 Okay. Good morning and welcome everyone. Welcome to the class today and thank you for connecting. We're gonna just pray and get started. I have started the recording so this lecture is being recorded. Okay. John, would you like to pray and then we can get started? Yes, please. Dear Lord, we thank you for this morning. You have given us and even as we come before your presence to learn from your word, we pray that you would open the eyes of our understanding so that we would be able to understand the treasures of your word of God. Help us to reveal the mysteries of your word and help us to understand and act on what we are learning of God. We thank you for this time in Jesus' most precious thing. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Amen. Alright, so we are in our class on identity, discovering who we are in Christ and we're making this journey step-by-step unveiling things. Just to quickly review a few things. In lesson five, we talked about identification, our place in Christ that we were identified with Him. We were crucified, we were buried, we were raised, we were resurrected, we ascended and we were seated with Christ. Then in lesson six, which we covered last week, we spoke about the spirit of life that and these two are connected. Our identification in Christ is God's provision, God making provision for us through the cross of Christ. Really, it's the answer to everything, the answer to overcoming sin, living the new life that we have in Christ, living a life that is about the systems of this world and living a life of authority and dominion. But then how do we actually walk it out? How do we in everyday life walk in the provision that has been made for us through identification? And that's where the spirit of life comes in, the Holy Spirit comes in and helps us. So essentially, we need to be, I'm just summarizing what we did last week. Essentially, we need to be spiritually minded people, people who are who said our things, our thinking, our pursuing, our desiring on the things of the Holy Spirit. And as we are spiritually minded, we live and walk yielded to the spirit according to the spirit. We are led by the Holy Spirit. And as we walk according to the spirit, the spirit of life, what happens? We are able to live victorious over the flesh, and we're able to walk in the provision of identification. So we emphasize that last week in our lesson six, as we talked about the spirit of life, of walking in the spirit. Today, we're moving forward. And we're starting off another aspect of, we're going to look into another aspect of what we have in Christ of our identity and inheritance in Christ. So as we put these pieces together, so you can think about this as little pieces of the puzzle, we're putting them all together. And eventually, we get a full picture of our identity and of our inheritance in Christ. So piece by piece, we're putting these things together, we're explaining each piece, looking at each piece in detail, from the Word of God, as we put the pieces of this puzzle together. And then we can get a clear picture of this is my identity. And this is my inheritance in Jesus. That's who I am. And that's what I have. And therefore, this is how I'm supposed to live as a Christian, as a believer in Jesus Christ. So let's go ahead into lesson number seven. I've, you know, released this notes in the coursework section. So you can pick it up from there. And hopefully by this weekend, I will give you your first assignment, your, you know, call it midterm, but it's not really a midterm exam. It's your first set of questions to answer. I'll post it in the coursework section. So let's go into section seven. Maybe talk about being redeemed in Christ, our redemption in Christ. And redemption is a very, very powerful truth that we find in scripture. You know, God calls himself our redeemer. You know, so when we look at God, we say, God, you are my redeemer. It's when we worship God, God, you are my redeemer. So what does redemption mean? What does it mean for God to be our redeemer, you know, in everyday life? And we need to kind of understand that and then talk about how do we walk in the blessings of our redemption? Okay, so let's get into this. Let's please read two verses of scripture, Ephesians one and verse seven. And also first Corinthians one and verse 30 could somebody read these two scriptures for us please. Ephesians chapter one verse seven. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. First Corinthians one, 30 please. First Corinthians chapter one verse 30. But of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Thank you. Thank you. All right, so again these two verses, we have seen them before, but look at them again. In him as in Christ we have redemption. So this is something we have. It's not something that's something out there in the future that we're going to have but it is something we have. So redemption is a present tense reality now. We know that there is a fullness to this. That means, you know, there are, if you want to imagine, the redemption is this huge, huge packet of blessing. You know, the one big part is given to us now and another part will be given to us in the future. But the back part that's given to us now, we can start enjoying it right away. Right? And that's what you want to look into and find out what does redemption mean? What do I have because of redemption? So in him that is in Christ, that's what we are studying in Christ. In Christ we have redemption. First Corinthians, the remainder of this verse we will look at shortly. First Corinthians 1.30 says, part of him, that is because of God, you are in Christ Jesus. So we are in Christ and being in Christ, what happens? Who Christ, that is Christ became for us, that is Christ has become this to us. He's become wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. So we have seen the other parts already. We've talked about righteousness. We've talked about sanctification. And now it's saying here, in Christ, Christ himself is of a redemption. So Christ himself is my redemption. That means Christ is both my redeemer, the one who redeemed me and he is my redemption. In him, my redemption is certain, it's a cure. And nobody can question that Christ is my redemption. So what does this mean actually? If we look into the Greek, we look at the words that I used for redemption and how they've been translated. The picture that we have is that of a captive. Somebody's been taken as a captive. But then, you know, so let's say a person was doing really well, you know, he had a lot of things in life and so on, but he lost everything and now he's become a captive. Somebody else owns him. But then somebody comes and pays a ransom and buys him out of slavery and releases him back into his state, former state, where he was free. He was successful. He was blessed. So that process, that process of buying somebody out or getting some, purchasing somebody's freedom or paying for somebody's freedom and getting them out and putting them back into their original state of, you know, of strength. That whole process is called redemption. That's the idea here, redemption. So what has happened to us, right? When God created us, right? When God created us, we were created as sons and daughters of God. We were created with glory. We were created in the image of God and God created us perfect. But because of Adam's sin, we became captives to Satan and to sin, to Satan, to death, you know, so we came on subjection and the real cause was sin. Sin put us in this place of captivity to Satan, to darkness. Now, sin was a debt we owed. Sin is basically a debt we owe. And until that debt was paid, Satan had a right to rule over us, to dominate us, to be Lord over us because we sinned. In sinning, what did we do? We chose to disobey God and obey the devil. We chose to turn away from God and submit ourselves to the devil. And whomever we submit to, we become slaves to that one. And in this case, spiritually, we became slaves to Satan. There was a great debt of sin that we owed. So until that debt was paid, our redemption could never take place. We could not be brought out of this place of slavery. And this was a debt we owed before God because God is the judge and we have sinned but that debt of sin gave Satan the license to dominate us. So what happened? Jesus came as the ransom and he offered his life, because remember the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. And why does, so he shed his blood and the Bible says with his own blood he entered into the most holy place before God and he offered his blood as the ransom, the redemption price, his blood. Why is his blood important? Because his blood is the redemption price, the price that was paid for our ransom. Now why did he have to pay with blood? Because the wages of sin is death. And when blood is shed, it indicates a life has been given. Death has occurred, a life has been given. So the Bible right from the very beginning teaches us that the life of the flesh is in the blood. So when blood is spilled, when blood is shed, it means death has occurred. That's why blood is important. That's why blood is the redemption price. And so Christ offered his own life and his blood became the redemption price before God. His blood basically said here's the price for their sin. It can be now canceled, can be written, paid. The price that the debt we owed was paid with the blood of Jesus. Once that took place, Jesus could then announce our freedom. Satan no longer had a right to hold or lord it over us. He no longer had a right to control us. We had a right to walk out of slavery. And so all of us who accept the ransom, who embrace the redemption price that Jesus paid, we come out of Satan's hold. We are restored. We are ransomed. We are restored to our place of glory. And in fact, God does better. He takes us higher than what we had before. He takes us to his own right hand in Christ. So that is the picture of redemption. Let me pause here just to make sure that I try to quickly give us a little picture of redemption. I just want to make sure that all of us understood that. Everyone is with me so far. Any questions on that? What is the redemption? What does it speak of? Did everyone understand that? Okay. Okay, Shania, a question. Go ahead, please. Yeah, can you explain it again? I know you were saying about Jesus in terms of his blood being shed. Can you explain the importance of that again, please? Thank you. Sure. So maybe we should look at scripture. We will look at Leviticus chapter 11 verse 11. Could somebody read that for us, please? Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11. For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. So God reveals to us why the blood is important. He said the life of the flesh, the flesh meaning any animal or human being, the life of the body is in the blood. So when blood is spilled or when blood is shed, it means that life has been given, death has occurred, life has been given and God has said, you know, I've given the blood, it is the blood that makes atonement for sin. So let's also read another scripture. Hebrews 9 verse 12, please. Somebody could read that for us. Hebrews 9 verse 12. Hebrews 9 verse 12, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. So this verse is telling us that Jesus took his own blood. He didn't take the blood of some animal, you know, not with goats and calves. He took his own blood and he went into the most holy place. Now this most holy place is not the earthly temple but into the most holy place, which is the heavenly temple. It's very interesting. I'm just getting, I'm just kind of going on a little rabbit trail. I'm just going off on a side track. I'll come back. But, you know, after Jesus rose up from the dead, after his resurrection, when he appeared to Mary the first time, you know, Mary saw him in the garden and, you know, she, you know, she was alarmed at the same time she was filled with awe. She said, Rabbi, my master, Jesus said, don't touch me. Don't touch me. I have not yet ascended to my father. So, you know, there's still another piece of work to be done. He was resurrected but he had to ascend into heaven to do something. What happened? What did he have to do? Hebrews 9-12. He had to enter into the most holy place with his own blood to obtain eternal redemption. So, once he did that, he came back and he showed himself alive to his disciples for 40 days. That time, he told Thomas, Thomas, touch me. Put your hand. See, it's me. It's me, Jesus. I am. I'm the one here. He sat, you know, he called his disciples on the seashore, had meal with them, etc. He walked on the road with, on the Emmaus road with his disciples. He spent to their home. He broke bread with them but until he entered into that most holy place with his own blood, he said, don't touch me. Some more work to be done. So, redemption. We're just introducing this whole idea of, or this whole truth about redemption. What is redemption? It means that we have all of, we sinned because of our sin. We became slaves to the, to Satan. Satan had authority, control over us because in sinning, what we did, we disobeyed God. We obeyed the devil. So, whomever we obey, we become slaves to that one. So, if you want to just look at some scriptures here, I'm just taking time to explain this but in, let me see, John 8.34 and also in Romans 6. Let's read these two scriptures. John 8.34. I'm just typing it in and Romans 6 verse 16. Somebody read these two verses for us, please. John 8.34. Jesus answered them truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. Thank you. And Romans 6 verse 16. Romans 6.16. Do you not know that when you present yourself to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness? Thank you. So, Romans 6.16. You are slaves of the one to whom you obey. Whoever commits sin becomes a slave of sin. So, that's what happened to us. Right? When we sinned against God, we actually became slaves. We, meaning slaves, meaning we became in subjection to sin and Satan. So, Satan had dominion over us. Right? And what kept us in that place of subjection to Satan, our sin. Also, our sin was a debt we owed before God because we sinned against God. Until that debt was cleared, we couldn't come out of subjection to sin and Satan and everything that Satan would put over us, which is sickness, poverty, curse, destruction, everything. Satan is the thief who steals, kills and destroys. So, the moment we come in subjection to Satan, he just destroys our lives physically, emotionally, everywhere. So, being in subjection to Satan is what makes our lives completely miserable because he's a thief and he steals, kills and destroys. Now, we are not able to come out of that on our own because there is a debt to be paid, the debt of our sin to be paid before God because we sinned against God. And the only way that debt is paid is through blood because Leviticus 17, 11. It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. The life of the body is in the blood. So, the wages of sin is death. That means life has to be given. The wages of sin is death. The penalty for sin is death. Life has to be given. That means blood has to be shed and it's the blood that makes atonement for the soul. So, think about this with me. I know I'm going, I'm on a little side journey and we'll come back, but I want us to understand this. No other human being could redeem us because every human being had sin of their own. So, there may be some good people, some