OF HUMAN BONDAGE AND GOD'S REDEMPTION

Text; Isa.50:1 Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

Intro; The devil is like a pawnbroker - he claims all the unredeemed goods.

I. Humanity has been sold!

A. As nations, humanity has been sold out to sin.

Psa.9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

B. As individuals, men are sold. Rom.7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
C. Satan has made his bids and millions accept his offer.
1.Whosoever committeth-- John 8:34 Jesus answered them,Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
2. ALL have sinned. Rom.3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

3. Even those who deny being sinners are slaves! I John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
D. Check out Satan's bids!
1. A care free life. His advice to the prodigal son was, “don't worry! Be happy!' This led him, as it has millions of others, into satan’s hog pens!
2. A chance to get ahead in the world' What does this mean? If the whole world stands condemned without Christ, what is the eternal advantage?
'The ‘Top Banana’ is still just one of the ‘bunch.' His worldly position and a billion dollars could not have bought the rich man one drop of water in hell.
3. Fleshly desires satisfied. [Illus.- the recruiting poster showing the exotic girls on a sunny beach under the swaying palms. vs. the machine guns and shrapnel and bleeding bodies on bloodstained beaches under shredded palms.} Satan is not bound by 'truth in advertising’ laws either. Jails,hospitals and cemeteries are filled with those who accept Satan’s bid, and thus the need for hell to enlarge herself.

II. God's purchased possessions; Redeemed without money!I Peter:1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

A. The price paid, tells the value of the goods to the buyer.
1.Our testimony is precious, Prov.20;15 There is gold, and a multitude of rubies: but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.
2. Our souls are costly. Psa..49:8 (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)
3.Our afflictions are precious. Psa.72:14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.Psa.56:8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?

9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.

I Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
4. Our fellowship is rare. Psa.133:1 A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;
3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.
5.Our passing from this life to the next is cherished. Psa.116: 15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
B. What our redemption means to us.
1.That we should glorify God in body and soul.I Cor.6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
2.That we are FREE to serve God!I Cor.7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
a. Our bondage to Christ must be a WILLING service.
Deut.15:16 And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee;
17 Then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.
b.David Identified himself with Christ this way. Psa. 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
c. This is in imitation of Christ who became our servant by identifying himself with man. Isa.50:5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

d. Paul bore the mark of being the Lord's servant. Gal.2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Gal.6:17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
e. We must do the same. Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts

Rom.6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
III. The final question -- Whose servant are you?

Mat.6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and
love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

CHILDREN
OF THE DEVIL

Text;
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your
father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode
not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh
a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of
it.

Introduction;
Because of the depraved nature of man, lies are more often believed
than the truth. Men will often accept a colossal lie rather than a
simple truth. The more bizarre and outlandish is the lie, the better
some folks like it. That's one reason so many 'conspiracy theories'
abound and will not die.

Because
of this quirk in human nature, confidence men, fortunetellers,
medical quacks, religious charlatans, and politicians are with us and
thriving. The greatest liar and most prolific teller of untruths is
the father of lies, the devil.

I.
A few of the devil's offspring;

A.
Definition of a lie. Anything said or done with intent to deceive.

B.
Regardless of their intent, lies are against God.

Heb
6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for
God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for
refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

1
John 2:21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth,
but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

C.
Lies, like all living creatures, multiply.
[Oh,
What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.-
scott]

D.
Being against God and having the ability to multiply, makes even the
smallest lie, something to shun. Ezek 35:13 Thus with your
mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words
against me: I have heard them.

E.
Even Truth, when mixed with error, becomes a lie.

Rom
1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and
served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.
Amen.

II.
Meet a few of the devil's children. Like all proud fathers he would
desire that everyone accept his family.

A.
His firstborn. Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the
woman, Ye shall not surely die: This one is still around.

B.
In imitation of Adam, this firstborn has a brother. Gen 3:5
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Isa
5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put
darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for
sweet, and sweet for bitter!

C.
'The Rebel’ You can be your own god! This one caused Moses
problems; Judas to betray Christ; false churches to multiply; and
he's still stirring up fusses in the Lord's churches.

D.
The child called 'Broken Vow’ Acts 5:3 But Peter
said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy
Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

Eccl
5:4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he
hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.

Eccl 5:5 Better
is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and
not pay.

C.
The child called ‘‘Miss Goody Two Shoes” Self
righteous, Salvation by works etc.

Isa
64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away.

D.
The son called 'Church Hater'. He has many aliases.

1.
"Church of your Choice.'

2.
'Don't need-a-Church'

3.
Sometimes he joins a church and then changes his name to 'It's none
of their business what I do.

4.
'Miss Snooty' She keeps looking for a church worthy of her and her
great talents.

E.
'No Hell' this is Satan's child who hasn't a care in the world
because he thinks this is all there is.

F.
Mr. Not Now. This is the procrastinator of the family. His intentions
are to somehow do better someday.

III.
You must either break away from Satan's family or become one of the
bunch.

IV.
The only effective weapon against this family of lies is Truth.

John
8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.