Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20040107.htm

APPLYING THE CHRISTIAN'S POSITIONAL RICHES IN CHRIST
Part II: Applying The Truth That Believers Are Redeemed By Christ's Death
  1. Introduction
    1. One of the great needs in the hearts of people today, especially in people of a religious background where legalism and guilt has been prevalent is the need for a sense of hope in their relationship with a perfectly righteous, holy God -- that they can actually be secure in His acceptance of them.
    2. The REDEMPTION wrought in man's behalf by the work of the Son of God on the cross reveals an edifying solution to anyone's sense of hopeless condemnation before a holy God:
  2. Applying The Truth That Believers Are Redeemed By Christ's Death.
    1. Regarding the world's individuals, God through Christ has redeemed (agoradzo - cf. Ryrie, Jesus Christ Our Lord, p. 163-165) the world, paying for its sins on the cross so that all individuals are owned by God and are obligated to obey Him in believing in Christ, 1 Tim. 2:6; [1 Jn. 2:2; 2 Cor. 5:19]; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 Cor. 6:19-20 [Acts 17:30]. This means anyone may author faith in Christ to be saved in response to the work of the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, Jn. 16:7ff; Rev. 22:17.
    2. Regarding believers, the redemption of Christ as applied to our souls in salvation secures us an infinitely eternal, unconditional, positional acceptance by a perfectly righteous, holy God as follows:
      1. By the application of Christ's redemption to us as believers, we Christians are highly valued by God as we have been acquired by the high price of the substitutionary sacrifice of the Son of God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ (peripoieo - Ibid., p. 166-167), Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 1:18-19.
      2. By the application of Christ's redemption to us, we Christians are liberated from an insurmountably condemned relationship with an infinitely righteous, holy God:
        1. We believers in Christ have been bought by Christ's redemption to be freed by God's forgiveness from any accountability to God for our pre-salvation sins (Ibid., p. 169 - apolutrosis), Ephesians 1:7.
        2. We believers in Christ have been bought by Christ's redemption out from the slave market of sin (exagoradzo - Ibid., p. 165-166) for complete liberation from God's righteous requirements for us in the Mosaic Law: (a) We are liberated from having to keep God's righteous requirements in the Mosaic Law to be righteous in the Christian life, Gal. 4:5; 1 Pet. 1:18. (b) We are liberated from the curse of that Law for failing to keep all of it in our pre-salvation lives, Gal. 3:13 and 3:10.
      3. By the application of Christ's redemption to us as believers, we Christians are redirected from bad to good works in living: we were bought for purification from all iniquity and preparation for good works by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, Titus 2:14 (lutroo - Ibid., p. 167) with Romans 8:3-4.
      4. By the application of Christ's redemption to us as believers, we Christians are positionally glorified in Christ and will thus be experientially glorified as applied to our bodies: our physical bodies will be unconditionally translated unto glorified bodies at the rapture, and we will then be taken by God into His heavenly, glorious presence, Rom. 8:23 (Ibid., p. 170 & apolutrosis) with 2 Cor. 5:4-5; Eph. 1:3-7.
Lesson: (1) Because of Christ's redemption, God is free and willing to save anyone who authors faith in His Son for salvation. (2) For us who believe, the full application of Christ's redemption leads us to rest in our acceptance by God so that what we DO NOW is NOT done to GAIN God's acceptance, but is performed out of praise and thanksgiving to a God Who showers His infinite love upon us.

Application: (1) We owe the Gospel to the lost that they might believe it to be saved. (2) As believers, (a) know that Christ's redemption makes us highly VALUED by God and (b) frees us from the hurdles of relating to a holy God: namely, ((a)) we are forgiven all pre-salvation sins, ((b)) we are free from having to keep any part of the Mosaic Law for the Christian life [versus what Gothardism, Reformed Theology, Seventh Day Adventism, et al. teach], ((c)) we are free from the Law's curse for our pre-salvation failure to keep all of it [contrary to what Catholicism teaches], ((d)) we are directed from sinning to do good works by God's power and ((e)) we are unconditionally destined to be translated into glorious bodies and taken into God's heaven without threat of facing a purgatory or slipping from our salvation status into a lost state and going to hell [versus what Catholicism or Arminianism teach]! (3) God's acceptance of us is SURE, so may we LIVE for Him in praise and thanksgiving!