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Beginning from this lesson we shall cover the different aspects of our redemption.
Redemption means to repurchase what once belonged to you but was lost. Man once belonged to God and was His possession. However, man became fallen and was lost, sinking in sins and in many things that were contrary to God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory, thus falling under the threefold demand of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory. Since man was unable to pay the price, God paid it for man through Christ’s death on the cross, which accomplished an eternal redemption for man (Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 10:12; 9:28). Since the blood of Christ has accomplished an eternal redemption for man (Heb. 9:12, 14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19), it is used by God as a great price to recover man, that all who believe in Christ may be redeemed, that is, forgiven, freed, washed, sanctified, justified, and reconciled to God.
Forgiveness of sins is the first part of God’s redemption, and it is received by us immediately upon our believing (Acts 10:43; 26:18). Our first problem before God is that there is a charge against us because of our sins. Only when this charge is resolved can the righteousness of God let us go. Unless our sins before Him are removed, the righteous God cannot grant us the other parts of His redemption. We therefore first need to have God’s forgiveness of our sins.
First, forgiveness of sins means the removal of the charges of sin against us before God that we may be delivered from the penalty of God’s righteousness (John 3:18; 5:24). Because a charge had been made against us before God so that we were condemned by God, it was necessary for us to suffer God’s righteous punishment. But when God forgave us, He delivered us from the penalty of His righteousness and condemned us no longer. This is because the Lord Jesus shed His blood and died on the cross according to God’s righteousness to suffer God’s righteous punishment in our place (Heb. 9:22), thus satisfying God’s righteous requirement. Hence, according to His righteousness, God can, and will, forgive the sins of those who believe in Christ, canceling the charges of sin against them and delivering them from the penalty.
In the New Testament the Greek word for forgiveness means “causing (it) to leave” and “sending away” (Matt. 12:31; Rom. 4:7; Acts 5:31; 13:38). When God forgives us of our sins, He not only cancels the charges of sin against us before Him and delivers us from the penalty of His righteousness, but also causes the sins which we have committed to depart from us. This is because when He made the Lord Jesus an offering for sin on the cross, He laid all our sins on Him that He might carry them up in His body for us (John 1:29; Isa. 53:6; 1 Pet. 2:24). Furthermore, when God caused the Lord Jesus to carry up our sins on the cross to suffer God’s judgment and punishment in our place, He also caused all our sins to be laid on Satan that he should bear them forever. This is revealed in type in the atonement recorded in Leviticus 16. When the high priest made atonement for the children of Israel, he took two goats and presented them before God. One was for God and was to be killed to make atonement for the children of Israel; whereas the other was “for Azazel,” that is, for Satan, to bear the sins of the children of Israel (Lev. 16:7-10, 15-22 ASV). Because Azazel is in contrast to Jehovah, it is a type of Satan who is in opposition to God.
Sin came from Satan. Having been deceived by Satan, man allowed sin to come upon him, resulting in a charge being brought against him before God. God put all our sins on the Lord Jesus that He might bear them all to suffer God’s punishment for us and cancel the charge against us before Him. Then He gave all our sins back to Satan that he might carry them himself. Thus, God can forgive us of our sins and cause our sins to leave us (Psa. 103:12).
Therefore, on the one hand, God forgives us of our sins because the Lord’s blood has removed the charges of sin against us before Him; on the other hand, through the Lord’s offering of Himself as the sin offering, He causes our sins to depart from us forever.
When God forgives us of our sins, He also forgets our sins (Heb. 8:12). When God forgives us, He not only exempts us from suffering the penalty of sin and causes our sins to depart from us, but He also forgets our sins. Once He forgives us, He erases our sins from His memory and remembers them no longer.
Luke 5:21 says, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Hence, God alone has the position and authority to forgive, because He alone has the position and authority to condemn. Besides Him, no one has such position and authority. Man is not the Lord of the universe; furthermore, man is sinful. God alone is the Lord of the universe, and He alone is sinless. Hence, only God is able to condemn, and only God is able to forgive.
Luke 5:24 says, “The Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins.” Although the Lord Jesus is a man, He is also the very God who came to the earth to become a man. He is a man and He is also God; He is a God-man. He is a perfect man, and He is sinless (Heb. 4:15). He is also the complete God and the Lord of the universe. Therefore, like God, He has the position and authority to forgive sins.
