Return to Me, For I Have Redeemed You

Well, brethren, the hot sun beat down without reprieve as the sweat dripped into Abner's eyes. He stood, looking at the sky as he pressed his hand against the small of his aching back, and he wiped the sweat from his brow. It was only the fourth hour of the day, but he had been up and working in the fields since before the sun was up. The harvest period was upon them in the land of Egypt. He and his fellow Israelites were working through the fields as quickly as their taskmasters drove them. Even though it was only the fourth hour of the day, the sun was already brutal, and a number of men had passed out from the heat. The hottest part of the day wasn't even upon them yet, and yet it was shaping up to be a very difficult day. Not that any of the days were easy. He and his kinsmen labored in Egypt. He had slaved away in this manner for the past 20 years, and there was no end in sight. Day in, day out, Abner was expected to labor.

He reflected on the Egyptian classes of slaves. They had those slaves that they captured as a result of war, and the slaves that were part of the spoils of war thereof. These slaves were known as chattel. They were brought to different countries. They were brought to cities. They were frequently sold. Occasionally, individuals in this class of slaves were Egyptian criminals who gave up their freedom as a result of their crimes. Other slaves were Egyptian. These Egyptians had sold themselves and their children into servitude in a form of bonded labor.

Usually, these men and these families were paying for the consequences for someone who was not able to pay their debts, and the person who purchased them paid their debt to the creditor in exchange for their servitude to their house. Abner and his kinsmen made up a third class of slave in Egypt known as forced laborers. The Egyptian government, especially during its time in its history, could draft workers from the general populace to pursue large-scale projects. That seemed they were not necessarily owned by individuals at that time. Instead, they were expected to perform their labor as a duty to the land of Egypt. Abner had heard stories of a time many generations before when the Israelites enjoyed a status akin to the Egyptians. Time in the distant past, when they were free citizens, they were free to pursue their own endeavors. That seemed like a distant dream. Abner recalled the stories that his parents told of his ancestors. They were shepherds in the land of Goshen, descendants of Joseph, the son of Jacob. But Joseph and his brothers died, and that generation that was with them also died. But when it all changed, according to Abner's family and their stories, was when the Pharaoh who had elevated Joseph died. The Israelites by that time had multiplied significantly. The new Pharaoh, who did not know Joseph and his deeds, greatly feared the Israelites. The people of Egypt feared what the Israelites might do if they organized and rose up against them. So the Egyptians conscripted the people of Israel into forced labor. They toiled away, constructing buildings and cities out of brick and mortar. They served like Abner in the fields. It seemed to Abner the more the Egyptians mistreated the Israelites, the more they multiplied. Abner felt a hard strike across his back as the whip struck his flesh. He cried out and turned to see the Egyptian taskmaster, raising his arm for another strike. He felt the blood begin to trickle down his back. He raised his hands defensively and in rapid Egyptian, said, please, please, I'll keep working. The Egyptian lowered his arm and his whip and he motioned to the crops in the field. Abner swung his sickle, gathering the sheaves with his free hand. Just a few days before, the Pharaoh who had enslaved his people had died. The people of Israel quietly hoped there would be a change. They cried out to the God of their fathers, the God who Abner had heard tale of, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of their father Jacob. But had he even heard their cries? Turn with me please to Exodus 6. Abner isn't a real person, but he certainly could have been. Abner is a personification of the story that we see outlined in Exodus 1, as we see the people of Israel enslaved by the Egyptians. You know, we don't know exactly how that process took place. A number of rabbis theorize that it was incremental, that they were likely asked to demonstrate their loyalty to Egypt by volunteering, quote-unquote, for public works projects. And like a frog in a pot of boiling water, after only after the water was boiling, did they realize the trouble that they were in. Regardless of how it happened, regardless of the specific method which took place, we're not necessarily privy to that historically or scripturally. What we do know is that the Israelites found themselves in a spot that they could not remove themselves from. They could not get themselves out of the situation that they found themselves in. They were in bondage. They were enslaved to Egypt. They had no freedom in that sense. They had no illusion of a future besides hard labor under a rigorous Egyptian system.

