Set free from sin

If there's any under the sound of our voice that don't know the Lord Jesus, don't know the God of all grace, you're missing out on the greatest thing a person can ever know. I'd just like to read one verse with you in Ephesians and chapter one. Ephesians chapter one and verse seven.

A favorite verse of mine in the Bible. Now the verses previous to this have been speaking about the Lord Jesus. Verse seven says, in whom? Or in Christ, we have redemption through his blood.

The forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. One more time. In him, in Christ, we have redemption through his blood.

The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. You know, there was a time in my life, as there was in my brother Scott's, as there was in the life of this woman, this Samaritan woman, when we've been set free from the bondage of sin, from its guilt, its power, its penalty. You know, when you're young, sin doesn't seem like a big deal.

Now, I never heard the gospel until I was 25, but things in my life that didn't seem like a big deal when I was young, by the time I was in my 20s, they had a hold of me just like a constricting snake, whether it's a python or anaconda. Sin is a monster. Don't play around with it.

The devil can make it look so appealing. He did to me, and he's doing that to millions. I don't know if you've ever driven through Mississippi in the summer.

Maybe it's my Canadian blood, I don't know, but another culture down in Mississippi. But as I was driving, I was down there a couple summers in gospel work, and the heat was one thing. People complain about the cold in Chicago.

To me, the heat in Mississippi is more brutal, but anyway, that's another story. But as I was driving on the interstate, and I'm looking at the fields, the cotton fields, miles and miles, I just thought, what would it have been like to have been a slave years ago, working out in those fields in the hot, and it's hot down there, in the hot sun from sunrise to sunset. You don't think those slaves wanted to be set free? Sure they did.

And I know there's the Underground Railroad, and some thankfully did make it to freedom. If you'd ever been in prison, if you've ever been taken hostage, you would know what it is to want to be free. There are people, as I speak, being held in different parts of the world.

They've been taken hostage, they've been taken prisoner against their will. They want to come home, but they can't. My friend, you might want to go to heaven, but you have a problem, as you've been hearing.

It's your sin. It's got a hold of you. You need to be set free.

You know, some people say, well, listen, here we are in America, the land of the free. What's this talk about? I want to be set free. I am free.

In the Gospel of John, chapter eight, this is what the Lord Jesus says. The person that commits sin is the slave of sin. You don't think so? Some of us know, unfortunately, by experience, what that's like.

25 years old, I started to read the Bible, and I realized God had a standard, and I don't come anywhere close. You know, we can always look around and think we see people that are worse than us. Even, I was living a sinful life, but I knew people that were doing things I wouldn't do.

As I started to read the Bible, I thought, you know, it isn't a case of me being better than somebody else. God's standard is up here, and I don't come anywhere close. So, I tried to change my lifestyle.

I tried to set myself free, and the harder I tried, the more helpless I became. You know, many people have never realized the seriousness of their sin. So, being set free doesn't mean much to them.

What about you? You say, well, I got a good roof over my head, three meals a day. Life is fine. How about 100 years from now, or 150? Where are you gonna be? Because of your sin, you can't go to heaven.

There's no sin there. That's where God is. There's no sin with him.

God wants to set you free. That's why he sent his son, and I just love this verse. In Christ, we have redemption.

Redemption means to be set free by a price being paid. I told you there are people around the world that have been taken hostage, taken prisoners. They wanna be set free, but no price.

However, we know of people in Russia, whether it's Brittany Griner, the professional basketball player. Was it a couple of years ago? She was set free, finally. You know why? It was a price paid.

The U.S. released this Victor Bout, a notorious arms dealer. He was the price, so she could be set free. And not too long ago, there's others that have been set free because of a price that the U.S. was willing to pay to get them back home.

Looking at it a different way, we live in a society where there's a price to pay if you break the law, whether it's speeding, whether it's armed robbery, whether it's serial murder. If you're found out and found guilty, there's a price to pay, whether it's a fine, time in prison, or in some states, the death penalty, right? When you break the law. Why is it that we think we can break God's law, whether it's not honoring our parents, telling a lie or whatever, and think we can get away with it? I used to think, again, I never read the Bible, never heard the gospel.

I used to think as long as I didn't get caught and I didn't hurt anybody, I was fine. I wasn't fine. There's a price to pay.

There's a penalty to pay for sin. I say there's a penalty to pay for sin. God says the wages of sin is not heaven, it's death, not just physical death, but spiritual death, separation from God in this life, eternal death, a second death, separation from God in the next.

I've told this illustration many times, but it comes to my mind when I think of this verse. There was a man who was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal by the name of Daniel Pearl. Maybe you've heard the story.

38 years old, on assignment in Karachi, Pakistan. One day he told his wife that he was gonna interview a terrorist leader and he would be back at a certain time. So he left, but he didn't come back at a certain time.

In fact, he didn't come back all that night, didn't come back the next day, and she started making calls to his bosses, the Wall Street Journal, and everybody's trying to find Daniel Pearl, they don't know where he is. This went on for a couple of weeks, if memory serves me correctly, until finally they got a communication. There was a photo of Daniel Pearl, handcuffed with two men with guns to his head, and there was a note that said, we have Daniel Pearl.

We will set him free under these conditions. There were two conditions. The first was, release all the Pakistani terrorists that are being held, and I don't know where, I don't remember.

