So we turn our Bibles over to tell you a little later the exact text. There's one over in, I would say, the text I want to speak on this morning is redemption. What redemption is, and there are about five texts I want to read later on. But before I do get into that, I want to speak on the conclusion of what I spoke on. about three months ago when I returned from the North, you recall, I took up a series of studies on salvation. We spoke on salvation, the greatness of God's salvation. It's great because it's common. And the word common doesn't mean cheap. The word common means everyone. And so God's salvation is a common salvation. It's to all. and it is also an eternal salvation. It lasts forever, and also a complete salvation. You can't add to it. You cannot take from it. And this salvation includes or covers like an umbrella, forgiveness of sins, justification, and regeneration and conversion. We spoke on the last one about three months ago. Lord Willing will be speaking on redemption next week. But I want to go back a little for the last of that last message, that is of conversion. I didn't have the time then. The clock ran out, so I'm going to give them to you this morning. The wonderful subject of conversion, and it is essential for three things. There are three things that are absolutely essential if you're going to be converted. The one I was going to refer to is in the nineteenth chapter of the Psalms, a wonderful chapter. And there you'll find that about the word, that the word of God is perfect, converting the soul. Do you remember that? Or you can read it in Psalm nineteen. converting the soul. Yet hardly think of finding that verse in the Old Testament. Conversion through the word. And that's exactly what conversion is. It's through the word of God. There's no salvation without the word. We're born again, not a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The word of God is what leads man to conversion. And in Psalm nineteen, the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech. Night unto night showeth forth knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone throughout all the world. His words to the end of the earth. And His word is universal. We've just referred to that. His word can be seen by the sun and by the moon because both of them are universal. But now I want... Of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is true. making wise the simple. And the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandments of the Lord are pure, enlightening the eyes. There are seven things there, referring to the Word of God. How wonderful, how marvelous God's Word is. And there is the Psalms. You find God speaking to man through creation. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show of His handily work. That's one of the things that God is going to hold man responsible for. Man is responsible to God because of what God has established, and that is His power in creating the world. Man is responsible. No intelligent being could look up to the sky at night and see all those stars. And he's thrown those stars into the space from his fingertips. And there they are, these whirling planets. And there you have God speaking to man, a little creature, man. And here is a mighty God. And he's speaking to the human race by his great creation. And what a creation is. It converts the soul. And I tell you, it does convert the soul. The word of God many a time spoke to me, although brought up in a Christian home. I realized there was a God. Many a time I looked up to the heavens and saw the stars and the blinding sun in the daytime. God was speaking. And we know what the, the ones who go out into space have brought back. of knowledge that there is a God, and there is, and that's the God you're going to have to meet. There is a God. And you see it by His handily work. Now, you won't get saved by the planets. You won't get saved by creation only. If you were to note the last words of that chapter, the Psalms, you'd find My Redeemer. Creation alone. will not save you. But creation leads man to realize God's power, his might. But the cross leads man because of God's love. God has displayed his power in the universe, but he displayed his love at the cross. The planets alone. His creation will not save you alone. But by creation reminding you of that God who gave His Son, that's where salvation is found at the cross. So you have the witness of the worlds and the Word. The message of the skies, the message of the Scriptures are found in Psalm nineteen. And also the meditation of the soul, the meditations of your heart, are found in that psalm. The universe may not have a language of lip, but it is not speechless. Though voiceless, it is a silent, eloquent voice saying there is a God, a mighty God. A missionary one time heard of a tribe of Indians down in a certain valley. He decided to go and try... and get the gospel to them. And when he saw them, a group of these Indians in their lovely attire, he began to speak to them of God's creation. He referred to the lovely birds that sing on their feathers, and the beasts of this land, that he saw the lion, the majestic lion, and all other beasts, he spoke of them. He also spoke of the lovely flowers scattered everywhere. He spoke also of the starry sky and the silent force, those dense force and the awesome silence. He also spoke of the lightning, the mighty lightning that rifled the mighty oak. He also spoke to them of the rivers. He spoke to them of the grandeur of the valleys, the rolling hills, and the rushing rivers. But when he got through all his speech on nature, those Indians could have told him a little more. But he shocked those Indians when he said this, that great spirit who created the world's had a son. and he sent that Son into