Pharaoh had ordered the death of their first-born sons. He'd forced them into labor with rigor, with violence, as that term in Hebrew is used. They could not extricate themselves from this system, try as they might. Exodus 6 and verse 1, we'll pick this up here as the story of the Israelites progresses. Exodus 6 and verse 1, says, Then the Lord said to Moses, Now you shall see what I shall do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them from the land. God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty. But by my name, Lord, I was not known to them. I have also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage in which they were strangers. I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant.

Therefore, say to the children of Israel, I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rescue you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. And then you shall know that I am the Lord, your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land, which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as a heritage. I am the Lord. And so we see in verse 9, Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel. Imagine yourself in Abner's shoes. Here comes Moses, and he says, God heard your cries. He's going to deliver you. He's going to bring you out of your bondage. He's going to bring you out of your enslavement. He is going to redeem his people. Notice what it says in verse 9. They did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage. Brethren, have you ever experienced something that was so discouraging, perhaps so traumatic and or deeply ingrained in your life, that when faced with the possibility of having it removed, you couldn't even believe it, because it seemed so unbelievable. It seemed so unbelievable. My dad was a smoker. My dad was a smoker. My dad was a two-pack-a-day smoker for probably 50 years of his life. Since a very early age, he smoked a lot.

A lot. I heard him say out loud numerous times as he went through this addiction, and as he went through these things in his life, he would mutter to himself when we talked to him about the possibility of quitting. He said, it's been too long. There's no way I can stop.

For him, it was unbelievable that he could ever find a way out of this particular addiction. People who have experienced addiction frequently reach this point in their lives. It becomes so entrenched. It becomes so ingrained. The basic idea of someday living without that addiction in their life is unfathomable. Spiritually, what we see is that often we run ourselves in the same spot. Because of anguish and cruel bondage to the sin in our lives, the redemption that God promises seems impossible. And as has been mentioned time and time again, year after year after year, we find ourselves looking at the mirror and seeing the same reflection that we determined would be gone the year before. Israel found themselves in this place as a result of their enslavement. They had no hope of release. They had resigned themselves to a life of slavery to the Egyptians. But what we see is that God had a plan to redeem his people. Verses 6 and 7 of Exodus 6, he says, therefore, say to the children of Israel, I am the Lord. I will bring you out from the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rescue you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. He says, I will take you as my people. I will be your God. And then you shall know that I am the Lord, your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. So this concept of redemption is an ancient concept. This concept of redemption is an ancient concept. And it had uses and methodologies both socially, legally, and then we see also religiously throughout the ancient world. We don't use the word much in today's day and age. I imagine the last time you redeemed something, it was a coupon or it might have been a gift card of some variety, but the last time that you redeemed something was likely a prize voucher, coupon, whatever it might be. And that was in exchange for the item that that thing promised. Right? That's the terminology and the way that we use it today. But the concept of redemption meant a lot more to ancient civilizations and cultures. It was ingrained in their culture due to the existence of systems of slavery, of systems of indentured servitude, and of systems of the like. Within this concept of redemption, within this idea of redemption, is the loosing of a bond, the loosing of a bond, or buying something back which was lost or something which was sold. In that sense, you might think of it as like, you know, hawking something and then going back and buying it back from the pawn shop. In that sense, that's a redemption. You are purchasing back what has been sold or in some cases what was lost. It can be considered to be the paying of a ransom.

It can be considered to be the setting free from captivity or slavery. Or sometimes the definition can be used to exchange something or someone or something or someone else. But integral to this idea in this concept in the ancient world was that the price of the redemption was paid by someone known as a Redeemer. The Hebrew word for this Redeemer or for the redemption that was paid is the Hebrew word it's H1350 and it translates to redeem. It translates to act as a kinsman, to act as an avenger, or to reclaim as one's own.

