You know, over the last few weeks, we have been exploring who the Lord our Shepherd is.
In Psalm 23, King David, in a great expression of thought, imagery and creativity, crafted a description of God’s desire for relationship with us. And here’s what we found so far. The Lord is my shepherd who provides. The Lord is my shepherd who protects. The Lord is my shepherd who prepares. And the Lord is my shepherd who pursues passionately. Hallelujah. We started off this study by beginning with verse one, which begins with the phrase, the Lord my shepherd.
The Hebrew word for Lord in this verse is Jehovah. There are five characteristics of Jehovah that define who he fully is, and that’s what we’ve been looking at over the last few weeks. The first one is, he is Jehovah, the self existent, eternal One. He is Jehovah, the God of all favor. He is Jehovah, the one bringing into being the life giver, the giver of existence, the Creator. He is Jehovah, who brings to pass, who performs his promises. He is Jehovah, the one ever coming into manifestation as the God of redemption. And so, over the last four weeks, we’ve looked at those first four, and today we will continue our study by looking into this fifth characteristic which defines Jehovah, our Lord.
The one ever coming into manifestation is the God of redemption. The Bible reveals that the Lord is ever coming into manifestation as the God of redemption, continually revealing Himself throughout Scripture to accomplish his redemptive purpose. Not only is he revealing Himself throughout Scripture, he’s doing it throughout history. The Father’s redemptive authority is demonstrated by the fact that the plan of redemption is from the foundation of the world. And we see that in Ephesians 1, verse 4. And this is from the amplified version. It says, even as in his love he chose us, he actually picked us out for Himself as His own in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, consecrated and set apart for him, and blameless in his sight, even above reproach before him in love. Wow, what a powerful scripture.
Think about that. He loves us so much. He chose us. He chose you. He actually picked you out for himself in Christ. He already saw you in Christ before the foundation of the world. And here’s how he saw you. He saw you holy.
He saw you consecrated. He saw you set apart for him. He saw you blameless in his sight, above reproach you stood before him, and you stand before him today in love. God is referred to as a Redeemer because of Jesus Christ’s role in saving humanity from sin. And so, like we just saw, God has intended this from the foundation of the world. The term Redeemer is a metaphor that means buying back or restoring something to its original state. That place it was meant to be. There’s a simple story I heard years ago that illustrates this idea of redemption.
A young boy worked hard designing and creating a little sailboat. When the boat was painted and the sail was finished, he proudly carried his new boat to the edge of the river for its first launch. He carefully placed it in the water and slowly let out the string. How smoothly the boat sailed. He sat in the warm sunshine, admiring the little boat that he had built. But suddenly a strong current caught the boat. When he tried to pull it back into shore, the string broke. The wind and current pushed the little boat downstream.
The young boy ran along the shore as fast as he could, but his little boat soon slipped out of sight. All afternoon he searched for the boat along the riverbank. Finally, when it was too dark to look any longer, he sadly went home. A few days later, on his way home from school, he spotted a boat that looked just like his in a store window. When he got closer, he could see, sure enough, that was his boat. So he hurried into the store and spoke to the store manager. Sir, that’s my boat in your window. I made it.
The store manager said, sorry, son, but someone else brought it in this morning. If you want it, you’ll have to buy it. The young boy ran home. He counted all his money. He had exactly enough. He rushed back to the store to buy the sailboat that he had designed and built. As he left the store, the boy hugged his boat that he had made and said, little boat, now you’re twice mine. First I made you and now I bought you.
Wow. Wow. And that’s exactly what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. He has redeemed us. He has bought us back. There are two prefixes that help us define what we lost with the fall of man and what was restored to us through Christ. Redemptive restoration that brought us back into relationship with God, into the place that we were created for. The first one is the prefix death.
Dis. Dis is a Greek term which means the following. To deprive of a specified quality, rank, or object, to find fault with. To accuse. Reverses or negatives. What is affixed to it means to pull apart, to Put asunder, to put away utterly away. It’s the condition that limits a person’s ability. That word dis was also the name of the Roman God of the underworld.
