Introduction:
1 Peter 1:18-19 - ...knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of ua lamb vwithout blemish or spot.
What is Redemption?
Jesus Christ Paid the Ultimate price to Purchase my freedom and salvation.
What Does Christ Redeem Me From?
An Empty life of bondage to sin that leads to an Excruciating eternity in hell.
What Does Christ Redeem Me With?
His Own life which is worth more than anyone or anything that this world has to offer.
Psalm 49:7-8 – Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice.
What Does Christ’s Redemption Require of Me?
- Acknowledging that I Cannot Work Off My Debt to God.
Isaiah 64:6 – We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
- Trusting that Christ has Paid my Debt In Full .
Colossians 2:13-14 – And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
- Living for the One who Gave Himself for me.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
If you have a Bible, please turn to 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 18 through 19.
1 Peter chapter 1 verses 18 through 19.
We live in a time when everything is expensive.
Am I right?
Every single time you go to the grocery store, every time you go to the gas station, you're
in a state of shock over how much money you had to spend.
We all leave our house expecting to spend this amount of money and we always end up spending
even more than we hoped.
It can be difficult to keep track of ever-changing prices, but I want to help you have a heartbeat
on how much things truly cost.
In April 2025, I'm going to do a quick game with you to make that happen.
Who's excited for a game?
All right, way more excited than I expected.
This is your first official harvest game show called Guess That Price.
So imagine I'm Bob Barker and you're the excitable crowd.
Everyone say guess that price.
Yes, guess that price.
Oh man, this is really exciting.
So I'm going to ask four questions and you will win amazing and imaginary prizes if you
guess the answers correctly.
And most of the answers were found on Google, which we know is never wrong.
So first question on the board.
Is that a pretty good talk show voice?
Game show voice?
Okay, good.
First question on the board, what is the median listing price for a house in Pittsburgh?
What do we think?
Janelle got it right, $250,000.
Come see me afterwards for your imaginary prize.
Next question, the best selling minivan in 2025 is the Honda Odyssey.
What is the suggested retail price for a base model?
$55,000?
All right, I'm not hearing any right answers.
$42,220.
No one wins a prize for that one, I guess.
Third question, what is the average price of a baseline Disney World vacation for a
family of four?
My mom has an answer, $10,000.
Janelle once again is very, very close, $7,093.
I guess Janelle is the winner of this game for the most part.
Well, it's time for the final and most important question of the game.
And for this question, you don't have to shout out your answer, instead silently consider
it in your heart and mind.
What price did Jesus Christ have to pay to rescue lost and undeserving sinners like you
and me?
That's very true, Cody, his own life.
Until the sermon, we're going to talk the rest of the time about that.
So this is the third message in our latest series, What is Finished?
And our goal is to unpack what Jesus truly accomplished on that cross 2,000 years ago
and why he victoriously declared it is finished with his dying breath.
Over the past two weeks, we've studied the doctrine of salvation like a diamond and examined
it from different angles and aspects.
First we focused on justification.
Our guilt before God is gone.
And last week, we talked about the glorious truth of reconciliation.
Our broken relationship with God has been restored.
And tonight, we will examine another facet of the salvation diamond.
Redemption, the price has been paid.
You know, during the Easter season, you were bombarded with crosses on bumper stickers,
road signs, even in chocolate form.
Without even realizing it, you can become numb to the meaning and magnitude of the cross
of Christ.
So on this Good Friday, I want each and every one of you in this room and watching online
to be overwhelmed with the weight of your sin and the depth of your debt before a holy
God.
Some of you in this room need to come to the realization that you have an outstanding balance
on your spiritual account.
That will not affect your credit score or your financial portfolio, but it will affect your
eternal destiny unless it is dealt with before it is too late.
And for the rest of you whose balance has been taken care of and wound down to zero,
I want you to truly count the cost of your salvation and calculate the immensity of what
was sacrificed for you.
Because if you have a cheap view of grace, you will have a weak walk with Christ.
But if you have a costly view of grace, you will have a rock-solid relationship with your
Lord and Savior.
So let's spend a moment in prayer.