To reclaim as one's own. Through incredible miracles, we see scripture that God redeemed his people. We're familiar with the plagues, the events of the Passover, the people of Israel leaving Egypt with a high hand. These days of Unleavened Bread in part reference these events as we consider this incredible miracle that God wrought. This promise that was fulfilled that was 400 years in the making. This promise that God fulfilled that was 400 years in the making. But we also recognize that we, you and I, are not a part of ancient Israel.

We were not slaves in Egypt. We did not experience the harsh conditions of those Egyptian overlords. But a redemption and a deliverance from bondage has been performed for us as well. We have been recipients of a redemption too. We are part of the Israel of God, we are part of His Eclaecia, and metaphorically and symbolically we recognize during these days in particular, but also throughout the rest of the year, that Egypt is representative of sin. It is metaphorical and symbolic for sin. Bondage of Egypt is represented to the challenges that you and I have as we struggle against our carnal human nature, as we struggle against the sin which so easily ensnares us.

And very similar to ancient Israel, we found ourselves hopelessly ensnares, hopelessly in bondage to sin. With the consequences of sin, that death penalty of the transgression of God's law looming over our heads just like that Egyptian taskmaster was looming over Abner in the story that we began with. Jesus Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. He shed His blood. He took our place redeeming us, exchanging one for another, buying us back from that which was lost or ransomed, setting us free from captivity, loosing the bond, pick whichever definition of redemption you want to pick.

Jesus Christ fulfilled them all. As Mr. Kinsellus stated in his opening split, it is finished. Jesus Christ paid the price so that you and I might live. That was redemption. That is redemption. We're going to turn to three quick sets of scriptures here. Very quick succession, so I'm going to ask our computer person to be ready to throw these up on the screen so that people can get there logistically, not having to flip back and forth between them.

First, Peter 1, verses 17-19. Let's see this example of Jesus Christ as this Redeemer, or as the redemption that was paid for us. 1 Peter 1, 17-19. If you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold or from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers.

Verse 19, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. 2 Colossians 1, verses 9-14. For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing him, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, for all patience and long suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Verse 13 of Colossians 1, 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.

Hebrews 9, verse 15. I'm going to pick it up in 11 for context, but Hebrews 9 and verse 15. But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, 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. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, clung your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Verse 15. For this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. It is through Jesus Christ that we are redeemed.

We were not redeemed with corruptible things. We were not bought back with gold or with silver, through tradition and pedigree. We were redeemed by the incorruptible and priceless blood of Jesus Christ. That blood gave us redemption. It gave us forgiveness from sins. It purchased us back from death. It was as though we were in the gallows, waiting for the execution to take place. And at the last minute, someone said, wait, this is paid. His debt is paid. It's done.

Christ's blood redeemed us from the transgressions of the law of God that we might obtain this promise of eternal inheritance. So, brethren, what is the expectation for us and the people of God as a part of that redemption? What is the expectation? The title of the message today is, Return to Me for I Have Redeemed You. Return to Me for I Have Redeemed You. That is a title which is taken from Isaiah 44. If you would turn over, please, to Isaiah 44. Begin turning there. We're going to explore this expectation that God has for His people then and today. We examine the record of Scripture as Israel departed Egypt fully, crossing the Red Sea, defeating Pharaoh and his armies, as was mentioned already today as Jewish tradition holds, took place on this last day of Unleavened Bread. What we see from that point forward is a people who struggled, struggled to put their faith in the God that had delivered them. They were a people that had become so entrenched in Egypt and her ways that they couldn't seem to extricate themselves from that culture, even once they were no longer immersed in it. Even once they were already gone, the mindset was still there. And I don't know about you, but when I read the story of Israel, it's heartbreaking. It's a heartbreaking story to read because you're rooting for them.

