Subject One Hundred Eighty-five

ETERNAL REDEMPTION

Scripture: Heb. 9:12

1. The need for redemption
   1. Man is sinful before God.
   2. God is righteous and so is His law. The law has a righteous requirement because of man’s sins.
   3. When man’s sin confronts God’s righteousness, there is a need for redemption.
2. The meaning of redemption
   1. Redemption resolves man’s sins before God according to the requirement of God’s righteousness.
   2. Because of God’s righteousness, sinful men must die. So in order to redeem them, there must be another death. Only another death can satisfy the requirement of God’s righteousness, and only such a death can redeem men from their sins.
3. The type of redemption
   1. In the time of the Old Testament, before redemption was accomplished, God set up a type of redemption.
   2. Redemption was typified by the offering of goats and bulls. Goats and bulls were killed, and blood was shed to accomplish atonement for man’s sins.
   3. The death and shed blood of goats and bulls was only a shadow, not the reality; while it made atonement for sins, it could not redeem men from their sins.
4. The accomplishment of redemption
   1. Redemption was accomplished on the cross. The Lord Jesus bore man’s sins on the cross and suffered the punishment for sins. Thus He fulfilled the requirement of God’s righteousness and accomplished redemption for man.
   2. The redemption of the Lord Jesus is not a symbol, but a reality. The blood of goats and bulls in the Old Testament time was only a symbol, but the redemption of Christ on the cross is a real accomplished fact.
5. The nature of redemption
   1. Redemption is eternal.
   2. “Eternal” not only refers to time, but in nature it also denotes a completion, something accomplished once for all.
   3. So Christ’s redemption, being eternal, is applicable and available to all men at any time.
6. How to partake of Christ’s redemption
   Develop this point.