Please pray for me that will faithfully proclaim God's Word, and I will pray for you that you
faithfully receive it.
Father, I am completely overwhelmed by my inability to properly communicate the price
that has been paid and what your Son has sacrificed for me.
What He has sacrificed for everyone in this room.
Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit would preach a much better message in our hearts
that I ever could with my mouth.
May you watch over your Word to perform it this evening.
May you do a great and mighty work.
We ask all this in Jesus' mighty name.
Amen.
So our textual this evening is 1 Peter 1, verses 18 through 19.
But before we dive into these verses, we need to understand the purpose of this letter and
who Peter is writing to.
Throughout chapter 1, Peter makes it crystal clear that he is writing to struggling and
suffering Christians who do not feel at home in this fallen and ungodly world.
He describes these believers as refugees, exiles, aliens, and pilgrims who stick out
like sore thumbs in a culture that hates God.
And Peter doesn't want his brothers and sisters in Christ to feel discouraged that they are
being persecuted and are suffering.
Instead he wants them to be encouraged that they are experiencing the results of standing
apart from everyone else and acting different.
In the verses leading up to our passage, Peter gives a list of important commands.
He says, "Prepare your minds for action.
Be sober-minded.
Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.
Be holy in all your conduct and conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile."
Simply put, imitate your perfect and holy God by being who he has called you to be and
doing what he has called you to do.
Okay?
But why?
Why should these Christians choose to act differently from the world around them?
What is the motivation?
Well, Peter gives the motivation in verses 18 through 19 of chapter 1.
He says, "Knowing that you were ransomed, redeemed from the futile ways inherited from
your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ.
Like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."
So to fully unpack these verses and what redemption actually is, we need to ask and answer for
what questions this evening.
And the first what question on your outline is, what is redemption?
What is redemption?
When Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price to purchase my freedom and salvation.
Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price to purchase my freedom and salvation.
You know redemption was a common concept 2,000 years ago when it came to slavery and captivity.
Prisoners of war were not released until their ransom was delivered.
Prisoners were not set free until their debt was paid in full.
And it's essential for you to understand that apart from Christ, you have a sin debt hanging
over your head.
You are a sinner by nature and by choice.
And you have no one to blame for your spiritual bankruptcy besides yourself.
And this debt will not magically go away.
It must be paid by someone and there are only two options.
Option one is a payment plan.
You pay the penalty in hell forever.
The second option is much better.
And it's the one I hope you will choose.
Jesus Christ settles your debt once and for all through His death on the cross that you
can be set free.
You know as a pastor I'm asked a lot of theological questions on a weekly basis.
And one of the questions I receive almost more than any other, almost even more than
"Do my pets go to heaven?"
Which will always be the uncontested champion of theological questions.
I've lost count of how many people have asked me, "Why did Jesus have to die?"
Why did Jesus have to pay a price?
Why couldn't God just look past our sin, snap His divine fingers and say, "You know what?
Just forget about it.
Go on, go home.
Don't worry, you're all forgiven."
Have you ever wondered that?
Have you ever asked that question?
Well to answer that question let me walk you through a few scenarios.
Imagine with me after service you punch me in the face.
First of all, please don't do that.
Please, please.
Second of all, would there be consequences for your assault?
There's a lot of police officers here so I guess they could arrest you.
I could press charges.
What if you punch your boss in the face on Monday?
Would there be even worse consequences?
Yeah, on top of going to jail you'd also be fired from your job.
Imagine you were pulled over by a cop after service today and you punched that cop in
the face.
Were there serious consequences for that?
You would be in prison for a long time for assaulting an officer.
What if you punched the President of the United States or another world leader in the face?
Would there be even worse consequences for that?
You can maybe be charged with an assassination attempt.
Last question.
What is the penalty for slapping the creator of the universe in the face?
Sending against the eternal God demands eternal punishment.
The punishment has to fit the crime.
And infinite debt only makes sense for offending an infinite God.
Once again, someone has to pay your debt.
It cannot just be forgotten without someone covering the bill that you owe to the Lord.
So we answer the first what question of what is redemption, which leads into our second
question which we touched on a bit.
What does Christ redeem me from?
What does Christ redeem me from?
