At the time God chose—when the law had proved no one could be made right with Him by trying to keep it—God sent His Son, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law (Galatians 4:4-5).
“Sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power” (1 Corinthians 15:56, NKJV). The Cambridge Dictionary defines “redeem” as “to buy something back.” In saving us from sin, Jesus has literally bought us out of slavery to the law which gives sin its power. He became human as we are human—died as we are human, and then rose again as us so that we might be as He is. We have been redeemed from death to new life in Him.
We can struggle forever to live righteously as the law dictates, but only Jesus could fulfill the law as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Only He could set us free from the struggle to perform according to the law. Jesus has purchased us out of works-based religion by His precious blood. We are no longer slaves to the law—struggling for perfection within our own strength. We are sons and daughters of God (Galatians 4:7). We are free to go into the presence of our Abba Father because the redeeming love of Jesus has made us righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21). We have His acceptance and His approval.
Long before Jesus entered the world to redeem us from sin, David prophesied of the time to come when man’s sin would not be counted against him. His words reveal how he longed for God’s Grace to be fulfilled.
Paul writes, “David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it: ‘Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin’” (Romans 4:6-8, NLT). Verses 7-8 in the NKJV read, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
This passage of Scripture in Romans reveals two blessings for the man for whom God does not hold his sin against him. The first is that his sins are forgiven. They are covered because Jesus covered them with His blood. The second blessing reveals that our record of sin has been wiped away. Jesus has made it as if we never sinned. God does not count our sins against us because He doesn’t keep a record of them. They are no more. He declares us righteous. Jesus has redeemed us from working to prove that we are righteous as David and others under the law tried to do.
But don’t we still sin? Yes, we do because we are human. This Scripture does not say we are blessed because we do not sin. We are blessed because when we sin God does not count our sins against us. Our sins are not counted against us because they were counted against Jesus. With His precious blood, Jesus has cleared our record of sin. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).
“He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding” (Ephesians 1:7-8, NLT).
With the life of His Son, God has purchased your freedom! He has blessed you with the riches of His redeeming love! He has showered you with kindness! You are forgiven—healed and delivered from all your destructions (Psalm 103:2-3; 107:20). You don’t need to prove you are redeemed. Jesus already proved it for you on the Cross.
God loved you first (1 John 4:19)—not with just any love but with His amazing Grace that proclaims His eternal love for you. Hold tightly to its truth. Guard it in your heart. That love is yours. He accepts and approves of you. Believe it over any lie or any opinion or any circumstance. His love is who you are. You don’t have to work to prove it. His love draws you into the paradise of His presence each and every moment. As His love fills and overflows in you, again and again, it pours unrestrainedly out of your life. Freely you receive. Freely you give.
“Love the Lord your God, and love one another,” Francine Rivers writes in her novel, Redeeming Love. “Love one another as He loves. Love with strength and purpose and passion and no matter what comes against you, don’t weaken. Stand against the darkness and love. That’s the way back into Eden. That’s the way back into life.”
Love is the way into life. You are redeemed.
©2021 Lynn Lacher
www.lynnlacher.com/2021/06/redeeming-love.html
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