THE THREE R'S OF REDEMPTION (Division I B)

“To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto god, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:18). 

  I. RECOGNIZE THE SITUATION – Acts 26:18a

                 A. The Payment for Sin – Rom. 6:23a

                 B. The Provision for the Sinner – Rom. 6:23

 II. RENOUNCE SIN AND SATAN – Acts 26:18b

III. RECEIVE THE SAVIOR  - Acts 26:18c

Introduction:  Acts 26:18 is one of the main verses I have used in evangelistic meetings as well as in discipleship classes.  This verse was given to Paul when he was commissioned to be the apostle to the Gentiles.  It involved three distinct concepts that a person must know to come to the Lord Jesus Christ: I. Recognize the situation; II. Renounce Sin, Self, and Satan; and III. Receive the Savior. This week we are looking at part B under Roman numeral I.

B. The Provision for the Sinner – Rom. 6:23b

“But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (6:23b). 

(Jn 3:16)  For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The human cannot help himself. If man could somehow save himself, then the loving Father needlessly brutalized and murdered His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When I explained this to one of my brothers, he was aghast. He said, “The Big Chief wasn’t as strong or as smart as I thought He was.”  But it was Jesus Himself who willingly offered Himself in order to give us the gift of eternal life. Only God the Son was capable of paying the price of our salvation. We read in 1 Timothy 2:5–6: “⁵For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; ⁶Who gave himself a ransom for all. . . .”  THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.  (cf. Acts 4:12)

I probably thought like my brother when the process of salvation was first explained to me when I was eighteen years old. I wondered if there weren’t some other way for God to save me. But the two young people who talked to me mentioned regularly in our conversations that “you can’t make up your own rules.” God says that His Son is the only Redeemer. They helped me understand the process of our pardon when they took me back to the very beginning of the Bible. In the Garden of Eden Jesus gave Adam and Eve an object lesson about the price of redemption. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21).

Let me give you my own version of  some of the events of Genesis chapter three—this is how I imagine it may have happened: When Adam and Eve sinned by listening to Satan and disobeying God, they realized they were naked and tried to make themselves some clothing. Those large green fig leaves from which they made aprons (Gen. 3:7) probably covered them attractively, if not adequately, until the sun beat down on them and they dried up and fell off.

So I think Jesus had a long talk with Adam and Eve about righteousness, redemption, and robes.  Clothing is used as a symbol for salvation several places in the Bible. One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 61:10: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”  Later we will look at an interesting story Jesus told in which the correct garments are important.

Back to my story, the Lord gave Adam and Eve a painful picture of the price of our pardon as He related it to the symbolic sacrificial slaughter of the sheep. He called Adam’s favorite lamb, the one he most admired among all the beautiful, fluffy, white sheep. I can see this lovely lamb on the side of the mountain raise his head and trot down to them when Jesus called, “Adam’s favorite, come here.” Then the Lord tells the sheep to lie down by Adam.  He has Adam to lay his hands on the head of the lamb as He cuts its jugular veins. When the heart quits beating, Jesus cuts off its head. He says to Adam, “I know this is painful, but I want you to watch me—you can only watch.” He skins the sheep and places it on the altar He had built. Then Jesus called on His Father to accept this symbolic offering for the sin of Adam. Fire comes down out of heaven and consumes the sacrifice as well as the altar!  (Note the story of Elijah in I Kings 18, especially verse 38.)  Then Jesus hangs the skin of Adam’s favorite sheep on the limb of a tree for the moment. 

Then Jesus goes through the same process for Eve. He calls her favorite sheep name. Of course the great Shepherd knows all the sheep by name. (cf. Jn. 10:3) After Eve’s lamb has been sacrificed, the Lord makes for Adam and Eve beautiful seamless robes which are easily slipped over their heads. They are clothed from their neck to their ankles.  He leaves short sleeves on Eve’s but makes Adam’s robe sleeveless.  (Remember, I am imagining how all this may have happened.)

The Lord Jesus Christ explains that the sacrifice of the sheep represents the fact that in God’s time, He Himself would die for them, and if they would turn away from sin, self and Satan and surrender their lives to Him, they would be forgiven of all their sins. They would be saved from hell, and after they died physically, they would live with Him in heaven throughout eternity. They would never die a second death. (cf. Rev 2:11; 20:6 and 14; and 21:8). 

Adam and Eve understood the object lesson. They believed God and accepted Him completely. They surrendered their lives to the Creator as their Savior. We know this because of Genesis 3:20: “And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”  He knew they would not die physically right then, but would live to have children. When their first son was born, Eve said, “I have gotten a man from the LORD” (Genesis 4:1). I believe Adam and Eve recounted all these events to their children, so when Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices to God (Genesis 4:1-7), they knew very well what the Lord required, but Cain ignored God’s will and did his own thing.

When Jesus was here He frequently mentioned weddings.  In His day, the main time that families and their friends all got together was for a wedding celebration. Jesus’ first miracle was performed at a wedding to which He was invited (John 2). In Matthew 22:1-14, to illustrate the Kingdom of Heaven, the Lord tells the story of a king who prepared a feast and invited guests for the wedding of his son. The first ones invited refused the invitation, so the King sent his servants to invite everyone without exception. The terms of the invitation included the rules the king himself specified. The invitation was accepted by many people, but verses 11-13 of chapter 22 explain an important incident that happened at this wedding: “¹¹And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: ¹²And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. ¹³Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

As Cain ignored God’s will for his sacrifice, the wicked man at the wedding ignored the king’s requirements. The Lord’s invitation to salvation is for everyone, but all must come according to God’s instructions.

Romans chapter 5 explains in great detail The Provision for the Sinner.  So let us read it together:

¹Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: ²By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; ⁴And patience, experience; and experience, hope: ⁵And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. ⁶For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. ⁸But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. ¹⁰For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. ¹¹And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. ¹²Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: ¹³(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. ¹⁵But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. ¹⁶And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. ¹⁷For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) ¹⁸Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. ¹⁹For as by one man's disobedience [Adam’s] many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one [Jesus] shall many be made righteous. ²⁰Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: ²¹That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

(2 Cor 9:15) Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. (cf. Jn 4:10; Ef 2:8-9; 1 Jn 5:11-12)

We can recap our subject of God’s provision for our salvation by remembering the prophecy in Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”  

“A child is born” speaks of His humanity. “A Son is given” refers to His deity, the Son from heaven. Some day in the millennial kingdom Jesus will be the benevolent King who governs all the earth righteously. But now He wants to rule in our hearts and lives. (cf. Jn 18:17)  He wants to clothe us with the garment of salvation and the robe of righteousness. (cf. Is. 61:10).