Release the Pakistani terrorists, but second, there's a shipment of US fighter jets that were supposed to go to the Pakistani government, were being held up, release those jets. So two things, release the terrorists, release the jets, and we'll set Daniel Pearl free. That was the price.

Well, I don't know what the official policy of the US government is now, but back in, when was this? In, this was 22 years ago. The US said, we don't negotiate with terrorists, and as much as they wanted to help, they thought they couldn't. The price wasn't paid, and the terrorists killed Daniel Pearl, he was beheaded.

What they found out later, there's an interesting book written by his wife. What they found out later, that he was being held in a shack on the outskirts of Karachi, and they found out that on one occasion, he was able to escape, but he didn't get very far, and the guys guarding him were able to catch him and brought him back. He was being held prisoner, but he wanted to go free, but there was no price paid, so he could be.

My friend, sin is making a slave out of you. It's holding you captive. You won't be able to go to heaven the way you are, but the good news of the gospel is, the price has been paid.

What is it? What does God say? In him, in Christ, we have redemption. We've been set free. How? Through his blood.

Through his blood, through his death, through his cross death. That was the price. He took the penalty for my sin.

I owed a debt I could never pay, much more than a speeding ticket fine or even time in jail. My sins deserve the second death, separation from God forever, and yet in a few hours on the cross, the Lord Jesus paid that debt. I love those words in Isaiah 53 and five.

The punishment was on him. Let me ask you a question. What about your sins? Do you think you're gonna go scot-free or do you think it's right that sin should be punished? You know, you wouldn't wanna live in a country where people could do anything they wanted and get away with it.

That's anarchy. Just do whatever. Like people can come in and shoot up the place? No.

You want law and order. My friend, there's a penalty for sin, but the good news is you can be set free because the penalty, the punishment of our sin was on Christ. Now, you've been hearing about this woman in Samaria.

Beautiful story. I love it too. Reminds me of myself.

She had sins. She was living a sinful life, but she came to know the one who gave her forgiveness of sins. And, you know, some people say, well, you know, okay, having redemption, I can't get my head around that, but what about my sins? Well, again, what does God say? It says in Christ, you can have redemption.

You could be set free because the price has been paid. What is it? It's through his blood. It's not by anything we do.

So the question is, is what Christ did on the cross when he died for our sins, shed his blood is that enough for you to have forgiveness of sins? What does God say? In Christ, we have redemption through his blood, not by some church membership or church ritual, or you even cleaning up your life, trying to be better. That's fine, but it won't take your sins away. One more point.

And this is where a lot of people struggle. It's not where I struggle because I was never at a gospel meeting before I was saved. Wouldn't come to one.

I wasn't ready for it. But I heard the gospel across the lady's kitchen table. I was working for her.

What do you have to do to be saved? We've been hearing about that, this little girl. And many people say, what do I have to do? Okay, I want to be saved. I need to have my sins forgiven.

What do I have to do? Well, again, what does God say? God has given us his word so we can know the truth, so we can know we're saved. Well, what does the verse say? In Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, of his grace. It's the human mindset that we have to give God something to get such a great gift, heaven and forgiveness of sins.

We got to do something, but what does God say? The basis of this redemption and forgiveness of sins is God's grace, the riches of his grace. It doesn't impoverish God, it didn't impoverish him for this woman to be saved, for Scott or myself. It's the riches of God's grace.

Grace is God giving us something we don't deserve. My friend, if you deserve to be in heaven, Christ didn't need to come. If you deserve to be in heaven, you could boast when you got there because you did this or that or the other, but nobody's gonna be in heaven because of what they did.

It's only because of what Christ did. Did he do anything for you? All my life, I heard Christ died on a cross, didn't mean a thing to me. 25 years, I found out why he died.

It's for me. That's why I'm here now, tonight. The last place I would have been in before I was saved, you couldn't drag me in here with a team of horses.

But when I started to read the Bible, when I heard the gospel across that lady's kitchen table, well, I fought tooth and nail, but I came to a point in my life when I wanted my sins forgiven. It was like my sins were like a 10-ton boulder on my back. It was taking me down.

I knew very little about the gospel, didn't know much about Jesus Christ, but the day I was saved, I wanted to be saved more than anything else. It wasn't a better band to play in, more marijuana or another party or anything. Is there anything more important than knowing where you're gonna spend forever? Knowing for sure you'll never be in hell? Any one of us here, we're just a heartbeat out of eternity.

Right? My friend, God loves you. That's why he sent his son. You see the love of the Lord Jesus for this Samaritan woman, he didn't have to be there, but he loved her and he loves you.

And he wants to take your sins away. And he wants you to be able to say, like so many people all over the world, in Christ, I have redemption. Through his blood, I have the forgiveness of sins as according to the riches of his grace.

Let's pray. Father, we are so grateful that you are the God who is so wonderful. And we thank you for your grace, Lord, that you made it possible for people like us to have our sins forgiven, because the ultimate price was paid when your son took our place there on the cross, took our sins, took our punishment.

And we thank you that the punishment was on him. Lord, bless your word to each heart, those of us who are saved, and especially to those who aren't, that we might realize the tremendous seriousness of being a slave to sin. And Lord, may each one have a desire to wanna be free, to be set free through the great price that the Lord Jesus paid.

We ask these things in his name, amen.