62. Following Is Being Redeemed
Following Is Being Redeemed
Ere I go further let me ask this: Who can follow the Lamb? You will notice in my text that there is a twofold description of those who follow the Lamb. The first is redeemed from among men. That is the character of them, by which they were known in heaven as heaven saw them when they were on earth. Have we all come to this point? Are we all able to say, “Thank God, I am redeemed; not by silver and gold but by the precious blood of this Lamb?” Are we all in this condition tonight, so that with a perfect, glad, humble but real assurance, we can say, “Yes, I am redeemed”?
One of our great Scottish preachers of the eighteenth century put the Gospel in a nutshell. He said, “On the one hand it is a personal offer of salvation through a Savior; on the other hand it is the personal acceptance of salvation through a Savior.” You could not have it simpler than that. An offer of salvation through a Savior is made to you, and your part is what? Personal acceptance of salvation through a Savior. Will you accept that? You know you are a sinner. You know that nothing you can do will give your heart peace and your life power. You know it in your own spirit, and sometimes when the thought of eternity breaks in upon you you are at the point of despair, for you know that your best efforts are of no avail. Will you stop, then, and just lay hold of this wonderful salvation which the Lord Jesus Christ offers to you, and will you say in your heart, “Yes, God, I accept salvation through Thee”? That will put you among the redeemed of God.
Notice that the redeemed means “a bought one.” A redeemed man is a man who has been purchased and whose placing is at the disposal of the purchaser. The redeemed man is one who has been loosed from his sin, loosed from his self-life, loosed from the spirit of the world, loosed from the domination of Satan; he is a redeemed one. Oh, what a redemption Jesus Christ has wrought out! It is not a thing that touches your life only at one little point and says, “Now you are saved from hell.” It is a redemption that takes in your past, present, and future, every need of it. It is all included in the redemption of Jesus Christ. The redeemed one is one who is loosed and bought, and who therefore belongs to Jesus Christ.
You will notice also that that other description of the redeemed is, “In their mouth was found no guile” (Revelation 14:5), that is to say, no deceit. They were like Christ, there was nothing crooked about them, nothing unworthy. They were true at all costs. That was the description of them when they were on earth, those men. Is that not to be the truth about redeemed ones today? A disciple is a man who is redeemed in character and who is right in conduct. “They follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes.”