noble people, some very religious people. It is good. They may have lived a little better lives than other people or more noble lives than other people or more religious lives than other people, but still every person, man and woman, had sin of their own. So, now no human person is qualified to offer their blood for the atonement of our souls. Nobody's qualified because each one has sin of our own and we are unable to redeem ourselves. So, the only way this redemption could happen is if God came as a man, then he would be somebody who was not born in sin, was not born in subjection to Satan and would be sinless and his blood could then make atonement for our souls. Because every man, every human person since Adam was born in sin, was born in subjection to Satan, was born in subjection to death, they all had sin, we all had sin of our own. So, the incarnation is so important because in the incarnation, God becomes a man and this man, that is Jesus, is not born in sin, is not born subject to the devil, is not subject to death, has no sin of his own. So, when he offered his life and shed his blood, then his blood could become the redemption price for the rest of mankind. So, what happened? Jesus, like we read in Hebrews 9 and verse 12, he entered the most holy place with his own blood and he obtained eternal redemption for us. So, when he paid the price there, our debt was cleared so we could now come out of our place of subjection to Satan, sin, and all that Satan would come out of it. And not only did he take us out of it, but then he brought us into his own kingdom and he took us to the right hand of the Father. So, he ended the whole deal better than where he started, placed us in the right hand of the Father. So, that's redemption, that's the whole story of redemption. Yeah, thank you for that scripture there. Did we all get it? So, clear now? Okay, so this is what we have in Christ. In Christ, we have this redemption. So, we want to kind of understand this a little bit more and understand what we are redeemed from, that means like what did Jesus bring us out from and then how do we walk in it? How do we enjoy it here and now in this life? The part of redemption is for us now. We want to enjoy it now. Part of our redemption is out in the future when we will all have glorified bodies, immortal bodies, when we will all be, you know, rolling with Jesus in his millennial kingdom and we will be in the new state of Jerusalem and all of that, the book of Revelation talks about, that's in the future. But there are things that you and I can enjoy now because we have redemption now and that's what we want to look at. So, I'm going to go back to the notes and if you have any questions please feel free to ask. So, we said we are redeemed by his blood. So, like we explained, it is the blood that makes a torment for the soul and in him we have redemption through his blood. So, this is why the blood of Jesus is so powerful. Why? Because every time you talk about the blood of Jesus, that's the redemption price. It's like we are putting, you know, the paid receipt. So, when you have a receipt that says paid, that gives you assurance that, look, I don't owe any debt anymore. So, the blood of Jesus is our ransom. It's what paid the price. So, when we talk about the blood, when we announce the blood, speak about it. We are saying it's the blood that has given us redemption. So, let's, could somebody read for us, Colossians chapter 1 verse 12 to 14 please. Colossians 1, 12 to 14. Colossians chapter 1 verse 12 to 14, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Thank you. So, we'll start with verse 14, right? It says, in whom that is in Christ we have redemption. We talked about that. We understand that now. We have redemption through his blood. We understand that it's the blood that has made redemption possible and the forgiveness of sins, which is basically the cancellation of the debt. So, it was this, it was sins to the debt that kept us in bondage or in subjection. But now we have redemption through his blood, which means our debt has been canceled. But what is this redemption? What has happened here? Back up verse 13. He delivered us from the power of darkness. So prior to our redemption, we were under the power of darkness. Darkness representing Satan and all his demons. So they had power over us. But now because of redemption, we are delivered. We are set free. And not only have we been delivered from the power of darkness, we've been conveyed. That means we've been transferred, taken out from here and taken into something else. We've been conveyed, transferred, where? Into the kingdom, into the kingdom of the Son of His Lord, into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. So this is redemption. Verse 13 is describing redemption for us. We are delivered from the power of darkness, taken out from there and they conveyed. We are transferred, translated into God's kingdom, which means the power of darkness has zero, absolutely zero, no authority or right over you and me as believers. No right, zero, because we have been delivered from the power of darkness and we are now in the kingdom. So let this, let this