In the beginning, Satan displaced us. He took our position of authority, what was rightfully ours. Satan isn’t doing anything new today. It is still his plan to deprive us of our rightful place, position in Christ. He’s still going about to diss us, to rob us of our rank and position as children of God. So there are eight ways Satan tries to diss us or displace us, to take us out of our proper place and position. The first one is this disappointment. Disappointment means to remove from office, to undo the appointment you’ve been given.
It is a non fulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations. It is being sad, frustrated, a feeling of loss when things don’t go your way. The second way Satan tries to displace us is through disillusionment. Which means to lose faith in your dreams and ideals, to no longer believe in something, to question your decision. Did God really call me? Maybe I should have done something else. It’s not what I thought. The third way Satan comes to displace us is through discouragement. Which means to lose courage, confidence, enthusiasm, to.
To be dispirited, to step into that place of expressing opposition and disapproval. It is despair. In the face of obstacles we feel overwhelmed, overcome. Everything is wrong, nothing will turn out right. Is intimidation at its highest level. The fourth way Satan comes to displace us is through discomfort or to be discomfited. It means to confuse someone, to deject someone. It means that they’re disconcerted.
It means to frustrate the plans of someone, to to thwart them, to foil them, to defeat them utterly, to rout them. Discomfit is the opposite of victory. To be discomfited is to walk in loss, to be in a place where you just give up. The fifth way Satan comes to displace us is through distrust. Distrust is doubt, suspicion, not being able to discern what’s true and what’s false. It’s that place where we hesitate, we waver. Everything and everyone is subject and suspect. The sixth way the enemy comes to displace us is through disobedience.
To get us to step into that place where we disobey God’s word, where we’re not following the rules or instructions, the statutes, the commandments, the principles of God. It means to be defiant. The seventh way the enemy comes to displace us is through disbelief it’s that place of giving up and not believing anymore. You have no faith in God, in His Word and anyone around you really. It is a rejection of belief. And then the eighth way Satan comes to displace us as he comes to destroy us. Jesus said in John 10:10, the enemy comes to kill, to steal, kill and destroy. Destroy means to reduce to a useless form.
It means remains of uselessness. Or by rendering someone useless, means burning or dissolving something. It means to be injured beyond repair or renewal, to demolish, to ruin, to annihilate, Destroy means to put to an end, to extinguish, to kill, to slay, to render ineffective or useless. It means to nullify, to neutralize or invalidate, to defeat completely a pulling down, ending a termination. You see, the devil just doesn’t want to defeat you. He wants to destroy you. He wants to diss you, to take you out of your rightful place and position. And one of the results of all of the above is this.
All of the above, those eight things is we become overcome with shame, guilt, regret, self reproach, blame, distress, sadness and sorrow. Wow. But God. God has an answer. God’s intent for us is always life. Let’s look at John 10:10 again. This is from the Amplified, also John 10:10. The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy.
I, I came that they may have and enjoy life and have it in abundance to the full, till it overflows. Hallelujah. God comes and says, hey, I’m going to redeem you and you’re going to have and enjoy life in abundance to the full, till it overflows. So with redemption comes the power. The second prefix, which is re, re means this. It’s a prefix occurring originally from the Latin, used with the meaning again or again and again to indicate repetition, or with the meaning back or backwards, to put back, back, to bring back into place, to indicate withdrawal or backward motion. In other words, to regenerate, to refurbish, to retype, to retrace, to revert to that former place. The ministry of reconciliation is the power of redemption, bringing us back into relationship with our Father God, placing us back back into our original position with him, with all of our rights, our privileges, and the blessings of children of God.
