In this sermon, the speaker discusses the power of the invisible forces that govern people's lives. He uses the example of addiction to illustrate how individuals can be controlled by these forces, even against their own will. The speaker also references the story of the children of Israel in slavery in Egypt as a metaphor for the bondage that all people experience. He emphasizes the need for deliverance and redemption, highlighting the preciousness of the blood of Jesus as the price paid for our freedom. The sermon concludes with the assurance that there is a divine control over these invisible forces, providing hope for liberation.

With our heart open, let's look to the Word of the Living God and see what treasures he will unlock for us, what beauties he will show us. We're in the first chapter of Ephesians, that beautiful, beautiful book. We're in verse 7, talking about this wonderful Jesus, in whom we have redemption through his blood. Redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Redemption, redeemed how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Another word, means the same thing as ransomed. Redeemed or ransomed, it's an Old Testament word as well as a New Testament word. It was used in many occasions. Slaves were redeemed, sometimes on the auction block. But there were many slaves that sold themselves into bondage, into slavery, in order to get something to eat. At least they'd have something to eat. At least they'd have someplace to sleep. Even if they did lose a certain part of their liberty, at least they had a meal that they could count on. They'd sold themselves into slavery. But then, in the day of redemption every 50 years, there was a coming out of slavery. And then, under certain circumstances, there was redeeming. A friend or a relative was able to redeem and buy back a slave when he was out of slavery because he was redeemed, he was ransomed. Remember the story of Ruth and Boaz? She was a Moabite, but she was married to a son of Naomi, who was an Israelite. And Naomi had some lands. But other people had taken over those lands, they'd been sold, but they could always be bought back. A Jewish person could keep as long as they could buy it back, they had freedom to buy it back. And there was also redemption. In this package of redemption included Ruth. And Boaz agreed to redeem her. He bought the land and Ruth that went with it to be his wife. She was ransomed. She was redeemed. There was a price that had to be paid. We use that word when you go to a pawn shop, don't you? Someone needs some quick money for some reason or another, they take something and they give you a ticket, and then you take the money and buy it back, and you redeem it. Is that what we call it? We redeem articles like that. That's the word, what it means in itself. It has to do with slavery, a great deal. It has to do with someone that has encouraged slavery for whatever reason, for poverty or for debt, for a deep debt, whatever it was, and he's locked in there until the debt is paid, until someone can redeem him. And also it implies, once in slavery, it implies ownership. Someone now is his owner. Someone now, he has to yield allegiance. If the owner is one that has to go to war, his slaves have to go with him, they have to fight for him, they have to work for him. It implies ownership, but it also implies that if he's redeemed, if his debt is paid, he has a new owner, doesn't he? He changes owners, or for the better, or for the worse, but he changes ownership. When the price is paid for him, he changes ownership. There is a price. Redemption includes a price. It includes, it speaks of something that has to be paid. It cannot just be change ownerships without a price involved. The very word redemption, the very word ransomed, means that there is a price that had to be paid before we could be set free. Now we have an owner. We are in debt to Satan and to sin. We're in bondage. There's none righteous, no, not one, I read in Romans. We all are in debt. We all are slaves. We all are much more in slavery than we think we are, because our rulers are invisible, and they work in invisible ways, and many times we are not even conscious that we are being ruled. That's true in God's side, and that's true in the devil's side. People do not realize how involved and how much they are governed by the invisible. When a person becomes deeply addicted to something, then he's more aware of the fact that there's a power beyond what he wants to handle, and he finds himself just forced to do something. He will swear he won't. He will cry. He can pray, and he can struggle, but if one comes to that moment, he will do it. So he knows what he's doing. He's addicted. That power has come out of the invisibles into the visibles. In fact, he's aware of it, but it's too strong for him now. He's under the power of that. That's why we have what we call deliverance. Something will begin to break that power. In fact, the story of the children of Israel under slavery in Egypt, they're in slavery for 200 more years, and it's a picture of the life of every man. There has to come a deliverance before we can ever be set free from the Egyptian bondage. There had to come something from the outside, something that they were not strong enough to do. From the inside, Moses tried to do it, didn't he? He tried to raise up. He did his best to raise up. He killed that man. He was going to stand for righteousness, and