God’s forgiveness is based on the shedding of blood (Heb. 9:22). Because He is righteous, God cannot forgive sins without a basis. His righteousness requires that all who sin must die (Ezek. 18:4). Unless His righteous requirement is satisfied, His righteousness cannot allow Him to forgive sinners of their sins. But since the Lord Jesus has died and shed His blood on the cross for men, thus satisfying God’s righteous requirement, God can legally forgive men of their sins (Matt. 26:28).
Since the blood of the Lord Jesus was shed in His death for men according to God’s righteousness as the price to satisfy God’s righteous requirement, it has become the basis upon which the sins of those who believe in Him may be forgiven. Besides His blood, nothing else—neither man’s good works and virtues nor man’s zeal and love—can be the basis for the forgiveness of sins. This is because in the universe only His blood can satisfy all the righteous requirements of God on sinners.
To receive forgiveness of sins from God, a sinner must repent (Luke 24:47; Acts 5:31; Isa. 55:6-7), turning back to God in his mind. Formerly he had his back toward God; thus, he sinned against God. Now, if he desires God’s forgiveness, he must turn back to God, forsaking his own way and abandoning his own thoughts, thus turning to God.
To receive forgiveness of sins from God a sinner must not only repent but also believe (Acts 10:43; 26:18). On the negative side, to repent is to turn to God from the position of being against God; on the positive side, to believe is to receive from God His forgiveness. Neither repentance nor faith is a merit by which a sinner may receive forgiveness from God. A sinner can be forgiven by God only on the merit of the blood of the Lord Jesus. It is only because of the Lord’s blood that God can grant the grace of forgiveness of sins to sinners. However, sinners can receive the grace of forgiveness of sins from God only through their repentance and faith.
Because the blood which the Lord Jesus shed on the cross has satisfied all God’s righteous requirements on sinners, God can bestow upon them the grace of forgiveness of sins. However, a sinner still cannot be forgiven unless he repents and believes. He can receive God’s forgiveness only through repentance and faith. The Lord Jesus has accomplished on the cross all the work that enables God to forgive sinners and all the work that enables sinners to receive forgiveness from God. For a sinner to receive God’s forgiveness, it is not required of him to do anything other than to repent and turn to God and to exercise his faith to receive it from God.
Matthew 12:31 says, “Every sin...shall be forgiven men.” Hence, no matter how broad or how great the limits of our sins are, the limits of God’s forgiveness are just as broad and great. God’s forgiveness is sufficient. It is sufficient to encompass all our sins and to solve all our problem of sins. On the cross the Lord Jesus made redemption for every sin. Hence, based upon the Lord’s redemption, God can forgive every sin.
God and everything of Him is complete. Therefore, His forgiveness is complete. Since God never does anything incompletely, He cannot give us an incomplete forgiveness or a partial forgiveness, forgiving us of some of our sins and not forgiving us of other sins. Once He forgives us. He forgives us of all sins and all offenses (Col. 2:13).
People think that God’s forgiveness will cause man to become audacious and reckless. Little do they know that the grace of God’s forgiveness is to bring man into the fear of God (Psa. 130:4). Our experience tells us that the more we are forgiven by God, the more we fear Him; the more we have received the grace of God’s forgiveness, the more we have the fear toward God. Only those who have never been forgiven by God and who have never tasted the grace of God’s forgiveness can behave in an audacious and reckless manner, doing whatever they please. Once we have tasted the grace of God’s forgiveness, we immediately have a fearful heart and we also hate sin.
The grace of God’s forgiveness causes us not only to fear God but also to love God. On the negative side, because we fear Him, we refrain from doing things that are displeasing to God; on the positive side, because we love Him, we do things that are pleasing to Him. The grace of God’s forgiveness, therefore, causes us not only to fear God and refrain from sinning, but even more to love God and be pleasing to Him. In Luke 7, the sinful woman, having been forgiven by the Lord, not only ceased from her sinful living but also poured out all she had and all she was on the Lord to express her love toward Him. The law, which condemns us, cannot free us from sin, but grace, which forgives us, can. The condemnation at Mount Sinai could cause man only to be afraid of God and go far away from Him, but the forgiveness at the mount of Golgotha causes man to love God and draw near to Him. The more we have been forgiven by God, the more we love God. The reason that sinful woman loved the Lord much was that she was forgiven much by the Lord. Therefore, God’s forgiveness of man results in man’s fearing Him and loving Him.
