won't change. They won't doubt. They won't cast it aside. They will continue to trust. We read that in Philippians chapter 1. It says, He that hath begun a good work in you will continue it. Well, those are just some corollary doctrines that are true. One last one that I'll mention, that's this. Remember I mentioned about The redemption and the Redeemer, those who have been redeemed by the Redeemer are now beholden, if you will. They are now at the disposal of the Redeemer. My friends, you are not your own. You are not your own. You have been bought with a price, the Scriptures say. The precious blood of Jesus. You are not your own. You belong to the Redeemer. And your lives should reflect that in its purpose, in its desires, in its interests, in every aspect of your life. The second thing I would mention as implications of the truth is comfort. Comfort. You know what comfort is like. It's the cooling salve on a burn on the arm. It's a cool drink of water on a hot, hot blistering day. It's a chance to get in the shade from the sun. That's comfort. These truths regarding the redemption of blood on our behalf brings comfort, and comfort in a variety of ways. Let me mention just a few of them in passing quickly. First of all, there's enlightenment of the truth. That did happen. That transaction occurred. You say, well, I am familiar with it. Well, I pray that as we have examined it again tonight, that your understanding is expanded. And it's grown. You have greater appreciation and understanding of what it was the Lord Jesus did on your behalf and for you. And what your position now is in Christ. Because you've been redeemed. To strengthen our faith. make us trust Him more firmly, more steadily. The last I would mention is this. Encouragement. It's encouragement for both believers and unbelievers. First of all, it's encouragement for believers to be reminded of what occurred on the cross. And it occurred for us. It's also encouragement for those who have yet to come to faith in Christ to know that there is a Redeemer. There is a Redeemer. There is someone to whom they can go for redemption. There is someone to whom they can turn in faith and trust and be redeemed and be brought out of captivity and bondage of sin. So the truth brings encouragement to both believers and unbelievers. The last thing I would mention is this. And that is the commendation that is due to God for what He has done. Praise, honor, glory, exaltation, thanksgiving, worship, fear. Those are all deserving to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who applies the truth in our hearts and lives. I pray that the Spirit of God will take these truths as we have examined them and apply them to your heart in life and see the redemption that is ours in Christ Jesus. That by faith in Christ we can experience liberation and release from bondage. Bondage of sin, the bondage of condemnation and judgment that is rightly ours Distributed upon us and judged upon us by the Father because of our sin. And then the Father releases us because of the price paid by the blood of Jesus. I pray the Spirit of God will apply those truths in your heart and life to encourage you, to strengthen you, and to edify your faith in Jesus. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father. for your wondrous provision for us in Christ. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your bountiful provision of your blood shed on our behalf for the remission of sin, even the forgiveness of sin. And we thank you tonight for what you have done for us. Thank you. We were incapable of ever gaining release from our bondage. and the judgment that we rightly deserve from the Father. And you loved us. And you loved us to the extent that you gave your life for us and paid our penalty in full. I pray, Holy Spirit, that you will impress upon our hearts and minds the truth and the reality of the redemption that is ours in Christ through His blood. May it liberate us, free us, Strengthen us. Encourage us, I pray. Amen.