When Redemption Loses Its Cross: A Call to Recover the Gospel

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Battlefield of the Gods. A number of years ago, we were in the country of Ghana, Africa, and in one of those days, free days that we had, we went and toured one of what they refer to as the slave castles.
[00:00:22] these were where individuals across that part of Africa would be brought in. At that point, this was before the Europeans got involved or Americans got involved. This was all black on black, African on African. Some of them were warlords. Some people may have been in debt.
[00:00:43] Sometimes there were struggles between different tribes and things. And so people, for whatever reason would be placed in slavery and they would be marched across that part of Africa and they would end up before being put on boats to go to Europe or
[00:01:02] America they would end up in these holding places on the coast of Ghana and they would be jam-packed with individuals who were there getting ready to be sold it's there's no really no words for it it is the worst thing to be
[00:01:31] owned by somebody else many of them did not survive even the walk across Africa to these places and then many of them also died on the ships as they were going to Europe and then eventually over to America and we all it's part of our
[00:01:53] history, but we all recognize the horrible things that would take place with people as they would be owned by somebody else. You remember I talked to you about, and we're headed back there the end of April, because we've started a church there. We're going to work with the
[00:02:19] leaders of those churches and things in Pakistan. And I remember talking to you about this when I got back about the brickyards and there are four and a half million slaves in brickyard slavery in Pakistan and part of the issue is that bricks are the
[00:02:38] primary building source in Pakistan and as we drove in you have the these chimneys are all over the country and we know what they are it's where they're making bricks. If I ever saw something that was a picture of the people of Israel when they were
[00:03:01] in slavery, before Moses would come and free them out of that slavery, this was it. People are here in slavery for a number of different reasons. They are there maybe because of a medical debt,
[00:03:12] not a lot of money, maybe $50, $75, but they don't have it to pay back. And so they will be sent to the brickyards. And then because of the interest and because they're getting paid very, very little,
[00:03:28] like $3 per thousand bricks or something like that, you'll never be able to pay it off. And sometimes people will borrow money to do a wedding ceremony because weddings are extremely important in that culture, but then they can't pay it back. And underneath these mounds of dirt, the fires
[00:03:48] are burning to eventually cure the bricks that the people have made so they can get hard enough so they can be sold. And these people can't get out. Many of them are tortured. Sometimes they
[00:04:02] are beaten. They are abused. Sometimes they lose their lives. And I just want you to get to visual imagery of this as somebody who is owned by a slave master in a place where you are making
[00:04:21] bricks, and the fire is hot, and you can't get out. So when we drove into these places, we're paying the money. This is what the word redemption really means. It means to pay the price.
[00:04:43] what we did and this is a picture of it this is the the signature of freedom and the money and some people for the some people this is generational for many people the slavery is generational it was mom it was the grandparents it was
[00:05:01] the great-grandparents it's the kids they can't get out and it's not a lot of money that they might owe after a number of years it could be fifteen eighty $1,800 or something like that, but it might as well be a billion, because if you don't have it,
[00:05:17] you don't have it. And so they don't like it. The slave master does not like it, but he has no choice. If somebody walks in with the redemption money and says, we are taking this family out,
[00:05:38] and that's the picture of the document of freedom and the money that is given and they were in slavery and when they woke up that morning they are in slavery but when they go to bed that night
[00:05:53] they're free and they've been placed in a place to stay all of their own and given their own business to start that that's what redemption that's really what Jesus has done for us right But this is what redemption is, is he takes us out of something that we could not do on our own.
[00:06:09] He pays the price for us and removes us from the slavery that we were in. Somebody say amen to that, okay? So watch this now. We've been in the book of Hosea, and this is what God told Hosea to do.
[00:06:23] This is some sort of allegory or something. God speaks to Hosea, and he says, go marry a prostitute, and you're going to have children from this prostitute. And what is happening is that God is going to illustrate through Hosea what Israel had done to God. Remember that Jesus does not view
[00:06:46] our relationship with him simply as savior and saved, but as bride and bridegroom. So right now, if we know Jesus, you're part of the bride of Christ. And this is the reason why you should,
[00:06:59] because it's the bride of Christ, you should speak well of his church and not ill of his church.