Forgiveness of sins is a gift given to man after Christ was exalted to the right hand of God. After Christ’s death and resurrection, He was exalted by God to His right hand as a ruling Leader and a Savior, to give the grace of forgiveness of sins to man (Acts 5:31). Based upon His redemption (Eph. 1:7) and through man’s repentance and believing, He can give man the forgiveness of sins as a gift.
After His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus charged His disciples to proclaim in His name the gospel of repentance for forgiveness of sins to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:47). After the Lord Jesus’ vicarious death for the sinners’ sins had been accomplished and had been verified by His resurrection, and after the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the disciples, they began to proclaim the gospel of repentance for forgiveness of sins. On the day of Pentecost Peter said to the crowd, “Repent and be baptized, each one of you, upon the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Forgiveness of sins is based upon the redemption of Christ accomplished through His death (Acts 10:43; Eph. 1:7; 1 Cor. 15:3); it is the initial and basic blessing of God’s full salvation. Based upon it, the blessing of God’s full salvation goes forth and consummates in the receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Forgiveness of sins, therefore, is a main item of the proclamation of God’s New Testament economy.
Based upon the redemption of Christ, the believers have been forgiven of their sins and also freed, released, from God’s judgment, out of the curse of the law, from God’s wrath, and from the fear and slavery of death.
The believers were sinners in Adam and were subject to God’s judgment and condemnation (Rom. 5:12, 18-19). When God forgave them, He released them from His condemnation and judged them no more (John 3:18; 5:24).
All who were in Adam had sinned and contradicted the righteous law of God; thus they fell under the curse of God’s righteous law (Rom. 3:19-20; Gal. 3:10) and became those who deserved death and perdition. Now, according to God’s righteousness, Christ has suffered the curse of the law for the believers and has redeemed them out of the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13) to release them, to set them free.
Because men have sinned and violated God’s righteousness, they are under God’s wrath and have become children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). Hence, God’s wrath is waiting to explode on them (John 3:36), like thunder about to roar. Now, since the Lord Jesus has suffered the penalty of God’s wrath on the cross on behalf of the believers according to God’s righteousness and has made redemption for their sins, He delivers them from God’s future wrath; that is, He releases them from God’s wrath (Rom. 5:9; 1 Thes. 1:10).
Everyone has sinned, so everyone must die; and after death, there is judgment. This is what God has reserved for men (Heb. 9:27), and no one who has sinned can escape. Hence, man’s entire life is under the shadow of death; he is constantly threatened, controlled, and enslaved by death, having no freedom whatsoever (Heb. 2:15). Through His death on the cross the Lord Jesus has destroyed the Devil, who has the might of death (Heb. 2:14); He also nullified death (2 Tim. 1:10) that He might release us who were threatened, bound, and enslaved by death (Heb. 2:15), setting us free from the dominion of death.
Forgiveness of sins is the first part of God’s redemption, and it is received by us immediately upon our believing. It enables God to grant us the other parts of His redemption. When God forgives us of our sins, He not only cancels the charges of sin against us before God that we may be delivered from His righteous judgment, but also causes our sins to leave us. Furthermore, once He forgives us, He erases our sins from His memory and remembers them no longer. In the whole universe, only God and the Son of Man, Jesus, have the position of authority to forgive sins. God’s forgiveness is based upon the blood of the Lord Jesus. According to God’s righteousness, the Lord died on the cross and shed His blood for us, satisfying God’s righteous requirement, so that God can legally forgive us of our sins according to His righteousness. However, if we, the sinners, desire to receive the grace of God’s forgiveness, we must repent and believe. As long as we are willing to repent and believe, no matter how great or how broad our sins are, God’s forgiveness, which is based upon the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, can encompass them all. The grace of God’s forgiveness causes us to fear Him and refrain from doing things that are displeasing to Him; it also causes us to love Him and please Him. Furthermore, forgiveness is a gift given by the exalted Christ and a main item of the believers’ proclamation of God’s New Testament economy.
Freedom is the second part of redemption. Based upon the redemption of Christ, the believers have been forgiven of their sins, and they are thus freed, released, from God’s judgment, out of the curse of the law, from God’s wrath, and from the fear and slavery of death.