all of a sudden he found he was against things bigger than he was, and he ran for his life. He couldn't do it. There had to be a power greater than any Moses. There had to be a power greater than the power that's resonant with any man. Peter could say all he wanted to and mean it to the best of his little heart. Though all men leave you, I won't. I'm ready to die for you. And less than 24 hours later, we know the story. He couldn't, he couldn't, he couldn't stand against that force. He couldn't stand against that. The forces of evil are so cunning. They are so knowledgeable. They know us better than we ever know ourselves. They know every weak point, and they know every weak time, and they can put it all together. Don't ever say, that's not something I'd never do, unless you want to try it for yourself. We are owned. We are under authority. Whether it's of God or the devil, but we are under authority. And we never get out. When we're redeemed, we have a wonderful new owner. And he gives us wonderful blessings, and he's a glorious liberty. Nevertheless, nevertheless, we are not a law unto ourselves. We are still. We've changed owners. It's a price. It's a price that is impossible for a man ever to buy his way out. No one ever did. We cannot make ourselves a Christian. We can do everything in the world you want. We cannot make ourselves a Christian. That's one thing that awoke the, what we call the renaissance, or the, or the Protestantism, the protest against a religion that said, you can work yourself out, you can buy yourself out, you can, you can torture yourself out, you can get out by your own efforts. But John Knox, Calvin, and those men said, no, we can't. We can't. We can't. There's got to be some other way. There's no way we can break the shackles. I told you before, and I'm going to repeat it if you'll pardon me. When I was in Brazil, rather I was in the border of Brazil and Uruguay, and in that particular city there is a large avenue that runs right down through the center, kind of like a main street, but there's a, there's a nature strip in the center of that avenue, and that nature strip was the border between Uruguay and Brazil. There was, at that time, probably would be now, at that time there's no border guards, there was no fences, there was no customs, and there was no immigration. You just walked back and forth all you wanted to. We had been in Uruguay for about four months traveling over the whole country, and camping out, and we had a load of tracts, gospel portions, that we would give to different people. We tried to give them, I should say. It was a hard time to give them out because they didn't want them. And we tried to talk it out and say, oh, it's good reading, it's very entertaining, it's very good for you, it's real good reading, and they didn't want it. They wouldn't take it. Perhaps one in four, one in six, no, not that many even. Perhaps one in ten, we could talk into it, and sometimes we'd see them throw them away. We had a hard time getting rid of tracts. We had a hard time getting rid of gospel portions. You'd think they'd be curious. No, they weren't even curious. And we dared not say what it was. If we said it was a Bible, they'd throw it from them as far as they could, and scream, and run, and scream out, God forgive me, I touched the Bible. Until we got to this city in Brazil. One side Brazil, one side Uruguay. We parked our car and we tried to give tracts away in the Uruguayan side, and very little success. We crossed over to the Brazilian side. Brazil has had a move of the Holy Spirit. It had some real outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Brazil. Uruguay never has had, even today. When we crossed the nature strip into Brazil, we handed out our tracts, we handed out our gospel portions, and they were snapped up as quick as we could offer them. They'd ask for more. Anybody we offered them to, they would ask for more. And in a few moments, all we had with us, we expected to last an hour over there, and maybe get away half of them. They were all gone in a few moments. We went back and got some more. On Uruguay they didn't want it, on Brazil they were glad to have it. We did that several times. And I began to say, this is strange, this is very strange. So I thought I was on to something, a little light kind of twinkled, and so I went to a man from Uruguay, and he didn't want it, and refused it, I couldn't talk him into it. And so he walked away, and I walked behind him, several steps so he didn't notice me. He walked about four or five blocks, and then he crossed into Brazil. And when he crossed into Brazil, I came again and approached him and offered him, and he was glad to have it, and asked to take one home to his mother. And then I knew something was up. And so we worked on that. All that afternoon we worked on it, it was tremendous. In Brazil, free they could have everything. In Uruguay, no. No. They couldn't take it. They were not allowed to, by their rulers. Their invisible rulers. They didn't know they were being ruled. They wouldn't have voices in them telling them what to do. They just couldn't do it. And on the other side, they were free to do it. They were free to receive. They were open to receive. They were glad to have. People think they're free. No, they're not. I beg your pardon. Nobody is. We're not free. There are those who rule us. There are those who rule us from the cradle to the grave. Sometimes