[00:07:06] Can somebody say amen to that? This is why you should not talk about other people because you're talking about the bride of Christ, okay? And so he doesn't see it just as savior and save,
[00:07:18] but as bride and bridegroom. It's a covenant relationship. It's not just a legal contract.
[00:07:24] It's just bride and bridegroom. And this is what Israel had done to God, and God is going to illustrate this through Hosea, because they'd walked away from God. And Hosea becomes God, and Israel, because of their idolatry, becomes Gomer, his wife, that he's going to marry. And
[00:07:48] even the other prophets will use this terminology to help us understand, remember, the book of Jeremiah, when he's talking about the people of Israel. He says, return, faithless people, I am your husband. So this, even God is using this terminology. And then Ezekiel would say,
[00:08:06] you adulterous wife. He's talking to Israel. You prefer strangers to your own husband. Then he, again, he says, they commit adultery and blood is on their hand. They committed adultery. And how do they do that? They did it with their idols. And here's how we defined idols.
[00:08:21] We said, idolatry is when good things become ultimate things. Israel didn't just break rules.
[00:08:29] they broke their vows and idolatry is when my vow to god in time with him is taken over by other things that in themselves may or not may or may not be wrong but they steal devotion from the one
[00:08:41] that i committed to and you remember this quote there's not one square inch let's just zone in on this for a minute there is not one square inch in the whole domain of your human existence
[00:08:53] your life, your breathing life right now as a man or as a woman, over which Christ, who is sovereign over everything, does not say, that belongs to me. Everything about your life, not just pieces of it, but Christ makes a claim on every part of who you are.
[00:09:18] Paul would write to a pastor in a book called 2 Timothy, and he would say, be careful, Timothy.
[00:09:32] You should know this, that in the last days, and let me just clarify this, you'll hear people say, pastor, we're in the last days. This is last days, pastor. It's getting worse and worse and worse.
[00:09:44] I just want to clarify with you. When Peter was preaching in Acts chapter 2, and he said, it shall come to pass in the last days. This is that. The last days began when Jesus came to the
[00:09:57] earth, folks, and started the final process of things. So while it's getting worse and worse, you got to have a little age on you to understand when you look at our culture, we've been here
[00:10:06] before, okay? Now, are there things that are expanding it, media and everything that makes it more accessible? Yeah, absolutely, okay? But so when we're talking last days, we're not just talking right now. We're talking the general last period of time. And notice what he says. It'll come
[00:10:23] to pass in the last days. People, listen to this, will love who? Only themselves and their money and love pleasure rather than God. Now, how do we know he's talking not to the world? Well,
[00:10:39] that's that world out there. No, he's talking to the church here. And how do we know this? Because he puts it in religious terms. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that
[00:10:53] could make them godly. They worship with their hands raised, but it's really all about them.
[00:11:02] What is Paul talking about here? He's saying this is self-worship. He said in the final hour of time, People are going to be self-worshippers. And isn't that really the issue? We could make a list of
[00:11:19] idols, right? Of things that take our time and take our thinking and other things. But really, what is the root issue? The root issue is that I worship me. It's all about me. It's my way.
[00:11:35] my comfort. You know, when you think about this self-worship piece and you think about the church, let me ask you a question. Are you a regular giver? Do you serve somewhere? Well, no, I don't.
[00:11:56] I like it how it feels here. That's all about you. And there is a term for that. There's a number of sociological terms for it. One is socialism, but really the accurate term for it is called
[00:12:16] redistribution. What is that? It's when the few support the many. It's when a handful of people are doing all the giving and the serving, and while everybody else is the weight on the tree, weighing it down, because I certainly don't have time for that, let somebody else do it.