You want them so badly to be successful. You want them so badly to recognize what God has done for them to see where He should be in their life. It's hard to read. It's so hard to read sometimes.

And then, which I hope you have done, you put yourself in the story and you see where you would be in that same situation in those same circumstances. But you want to see them recognize and place God in the proper place in their life. You want to see them do what they're commanded to do. And unfortunately, that is not what we see. Unfortunately, that is not what we see as Scripture progresses. By the time we pick the story up in Isaiah 44, Israel as a nation has become even further enmeshed in idolatry. They've reached a point now where the high places of Jeroboam were set up. They only set up those two big high places there in Israel. Subsequent kings came along and did not remove them. There were some kings of Israel who tried to restore right worship, refocus the nation to God and were successful for a time.

Proper worship was restored, but it seems that they would make one step forward and two steps back. It seems as kings would transition and as the next king would come in from one leader to the next. What we see Isaiah do throughout his book is he prophesies the captivity of the people, but he also prophesies their restoration. Let's go to Isaiah 44. Isaiah 44. Hopefully you're there already. We're going to pick it up in verse 1. Isaiah 44 in verse 1. Says, Yet hear me now, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord, who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you. Says, Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and you, Jesherin, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty and floods on the dry ground. I will pour my spirit on your descendants, my blessing on your offspring. They will spring up among the grass like willows from the watercourses. One will say, I am the Lord's, and another will call himself by the name of Jacob. Another will write with his hand the Lord's, and name himself by the name of Israel. God, as Isaiah was inspired to write, promises to care for Israel. He promises to provide for his people. He tells them that if they do these things, that they will be blessed. He says they'll be springing up among the grasses like willows, as his people. I don't know if you're familiar with willows, but they spring up pretty good. You know, they are frequently along the water side and things and just beep, beep, beep, beep, willows all over the place, right? Along those watery edges. But this is a future fulfillment of Israel's restoration that is being pictured here. He goes on, he establishes his place as God. He establishes his role as Israel's Redeemer. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, verse 6, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. I am the first, I am the last. Besides me, there is no God. And who can proclaim as I do? Says, Let him declare it and set it in order for me, since I appoint to the ancient people and the things that are coming and shall come. Let them show these to them. Do not fear. Do not be afraid. Have I not told you from that time and declared it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is no other rock. Says, I know not one. He addresses their sin and the futility of their efforts in verse 9. He says, Those who make an image, all of them are useless. Their precious things shall not profit. They are their own witnesses. They neither see nor know that they may be ashamed. Who would form a God or mold an image that profits him nothing?

It profits him nothing. Surely all his companions would be ashamed. And the workmen, they are mere men. Says, Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up, yet they shall fear. They shall be ashamed together. He says, The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals, fashions it with hammers and works it with the strength of his arms. Notice what he says.

Even so, he is hungry and his strength fails. He drinks no water and is faint.

These gods that they were fashioning with their tongs and hammers and cutting out of wood and shaping with wood didn't provide their basic needs and necessities. As they are crafting these things, they are hungry and thirsty and faint. The craftsman stretches out his rule. He marks one out with chalk. He fashions it with a plane and he marks it out with the compass. He makes it like the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man that it may remain in the house. Verse 14. He cuts down cedars for himself, takes the cypress and the oak, secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine and the rain nourishes it. Then it shall be for a man to burn. For he will take some of it and warm himself. Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread. Indeed, he makes a god and worships it.

He makes a god and he worships it. He makes it a carved image and he falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire and with this half he eats meat. He roasts a roast and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, Ah, I am warm. I have seen the fire.

And the rest he makes into a god. His carved image. He falls down before it and he worships it. He prays to it and he says, Deliver me, for you are my god.

When you look at Israel throughout history, this was their experience.

They came out of Egypt with this pluralistic religious culture where God was not the one true God. He was one of many.

And as they came out from that time, and as they came out from their bondage and they were delivered and redeemed, that mindset carried right along with them.