we make such an issue of it that we begin to know who or what they are. Most times, they keep pretty well out of sight. But that is, we have to be ransomed from our owners. We have to be delivered from our owners. There is a price that has to be paid. There's a set price for our redemption. Just like in a slavery, there is a set price for a person to be bought. You pay that price or not have it. And the price that is asked for us is a price we cannot pay. It's impossible to pay it. It's too much. It's too great. It's too high. We cannot pay it. We have to put up with our owners. We have to put up with what they do to us. Thank God there is a control even over them, a high divine control, thus far and no farther. And I tell you, some of them have quite a bit of leeway, and some of them can make life pretty miserable. But the price, it's beyond us. We cannot pay it. We cannot in any way just divest ourselves from our owner and say, I'm going to change owners. I'm going to go over to the other side. No, you can go to church, but you can't change owners. You can go through all the ceremonies and all the rituals of the church and be baptized in water. And the devil's not afraid of wet sinners. He likes them, but we're still his. We still belong to him until the price is paid, until there's been a redemption, there's been a ransom. Job, in the book of, yes, I think it's the book of Job, is where is there a ransom? Where is one that can pay the ransom? We need the ransom. We need one to ransom us because we can't do it ourselves. And God can't set us free until he was ready and always ready to pay the price that would set us free, the price that he could buy us. We are bought. We're not your own. Remember, I'll quote that probably a little bit later. Because, you see, our owners have a right. Do you hear that? Our owners have a right. They own us. They own us. We gave them that right. Sin gives them that right. Obedience to temptation gives them that right, gives them that power over us. They have a legitimate power. It's not illegitimate. They didn't rob us. They aren't kidnappers. He gave it to them. I remember a few years ago, we were having some extraordinary services in Penile in Argentina. And it was a conference. There was a beautiful spirit there. And about the second night, there was a man came in who was obviously demon-possessed. And I dealt with it. And somehow that turned something on. And some of the other ministers, missionaries there, began to pick up on it and began to attack those that were under demon control. And it had quite a thing going on. And I didn't like it. I didn't enter into it much. I watched it. Because they were lovely brethren and loved the Lord. And they would get to talking with the devils. What's your name? Why are you here? And I didn't like it. But I watched it. It went on for three days. And I got more and more and more trouble about it. But there was a young lady, a Bible school student. And they were casting devils out of her. And they got about 150. So they gave their name. And who knows what liars they are. Well, there's only one with 150 names. I don't know. I know they tell... I've heard them say, Now, tell me the truth. I adjure you, by the name of Jesus Christ, you tell me the truth. Poor devil, he can't. The truth doesn't end him. It's impossible. So what lies is there, who knows. But anyway, it came to a spot. And this went on about two and a half or three hours. Came to a place. The devil's answer, We won't go. We don't have to. We're in a high place. And they cast them out. And she twisted, squirmed and everything. But they didn't go out. So they called me. And I got there. And I watched this for a while. And I said, Dear God, what's going on? And the Lord said to me, Listen. That's all he said. So I tried to listen. And they kept saying, We have a right to be here. We're in a high place. We don't have to go. You can't cast us out. I thought, Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. The high place is the spirit of man, isn't it? And they said they had a right to be there. Uh-oh. So I stepped in on it. And seeing they were very charitable in their talking. Glad to converse with us. I said, Why did you come into this vessel? And their answer was, Because we knew she was going to be a daughter of the Most High. Uh-huh. Going to be. Going to be. Uh-huh. I put it together. I dismissed the spirit. I said, Get out. I don't want to talk with you. I don't have anything to do with you. I called her spirit back. Her name was Ada. I said, Ada, come back. I said, No. I don't want to talk with you. Ada, you come back. I called her spirit back. Well, it was fully back. And she was quite normal. She wasn't in her trance of any nature. And she could answer every question normally. I said, Ada, how were you converted? She said, Well, I was in an evangelistic meeting. They wanted those who received Christ to raise their hand. I raised my hand. I went forward and prayed a sinner's prayer. And I was converted. I said, Why did you go to Bible school? Oh, I wanted to serve God. I said, Have you ever had the Holy Spirit give you a real sense of sin, a real conviction that you were a sinner, and you were headed for hell? Did you ever have that? No, I never did. I said, Did you ever experience coming to the cross in repentance and having the blood washed? And you knew you were washed, and you knew you were clean? I never did. I'd like