[00:12:40] that is the epitome of self-worship. This is about me and how I feel. And remember this, that every person, because we're all worshiping something, right? We're all at an altar. Tomorrow morning when you get up, you're at an altar. When you go through the day tomorrow, tomorrow night,
[00:13:07] You're at an altar somewhere. And every person is a reflection of the altar that we are worshiping at. Now remember, we talked about Hosea and his children, the offspring of idolatry. And there were three kids that Hosea had. For those of you that were here, let me just review it for
[00:13:33] a second. There were three kids. The first one was called Scattered. So how'd you like to name your kids scattered. Hey, come here, scattered. Now, you might feel like they are sometimes, okay?
[00:13:48] And then he's going to have another child. The second child means not loved. Whoa, come here, not loved. You mean God didn't love them? No, God loved them deeply, but they acted like they didn't
[00:13:58] love him. And then, not my people. Oh, weren't they his people? They walked away from him. And those three children become an illustration of what happens when there are idols in our lives. This is the offspring of idolatry. It's scattered without a relationship, even though it could
[00:14:19] feel good periodically at times. So what is God going to do about this? I don't think that I could put into words. It's really impossible to describe the depth, as the Apostle Paul would put it,
[00:14:44] the depth, the breadth, the length, the height of the love of God. It goes deeper than the deepest issues of your life. You cannot overwhelm the love of God with your stuff. And there comes a
[00:15:07] point sometimes where you feel like somebody feels like they just can't get on top of it.
[00:15:13] Let's have some transparency in the room. Have you ever felt like circumstances or your personal walk with God or your life or your family or something else? Have you ever felt like it's on top of you and you can't get on top of it? Anybody ever felt like that before? Okay. What
[00:15:30] is God going to do? Because there comes a point where I just can't do it. So watch this. You turn the page from chapter two to chapter three. You've got all of this idolatry going on. They've walked
[00:15:47] away from God. And notice what God says to Hosea. Let's not rush over this. The Lord said to me, She's gone. Gomer's gone, man. She's gone. She's gone. She doesn't care about Hosea.
[00:16:01] Hosea has a distant memory, right? And notice what God says to Hosea. He says, go love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover.
[00:16:19] This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to their idols, to their gods, to worship them. Watch this now. Remember, Hosea is God, Gomer is Israel. So I redeemed her. And this little phrase here is important because it says
[00:16:45] 15 pieces of silver and five bushels of barley. The real price of a slave even, because notice it, he bought her back. She's now in slavery. She's owned by somebody else now.
[00:16:56] You see, this is what idolatry does. This is when we are not surrendered to the Lord. You know what it does? It puts us in being owned by somebody else or something else. I'm going to ask you a
[00:17:10] question. What are you owned by? I said, nobody owns me. What owns you? What habit, what thought, what issue, what thing owns you? How do I know if it owns me? Because you keep going back to it.
[00:17:30] keeps showing up. She's been trafficked. She's owned. And the price of a slave was actually 30 pieces of silver. And he's got to scrounge around for the money. So I gave her 15. I bought her for
[00:17:46] 15 pieces of silver. She's on the slave block now because of the visual imagery here. And this is how it would go. Okay. You line up the slaves and then you inspect each one. Read the history of it.
[00:18:00] Their ears get inspected. Their teeth get inspected. Their body gets inspected. Everything about them gets inspected. And so she is going to get bought by somebody. Hosea shows up and says, I'll buy her. But she's so low. She's so far down that she's not even worth the price of a slave.
[00:18:25] she's as low as she can go barley grain would be the food of those that had more money barley was the food of poor people watch this Hosea redeems her as she is not after she recovers
[00:18:50] you need to think about that you know what pastor I'm just going to get some things together I'm just going to get some things right I know that's probably not what I need to have in my life
[00:19:01] but, you know, I'll get to it eventually. You're never going to find the freedom that is in Jesus if you keep thinking you're going to get it straight before you come to him. You've got to
[00:19:14] come to him and let him get it straight. You don't have the ability to do it on your own.
