Ransomed With A Price

Misericordias Domine - April 10, 2005

1 Peter 1:17-21

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

In today's epistle lesson from the pen of St. Peter, we have a given a wonderful message from God. It is both God’s Law and His Gospel.

Our first verse talks about God as our judge and that we should live in fear. Let me read it to you again: Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

Our heavenly Father will judge us all - impartially - based upon our works. It should cause each of us to be a little introspective. Do we live our lives as Christians? Do the people in society know that we are different? Can they tell that we confess our belief in a living God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

In the Epistle reading for last Sunday, what came before today's text was the lesson. In it, you were told what it means to live as Christians. You are to "fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ..." (1 Peter 1:13b) "like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior." (vs. 16)

Wow, holy in all your behavior?!?! There is to be no time that you and I are not holy. Because our hope is fixed on Christ Jesus, and His love for us, our behavior in all things is to be holy. It is out of love for Him that we live our lives.

Because we are saved by faith and not by works, we can be led into thinking that it doesn't matter what kind of works we do. But we know from today's text that we are not to deliberately sin. We are to live as those who have been redeemed from our empty way of life. We are too as those who understand the cost of redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

In the words preceding our text, Peter urges us all to be holy just as God is holy. What is it that prompts this holiness in your life? According to our text, the motivation that leads you to holy living is the ransom paid for your redemption.

Living in sin is futile. Doing those things which bring you pleasure and thinking only of yourself may, for a time, provide you with happiness - but - it also provides you with concerns. It never really satisfies, for it leaves you wondering what tomorrow will bring, how will tomorrow satisfy.

Once you fall prey to the seduction of some sin, it becomes easier to again fall into the same sin. Sin only breeds an appetite for more of the same. We see this reflected in people with an addiction to nicotine, alcohol, and narcotics. Once used and abused, the easier it becomes to abuse those things again. The same is true of sin.

In the same way, if we look at the trends of those who fall prey to pornography, there are similar results. They begin with harmless pictures, but then it moves to harder core magazines, and into movies, and even worse.

One small sin in an area most often leads to greater and worse sins of the same nature. Think of how we tell our children not to lie. Lies may begin as a seemingly harmless little white lie, but the fabrications of truths that grow around that one little falsehood are like a forest of trees around a small sapling.

Each of you has a pet sin. It may be as simple as white lies and their brothers trying to cover the first one. It might be your propensity to gossip, or that you believe that Fridays are made for tying one on. It might be neglect of family, excused by claiming it is busy at work. Whatever, each of us has our pet sin.

You know what, whether it is a small white lie, ruining your neighbor’s reputation, pornography, or even mass murder - the Father judges each man's works impartially. The wages of sin are death! Small sin or whopper, the same condemnation - death. And death is eternal separation from God, not just the end of this life, but eternity apart from God. There are two place to spend eternity - with God in heaven, or dead in hell.

Just because you call upon God as your Father, doesn't mean you have the freedom to do whatever you want. He wants you to live a life pleasing to Him. You can't just call upon Him as if to say, "Father, forgive me for what I am about to do."

No, that isn't how we as Christians are to live. We just celebrated Easter, in fact, today is the 2nd Sunday after Easter, and the paraments that decorate our altar, pulpit, and lectern are still white in celebration of Easter. We are to live our entire lives in light of Easter - keeping ourselves white, pure and holy, without the stain of sin.

And what is Easter? Christ's resurrection! To us as Christians, it is a glorious and blessed day. But, the glory of Easter is only because of Good Friday. Easter only causes us to focus our attention on what was accomplished for us on Good Friday.

Even though we may desire to, you and I can't live that perfect life. Standing before God our judge we have nothing to offer. You and I can only offer our sinfulness. Everything we touch is tainted by sin. What can we offer as a ransom to pay the price demanded of our sinfulness? Nothing!

God’s gracious desire is to pay that price for you. His love for you is so great that He gave His all for you. If all the silver and gold in the world were at your disposal, that still were not enough to pay the price for your redemption. The rules were made long ago, blood is the only thing acceptable as a sacrifice which covers the ransom price of sin.

The blood offered in the Old Testament was of animals without blemish, but these were imperfect sacrifices - they needed to be made over and over again. However, Christ came to earth in human flesh, the perfect and sinless Son of God. Christ was the Priest who gave Himself as the sacrifice, the perfect sinless Lamb of God without blemish or defect, sacrificed for your sins and mine.

His sinlessness became yours in your baptism. In baptism you were united with Him into His death. In His death upon the cross, He paid the full price. You heard His cry, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me." He was cursed by God when He was nailed to a tree. He did not deserve death, for His life was sinless, yet He gave His life willingly - for you.

His death, His shed blood, was the ransom price demanded of God for you and me to become citizens of His kingdom. You have put on Christ through baptism, and you have died with Him - you are dead to trespasses and sin. You are also raised with Him to a new life - now and for eternity.

Our text speaks of Christ’s blood as the redeeming ransom price paid for your sins - for all your sins - even those sins which you slip into without thinking - they are all forgiven. Because of this, our text tells you that your stay upon this earth is as strangers. What does the text mean by that? Well, as one of our hymnist’s so beautifully wrote, "I'm but a stranger here, heaven is my home."

Your being strangers here is your connection to Easter. You see, Christ rose from the dead, that's the seal upon the sacrifice Christ gave. There is an even greater day. Easter, Christ's resurrection, points you back to the cross and tells you that the sacrifice of blood Christ made on Good Friday was accepted by God.

Easter shows the power of Good Friday. Easter declares the power of Christ's death and the great gifts you receive through the ransom that He paid. You have been ransomed with a price, redeemed from your life of sinfulness - and the price was the very blood of the Son of God.

That precious ransom price is given to you in the word of forgiveness which is spoken to you, it is your strength for holy living. It is not through any power in yourselves that you are able to be holy before God and make all your behavior holy. You were made holy, having been ransomed with a price. Christ’s holiness became yours through in baptism and is renewed each day in repentance, trusting the Word of forgiveness in Christ.

As the Word of God is at work in your lives, the redeeming blood of Christ is applied to your sin. It is called the forgiveness of sins. Hear it applied to you again - all your sins are forgiven - you imperfect life is made holy in the ransom price of Christ’s blood.

Now live in hope! Hope that as Jesus was raised from the dead, you too will be raised. As ransomed people, you are no longer enslaved to the powers of sin - you are forgiven! Go forth and sin no more.

This Easter season, as you look back upon the cross and the empty tomb, think on our crucified Lord and the ransom He paid for you. You belong to Christ, and no matter what you go through and what temptations may befall you, know of your eternal reward of heavenly glory.

Because of Easter, you know that the ransom of Christ was accepted as payment for your sins and mine. Believe in God and live in the hope that is yours in Christ Jesus. As the last verse of our text proclaims; Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

You have as your inheritance through Christ's ransom, a place with Him eternally in His Kingdom as do all who believe in Him.

As the hymnist said in the last verse of our sermon hymn:

Jesus, be endless praise to Thee,

Whose boundless mercy hath for me,

For me, and all Thy hands have made,

An everlasting ransom paid. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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