the world to die on the cross for you. They never heard that before. Creation will not save you alone. You must get to the cross. And so we have, you are saved by listening to the word. The language of nature, but the language of this book, there's no Salvation, there's no conversion without listening to the voice of God. In creation and in this book that speaks of the cross. There are a couple of verses that are very important. You find one in Isaiah forty and seven, and it says this. The voice said cry. Isaiah said, What shall I cry? All flesh is as grass. and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field. The grass withered it, the flower faded, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The flower faded, but the word of the Lord abideth forever. And this is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you. and the grass speaks of the ordinary man. The flowers speak of man at his best. And those words, the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. That's what the Spirit of God has to do before a man or woman is saved. He blows upon the ordinary folk who live for this life and for man at his best. A man with all his eloquence, a man with all his money, a man with all his achievements, a man with all his skills, the Spirit of God blows upon man's best. He has to, before man comes to redemption. And so the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon the grass and upon the flowers. Now I want to also speak of the second thing in reference to conversion. Not only the Word of the Lord, but Humility. And I want you to listen to this. Matthew eighteen three. He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Accept ye be converted. There it is. And become as a little child, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of God. If the word of God is essential for conversion, so is humility. The Lord Jesus is referring to to a little child. A little child is helpless, is boastless. It can't boast of achievement, and it is also not only boastless, but worthless, worksless. He knows he can't do any great works. He's worthless, worksless. But another thing about a child, it's truthful. Another thing about a child, it's teachable. And so man has got to take the place of a little child. He's helpless. He doesn't know great things, and he can do great things. He can't speak of good works or good life because he hadn't engaged in good works. He hasn't lived a good life. But a child is humble. and teachable, and said, Christ, you'll never enter into the kingdom of heaven unless you become like a little child. And so you have conversion, and it's essential that you hear the word. And to become a Christian and be converted, it is essential that you are humble. The third essential thing in conversion. Conversion is by repentance. Repent, there ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times are refreshing, shall come from the presence of the Lord. This is Acts, three and nineteen. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must receive until the time of restitution of all things was gone as spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. So that was the conclusion I didn't give it three months ago, but I've given you the last three points about conversion. To be converted, the word of God's essential. To be converted, you must be humble. To be converted, you must repent. For there's no salvation. Apart from those three things. Conversion, what does it mean? It means a change from one state or condition to another. It is a conversion, a change completely, like cold or coke or cold ashes, a complete change, or substituting one thing for another, converting bonds into cash. And also conversion is a spiritual experience involving a drastic change of belief. That's a change, a complete change. And that's what salvation is. Salvation is something that you see and feel and know. What you was and what you are. And I know when I was nineteen years of age, a change took place in my heart as I sat beside my father in the kitchen of our home up in Canada. My dad spoke to me. I just listened to a message that night at the little chapel. And as I went home, I was under deep conviction. But when we got in and I sat down and father sat beside me, he said, Son, you know your loss. Yes, Dad, I knew it. You need to be saved, yes. I know that. Well, he says the angels of heaven are waiting for your decision. And he quoted that verse, Let the angels bear their tidings upward to the courts of heaven. Let them sing with holy rapture or another soul forgiven. He said, Will you take Christ? Will you trust Him? I would burden. I wanted to be saved. And as if the angels were listening. Ready to go, I looked up and I said, Go, I'll accept Christ. And a change took place right then. Quarter past nine on the third of May, nineteen twenty-five, I sat down a sinner. I stood up, a child of God. Mother and father stepped forward and we threw our arms around each other and sang our first trio together. Oh, happy day that fixed my choice on thee, my Savior, and my God. Well, may this glowing heart rejoice until its rapture is all abroad. Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away. There was a change, a big change. Others saw it, and I thank God for it. And friend, when a person changes, a true conversion means a true change. And that's what must take place if a person is ever to go to heaven. Now I want to get into our subject of conversion or redemption. That's another phase of salvation. Conversion is one phase and redemption is another. And we mentioned several last year. But here you have a good point. in connection with man's redemption, another phase of salvation, that is, to be redeemed. What is redemption? Redemption means to redeem, to ransom, to recover, to rescue, to restore, to deliver, to liberate, to set free. And now are the verses I referred to at the beginning. On redemption. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, curse it is every one that hangeth on a tree. Then in Colossians one, fourteen, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. First Peter one, eighteen, for as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with such corruptible things as silver and gold, but from your vain conversation received by tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ out of a lamb without spot, without blemish. And again in Titus two fourteen, who gave himself of us, for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify under himself a peculiar people zealot of good works. And Hebrews nine twelve, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered into the holiest, having made and obtained redemption for us. There are those lovely texts speaking of redemption, how wonderful redemption is. Man's a slave. He's a slave to sin. He's a slave to Satan. He's a slave to the law. Man needs deliverance. Man is an addict. Many today are addicts to dope. Yes, addicts to dope. Man is a hostage. We know something of that in these days. Man is a hostage and his captors demand payment. And you are a hostage of Satan. You're a hostage of sin unless you're born again. You're a hostage. to a good life. In other words, something you're hiding in or holding on to, something that's got you in its grasp short of Jesus Christ. How these hostages long to be released. There they are over in the Middle East. Every one of them, some have got out, others are there, longing for the moment when they'll be released. There are people today longing for the release from what they're in, for what they've done. Yes, they're hostages. There are some who long to be released. In other words, to be set free. They long to know something of that fresh air, such as these hostages will breathe when they come out. It's like stepping into a new world, coming out of a dungeon. Yes, the man needs to be delivered. He's a hostage. Some are addicts to alcohol. Some are addicts to crime. Some they are addicts to other habits. We'll not mention. The captors demand the payment. You pay so much and we release the hostage. And remember this. that you are in sin and there's a price to be paid for your deliverance. How they long for it. Do you long to be saved? Do you long to know Christ? Do you long to know your sins forgiven? Do you long to know you're redeemed? Do you long to know that you pass from death until life? Do you long for these things, these cherished things? Do you long for them? You can have them. They're free. The price has been paid. To know there are millions who are willing to stay in that bondage. They are willing to live their own life. They are willing to live in sin. They are willing to be shackled. They are willing to be in bondage. They are willing to be in drudgery. They are willing to be just as they are. Let me alone. I am having a good time. Don't bother me. Don't talk to me about those things. I love the world and all that's in it. I'm going to have a good time." Yes, there are millions like that. They're satisfied to be in bondage. And I want to say this, there are religious slaves. People who are in a religion that they're perfectly satisfied with, perfectly willing to continue. I want you to remember that it was strict religion that crucified Christ. It was strict religion that cried away with this man will not have him to reign over us. It was the scribes and the Pharisees, the scholars of the law. The scribes and Pharisees who said to perfection, away with this man will not have him to reign over us. Yes, that's man in bondage. Those poor Pharisees and tribes, they were enslaved to the law, and they didn't want liberty in Christ. Sad, isn't it? Satisfied with the tradition of our fathers, we read in one of those verses. I'm what my father and mother were, and what my grandfather and grandfather were. It runs in our family. We're satisfied with the fast. Satisfied. Satisfied with religion. Satisfied with living a good life. Yes, a lot of people are perfectly satisfied in living a good life. A respectable life. But what does Isaiah say in Isaiah fifty-five? Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfieth not? Archon diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good. And let your soul delight itself in fatness incline your ear. And come unto me, here, and your soul shall live, that I will make an everlasting covenant with you, given the sure mercies of David. That's the only way to satisfaction. Satisfied with church membership, satisfied with living a good life. Now some people are. You wonder why. They don't have the satisfaction of knowing their sins are gone. They are peace with God. They shall never, never perish. A number of years ago I went to Bob Jones University with some other Christians from Augusta because a couple of the young people... of these parents that were graduating. There I heard Mr. Ironside, Dr. Ironside, and I heard Vance Havner, who died just a few months ago. I remember Vance Havner speaking, and he really blistered modernism. And he spoke about people sitting in their pews and listening to men who would not accept the word of God, the Bible as the strict and only word of the living God. They don't believe in the Persian birth. They don't believe in blood atonement. They don't believe in a literal heaven and a literal hell. They don't believe in the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he went on. And it was a blistering and searching message. Afterwards, a lady of means, went down the aisle and she said, Brother Hafner, I know what you're talking about. She said, my parents were brought up