[00:19:22] He redeems her after she recovers, and God redeems Israel in their shame, not after repentance is complete. The mercy is before the reform. You just have to run to Jesus. You can't get good enough to come to Christ. You can't do it. There's five primary words, Greek words, that are used in
[00:19:46] the New Testament to describe redemption. Here they are. One of them means to redeem or to release by paying a ransom. It's to free someone by paying the price, okay? I have the money, I free you,
[00:19:59] just like we did literally in Pakistan.
[00:20:02] It's used especially for slaves or captives.
[00:20:04] Someone else pays what you cannot.
[00:20:07] I've got a debt that I cannot pay with God.
[00:20:12] He's got the ability to pay it.
[00:20:17] Then it means full redemption or release or freedom.
[00:20:20] It means total, total liberation, not just pieces of it.
[00:20:25] Not just, well, God help me here, but I still got this issue.
[00:20:29] This is total liberation, spiritual, legal, future, saved now, glorified later, it's a guarantee.
[00:20:36] Then to permanently remove from sale or be taken off the slave block, okay?
[00:20:42] It's permanent freedom.
[00:20:43] I'm never going back to bondage again.
[00:20:47] And then it means to emphasize the result of the ransom paid.
[00:20:52] It's guaranteed, not just promised.
[00:20:53] Oh, one day this is gonna happen.
[00:20:55] Maybe God will do this for you.
[00:20:57] It's a guarantee.
[00:20:58] And then it means to buy or purchase from the marketplace, to purchase something at a cost.
[00:21:05] Listen, it's the transfer of ownership. And I don't want you to miss this. Redemption is not about forgiveness. Redemption is about ownership. Let me say that to you again.
[00:21:17] Redemption is not about forgiveness. It's about ownership. It's a transfer of identity.
[00:21:29] it's a transfer of what owns me who owns me Paul would say like this in first Corinthians you were bought at a price don't become slaves of human beings in him we have redemption how
[00:21:50] through his blood through his blood the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us for you know Peter will say that it was not with perishable things
[00:22:02] stuff that's just going to rot or fade away, such as silver or gold, and eventually that won't matter, that you were redeemed or bought back or purchased from the empty way of life handed down
[00:22:17] to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
[00:22:23] He was chosen before the creation of the world, but it was revealed in these last times for your sake through him through jesus you believe in god who raised him from the dead and glorified him
[00:22:33] so that your faith and hope are in god this is the work of jesus redemption changes who owns us but it also guarantees a relationship watch this here's the difference between forgiveness and redemption don't miss us forgiveness cancels the debt but redemption transfers the ownership
[00:22:54] Forgiveness removes guilt, but redemption restores identity. Forgiveness deals with the past, but redemption secures the future. Forgiveness is a legal pardon, but redemption is the covenant rescue. So let me give you three ways redemption affects your life. Number one, let's look at the
[00:23:13] text. Redemption is a covenant or a sacred binding agreement or commitment based on trust, not obligation, expectation, or emotional manipulation of idols. Here's the scripture.
[00:23:29] Here's what he said in Hosea 3 after God says, I want you to bow your back. He says, you're to live with me many days. You must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the
[00:23:39] same way towards you. This confused me. As I read it, I said, this doesn't make sense. Why would you be married to somebody without intimacy. What God was trying to do with Israel was get them to have
[00:23:54] commitment without emotion. What do you mean? You're committed regardless of how you feel.