They put their faith and their trust in everything but the one who made it happen.

Isaiah continues addressing their spiritual blindness and their lack of understanding in verse 18. He says, They do not know or understand, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see, their hearts so they cannot understand, and no one considers in his heart, nor is their knowledge, nor understanding to say, I have burned half of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals, I have roasted meat and eaten it, and shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?

He feeds on ashes. The deceived TARDIS turned him aside, and he cannot deliver his soul, nor say is there not a lie in my right hand. One of Israel's biggest challenges to overcome throughout their history, as they came out of Egypt, was idolatry.

It was the fashioning of these gods, apart from the one true God. And that way of thinking, that way of Egyptian thought, that way that they had lived in Egypt for so long, that had been come so entrenched and so ingrained, permeated their society, and permeated their thinking to the point that during the time of Isaiah, the northern kingdom fell and went back into captivity as a result of their sins. And Judah wouldn't be far behind. Judah would not be far behind.

What we see in the story of the Israelites is that God redeemed them from Egypt, but they kept wanting to return to Egypt and what it stood for.

God desired that they would come out, that they would be distinct, that they would be different, be holy.

But Israel wanted to be like the nations that surrounded them. They wanted to fashion themselves and conform themselves to look just like everybody else, rather than be that holy and different and distinct people that God had called them to be.

Verse 21 and 22 of Isaiah 44, he says, Remember these, O Jacob, in Israel, for you are my servant. I have formed you. God says, You are my servant. Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. And then the title of the message today, this is where it comes from, Isaiah 44, 22. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.

You know, in every circumstance throughout history, when God worked with his people, God's desire was for his people to draw near to him. He redeemed them back from their sin. He bought them back from the penalty that they had earned. He had blotted out their transgressions. It's like a thick cloud, he says, he blotted out their transgressions as he inspires the prophet Isaiah to write, to blot out their transgressions and their sins. What was God's only desire in that process?

That they would turn to him. That they would turn to him. That they would turn to him. That they would turn to him.

That they would acknowledge what he did for them and acknowledge the air of their ways and incline their hearts to him.

The word that's used for return here in Isaiah, in the Hebrew, is shen bav bed. Shen bav bed, which literally means to turn back or to return. Mounts' dictionary describes how from the base meaning of turning back, there comes a figurative extension of restoration of relationship as when one returns in repentance to God. So we see this word used to literally turn back. So like you're walking down the road one direction and you turn back and you return in the direction from which you have come. That's one usage of the word. But we also see it figuratively used in a number of places. I'm going to give you three real quick ones. You can write them down if you'd like or not. That's your call. Ezekiel 18 verse 21 says, if a wicked man turns shen bav bed, if a wicked man turns from all his sins, keeps my statute and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. And so there's that figurative use of restoration of relationship. If a man returns from his wicked ways from all of his sins. That's Ezekiel 18, 21. 1 Kings 13 verse 33. 1 Kings 13 verse 33. It says, after this event, Jeroboam did not turn shen bav bed from his evil ways. But again, he made priests from every class of the people for the high places. Whoever wished, says Jeroboam, consecrated him. He became one of the priests of the high places. So we see again this figurative use of the word in the way that a person turns in Scripture. Another one is 2 Chronicles 6, verses 36 through 40. 2 Chronicles 6 verses 36 through 40. It says, when they come, shen bav bed. That's one use of the word there. To themselves, in the land where they were carried captive, and they repent. Shen bav bed. There's another use of the word in this for the word repent. Makes supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned. We have done wrong and have committed wickedness. And when they return, shen bav bed, to you with all heart and all soul in the land of their captivity. A little further down from here, in 2 Chronicles 7, that's the one which God says, If my people humble themselves and pray, I will turn. Shen bav bed. They turn from their wicked ways. This translated in a number of places as restore, kind of describing the restoration of a relationship, the restoration of a city or a nation. And in a few locations, it actually appears to have a connotation of repayment, as in the repayment of a debt. There's a transactional expectation, so to speak, in this redemption. One of those places, and I would like you to turn there, is Leviticus 25 in verse 52. This is where we see a transactional use of this concept, Leviticus 25, 52.