And Peter makes her crystal clear in verse 18.
He says you were ransom from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers.
So what does Christ redeem me from on your outline and empty life of bondage to sin that
leads to an excruciating eternity in hell?
Peter says that we have all inherited futile ways from our forefathers.
What does that even mean?
Well, it's very simple.
We all have been taught worthless ideas that lead to meaningless living.
You have been served an endless amount of lies throughout your entire life that are nice
and candy coated and look great on the outside, but on the inside are hollow.
So many people have no idea who created them, why they exist, and what their purpose even
is.
Instead of submitting to the perfect revelation of God, they make up their own pointless answers
to the question.
There is the you do you way of living.
You are the bright and shining star of your own universe.
Do whatever you want to do.
There's the close your eyes mentality and don't think about God.
Don't think about life and its meaning.
Don't think about death.
Don't think about what happens after death.
Just enjoy your life as long as it lasts.
There's the American dream.
You work really hard to get into a good college, so you can get a good job, so you can marry
the right person.
Have a bunch of kids who then repeat that same cycle.
Impressive degrees, a high paying job, successful children of the measures of success.
There's the empty religion school of thought.
Just pick whatever religious path seems good to you.
They all lead to the same destination.
You know that sentiment is almost true.
Every single spiritual path but one leads to the same destination, but that destination
is not a place you want to end up.
Every path but one that is laid out in God's word leads to an excruciating eternity away
from the loving and caring presence of Almighty God.
But whoever turns to Christ and walks by his way of salvation is redeemed and is rescued
from a life of dead end streets that go nowhere and a destiny of eternal suffering.
So we know what redemption is.
We also know what Christ redeems us from.
Our third what question, what does Christ redeem me with?
And Peter gives us the answer in verses 18 through 19.
He says, "Not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood
of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."
So what does Christ redeem me with?
His own life which is worth more than anyone or anything that this world has to offer.
You know according to the Old Testament law, the Israelites were commanded to only sacrifice
animals that were free of deformities, rashes, and other obvious issues.
They were to only sacrifice animals that were clear of disease and imperfections.
This trend first pops up in Exodus 12 as God tells the Israelites to spread the blood of
spotless lambs over their doorpost to be spared from death.
And these spotless lambs in every single Old Testament sacrifice point forward to the perfect
and spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who came into this world to lay down his own life
and pour out his own blood so that anyone who trusts in him will be washed of all their
sinful stains.
You know Psalm 49 verses 7 through 8 talks about the unimaginable cost of a human soul.
"Truly no man can ransom another or give to God the price of his life for the ransom of
their life is costly and can never suffice.
God cannot be bribed with gold, silver, a briefcase full of cash, or bitcoin, because
here he owns it all.
No mere human being can take the place of another or pay off the debt of someone else.
Only Jesus Christ who is fully God and fully man can bridge that gap and pay that price.
The blood of Christ is the only currency of redemption.
It is the only thing of true value that God the Father can or will accept.
Nothing more precious could ever be offered and nothing less will even be considered."
So we've answered three what questions.
What is redemption?
What does Christ redeem me from?
And what does Christ redeem me with?
We've talked about the theology of redemption.
Now let's close by talking about the application of redemption with our final question.
What does Christ's redemption require of me?
What does Christ's redemption require of me?
Well, firstly, acknowledging that I cannot work off my debt to God.
Acknowledging that I cannot work off my debt to God.
And my five-year-old son Sam loves Legos.
Now imagine with me that I take him to the Ross Park Mall to buy a very small and inexpensive
Lego set.
In the process, he knocks over and destroys five of their most expensive displays.
All told, I'm on the hook for $3,000 in damage.
And Sam hysterically says to me, "Dad, I promise I'll pay you back.
I don't have any money in my piggy bank right now, but here's what I'll do.
I'll go around the neighborhood and pull weeds for a penny of weed.
I promise I'll pay you back soon."
I'm not great at math, but $3,000, a penny of weed, how many weeds would he have to
pull to cover that debt?
How much?
300,000 weeds.
Come on, let's be realistic.
Is that ever going to happen?
No way.