[00:24:11] So it's not like this. I got blessed today, but I don't feel Jesus today. What is he talking about here. He is talking about a commitment that says, I am going to be faithful. The intimacy would
[00:24:32] eventually come as soon as the faithfulness was proven. It's a kind of agreement. You're not bouncing around in a relationship with God based on good days and bad days, but based on faithful commitment. Number two, redemption has the goal of removing the idols. Let me read you the text
[00:25:15] and I'll explain it. The Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. What does that mean? In 721 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel, and when you read in the Old Testament called Samaria or Ephraim, they're named
[00:25:34] the same thing. The Assyrian nation, who was rising up as a world power, would invade the northern kingdom of Israel and take them into captivity. And actually, the northern kingdom of Israel will disappear. It'll never exist again. In 586 BC, the Babylonian nation, who at that
[00:25:58] point then, a hundred and so odd years later, would be rising in authority, and they would go into Jerusalem under King Nebuchadnezzar, and there would be three invasions and three deportations of people as they would be taken into slavery. The last deportation, they would totally destroy
[00:26:17] Jerusalem, tear down its walls, burn the temple to the ground, and there wasn't anything left.
[00:26:25] And Israel would be taken into captivity. The captivity would last 70 years. At the end of that captivity, there was one thing that Israel never went back to and was cured of. Do you know
[00:26:45] what it was? Idolatry. The 70 years cured their idolatry. They said, we will never go back to this. So when it says the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, they didn't have a king or a prince. They went into captivity. There were no more kings. When it says that
[00:27:08] without sacrifice or sacred stones or no ephod, there was no temple to worship at and there was no priest to wear the ephod to inquire from God. That was gone. And they would have no more
[00:27:20] household idols. Listen, no more gods in their home. What does Jesus do with redemption?
[00:27:33] He keeps my home free of idolatry and self-worship. Number three, redemption is so life-altering that it causes me to replace the idols and seek only the Lord. Here it is. Let's not run over the phrase
[00:27:53] afterward. The Israelites will return and they will seek the Lord their God and David their king.
[00:28:04] what is happening? They're going after God now. This is what redemption does. Redemption causes me to pursue the only one that I should be worshiping, Jesus. Afterward, the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come. Watch this. Don't miss
[00:28:26] this. We got to hear this. We're so casual in our relationship with Jesus, casual in our worship, casual in our walk with God, they will come trembling to the Lord and do his blessings in the last days. Redemption restores relationship. It removes the idols and replaces them with Jesus.
[00:28:51] This is why this matters. The most frustrated Christian in the world is the Christian that has a hand in the hand of Jesus and a hand on their idol. Some of you may remember back in 2015,
[00:29:17] 21 Coptic Christians were kidnapped. They were from Egypt, but they were over in the Libya area.
[00:29:27] They were kidnapped. One of them actually was from Ghana. He was not a believer at the time.
[00:29:35] He was just working there. They were just common laborers. They weren't ministers. They were just trying to support their families. They went from Egypt to Libya. They were trying to support their families. They were kidnapped by ISIS. They were tortured and they were told, if you will renounce
[00:29:54] Jesus, we will not kill you. 20 of them said, absolutely not. The man from Ghana, who was not a believer at the time, when he heard the rest of them say they would not renounce Jesus, he said,
[00:30:11] I will not renounce him either. He wasn't even a believer at the time, but he saw what their commitment to Christ was. This is what happens. This is what your life looks like when there are
[00:30:22] no more idols. When you're not living for yourself anymore. They were tortured. They were told, if you will turn to Islam, we will not kill you. All of them at that point said no. So they dressed
[00:30:39] them up in orange jumpsuits and they marched them out to the beach. And if you can see it, picture's a little blurry probably intentionally see the little thing shine in their hands that's a knife they had to kneel on the beach and every one of those 21 believers
[00:31:07] had their heads sawed off with a knife in slow motion while they are being beheaded their simple words they started to cry out and there's a video of this actually they begin to cry out and say oh lord jesus oh lord jesus and while they're crying out to god
[00:31:34] their dead bodies drop on the beach and before they hit the ground they were in the presence of god okay why why does this matter listen to me this is what a life of no idols looks like
[00:31:54] where are the idols in my life you're gonna deal with the idols now there's some people that are going to lay down some idols today.
[00:32:11] They're going to be baptized.
[00:32:14] And then I want us to search our hearts for a moment.
[00:32:25] And we're going to make a commitment to the Lord in the room about potential idols that we might have.
