Thank you, Brother Spencer. If you have your Bible, I'm going to be asking you to turn to quite a few different passages of scripture this evening. We looked at, more technically, the term Kinsman Redeemer last Sunday night. And in the book of Ruth, that Kinsman Redeemer is Boaz. And one thing I want to try to emphasize tonight is for you to see your need for a kinsman redeemer. I felt like last Sunday night, I felt a little, it was really warm in here last Sunday, it's a little cooler, we're thankful for that. Brother Carl did some air conditioning work, hopefully it's gonna stay cooler, but we'll see. But last Sunday night I seemed to struggle a little bit with trying to explain what I was trying to get across. At least in my mind I was struggling a little bit. I want us to think of that word redeemer. When we think of the word redeemed, or we think of the word ransom, That's not something we often use in Christian conversation, but yet it is very vital to us as we look at this term once again this Sunday evening. The word of God tells us that we are all born sinners. We are born sinners because it came to us by way of the fall. When Eve sinned, she was deceived. She gave some to Adam, and Adam willfully sinned. Knowing in light of what God had said to him, in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Genesis chapter three, what we see is that he partook of that fruit of the tree of knowledge and good and evil. And the moment he partook of that, if you were looking at him, he wasn't dead. So the Lord was talking about something a lot deeper and that was his spiritual portion of him died. We find him hiding in the bushes. We find Eve hiding with him. They were scared because they were naked is what the word of God tells us. And the Lord confronted them and said, who told you this? And ultimately they had to acknowledge that they had sinned against God. The word of God tells us in Romans chapter five in verse 19, by one man's sin, sin entered into the world and death by sin, so sin has passed among all men. In other words, Adam fell and he threw all mankind into sin. Everyone who is born of man is born a sinner. The word of God tells us that we are slaves to sin. The natural man does not see this. They will often say they can quit doing whatever their bad habit is anytime they want. But the problem is they don't, which shows they can't. The Word of God tells us in Romans 6, and down in verse 16, know you not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. But God bethanked that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you have yielded your members, servants, to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members, servants, to righteousness unto holiness. For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. but now be made free from sin and become servants to God. You have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life for the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Sin is a slave master. Sin is a cruel tyrant of a slave master. Sin has put mankind into bondage to serve the sinful nature. Sin is often not seen as exceeding sinful as it is. Many people think that they're really not all that bad, but the problem is you compare yourself to someone else when you do that. Compared to the holiness of God, we're all wretched sinners with the wrath of God abiding above our head because of our sinful natures. Sin has infected all of mankind. It has affected all of mankind in everything that we do. When Adam sinned, he chose to sin. He sinned willfully against God. So automatically his chooser was messed up. His will, you might say, was bent. and it was permanently bent towards sin, and so all that were born of Adam are bent towards sin. The Word of God tells us over in James 1 and down in verse 14, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust. This word lust is the word epithumias. It means desires. Everyone sins The Word of God says, or is tempted, when they are drawn away by their own desires and enticed. Then the Word of God says, then when lust has conceived, or epithemia, these desires, when you conceive these desires and act out upon these desires, the Word of God says it brings forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, notice what the Word of God says, it brings forth death. Sin is the cause of death in this world. Sin comes from within, within the heart. It's caused by evil desires. When those evil desires are conceived, it brings forth sin. Sin, when it's completed, it brings forth death. Listen to what it says as Paul writes over in Romans chapter 7. In Romans chapter 7 and down in verse 7, the word of God says, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. No, I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust. That's the word epithemia. That means desires. I had not known desires except the law had said you shall not covet. That means to desire what others have. But sin, taken occasion by the commandment, worked in me all manner of concupiscence. That's the word epithemia once again. It worked within Paul, he's saying, all types of desires. And he says, for without the law, sin was dead. For when I was alive, without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. and the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taken occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid, but sin that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. You hear what Paul's saying. We don't often look at sin as something that is exceeding sinful. Sin is something that should not be trifled with. It is not something that you ought to see how far you can go before you actually sin. That automatically shows me where your heart's at is in the wrong place when you want to see how far you can go before you cross the line. The Word of God tells us as Jesus was speaking over in John chapter eight and down in verse 24 or 34, John 8, 34, Jesus answered them saying, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. If you sin, you make sin your slave master. And therefore, you start serving sin. And until you see the depths of your sinfulness, you'll never see the greatness of our Redeemer. That's why I'm on this topic tonight is that you might see how exceeding sinful sin is in your own life as well as in lives around you. And the more you see how sinful sin is and how disobedient you have been to God, the more you see your need for the Redeemer. The more you see you have a need for the kinsman Redeemer, if I think I'm pretty good, Well, you know, compared to everybody else, I'm pretty good. I go to church every week. I'm pretty good. I don't really steal. I ain't