truth sink in. Satan has no more claim on you, no more right over you and me, and no more access to you than me. No. She, God didn't just pay the price, take us out of darkness and leave us there for Satan to come back and trouble us. He didn't do that. He took us out of darkness. He delivered us from darkness and then he translated us into his own kingdom. So where are you at me now? We are in the kingdom. We're not in darkness. We're in the kingdom. And in the kingdom, Satan has no right, no claim, no access other than what you and I would give him here or not. Okay. And so backing up towards 12, Paul writes, Hey, give thanks to God, give thanks to the father. So this is something I really thank God for. Give thanks to the father because he's qualified us to partake or to share our, to enjoy our share. Partake means to enjoy your share of the inheritance. So this is our inheritance in Christ of the saints in light. Just give thanks to God. He's qualified us. He's made us fit. So every believer is qualified. He has equal rights to enjoy their share of the inheritance of the saints. So nobody can say, nobody should say, well, I can't enjoy my share. No, he's qualified you to enjoy your share of the inheritance. I'm not sure somebody wanted to ask a question. Yeah, Linden, what's your question, Linden? Linden, you raise your hand for something? Okay, I'm not sure. All right. So that collusion is up to one verse 13 and 14 12, 13, 40 as a beautiful picture. It just captures the essence of redemption. Right. And what it's telling us is we are all qualified. Am I, let me share. It's telling us that we are all qualified to partake or enjoy our inheritance. Okay, so Satan has no right over your life. Collisions 113 tells us that no claim, no right. And you and I must be absolutely settled in that. You know, now Satan is a trespasser. What's a trespasser? He's a violator. That means he tries to do something that he has no right to do. That's why he's called a trespasser. He's got a transgressor. So he's a thief. He tries to take something that's not his. So while we are in this earth, living here on earth, Satan is going to attempt to try to trouble us. He's going to attempt to steal from us. He's going to attempt to do things against us. But we must understand we are redeemed people. Satan knows it. But he's a violator. He's a trespasser. That means knowingly he's going to try to act against it. But you and I must know our inhabitants. What is our inhabitants? I'm delivered from the power of darkness and I'm conveyed into the kingdom. I belong to the kingdom. Satan has no right over me, no claim over me, no access to me. So what must I do? While I'm here on this earth, he's going to try to violate that. But you and I must resist. You and I must resist that. Okay. Any questions on this? Okay. Let's say Isaac has a question. Why did Isaac's question is, why did God allow Satan to tempt Adam and Eve into committing sin? Was it a test of their obedience or test of how far they can resist temptation? So Isaac, we understand that God created us as free moral beings. That means he gave us the freedom to choose. So as free moral beings, God wants us to follow him out of our own free choice. So we are not forced to follow him. We are not being compelled to follow him. We have to follow him out of our own free choice. So even though God allowed Satan to come in there and tempt Adam and Eve, so that Adam and Eve can exercise their free choice and make their choice to listen to his word, which God gave. God said, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Don't eat of that. So they had the choice to, the freedom to obey God or listen to the lies of the devil. So the answer is, it was a test of their obedience to God. Something they had freely to choose. So even today, God invites you and me to choose to obey. He doesn't force us to obey. He invites us to obey. He tells us, look, it's good to obey. It's good to walk the way I showed you. But then we make the choice out of our own free will to obey God. Is that okay, Isaac? Yes, sir. Thank you. All right. So we'll just go one more step forward before we go for the break. So the next part of our understanding, our redemption is, and I've skipped a few scriptures here because we have already spoken on Hebrews 9-12 and 1 Timothy 2-5 and 6 speak about Jesus giving his life as a ransom. And I've explained what the ransom is. That means it's the payment that obtains our redemption. So Christ himself is our ransom, the price that was paid for our redemption. So another important thing for us to understand is that his blood speaks. His blood speaks. What does that mean? Let's read the scripture and then we'll explain that. Could somebody read Hebrews 12, 22 to 24, please? Hebrews 12, 22 to 24, please. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first one who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. Okay, thank you. So in Hebrews 12, the writer of Hebrews is contrasting two mountains basically. So in the verses prior to this, he speaks about Mount Sinai. So he's referring to the Mount Sinai, to the Old Testament Mount Sinai where Moses went up on that mountain to get the Ten Commandments. And that was so awesome. It was such a fearful thing really. If anybody came close to that mountain, when Moses had gone up, they would be struck dead. So that was law. That was the Old Covenant. So the writer of Hebrews is telling us, God did not call us to that kind of a mountain. That means he didn't call us to, as New Testament believers, we're not going to Mount Sinai. That is where there is the law that was given and where it was very dreadful even to approach God. And if anyone came close to that mountain, they would be struck dead because it was just glorious, awesome, dreadful. But instead he's saying, this is where we have come. And everything in verses 20 to 24 is speaking about spiritual reality. So in the verses prior to this, about Mount Sinai, it was about natural, about Old Covenant, about law, about fear and dread. We're coming to verses 22 to 24, the verses we just read. It's about spiritual. So he says, we've come to Mount Zion. So he's not talking about the earthly Mount Zion in Jerusalem, but he's talking about the spiritual, the heavenly. It's the city of the living God. So it's not the earthly city of Jerusalem. It's the city of the living God. It is the heavenly Jerusalem. So you know that right away, he's talking about what's in heaven, not talking about what's on earth. So he says, look, we've come to this heavenly Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, where there are many, many, many angels. So you can imagine, this is a city that's populated with angels and not only human beings, there are angels there. And it's the place where there is the assembly, the general assembly of the church of the first born. That means this is a whole phrase that refers to God's people. We are the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the first born. And we are registered in heaven. That means your name is there, written in heaven. You're registered in the church of heaven. And we're coming to God, who is the judge of all, and the spirits of just men. This is talking about our righteousness. So this is where we've come. This is a place where all the just people are there. Those will be made perfect by Jesus Christ and to Jesus himself. And he is the mediator of the new covenant. He's the one who's put this new covenant in place. And how did he do it? By the blood of sprinkling. So the blood of sprinkling refers to, you know, when the covenant was established, the blood was sprinkled. So he's referring to that. You've come to the blood of sprinkling. But he says something here. The blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of able. So, you know, so very interestingly in talking about the blood of Jesus, who is the one who established this new covenant for us, he's saying his blood speaks better things than that of able. So I'll just explain, you know, why he's a contrast of the able. But what's more important is that the blood speaks. That's the point that I want us to focus on. But what does he say better things than that of able? Because, you see, when able was, you know, murdered basically by his brother King. And he was killed by his brother King. And the able's blood was on the ground. And when you go back into Genesis chapter four, you find God saying that, hey, able's blood is crying out. And able's blood, of course, was crying out that, you know, retribution had to happen. Something had to be done because injustice had taken place. So able's blood was crying out for justice. But the blood of Jesus is announcing that a work has been completed. The justice of God has been fully satisfied. So that's the contrast able's blood is asking for something to be done. The blood of Jesus is saying it has been done. The work has been done. The blood of able is crying out for justice. The blood of Jesus is saying, hey, justice has been fully satisfied. Redemption's been provided. So that's the contrast. But the main thing is the blood speaks. So in the spiritual realm, this is what we must understand. In the spiritual realm, the blood speaks, the blood is speaking and announcing the blood is is announcing what it stands for, what it represents. The blood of Jesus represents the new covenant. The blood of Jesus represents our redemption. So in the spiritual realm, his blood speaks. So when we talk about the blood, what it has done for us, it's a very powerful testimony. It speaks in the realm of the spirit. It carries weight in the realm of the spirit. And the entire spiritual realm recognizes and understands the blood. So this is an important truth for us to embrace that when we say I am redeemed by the blood, we may be saying something very simple. I mean, you know, naturally speaking, but in the spiritual realm, that's very powerful because the blood speaks, the blood carries weight in the spiritual realm. Right? So I'm going to pause here. Did we all understand that the blood speaks in the spiritual realm? So I hope you were following with me so far and you've understood what we've covered. Let's take a quick break. We'll be back in 10 minutes and we will pick up from here and go forward. Okay. All right. See you in 10 minutes. Thank you.