to have. You see, they had her right there. They had her right there. She wasn't. She was going to be, but wasn't. Did you hear that? Did you hear that? I said to her, Ada, there's a beautiful spirit there. And all this stuff that was going on, nevertheless, there was a beautiful presence of the Holy Spirit. I said, Ada, take my hand. I said, Go with me. And I took the story of Christ, starting at Pilate's judgment hall. And through words, I just took her slowly through that, up to Via Dolorosa, up to Calvary, up to where he was crucified. And I stopped every so often, and I'd say, Did you see that? Could you see that? And she said, No, I can't see anything. We go a little further. Can you see that? No, I can't see anything. So we got to the cross. So he was nailed to the cross. Can't see anything. So the cross was up. He was stretched out. She said, No, I... Oh, wait. Oh, yes. He's on there. His arms are outstretched. He's calling me. He's calling me. And, oh, there's a fountain. It's like a river. It's life. It's red. It's blood. Oh, it washes me. She had a glorious experience. It was tremendous. But you know, after it was all over, about an hour later, I called those spirits back. They weren't there. You couldn't call them back. They were gone, and gone forever. They are owners. That's why redemption is so precious. That's why the blood is so precious, because that's the price. That's the price. Matthew 20, 28. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give his life a ransom for many. First Corinthians 6, 19. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God? And you're not your own. You're bought. You're bought with a price. Glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's. In other words, Christ is our new owner. For he hath made him who sinned for us, who knew no sin, that we might be the righteous of God in him. That's 2 Corinthians 5, 21. What was the price? The price was Jesus Christ himself. The price was divine blood. For I read in Hebrews that the blood of bulls and goats wasn't sufficient. Human blood isn't sufficient. Only the blood, only divine blood, only the blood, only God could take away sin. He had to come himself. He had to send his beloved Son, the second part of the Trinity. He had to come and God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. He had to come. He had to take my place. He had to become sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. His blood had to fall. His blood had to drain out of his veins. His blood was the only price that could ever redeem me from the power of Satan, ever redeem me from hell, ever redeem me from the owners that had a right to my soul. He was the only one. He was the only one. And he came, Titus 2.14, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. First Peter 1.18, for as much as ye know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversations received by tradition from your fathers, but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. There is none righteous, no, not one. Hebrews 9.12, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin, 1 John 1.7. And almost all things are by law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission, Hebrews 9.22. But the blood of bulls and goats wasn't enough. It took his blood. That was surprising. The blood of divinity, the blood of God. We had an owner that wouldn't yield one little dime. We had an owner that wouldn't yield one inch. He said, if you want them, then you die for them. The only way you can have them is die for them. Let me see your blood. Let me see your blood drained out. Let me see you fall. You who've been my enemy for ages upon ages. You who I wanted to curse. You want them? Buy them. There is a price, and he paid the price. He paid the price. He paid a debt he did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay. And as much as that was said of Ada, there was a time when those devils could have said the same thing over me and over you. I'm not going out. I don't have to. I don't have to. I have a right here. I'm in the high place. She wasn't, didn't look demon possessed. She wasn't doing anything. You'd see her on the street or you'd see her in church. You wouldn't call her demon possessed. But they owned her. They had a right to her. She belonged to them. And they had a right, and they knew they had a right. They said, we don't have to go out. We have a right here. Redeemed how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. I tell you, when I discovered that I was under the hell, I discovered I was under the devil's rule, and I discovered there was nothing I could do about it. I went to every church. I prayed at every altar. I cried. I wept. And they still laughed at me. Until one day he came. He came. And he came in his hands the purchase price. The blood. The blood will never lose its power. It will never lose its power. It will flow to the lowest valley, to the lowest teeth. But it will never lose its power. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now we stand. Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. Cause us to understand the glories of our redemption. Open our eyes and understand to realize what a price you paid. It was you, you lovely one, who had never sinned, had never erred, had never displeased your father. You were his delight forever. And you had to come and take all the filth, all the filth of us and become sin for us. Sin for me. And all my sin and your sin. So I could have the righteousness of God. Oh, I thank you. I thank you for that blood. I thank you for the blood. I thank you for the love. I thank you that you cared. I thank you because nobody else cared. And no one could if they didn't care. Not my mother, not my father, not my preacher could save me. Not my church. There was only one. There's no other name in heaven or earth whereby we must be saved. His name is Jesus. That wonderful one that loved so much. So much. He said, Satan, you can have all of my blood. But give me my people. Give me my people. For I've chosen them. And they are mine. You cannot have them. You could have the utmost drop of my blood. But you cannot have the least of my people. They're mine. And he bought me. And he bought you. And I'm his. And there's not going to be another change of owners. I'm his. And thankful to be his. And I love him. For he's a wonderful owner. So patient. So compassionate. So compassionate. So determined to fulfill his utmost will. So strong, so powerful. And yet, so tender, so patient. Wonderful Jesus. Wonderful Jesus. I love you. I love you. And I want to thank you. And I want to worship you. I want to come into your house, gather in your name, and worship you. And worship you. For the blood will never lose its power. If you need to be washed, the fountain's open. Come and be washed. And if you don't need, you need something else. You need to come and worship. You need to come and draw near. And say, thank you, my Lord. I'm yours. I'm all yours. And I want to be yours. I want to stay yours. I want to be your slave. I'm not worthy to be your son. I'm not worthy. But as a prodigal, I come. Let me be your slave. But let me be home. Let me be your servant. Let me worship at your feet. Let me thank you for such love. Let me understand the awful price you paid. Let me understand the demands of Satan for my liberty. Were unthinkable. Impossible. What God would ever die for his subjects. What king would give his life for his generals. Impossible. The devil was sure you'd never buy us back. But you did. You did. You did. You did. And that's why we are free. And the devil has no rights at all. No rights at all. And no place at all. And I have another owner. And his name is Jesus. And he's wonderful. And it flows to the lowest valley. To the lowest valley. The blood. The precious blood that gives me strength from day to day. It gives me strength every time it washes me, reduces me, cleanses me. It restores me. But my old owners still try to get me come back. They try to entice me and tempt me. And promise me all kinds of goodies. But they're liars. They're only liars. But I love him. I love him. I love him. Because he loved me so much. I never knew he loved me so much. I never realized it cost him so much. I didn't know that forgiveness was so costly. We were given it doesn't cost much. But your forgiveness was not to bury my sin under the carpet. It was to take it away. And that took your blood. You had to die like the scapegoat. You had to escape out of sight, out of land, out of place. It flows to the highest mountain. And it reaches to the lowest valley. Oh, wonderful Jesus. Oh, beautiful Jesus. It's the blood. It's the blood. Oh, precious blood. Oh, precious blood. I have no words to thank you. My words are so cheap and so small. But my heart says thank you. My heart says thank you. I am a mountain. And it reaches. Oh, pour out your heart at his feet. Let him bring you to new depths of surrender. To new heights of slavery. To new glories of living at home with your new owner. The one that loves you so much. That no matter how much your owner asks. The price was paid. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. I love you. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. I bless you. I bless you. A God so great. A God so wonderful. A God so different than everybody thought he was. A God that would do something so impossible. That would die for his little creatures to save them. Incomprehensible. Impossible. But he did it. He did it. He did it. Wonderful Jesus. Wonderful Jesus. I lay my life before you, Lord. I lay my life at your feet. You gave yours. Voluntarily, willingly, lovingly, totally. I would not restrict. I would not say I'll serve you halfway. I would not say I love you half much. I would pour it all out. I would lay it all at your feet and say, I belong to you. And I want nothing to do with my former owner. I delight to belong to you. I delight to belong to you. Oh, wonderful Jesus. Beautiful Jesus. Beautiful Lamb of God. No wonder they sang us new songs. Unto him who hath washed us and cleansed us by his blood. Unto him be honor and power and glory and majesty both now and evermore. For he is worthy. Worthy, worthy, worthy, worthy. Oh, wonderful Jesus. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Jesus. Lord, don't ever let those other owners come back. Don't let them ever, ever steal us away from you. Don't let them come, Lord, between us. They're thieves and robbers. They came to kill us, to destroy us. You came to destroy the works of the devil. You came to give me life, an abundant life. Don't let them steal me away. Don't let them steal one away from you that belongs to you. Keep them tight. Keep them close. And defeat every attempt of the devil to kidnap one of your children. Let none of them be successful because I'm yours. I'm yours, I'm yours, I'm yours.