Leviticus 25 verse 52, we see instructions related to the Jubilee year and God's intentions with regards to debt and servitude and slavery and all the other aspects that took place at that time. Leviticus 25 and we'll pick it up in verse 52.

Leviticus 25 and verse 52.

Leviticus 25 and verse 52 reads as follows. It says, If there remain a few years until the year of Jubilee, then, speaking of the servant here, he shall reckon with him, and according to his years, he shall repay. Sheenbab bed.

He shall repay. Him the price of his redemption.

That he would take care of and transact that redemption. That he would pay for what he did not serve in that sense.

Brethren, you and I have been redeemed. You and I have been redeemed. The blood of Christ has paid the price for our sins. We have been brought back from death. We've been brought back from ruin and ultimately from the consequences of our transgressions.

And in that sense, we have had a price paid for us that transactionally we cannot possibly repay.

What do you have? What do you possess that could pay back the blood of Christ?

In a transactional sense, what do you have?

The only thing that you have is your life.

That's what was paid.

That's ultimately what was paid. His life for yours.

That's the only thing you've got that can even approximate.

None of our other possessions can even come close.

Our life, honestly, can't even come close in reality. That's the closest we've got.

The only thing that we have is our life.

And brethren, just as bonded servants in ancient times sold themselves willingly into servitude to pay a debt that was beyond their means, many ways we do the same.

God redeemed his people from bondage to sin. In that sense, they were freed. They received their independence, so to speak. But let me ask you this. Was Israel truly independent?

Were they truly independent? Was there anything that they could do for themselves to solve the issues that they found themselves in? I mean, they weren't powerless. They had the ability to obey God to some degree. They didn't have his spirit. That's certainly a challenging scenario.

But was Israel able to go forward from the shores of the Red Sea into the wilderness and rely on their own power? Could they deliver themselves from the trouble that they found themselves in?

No. They were stuck. They were stuck with no way out. They had to fully rely upon God. They were completely and totally dependent upon him. Completely and totally dependent upon God. And brethren, that is one of the most interesting juxtapositions within these days of Unleavened Bread. On one hand, we have been redeemed from our bondage and sin.

And on the other, as a result of that, we are being asked to willingly indenture ourselves to God.

To trade one master for another.

To willingly to trade forced labor to a labor that we have chosen and we have willingly agreed to. Brethren, we step from enslavement to servitude.

We pay the debt that we could never pay otherwise with our life and with our life's work.

Turn with me please to Romans 12. Romans 12, as we begin to close here today. Romans 12.

Romans 12, we're going to pick it up in verse one. Most of you already probably guessed where I was going with the mention of Romans 12. But Romans 12 in verse one. We're going to see this concept outlined in a slightly different way. Romans 12 in verse one. The Apostle Paul writes, he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren. I beseech is a strong word. He says, I plead with you, brethren, is what Paul is saying. I plead with you, therefore, brethren. I beseech you by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.

Paul says, which is your reasonable service. What other debt can we pay but our life?

As living sacrifices to God, he says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

God is working an incredible miracle in our lives, just as he parted the Red Sea, just as he, so many years ago, for his people Israel, walked them across on dry ground and then cared for them as they went through the wilderness, delivering them from the harsh bondage of Egypt. He has delivered us as a part of the Israel of God from the bondage of sin.

He has redeemed us from the consequences and the death penalty that sin carries through an exchange of the life of his Son, Jesus Christ, for the lives of all who have ever lived.

The expectation in return is that we will give him our all, that we will give him every fiber of our being, that we will turn to him in relationship and repentance, and that ultimately we will give him our life in servitude, that we will train one master for another.

God is our Redeemer. Brethren, return to him, for he has redeemed you.