Kesler, Harold: Romans Chapter 9; 04 ~ Romans 9;

To Romans chapter three. The book of Romans, chapter three. Now, some of you will remember that Sunday night we read a verse from chapter nine, verse twenty three. I'm going to read that, you won't need to turn to it unless you care to, just to refresh our memory. And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory. And we were speaking of the fact that this verse tells us that vessels of glory must be prepared for glory. They must be prepared by God, and they must be prepared beforehand. And then we mentioned that in the book of Romans, we have that doctrine that tells us how God does prepare these vessels of mercy for glory. We also mentioned Monday night that this preparation is threefold: judicial, spiritual, and physical. Judicially, we have in the book of Romans, to a great, in great detail, we have a, a reference only to that spiritual preparation and to the physical preparation. Judicially means that we have to have our sins put away, and we have to be clothed in a righteousness that God will accept. We, in other words, we have to be delivered from sin as to its penalty, and we have to be acceptable unto God, and that we have in the book of Romans. But in chapter six and verse twenty three it says, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The gift of God is eternal life. Well, now the judicial preparation that we have been dwelling upon is a work for us, but the spiritual is a work in us. The judicial aspect can all be summed up in three words: justification, the righteousness of God, and redemption. But when it comes to the eternal life, and the divine nature, and the establishing of the divine relationship, it's regeneration, not justification. Justification accomplishes a work for us, but regeneration accomplishes a work in us, and he that hath begun a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Well, then if, if after we have accepted Christ as our Savior, and we judicially are fitted for heaven and spiritually are fitted for heaven, and if the Lord would happen to take us away by death, we know that it would be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. The Apostle Paul said, I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ. And Peter spoke of the same thing when he said, he spoke of his disease, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle. That is this body, this penthouse that he's living in. And when death comes to a believer, it's to leave this body, this penthouse, this tabernacle, and to be at home with the Lord. Well, what about the body? Romans eight twenty three says we wait for the adoption to wit the redemption of the body. We wait for that. We wait for the redemption of the body, not for the price to be paid, but for the liberation to be affected. And that's in experience. And so if we were to turn to Philippians chapter three and verses nineteen and 20, we read that our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change these vile bodies and fashion them like unto his own glorious body. And again we read, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And so we await the coming of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, the transformation of the living at his coming, and that has to do with the body. I don't know whether we'll get to that in these meetings or not, maybe we will, but we have been dwelling to a great extent on justification in both of its application. Now, in Romans chapter three, we're going to read verses twenty one through twenty four, just to bring us up to date. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now, one more verse, verse ten, chapter three: As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Now, if we think of those two verses together, that is this verse and verse twenty three, there is none righteous, no, not one. Verse twenty three, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And in connection with these two verses, as well as the others that are included in God's indictment of the human race, he says that the whole world might become guilty, that every mouth might be stopped, and the whole world become guilty before God. And that's the summing up of the whole thing. There's none righteous, all have sinned, the whole world's guilty. Now, we pointed out that in verse ten we have a reference not to what man does, but to what man is. There is none righteous. That speaks of man's condition, man in his natural state. He is unrighteous. He is sinful by nature. You don't have to teach a child to do wrong, but you have to teach them to do right. Isn't that true? Instinctively, man does wrong, and you have to discipline them and teach them to do right. Man has a fallen nature that we received from Adam, our first ancestor, and we came into this world sinful creatures by nature. Well, then, because of what we were by nature, we became sinners by practice, and that's in verse twenty three: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, this doesn't speak of what we are, this speaks of what we've done. One speaks of our condition, and the other speaks of our practice. None righteous, all have sin. Now, I think we take a little time to and comment on the last part of verse twenty two. We have, but I think we'll refer to it again tonight. For there is no difference. Now, of course, the no difference here is linking the Jew and the Gentile together. There's no difference between the religious Jew and the idolatrous Gentile by nature. No difference. Why? For all have sinned. Now, it doesn't say that there is not a difference as to the extent of sin. First, none righteous, all the same by condition, by nature, and then no difference, for all have sinned. And that simply tells us not that all