killed nobody. I don't run around. I don't get drunk. You know, if I compare myself to somebody else, I'm actually diminishing the greatness of my kinsman redeemer. When I try to lift myself up and say I'm pretty good, you know what? That's not what the word of God is describing me as. The word of God tells me I'm in need of a savior. I'm in need of that kinsman redeemer. Our condition, because of our sinfulness, is so affected, extremely affected by sin, that God sent his son. Christ left the perfect environment to come dwell amongst you and I who are sinners. To live the life that you and I could not live. The Word of God tells us over in the book of Hebrews chapter 10. In Hebrews chapter 10 and down in verse 5 it says, wherefore when he comes into the world he says, sacrifice an offering you would not. but a body have you prepared for me? In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me. To do your will, O God, Above when he said, sacrifice an offering and burn offerings, an offering for sin you would not, neither had pleasure therein, which are offered by the law, then said I, lo, I come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first that he may establish the second. By the which will, that's by God's will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. You see what God has done for us. God has sent His Son according to His will that we might be sanctified through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and that is once and for all. We don't need to be sanctified again. We do believe in progressive sanctification. But we believe when one trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ, they're set apart unto God, they're sanctified, they're holy unto God. Now there is that work of sanctification that God is doing daily upon our lives. Y'all seen the little shirts that some kids wear sometimes? He's still working on me. You remember, to make me what I ought to be, took him just a week to make the moon and stars, Jupiter and Earth, Venus and Mars. A loving, a savior he must be, because he's still working on me. And I ain't no little kid. He's still working on me. Hear the word of God. tells us that we're sanctified once and for all because of what Christ has done for us. In other words, the song we just sang just a minute ago, we sang quite a few concerning the Redeemer. One of the songs that we sang, there is a Redeemer. And we're thankful that there is a Redeemer because we need a kinsman Redeemer. As we read about Boaz in chapter two in the book of Ruth, we find that he was mighty, that he was rich. He was capable of redeeming Ruth and Naomi. Let me tell you, according to the Word of God, we have a Redeemer who is mighty and who is able to save. He is rich. For your sakes, he became poor that we, through his poverty, we might be made rich, is what the Word of God tells us. Back in Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 25, in Hebrews 7 and verse 25, the Word of God says this, wherefore, he is able to save. Them, to the uttermost, that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for us. He is able to save you, and that's to the uttermost. You know why? Because He's faithfully interceding on our behalf. He ever lives to make intercession for us, is what the Word of God tells us. Where is the problem though? As we look at sin and the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and we see how mankind has fallen into sin, the majority of people do not see themselves as sinners. Now, why is that? The Word of God tells us why very clearly over in 2 Corinthians 4. And down in verse 4, the Word of God says, in whom the God of this world, he has blinded the minds of them which believe not. The God of this world, that is Satan, the Prince in power of the air, he has blinded people's minds that believe not. Because if they were not blinded, the Word of God says, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Man cannot see his inability. He cannot see that he cannot work his way to heaven. The majority of people think it's based upon good works. I remember I used the sermon illustration right before Muhammad Ali died. He said, I wish I could live a little longer so I could do more, earn more good works. That is a Muslim speaking. they work their way to heaven, or at least they try to. But that's because the God of this world has blinded their minds. How does the God of this world blind people's minds in our day and time? It was very simple. You give them over to the desires of their heart. They're tied up with the pleasures of this world. They live for this world. They live for money. They live for power. They live for prestige, friends, whatever it might be. They live for the present day. The God of this world has blinded their minds. But the word of God tells us in 2 Corinthians 4, in verse 4, that the only light that can break through this darkness is the light of the glorious gospel of God are the light of the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That light, when it shines out of darkness into a heart, can change the hardest sinner. He can conquer evil, the most wicked. He can change a sinful heart and incline that heart from evil to serving him. How does he do that? By changing the heart. It's the grace of God that's found in the gospel of Christ. The Word of God is full of illustrations concerning our need for a Redeemer. If I were to give you just a couple, and I'll give you just a couple, one of them is found in the book of Hosea. You remember the story about Hosea, that's one of the minor prophets and minor because it's smaller as far as in volume, not minor because of the depth, the riches of the word of God. But I want you to notice what happened in Hosea's life in chapter one and verse two and three. The word of God says, the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto you a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms. For the land has committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. So he went, and he took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, which conceived, and bare him a son. Here in the story of Hosea, what this story represents, it shows forth God's great love for his people. His people were unfaithful. His people committed spiritual adultery. They strayed from God. And here what God does, he tells Hosea to go find you a wife. A wife that is a woman of the world, that sleeps around with all kind of men. Hosea does that. Can you imagine if God told you to do that? Here, what happened in Gomer's life, she was not faithful in marriage. She ran around with anybody and everybody. Eventually what we read in chapter 3 is that Gomer fell into slavery. She was probably in debt, impoverished. As you read that story, what we find is God tells Hosea, go buy her back from the slave market. To understand the slave market back in biblical times, you have to understand what they did when they sold slaves. They would strip them naked, put them on the slave block, and they offer them to the highest bidder. This was in the capital city. You can imagine people gawking, and all of a sudden you hear 10 pieces of silver. 