That is way too high a sum for a five-year-old to handle on his own.
And the same way, your sinful sum is way too high for you to handle on your own.
Thinking that you can pay it off and work it back to God is as foolish as Sam thinking
that he can pull hundreds of thousands of weeds to pay off his debt to me.
You can never be good enough.
You can never do enough to earn your way back into God's good graces.
Isaiah 64-6 gives us an important insight about all the things that we think are righteous
deeds.
He says, "All of us have become like Juan who was unclean, and all our righteous acts
are like filthy rags.
We all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweeps us away."
The first step in receiving redemption is acknowledging your need for it and admitting
that you can never earn it or buy it for yourself.
So what does Christ redemption require of me?
Secondly, trusting that Christ has paid my debt in full.
Trusting that Christ has paid my debt in full.
While you are spiritually destitute and delinquent, Christ has an infinite amount of riches.
That He will give to you if you come to Him in humility and faith.
Your debt to God will now and forever be wiped away in an instant if you turn from your
sin and trust in Christ.
You must believe that He is your Savior and that the incomparable gift of His blood is
more than enough to cover your bill to the Lord.
I know what some of you are thinking, "Taylor, you have no idea how long and detailed my
sinful bill really is.
It's like a CVS receipt on steroids."
There's no way that God could forgive that.
I don't know the horrible things you've done.
I don't know all the things that are written on your debt to the Lord.
But do you know who does?
Jesus Christ.
He knows how broken you are.
He knows not just every single sin that you've committed, but every sin that you have yet
to commit.
Yet He offers you redemption anyway.
If you were to pull me aside for service to share your deepest, darkest secret with me,
I would have the same exact response to every single one of you.
There is no debt that the blood of Christ cannot pay, even yours.
But please stop making excuses for why Jesus can't forgive you and just ask Him to forgive
you.
And He will, because the Bible says so.
It's that simple.
Listen to how the Apostle Paul describes those who were saved.
In you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made
alive together with Christ, having forgiven us all our trespasses.
Not just some, not just most.
Oh, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Those verses can be true of you right now.
If you simply repent and turn to Christ.
I beg you, please don't leave tonight without making the most important transaction of your
life.
Submit your sinful bill to Christ that He will pay every last penny and then rip it up,
never to be seen again.
Finally, what does Christ redemption require of me?
Living for the one who gave himself for me.
Living for the one who gave himself for me.
You will not live for Christ until you are truly thankful for what He has done for you.
And your level of thankfulness to Christ will only reach as high as your genuine grasp of
what He has sacrificed for you.
Let me prove it to you with a few examples.
Would you be thankful if I let you borrow my hoodie because you were chilly during service?
Pastor Jeff, would you be thankful?
But Pastor Jeff wouldn't break his hand patting me on the back for that, right?
How thankful would you be if I let, if I lent you my car for a whole week while you're
just getting worked on?
You would repeatedly express your gratitude, maybe even send me a thank you note.
What if I found out you were homeless and I let you move into my house rent free?
How thankful would you be?
You would go out of your way to express your gratitude by cleaning up around the house,
doing all the chores outside that I don't like to do.
How thankful would you be if I pushed you out of the way of a moving car and died in
your place?
You wouldn't even know where to begin with expressing your gratitude and honoring my
memory and helping my family.
Magnify that made up example times a billion and describing how grateful you should be as
a redeemed sinner.
The eternal Son of God died in your place so that you could have eternal life.
We hear that so much, but do you really think about it?
Do you think about how unbelievable that is?
Praise Him for what He has done because He deserves it.
Thank Him for all that He has given to you instead of complaining about all the things
that you don't have.
Stop living for yourself and start living for Him.
You need to be thankful to Christ, but you also need to recognize that you belong to
Christ.
Once your debt is scratched out of God's heavenly ledger, you can't just say, "Hey, God, thanks.
I'll see you later when I get to heaven.
I'm off to do whatever I want to do now."
Paul tells us why that doesn't make sense in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 19 through
20.
"You are not your own, for you were bought with a what?
With a price.
Your life is not your life.
Since Jesus gave you His life, your life is now His life.