have sinned to the same extent. Some have gone much deeper into sin than others. And some people find a strange consolation in the fact that they can point their fingers at other people and say, I haven't lived like they did. I don't do the things that they do, like that public, that Pharisee we were looking at. I thank God I'm not as other men are. And before he got through, he says, even this public, he wasn't like that guy. See? And people think they're all right because they're not as bad as somebody else. Well, this is not talking about the extent of sin. This is talking about the facts of sin. All have sin. And that takes in the best to the worst. We were talking, discussing a little something about law keeping, and I have a confession to make. I'm not going down and confess it to the judge, though, but day before yesterday, I ran through a red light and made a left turn on a street where it says no left turn, all within a block and a half, right here in Omaha. I wasn't looking at the signal. I was trying to decide whether to turn. I made up my mind to go on through, and by that time the signal was red, and I was gone. I got to the next corner, it says no left turn, but I'd already turned before I saw the top. Now, I didn't break every ordinance in Omaha. There are hundreds of ordinances on the statute book that I did not violate. But if I violated one, it makes me a lawbreaker. I have broken the law. And so it is with sin. I may not do the sins that some people do, but I have sinned, and so have you. And that makes you a sinner. And so he says there's no difference for all of sin. Well, now what we need then, if we're guilty as to practice, we need to be cleared of the guilt, or else we must pay the penalty. And that's what we have in the first aspect of justification, which means to render a verdict of acquittal, and only God can do that. He brings us all before him, and he says, guilt! And then he can take individuals, and he can say, not yet. Isn't that wonderful? God can do that and still be just in doing it. So we need to be cleared of the guilt because of our practice. And we looked at a number of verses, but for the sake of time, we just referred to one tonight, chapter five and verse nine: Much more than, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Now, there are several things in this verse, very important and very precious. I know some dear people who are dear to me. They're not, they're many miles from Omaha, so it's not any of you folks, but when they pray, they say to the Lord, save us in the end. Now, the reason that they pray like that is because that they have been taught that it's impossible to be saved and know it. That people die, and someday all who have died, which will be all, will enter into a general resurrection, and all will stand before God in a general judgment, and we will be judged. And then, at the close of the judgment, we will find out whether we're going up to heaven or down to hell, and we won't know till then. Now, that's very common. People have been led to believe that. Well, this verse says, much more being now justified. That doesn't mean I'm going to be justified after I stand before God in judgment. I am justified right now, and I have his word for it. All right. Then you put this verse along with John five twenty four. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into what? Judgment. The word is condemnation, but it means judgment. Shall not come into judgment. So God tells the person who has been justified that he is now justified and that he will not come into judgment. So there's no thought of standing before God to be find out whether I'm going to be saved or not. He says, being now justified and shall not come into judgment. Well, then notice the next part of this. Being now justified by his blood. What does that mean? Some people call this a bloody religion. Well, without shedding a blood is no relation, no, no remission. And if you don't have a salvation by blood, you have no salvation at all. Without shedding of blood is no remission. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. How much? All sin. What does it mean? Well, in the gospel it says Christ died for our sins. That's what it means. Justified by his blood, the Lord Jesus on the cross poured out his lifeblood onto death. And during those conscious hours on the cross, and all of them were conscious hours, but I'm speaking after the darkness closed in. He bear our sins. He was made sin for us. Christ died for our sins. Then what is the next thing? And we shall be saved from wrath through him. Now, why won't we come into judgment? Because Christ has borne the judgment for us. Christ died for our sin. We're justified by his blood. We who were guilty can be cleared of the guilt before, because the Lord Jesus bore the penalty that was due to us. Result shall not, will, shall be delivered from the wrath to come. Now we are justified right now, and we shall be delivered from the wrath to come. That's justification. Taking away our guilt, and he did it because he bears the penalty of our sins when he suffered at the hands of a holy God and gave his life on the cross. Well, then what about the righteousness? But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Well, we have not only all sinned, but we are, there is none righteous. So we have no standing before God in ourselves, and justification means not only to render innocent, but to declare right. So when he delivered us of the guilt, it saved us from the penalty. But when he declared us righteous, it made us fit for his presence. And that is a righteousness that we could not produce. They, being ignorant of God's righteousness, set about to establish their own righteousness, and it says they attained not unto