Your Redemption Is a Done Deal!

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.
— Galatians 3:13

Don’t you wish you could be free from sin and its consequences once and for all? Well, according to Galatians 3:13, you already are! You just haven’t comprehended it yet! Let me give you an illustration of this before we dive into Galatians 3:13.

A friend of mine had a goat that he dearly loved. Very late one night, he received a telephone call from the local police, who informed him that his goat had wandered away from home, had been hit by a car, and now lay dead in a ditch by the side of the road.

My friend was grieved and broken-hearted, but he knew he needed to retrieve the dead goat. When he approached the ditch where the goat lay, he saw that the goat was very much alive! Its legs were bound with rope, which let my friend know that someone had kidnapped the goat and then dumped it in the ditch on the side of the road.

Jubilantly, he leaped into the bottom of the ditch, pulled out his pocketknife, cut the ropes, slapped the goat on its backside, and said, “Get up!” But the goat just lay there with its legs still clinging to each other as if they were still bound with rope. He hit her a second time, then a third time. Then he yelled at her one last time, “Get up!”

My friend mused to himself, Bless this dumb ol’ goat! It’s free and doesn’t even know it! He reached down and pulled apart the goat’s legs; then he lifted it and set it on its feet. Only then did the goat realize it wasn’t bound anymore.
 
 When I heard this story, it made me think about us as believers. We don’t need to get free — we are free! Jesus’ work on the Cross totally purchased our redemption and freedom.

Although Jesus broke the bonds of slavery and the devil has no legal hold on believers anymore, most believers still lay on their sides in the bottom of the ditch, wishing they could get free. The chains that hold them are an illusion, because Jesus already paid the price for their release!

Galatians 3:13 gives us a glorious picture of the redemption Jesus Christ purchased for us. The word “redeem” that Paul used in this verse is derived from the Greek word exagoridzo. It is a compound of the words ex and agoridzo. The word ex is a preposition that means out. The word agoridzo was the Greek word most notably used to describe the slave market — a disgusting place where human beings were bought, sold, and traded like animals.

But when the words ex and agoridzo are compounded together, it pictures a buyer or redeemer who has gone to the slave market to purchase a slave for the solitary purpose of bringing him out of that place of slavery so he can be set free. Therefore, this particular word for “redeem” conveys the thought of permanent removal from captivity.

Exagoridzo is the very word Paul used in Galatians 3:13, where he says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law....” Because this word is used in connection with Jesus redeeming us from the curse of the law, Paul is telling us plainly that Jesus’ sacrificial death didn’t only pay the penalty for our sin; His death removed us from living under the curse henceforth!

Paul continues to tell us that Jesus’ work of redemption was the reason He came into the world: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4,5).

As you get started on your day, take time to rejoice that God’s purpose in sending Jesus was not only to inspect your condition of slavery and locate you in your depravity — His ultimate plan was to buy you out of that miserable condition and then to place you in His family as His own child. You are forever removed from the curse of sin and the law. God accomplished that plan through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. It’s a done deal!

You’re a purchased possession, bought out of bondage by the Son of God, never to be a slave to sin again. So make a quality decision to walk in the reality of that marvelous fact!

Lord, I thank You that my redemption is a done deal! It’s not something I’m trying to get; it’s something You’ve already purchased and accomplished in my life. Help me renew every area of my mind so I can enjoy the liberty You purchased for me. Give me a desire to experience Your freedom in every sphere of my life and a determination to reject any form of bondage that tries to hang on to me!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!

I confess that I am free! Sin has no more hold on me! Bondages and habits from the past have no more legitimate right to exercise their control over me! I rejoice that God sent Jesus to buy me out of my slavery and place me in His family as His own child. I declare that I am forever removed from the curse of sin. I agree that it’s a done deal!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

1. Have you ever felt like that goat, mentally and emotionally paralyzed by the fear of being “kidnapped” by some kind of bondage in your life?
2. How would you act differently if you truly believed that you are no longer under the power of sin and its consequences once and for all?
3. How has the realization of what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection changed your opinion of yourself as God’s child?

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. . . Source: Sparkling Gems From The Greek Vol. 1: 365 Greek Word Studies For Every Day Of The Year To Sharpen Your Understanding Of God's Word | Rick Renner