Christ ransomed you from slavery to sin so that He could make you His own personal slave."
That may sound bad, but it's actually the greatest news imaginable because everyone is enslaved
to something and someone.
Money, stuff, possessions, status.
These are all harsh dictators that care nothing for you.
And Satan has dibs on every single person who rejects Christ, and he hates everyone who
is enslaved to him.
But the Christian slave has the freest life of all because you belong to the only master
who truly loves you, who calls you his friend.
And once what is best for you?
And what is best for you is giving everything you have for Jesus, his glory, and his kingdom.
This means that you look and act different.
How you spend your time should look different than everyone else.
More than anything, you want to meet with God and His Word and in prayer every single
day.
How you view your relationship should be different.
You want to be with your brothers and sisters in Christ, worshiping, fellowshiping, and
serving together.
You want to reach out to unbelievers in your life so that they can experience the redemption
that you've experienced.
You view your resources differently.
Your gifts, talents, and resources are not to be used to get ahead and advance your own
plans.
And you may be thinking, "Wow, this sounds really inconvenient."
You still don't get it.
True Christians are those who happily rearrange their lives around Christ because they realize
they belong to Him and not themselves.
Turning your life upside down is not an annoying inconvenience.
It is an absolute pleasure because Jesus Christ is more than worthy and His redemptive rewards
are more than worthwhile.
You know what, Harvest?
Some choose to designate their financial giving towards certain ministries and missions.
You can designate your giving to the building fund, the General Missions Fund, or to Thailand
to go to Barnabas and his band of missionaries and evangelists.
And I promise you, if you ever designate your giving, the finance team honors your wishes.
If you designate your giving to the building fund, it goes to the building fund.
If you designate your giving to go to Thailand, it goes directly to Thailand.
Do you know that the Lord Jesus designates His giving?
He paid an infinite price, but His giving is geared towards one specific purpose, redeeming
and recruiting genuine worshipers.
Jesus only purchases selfless givers, not selfish consumers.
He only purchases loyal friends, not flaky acquaintances.
He only purchases faithful servants, not lazy slackers.
Do not belittle the price Jesus paid by choosing to be the exact opposite of what He paid for.
Do not undermine His sacrifice by choosing to act like everyone else.
Do not dishonor the Lord of your life by acting as if you are the Lord of your life.
Our worship team and communion service can make their way forward.
You know, we spent a lot of time tonight talking about redemption, but now we're actually going
to look at a physical picture of it as we turn to the Lord's Supper.
Sin forces us to count the cost of salvation and focus our attention upon Jesus Christ
and Him crucified.
When we eat the bread and drink of the cup, we are reminded that Jesus gave His own body
and shed His own priceless blood to ransom us from captivity to sin and give us His eternal
riches.
And to be clear, you don't have to be a member of harvest to take part in communion, but
you do need to be a member of the family of God.
So if you have not yet turned to Christ, I want to ask you to stay seated and contemplate
the meaning and message of the cross.
Once again, I want to call you to not leave this room without making the most important
decision of your life.
Please stop Pastor Jeff, myself, from one of the other elders.
We have Justin over here.
We have Brian right here and Pastor Rich in the back.
We would love nothing more than to talk to you about Jesus and what next steps with Him
looks like.
And for those who are born again believers in this room, we're going to do something
a bit different tonight for communion.
In a few moments, you will leave your seats, come down the center aisles to receive the
elements.
You'll go back to your seat using the outer aisles and you'll be taking communion on
your own.
I ask you to eat the bread and drink at the cup, not quickly or flippantly, but prayerfully.
Take time to confess to the Lord.
Take time to thank Him for all that He has done for you through the life and death of
His Son.
And after you're done, we ask that you please leave respectfully and quietly.
We want you to feel the weight of the cross upon your shoulders so that you can come right
to celebrate the resurrection of the empty tomb on Sunday.
So you can make your way forward as you are ready.
Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Peter 1:18-19
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Do you ever take your redemption for granted? How can you protect yourself from this indifference?
Read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - According to Paul, why can’t you just live however you want to live? How is your Heavenly Master calling you to change and serve Him more faithfully right now?
Breakout
Pray for one another.