the righteousness. He's talking of the Jews there, and that's true of any person. Who think that they can produce for themselves a righteousness that will make them acceptable to God shows that they are ignorant of the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God intrinsically, and the righteousness of God that he imputes. God's own attribute of righteousness forbids that we could produce anything that would make us acceptable in his sight. But his grace has provided a righteousness that he imputes that makes us acceptable in his sight. Now turn to chapter four, and we're going to just read this and go on to for tonight. Chapter four, verse five: But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, you'll notice in this passage we have verse six, blessed is the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness. But it goes on and says, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. In the one verse, the man is blessed because of what he does impute, but in the other verse, he's blessed because of what he won't impute. And the word impute means to reckon to, put to the account of. And we were using the figure of a simple set of books. All that was against us on the debit side has been put away. We've been cleared of the guilt, and all that we've been there on the credit side, where we have nothing to our account, he has put down to our account the righteousness of God, which is by faith. He imputes righteousness, and he will not impute sin to a person who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as a savior. And we close with a picture in Zechariah. Now I'm going to turn to this and read it. If you care to, you can. Last night we started, uh, with a little thought in connection with our own personal lives. You know, sometimes if we look at our own experiences, it helps us to understand spiritual truth. And we mentioned that when we were little children, and we were going to have special company, and we had been out playing in the dirt and in the mud and in the filth. Mom called us into the house, and what did she do? She gave us a bath. Why? Because we weren't fit. We were filthy. We were dirty. And so the first thing she did was to get rid of the filth. But then we didn't, she didn't leave us in that condition. We still weren't fit to be in company. What did she do? She put some clean garments on us, and then we were ready. The filth was gone, and the clothes were on, and let the company come. We were ready for their presence. Now that's just exactly what we have pictured here in Zechariah, only this is a scriptural illustration. I mean, yeah, Zechariah chapter three. Now we're just going to read this. And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. Satan is always ready to resist any person who is being dealt with by God and have any serious considerations of accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as a savior and being saved. Satan was there to resist. He resists God, and he resists God's people, and he resists a sinner who is about to become a saint or a child of God through faith. So the Lord said unto Satan, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now notice that this man wasn't picked up out of the gutter. He was picked up out of the temple. He was the priest, and he was the high priest, but he was a high priest like Eli's sons, and it says they knew not the Lord. There they were officiating, Eli's sons, and they were doing all kinds of abominable things and causing the sacrifices of the Lord to be despised, but they were in the place and exercising the authority, and it says they were sons of Belial, they knew not the Lord. But you couldn't have told them they didn't know the Lord. They were clothed in a priest's garment. And here we have the same thing, only this is a hybrid. Is not this a brand plucked from the burning? I tell you that people are far more apt to trust Christ as a savior if they've been in the gutter than they are if they've always lived respectable, had a religious profession and religious affiliation, and gone on in a nice sort of a way. They do not realize they need a savior. The man in the gutter. And so it's not the brand plucked from the, from the burning, a man in the gutter, it's a man in the pulpit that the brand plucked from the burning. Now notice what else it says. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. Clothed with filthy garments. In Isaiah sixty four and verse six, it says, we are all as an unseen thing. That's another all-inclusive term. We are all as an unseen thing. Now again, that verse is not speaking of what we do, it's speaking of what we are. In God's holy sight, man in his natural state is an unclean thing. He's defiled. And then, like the question that Job asked, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. But that's exactly what happened. People who are sinful by nature try to produce righteousness in practices, and they're trying to produce clean things out of an unclean. Now, it looks good in men's sight. We wouldn't deny that for a minute. That which is acceptable to man is an abomination unto God because it's for salvation. Well, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? We're all as a fi- we're all as an unclean thing, and then it says this, and all our righteousnesses. Now, that's not righteousness there. That's plural. In Romans, it's there is none righteous, just telling us our state. But here it says, all our righteousnesses. Those are the good things that we do in order to be saved. They're called dead works in Hebrew. And that's what he's clothed in here, filthy garments. All our righteousnesses are as filthy garments. Well, what did you say? And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. That's putting away our guilt. He didn't say, Joshua, get rid of those clothes. Get rid of, get rid of those filthy garments. Or he didn't say to those standing by, you take off his robe, and Joshua, you take off your socks. Now, why say a thing like that? Because some people believe that God gets rid of some of their sins, and they get rid of the rest of them. But it isn't what he said at all. He says, take away his filthy garments, and Joshua, all he had to do was to stand there and let the Lord do it. And that's what we do when we get our sins put away. He didn't put away part, and we put away part. He put them all away. And the only way they're put away is by him and not by us. But he didn't leave him there either. Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee. And there he was all clean, like the little baby, like the child, all cleaned up, but still he wasn't ready, was he? I have taken, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee. I will clothe thee with a change of rank. And when he got that on, he was ready. And that's the robe of righteousness. That's the garment of salvation. That's the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Christ. And then he's rewarded for service further on down. But we have the picture, and so we have justification. He takes away our filthy garments, our iniquities, and he gives us a garment of salvation. He has cleansed us and clothed us, and now we're accepted in Christ. Now we want to go back. I spent a little more time than I should have on that, but last night we just, we just read that in Zechariah without any comment. But now we're going back to Romans chapter three and we want that other word. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now there could be no putting away of our guilt, there could be no imputing of a righteousness, except it be upon the redemptive work of Christ. So it says, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And now we want to take up, for the while that we have left, the subject of redemption. There are five things linked with redemption that are worthy of notice. The first is the place of redemption. The second is the persons or the people who are redeemed. The third is the purpose of redemption. The fourth is the price of redemption. And then, of course, finally, there must be the redeemer, one who can grant. Now we're going to take it up in that order, as the Lord gives us the time. Revelation chapter five and verse nine. This is in heaven. It's significant where these various words are used. Now this word that we have in Revelation chapter five and verse nine is a word that means to acquire at the forum. And the picture behind the word is an Eastern slave market, where slaves were brought to the forum, the forum, and slave buyers came and bought them. So, the first word, redeem, that we look at, and that's the word in this verse, it doesn't speak of the people who are redeemed, neither does it speak of the purpose. Of course, they're all in this verse, but I'm talking about the word redeem here. It's speaking of the place where the redemption was accomplished. To acquire at the fourth. Now remember that when this word is used, it is the sa- the saints are the ones who sing it, and it's not on the earth at all, it's in heaven. This is a picture of all the redeemed around the throne, and Christ the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, and it says they sung a new song. And this is the song that they sang. Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us. Hast redeemed us. And that word means to acquire at the fore. So, when we get up there, and this event takes place, in that day when all will, all the redeemed will be there, we're going to be in heaven, and we're going to say, thou hast redeemed us, and that's like saying, thou hast gone to the slave market to acquire us. You went all the way down to the earth. And that's all that that's read. The same word is used later on in chapter fourteen where it says, redeemed us from the earth and redeemed us from among men. And that reminds us of the Lord Jesus Christ in his pre-incarnate condition. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was aliveness. And in verse fourteen it says the Word was made flesh. The Word was made flesh. The Word was God. And the Word was made flesh. He became man. Lo, a body hast thou prepared me. Lo, I am come to do thy will. Where did that take place? We were looking at a Bethlehem scene tonight. A little picture that had been fixed up to show forth the events that took place on those Judean hills and in Bethlehem that night, and that's where that happened. In Bethlehem of Judah, of Judea, Bethlehem, Judah. A body hast thou prepared me. The Word was made flesh, and he came down and occupied that body. He came from heaven. He said, I am from above. And he came down to this earth. He came down to the slave market in order that he might acquire in the slave market those precious ones to him that are going to be saved. So now the next word is, speaks of the person. Turn back to, uh, Galatians chapter four. There are several verses. Galatians chapter four and verse four. This fits very well with what we have just been saying. Galatians four four: When the fullness of the time was God, was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of son. Now look at verse three: Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. Then, in connection to that, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman. That's his humanity, made under the law. Why did he send me? To redeem them that were under the law. And those who were under the law were in the law. He just left them. Now this word means not to acquire at the form, but to acquire out of the form. And that speaks of the people, the persons that are redeemed. But we were slaves in more ways than that. Turn to Romans again, this time chapter six. Romans chapter six and verse seventeen, Verse sixteen. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are, to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked, and this is what we want, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you, being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. Free from sin. We were servants of sin, but in obeying the doctrine of salvation through faith in Christ, we have become servants of God, just the opposite. We were the servants of sin. We were brought into slavery to sin. And then in chapter seven and verse fourteen, the apostle says, I'm carnal, sold in sin. And one translation gives that, I am a slave sold into the captivity of sin. And so, when the Lord Jesus came down, he came down to a fire. Not in. But sin shall not have dominion over you. Let not therefore sin reign in your mortal body. What does that mean? It means that sin is there, but it's no longer in control. Sin is there just as it was before, but before we were saved, it reigned. But after we're saved, it's there, but it should not be reigning. We should have victory in Christ. And so we are being delivered from sin's power, but we're going to be delivered from sin's presence. Now, the verse in Titus chapter two is another word, verse where this is, uh, word is used, to loot, to release. We won't turn to it because our time is getting long, but it says, Titus two fourteen, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us. Now there the word is rendered redeem, here it's redemption, but it's the same word, to loot, to free, to release by paying a price. He who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people. Well, now sometimes we're called peculiar, all right. I can remember when my sister got saved. She received the Lord Jesus Christ as her savior in Amarillo, Texas. And right away she began to write to the rest of us. And you know, we all thought that she was really peculiar. In fact, we went further than that. She'd gotten religion, and she got it bad too. And we all felt sorry for her, but we didn't have any time for her. You see? Peculiar. That's not what this word means. This word doesn't mean odd. And I want to say that I believe fanaticism does more to injure the testimonies of Christ than any other thing on this earth. Religious fanaticism. We're not called to fanaticism. But we are a peculiar people, and it doesn't mean a queer people. It doesn't mean an odd people, it means a special people. It means a people for God on this earth. Now we're saved to go to heaven, but we're saved to live here for Christ before we go to heaven, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify in himself a special people zealous of good works. We were mentioning the other night that very few people are called upon to die for Christ. Some are. Five of our dear brethren, some of us known and and friends to some of us, several of those boys that were killed in Ecuador. They were called upon to die for Christ. But few are. But there's not a Christian that's not called upon to live for Christ. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your body a living sacrifice, not a dead sacrifice, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. So we're all called upon to live for him. He wants a people for himself right here in this world. We're only here for a little while, and we're going to be there forever. And let's make the best of it, not for us, but for him, while we're down here. Sin shall not have dominion over you. Redeem unto himself a peculiar people. Redeem, to release, and that's liberation from sin's power. Well, then in Romans chapter eight again, we quoted that verse once, in verse twenty three it says we wait for the adoption to wit the redemption of the body. And if we were to read the passage, we would find that the whole creation is groaning under the curse. And we're groaning in these bodies, bodies of infirmity, bodies, bodies of humiliation. And we're living in them, we're groaning, and we're waiting. We're waiting for the redemption of the body. And when that happens, we're going to be delivered from the presence of God. The old nature will be left behind then. The body will be transformed and become a spiritual body, a real body like Christ, but there'll be no sin. What a day that will be, when there will not be any sin in us, and there'll be no sin around us, and we'll be with the Lord, nothing to hinder that. And that same word is used there. We wait for the adoption to wit the redemption. We wait for the releasing from the bondage our body. And so, redemption takes in the past, the present, and the future. We have been delivered, we're being delivered, and we're soon going to be delivered. But now, what about the price? First Timothy chapter two and verse six: Who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due season. First Timothy two and verse six. But we should read verse five with it. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Who gave himself a ransom. Now, in Matthew chapter twenty and verse twenty eight, it says, the Son of Man is come, not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Actually, it's, it's the many. Now, in both of those verses, it speaks of the price paid. It's the price of redemption. Before he could come to the place, or rather coming to the place before he could redeem out of and release, he had to pay the price. What did he, what was the price? Who gave his life a ransom. To, to, to get, who gave himself a ransom. Who to give his life a ransom. That's both verses. Now we're going to repeat again what we mentioned the other night. In the one verse it says for all. In the other verse it says for the many, for many. And the difference in the two verses, there's no contradiction, but one speaks of the provision, and the other speaks of the application. He gave him, he gave himself a ransom for all, whosoever will may come. The provision is universal. But to give his life a ransom for many, the application is individual. The provision is for whosoever will, but the application is for those who will, those who do, those who come, those who receive him as a savior. And so we have then in First Peter chapter one those words so often quoted, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold. You know, there are a lot of people trying to be redeemed by silver and gold today. A number of years ago, some folks left a pamphlet in our store, store that I was the manager of, and it was from a certain high potentate in a religious system, and it was telling how this poor woman could aid through payment of so much each month, she could hasten the perfection of a loved child who had been killed in the war. He's in a, being in a, he's being purified now, and if you'll pay, we'll pray, and he'll get out that much faster. And do you know what it suggested? That if he were to give them the insurance that he got from the government for his death, it would be hastened much more. Think of that. For as much as you know, I thank God I know better than that. That he were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without spot and without blem. That's the price. But now what about the redeemer? There must be one to pay the price. There must be one who is qualified and one who is capable. Now we're going to take time to look at two verses in the book of Leviticus, chapter twenty five. And now we're looking at the redeemer. You remember that Job said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. I know that my Redeemer liveth. Now we know that too. We know, we know that we're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold. We know that we're redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, but we also know that our Redeemer liveth. So there is a Redeemer, and about ten or twelve times the Lord speaks of himself as the Redeemer in Isaiah alone. But here is that which qualifies. And if a sojourner or stranger, verse forty seven, wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and selleth himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family. Now, this is the case under the law, provision made. If a person waxed poor and he sold himself into bondage, he became a slave. Now, this was literal. These things actually happened back here. If he sold himself because of his straitened circumstances, well, then the Lord made provision that he might be redeemed. So the next verse tells us that after that he is sold, he may be redeemed again. One of his brethren may redeem him. One of his brethren may redeem. Now, this is a beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ and that which we have in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, no one could qualify to redeem either the person or the inheritance of that person unless he were a kinsman. It had to be one of his brethren. In fact, the word kinsman is translated redeemed over and over and over, redeemer over and over. And you remember in Ruth's case, Ruth the Moabite and Naomi, Naomi said, Boaz, we have a near kinsman, Boaz, a mighty man of wealth. And so Ruth and all that she had could be redeemed by Boaz because he was a kinsman, and he was willing to do it too, and he did. He was a mighty man of wealth. He had the price to pay and the ability to perform, and his word, and his, and, and the name Boaz means lovely, and so he could meet the hearts and need too, and so can our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when we come down to the New Testament, the language that goes with that is found in Hebrews chapter two, and then we're going to close. Hebrews chapter two. The Lord Jesus Christ had to become a kinsman in order to be qualified as a redeemer. And that we have here. Hebrews chapter two and verse fourteen: For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. And in verse nine it says, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels. That's verse fourteen. A little lower than the angels, what does it mean? It means that, means that he partook of flesh and blood. In as for as much as the children are partaker of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. Why? That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death. A little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. So the Lord Jesus came down into this scene, and he became a real human being. He became a kinsman in order that he might redeem. He didn't cease to be God. He didn't lay aside his deity. He retained his deity, and in addition, he became, he took upon him humanity. Now notice, back again in verse twelve, saying, or verse eleven, for both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, are all one. That is Christ and those that are his. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing unto thee. Remember what we read in Leviticus? He could be redeemed. One of his brethren can redeem it. Can, can redeem it. And so the Lord Jesus came down, and he became a kinsman by incarnation. He that sanctifieth and they that sanctify, they that are sanctified are all one. That doesn't mean that he had sin in him, but he had a real human nature. He was a human being without sin, and so he says he's not ashamed to call him brother. Now, it doesn't say that we should call him brother. I've never called him brother, and I hope I never will. It's not right to refer to him as our older brother. I've heard people say that. He is our Lord Jesus.