[00:33:02] Now...
[00:33:02] Pause for one second.
[00:33:03] It's a whole lot easier to lay your idols down right now and get rid of them early on, folks.
[00:33:09] I'm just telling you.
[00:33:11] Hey.

[00:33:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:33:12] Now, can you share with everyone your name and wait until we put the mic in front of your face so everyone can hear it, okay?
[00:33:17] What's your name?
[00:33:19] James.
[00:33:20] Mr. James, Mr. James.
[00:33:22] All right, Mr. James.
[00:33:24] Are you ready to give it all for Jesus?
[00:33:28] Are you ready to give up the world and put that behind you?
[00:33:32] Yes.
[00:33:33] All right, with that profession of faith, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:33:40] Go ahead and cover your nose.

[00:34:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:34:39] Don't you cry, because I'll cry.
[00:34:43] Can you tell us your name and why you're here?

[00:34:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:34:49] Paola, I'm here because I love Jesus, and I renounce the world and my idols.

[00:35:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:35:06] Okay, put your hand over your neck.
[00:35:13] Paola, because you confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I baptize you now in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[00:36:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:36:01] I want you to stand with me right now.
[00:36:06] I want you to search your hearts.
[00:36:07] has the Holy Spirit even tenderly as He does pointed anything out in your life today that you'd say, you know what?
[00:36:21] This has to go.
[00:36:30] Well, if we're talking about a world, and I don't know how many of you saw the opening of the Olympics.
[00:36:35] If we're talking about a world that wants to openly serve Satan, then how many in this room would say, I'm going to lay down some idols and openly serve Jesus.
[00:36:46] If that's you, come to this altar right now.
[00:36:48] Come here.
[00:36:48] Come on. Come and stand at this altar. We're going to pray together.
[00:36:56] This is an important commitment, folks. Move up as close as you can. Thank you, Jesus.
[00:37:26] Sir, what is your name? Sean, have we talked before? We have, yeah, but I don't think we had much conversation, right? I don't really know anything about your life. I know you've come to church here before. Here's what I just felt impressed of the Lord. Just let me know if
[00:37:45] this makes sense to you, that a number of years ago, or maybe when you were much younger, you really felt the tug of God on your heart, maybe even the tug of God in your heart for some type
[00:37:59] of ministry or something, but sometimes life happens, situations take place, and we kind of maybe take left and right hand turns, and we look back and we say, I wish I wouldn't have taken that
[00:38:12] left or right hand turn, but it is what it is, right? Does that make sense? Yeah. God is not done with you. As a matter of fact, he's timed it this way to bring you to the place where he can
[00:38:28] use you and wants to, wants to use you. And he's just asking for faithfulness. That's all he's asking for. You don't have to think about something big. God will deal with that. But I want some of
[00:38:40] you around him right now, would you lay your hand on him? Lay your hand on Sean. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you, God, that you're faithful to this man. That even, Lord, when he thought you
[00:38:53] weren't paying attention and you thought you weren't watching, every step was being overseen by you. Holy Spirit, I ask you to give him grace. God, let something light inside of him again. God, God, may a flame light inside of him. In Jesus' name. God, I pray in this room today that a flame
[00:39:22] will light with inside of us, that something has burned low in your life. This is what idolatry does, folks, and the little things. It lessens the flame. Just ask to put both hands in the air
[00:39:34] right now and say, God, I want you to light something in me fresh right now. God, light something in me afresh. I lay some things down, God. I lay some things down, Jesus. God, light
[00:39:46] something in me, God. Lord, there's a lot of things behind me, Lord, but today, God, I lay it down toward you. I just lay it down, Jesus. I lay it down. I lay it down. I lay it down. Put your hand
[00:40:05] on somebody right now, would you? And just pray over them. And would you pray for God's strength on their life and God's grace on them today? Come on. Come on. We're laying it down to the Lord.
[00:40:16] We're laying it down today. We're laying it down.