One translation of Ephesians 2:10 says, We’ve been recreated. There’s that word re in Christ. We’ve been brought back, created again in Christ. In other words, we’ve been put back into our intended place and position in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. In fact, let’s read Ephesians 2:10 and this is from the Amplified also. For we are God’s own handiwork, his workmanship recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew, that we may do those good works which God predestined and planned beforehand for us, taking paths which he prepared ahead of time that we should walk in them, living the good life which he prearranged and made ready for us to live. The power of the prefix re brings us the following eight things in Christ. Number one, relief, alleviation, ease or deliverance through the removal of pain, distress and oppression.
A means or thing that relieves anxiety, a distinct or abrupt change in your mood, the scene, the action, resulting in a reduction of intensity, its consolation, contentment, respite, it’s cheer. Hallelujah. Relief brings the peace of God. The second way God comes with the power to place us back into our intended place and position in Christ is through recovery, the regaining of something lost or taken away. To return to a former state or condition, to gain again. It’s improvement, it’s regaining of substances in usable form. God makes you valuable and useful again. He recovers you.
The third way he brings us back into our proper place and position is through reassurance. We are reassured. It means to restore to confidence. God brings you back into relationship with him and restores your confidence, your courage. To be reassured is to be encouraged, to be giving courage. And that’s what Christ came to do, was to give us our confidence and to encourage us through His Word. The fourth way he brings us back into our place and our position is he restores us. Hallelujah.
This is a powerful word. It means to bring back into existence, to bring back into use or the like thereof. It means to reestablish, to bring back to a former original or normal condition, to bring back to a state of health, soundness, vigor. To put back to a former place or to a former position, to a former rank. To give back and make return or restitution of anything taken away or lost. Wow. To reproduce or reconstruct the original state. Scripture tells us that God will bring restitution to us.
He will restore to us all that the enemy has taken from us. Hallelujah. We just got to know it, believe it and receive it. Hallelujah. That’s powerful. Restoration is powerful and he is a God of restoration. The fifth thing that he does when he brings us back into our proper place and position is reliance. He brings us into a place of trust, assurance, faith, hope, dependence on Him.
He brings us back into that place of the good News, the gospel of truth. Hallelujah. The sixth thing he brings us into when we come back into our place and position in him is respect. We step back into a place of obedience and submission, into a place of peace, honor, recognition, regard, reverence, value, worship. We come into a place with him where we respect him and he respects us. It’s a close, intimate relationship. The seventh way. And the seventh thing he does to bring us back into that place and position of honor that is ours is he rebuilds.
Rebuild means to replace, to restrengthen, to reinforce, to build again, to bring afresh faith, trust, confidence, belief and conviction. He rebuilds all of this within us. Hallelujah. He rebuilds all of this. We go from faith to faith. And the eighth thing he does, which we’re talking about, he brings us back into relationship with him by redeeming us. He redeems. It means to obtain the release or restoration of someone from captivity by paying a ransom for them.
Jesus paid a ransom for all of us. It means to save someone, to give birth to them, a new life to them, to preserve them, to keep them, to make up for or make good for loss or damage they may have incurred to deliver from sin and its consequences. Jesus is our redeemer. Our Father God is a God of redemption. Hallelujah. He brings us back to that place of being one with Him. Let me ask you something. Do you consider yourself God’s workmanship? There is no one else with your fingerprints.
There’s no one else with your unique personality. You were so valuable that God went to great lengths to redeem you. You were brought back to God because He bought you to through Jesus Christ. Let me say that again. You were brought back to God because He bought you through Jesus Christ. Just like the little boy with the boat. You were twice His. First because God made you and twice because he bought you through the blood of Jesus.
You no longer have to sail your own way. You can go in history and his power and his grace. What a blessed gift we have through our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. For our Father God sent Jesus to be our Redeemer. There are several ways that God reveals Himself as as the Redeemer. Let’s go Back to Exodus 6, verses 6 and 7. It says this. Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the Lord Jehovah.
I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians. I will rescue you from their bondage. And I will will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. Hallelujah. God revealed himself to Israel as their Redeemer by delivering them from Egypt. Isaiah 43:1 says this. But now thus says the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel.
Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. Hallelujah. We belong to Jehovah, our God. We belong to the Lord, our shepherd. We belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. For we see, redemption is central to God’s relationship with his people.
Redemption is what brought us back into being one with Him. Isaiah 44, 6 says, Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer. So he is the King of Israel and the Redeemer of Israel, the Lord of hosts. I am the first, I am the last. Besides me, there is no God. I’m everything for you and to you. Isaiah 44, verse 22. As you go on down in this chapter, he says again, I have swept away your offenses like a cloud.
Your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. And God is still saying that today. Come to me, come into relationship with me. I have redeemed you. Jehovah, our God is both King and Redeemer. The second way God shows himself as a Redeemer is God’s redemptive plan which unfolds through Christ. And In John chapter 1, verse 14, it says, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
And we beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So we know by studying this, we studied this before. I’ve taught on it that the Word is Jesus and Jesus is the Word. And Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. So God began to reveal himself. Jesus is the ultimate manifestation of God’s redemptive work. Matthew 1:21. And she will bring forth a son.
And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. That word saved there could be translated redeem. He will redeem his people from their sins. God came in the person of Jesus Christ to redeem, redeem humanity. We all walk in relationship with our Father God, with the Lord Jesus Christ today, because Jesus came and paid the price, paid the ransom to buy us back and to redeem us. Titus chapter 2, verses 13 and 14 says this. Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people. Zealous for good words.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Christ redemptive power continues to transform his people. All who come to him will be transformed, will be redeemed, will be put back into that place that they were created for. First Peter, chapter one, verses 18 and through 20 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct, received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. The precious blood of Christ Jesus bought you and brought you back into relationship with our Father God. He restored you to your proper position in Him.
The third way God reveals His redeeming power is this redemption is an ongoing revelation of God our Father. Hebrews chapter one, verses one and two. Says God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things through him, whom also he made the worlds. God progressively reveals his redemption work, cultivating it in Christ Jesus. Second Corinthians 5:19 says this, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Redemption is an ongoing work that is still in play, and God has invited us through the ministry of reconciliation to partner with him, to draw others to him, to draw them into this place of redemption, of stepping back into that place and position that they were created for. Revelation 21, verse 3 and 4 said this, and I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Because God has redeemed us, all of these scriptures affirm that the Lord our God Jehovah is ever coming into manifestation as the God of redemption. He is revealing Himself throughout history in Christ and in his ongoing work of saving and restoring his people. Over the last five weeks we have drilled down into who our Lord Jehovah is.
And let me remind you once again, he is the Lord the Self Existent. Eternal One. He is the Lord, the God of all favor. He is the one bringing into being life giver, the giver of existence, the Creator. He is the Lord who brings to pass performer of his promises. He is the one ever coming into manifestation as the God of redemption. Wow. Wow.
Five weeks and all we did was look at who Jehovah is, the Lord. What an incredibly deep and vast person our God is. As I said a couple weeks ago, truly he is beyond, beyond. Hallelujah. And so here we are. We’re five weeks into studying the 23rd Psalm. We’ve gotten past two words. Next week we will continue our study as we look into and understand the qualities of the Lord as our shepherd.
The Lord, our shepherd, My shepherd. Let’s bow our head in prayer. Father, we thank you for this day. Thank you, Lord, for your revelation knowledge. Thank you for revealing to us who you are, who you are, so we may appreciate you and know you and understand how much you love us and all that you’ve done for us, how you desire to be in relationship with us. So, Father, we just yield ourselves to you right now. I pray that you give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to understand who you truly are and how you desire to be in an intimate relationship with each one of us. Lord, we give ourselves to you.
We surrender ourselves to you. And thank you for all that you have provided for us through your redeeming power in Jesus Christ. Amen. So be it. Pastor Kanye is coming right now with the closing word and prayer. Have a blessed weekend.