in this church right in that pew. My grandparents sat in that very pew. And she said, that's where I sit now. She said, we used to have a preacher who used to preach the gospel. But this one doesn't. He's a modernist. But Brother Taffner, Brother, why don't you believe that I could still sit here and listen to this other? After all, that pew is sacred to me because of my grandparents and my parents. And there she sat. She said, Brother, Taffner, what do you think? He says, Pew. That's all he had to say. That's enough to make you sick for people to sit and listen to modernism and neglect the fullness of the life of Jesus Christ that's in him. And so we have this wonderful truth of being saved and being satisfied. But to be ransomed, to be redeemed, has cost something. It's not free. Redemption in Jesus Christ is costly. It's a price you shall pay yourself. Richard, Prince Richard of England, he was called the Lionhearted. He was captured by his treacherous enemy when he was coming back from Europe after a crusade. and his enemy caught him and he was cast into prison. And it was a colossal demand. He demanded that the British people pay a colossal ransom for their king's deliverance. What did the people of England do? They submitted to that demand for strict taxation, and the poor brought of their poverty, the rich brought of their riches, and they gave all they had in order to let their good king and the king they loved be set of liberty. A price had to be paid. But also in the time all King Bargaybald He was captured by the Saracens and thrust into prison. They wanted his deliverance, and there was a price paid. His cruel enemies said, if you want, I'm all delivered. We demand the lily white hand of his beautiful wife. And she took off the dog for they wore gloves up the elbow. She laid her hand on the block. And the axe came down and severed her hand and left it on the block. That was the plight that Saracen demanded of the ones who held this king. She paid it because she loved them. She paid it. It was a terrible price. But she did it willingly because of her love for her husband. Friend, that's what men have done and women. But God had to pay a price. A price had to be paid. And God gave his son not to have one hand chopped off or two, but both hands and both feet nailed in the cross. That's the price of redemption. That's the price that's paid. God paid it. Jesus Christ paid it, and He paid it willingly. He didn't draw back. He was not rebellious, neither drew back, but He gave His back to the smiteers and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair He hid not His face from shame or spitting. Jesus Christ, he went straight to the cross. He set his face at a flint to go to Jerusalem, knowing the things that should be fallen there. He knew the mockery that awaited him. He knew what would take place when they were in Pilate's hall, demand his life. And Jesus Christ did not whimper nor complain. He did not falter or hesitate. He went straight to the cross. He could have spoken a word, and they all would have fled. But he didn't. He willingly paid the price. Blood flowed from that priest's hand. Yes, but blood flowed from both hands and feet inside of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the price of redemption. That's the price to set the hostage free. That's the price to set the sinner free, the religious sinner. The poor, lost, ungodly sinner, there's only one price. There's not two. One price. Precious, precious blood of Jesus, shed on Calvary, shed for evil, shed for sinners, shed for me. And that's the price that will have to be paid. Lord, for you to be saved. If you're not a Christian this morning, I trust you'll become one. No longer remain in shackles. No longer remain a prisoner, a captive, an addict to other things. Oh, to become, set free in Jesus Christ. And if you put all your sins away, he'll give you everlasting life, you'll never perish. You're redeemed. redeemed how I love to proclaim it. I wonder if you would like to be redeemed this morning. Jesus Christ is waiting. Angels are waiting. Heaven is waiting. And so is hell. Hell wants you to go on as you're going. Heaven laughs when he sees a sinner turn away from Christ and the Word. though heaven will rejoice for the joy and the presence of the angel of God over one sinner that repents. So I wonder if you'll be that one sinner rejoices for everyone that gets saved. Heaven is glad. Heaven celebrates when one soul comes to Jesus Christ and says, I want to be free. And he says, you shall be free. If you accept me, me only, and all that they did. You can't add to it, you can't take from it. The work was done at Calvary. And God was satisfied with what Jesus Christ did in order that you might be saved. Will you trust Christ? Will you trust him now? I trust you will. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come into thy presence. We ask thy blessing upon thy word. How we thank thee for the word of God. We thank thee for its message. Father, we thank thee for those who are here today, who have believed, who have received that message, and now are free and happy in God's salvation, on the way to heaven. There may be some who are not. For them we pray. We ask thee, Lord, by thy spirit, to convict hearts and quicken them into life in Christ, all because Jesus died, all because of his precious blood, that he shed at Calvary. We ask it in his name. Amen. Shall we sing in closing? The hundred and seventy-six. Jesus, I come. Jesus, I come. Out of my bondage, sorrow, and might, Jesus, I come. Jesus, I come. Into thy freedom, gladness, and light. Jesus, I come to thee. As we will sing this hymn, three hundred and seventy-six of you, except that Christ come and tell us, if not, we'll be glad to speak to you after the service.