12 pieces of silver, 13 pieces of silver, 14 pieces of silver. Hosea was told by the Lord to go by her back. Word of God tells us that Hosea gave 15 pieces of silver and a bushel and a half of barley. and purchased her. Listen to what it says in chapter three. It says, then said the Lord unto me, go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel who look to other gods and love flagons of wine. So I bought her to me for 15 pieces of silver and for an omer of barley and a half omer of barley. And I sat unto her. You shall abide for me many days, and you shall not play the harlot. You shall not be for another man, so will I also be for you." You hear what Hosea has done? He has purchased his wife out of slavery. Because he bought her, in that day and time literally he owned her. At that point when he bought her, he could have killed her on the spot or he could have turned around and sold her. That was his property. He paid for her because she was a slave. What Hosea did, he clothed her. He walked through the crowd and very simply he told her that she was going to be faithful to him and he pledged his love toward her. That's what God has done for us. It's an amazing story that's actually acted out in the life of Hosea. There's another story over in the book of Exodus. Don't need to go in depth with that because you're very familiar with that. You remember that final plague? They were to offer up a Passover lamb. They were to take the blood and apply it to the doorpost and the lentil. And what happened? The death angel passed over all when he saw the blood. The blood was not over the door and over the post, and the firstborn died. You see, in that situation, grace provided the lamb, but it was actually faith that applied the blood. You see how God works. In the book of Colossians, I wanna go over just a few verses with you. In Colossians chapter one, Colossians the first chapter, Colossians chapter one, look in verse 12. giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and he has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Redemption. That means he purchased us. we have redemption through his blood. And because he's purchased us with his blood, we even have the forgiveness of sins. It's what the word of God says. Look in chapter two of the book of Colossians, down in verse 13, the word of God says, and you be a dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened or he's made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. In other words, all the demands of the law upon our life, Christ nailed them to the cross. You see, we have redemption through his blood. In the book of Hebrews, look in chapter nine of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter nine, and look down in verse 11. Verse 11, the word of God tells us, But Christ being coming high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered into, or once, into the holy place. And notice what he did, having obtained eternal redemption for us. We have been redeemed. and this redemption is an eternal redemption. Praise be to God for what he has done for us as his children. Look at another passage of scripture over in the book of Revelation chapter five. In Revelation chapter five, notice what the word of God says down in verse nine. And they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy. to take the book and to open the seals thereof for you were slain and you have redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. You see what Christ has done. He is our kinsman because he became flesh. He is our redeemer because he is mighty to save and he is able to save and we have been bought with a price. And that price is a great price. It is the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing else can save us from our sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. The kinsmen redeemer in the Old Testament, they paid for people who were impoverished. Because they were in debt, they had lost what they had. It's kind of like giving something to a pawn shop. You just tell them you're gonna come back and get it when you get the money. If you don't get the money, you know what happens to it? They take it. That's kind of like what happened in the Old Testament. Here was Naomi and Ruth. They're impoverished. Here comes Boaz, mighty, rich, and able to redeem. You see, redemption is for poor people. I'm poor folk. I need a redeemer. And the word of God tells me there is a redeemer. It's Jesus, God's own son. He is the precious Lamb of God sent for our sins. He died in our place that we might have eternal life. That's what eternal redemption paid for. How do we obtain that from this great kinsman redeemer? It's very simply by faith. You know what, even a little child can have faith in Jesus Christ and be saved. Even as we get older, we can have faith and be saved by trusting in what Jesus Christ did upon that cross. I pray you know Him and acknowledge Him as your Lord and Savior. I pray that you love Him all the more because you see the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the price he paid to redeem you unto himself that we might be called the children of God. Do you know him as your Lord and Savior? If not, would you simply only believe in Jesus Christ? Then you have eternal life. but as many as received him to them gave he the power to become the sons or children of God. How do we receive? Simply by faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Have you publicly professed Christ as your Lord? We're gonna give a hymn of invitation. If you've never done that and you believe in your heart that Christ died for your sins, Would you let me know? I'm gonna be up front. I encourage you, put your faith in him, and you shall have eternal redemption. Let's stand and go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word and the power of your promises in your word, and you have the ability to redeem. So Lord, we pray that you work in people's hearts tonight, that people would repent, turn from their sin, trusting in self, and turn to you, and put their faith and trust in Christ. We pray these things that you might be glorified for Christ's sake. Amen.