Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
The word ‘redeem’ means ‘to purchase for ownership’; ‘to buy back’ or ‘to give a ransom’. It stands to reason then if we are redeemed, neither the Devil nor anyone else can ever buy us back! We are bought with a price! We belong to Christ forever! We cannot be lost! If we can be lost, then there is a flaw in the work of Calvary. Admittedly, there are all manner of flaws in us, but there are no flaws in our substitute and His precious blood. May we allow this powerful truth into our hearts. The blood has bought and paid for us, and we, therefore, can never be lost.
By his own blood, Christ entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us (Hebrews 9:12). Notice that Christ Jesus has already obtained our redemption.
We sometimes sing the old hymn, “Power in the blood.“ And indeed there is! Because of the blood, we have been redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2: l4); redeemed from a fleshly religion, (1 Peter 1:17- 18), redeemed from death, (Hosea 13:14 and redeemed from the grave" (Psalm 49:15).
Redemption, therefore, is something that has already been legally accomplished. It is not something, that we earn, neither is it something temporary that the Lord lends us. It is the purchase by blood.
In addition, when we consider that Christ has redeemed us by His blood, we are struck by the fact that, since His blood has fully redeemed and paid for us, there is nothing that we can now contribute towards the price of our ransom. In fact, to try to pay something to help the blood accomplish its purpose would be an insult. Take, for example, if you were broke and a generous friend bought you a new car, would you give them whatever pittance you had to help him towards the purchase price? If you did, you would insult him. Likewise, the Lord Jesus has poured out His blood as the payment for us. There is nothing we can contribute to that. By faith alone, we receive what He has done on our behalf. Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ?
Many years ago, there was a Scottish pastor who met a young boy in front of the church building. The boy was carrying a beaten up cage that contained three distressed looking birds. The pastor said, “ Jock, my boy, where did you get those birds?” Jock replied, “ I trapped them out in the field.” “That’s nice, but what are you going to do with them?” “I’m going to play with them, and maybe try to teach them tricks and then I’ll feed them to the big Tam Cat we have at home.”
Immediately the pastor offered to buy them, but Jock protested, “Minister, you don’t want them, they’re just stupid, daft birds that can’t sing very well.” The pastor replied, “I’ll give you a pound for the cage and the birds.” “Okay, says Jock, but don’t tell my Father, for you’re making yourself a very bad bargain.”
The exchange was made and the boy went away delighted with his new found fortune. The pastor then walked around to the back of the church, opened the door of the wire cage, and let the struggling creatures soar into the air. The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ paying for sinners with His own precious blood. He said, “I was told that the birds were not much good at singing, but when I released them, and they flew towards heaven, it seemed to me that they were singing, ‘Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed!”
And that’s the Gospel Truth!