We Have Been Redeemed

We Have Been Redeemed

In this episode of Standing in Defense of the Gospel, Chris Meador reflects on Galatians 4:1–7 and John 8:34–36 to remind listeners that through Jesus Christ, we have already been redeemed and made free. Rather than waiting for another experience or sign before moving forward, believers can stand in the confidence that God has given them what they need through the Spirit of His Son.

Chris shares how the Lord brought fresh understanding to the truth that we are no longer servants to sin, fear, discouragement, or bondage, but sons and heirs through Christ. With practical encouragement and a personal testimony of deliverance, this message calls listeners to stop waiting for God to do what Christ has already accomplished and to begin walking forward in freedom, faith, and spiritual confidence.

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Hello and welcome to another episode of Standing in Defense of the Gospel. My name is Chris Metter, your host, and I want to welcome you back today. I thank you for tuning in. So today I'm going to get right into the Word and what the Lord has been talking to me about the last few days. And so I again hope you're doing well and look forward to sharing this with you today. So let's go to the book of Galatians, chapter 4. And we are going to read verses 1 through 7. Alright, so I'm going to read these verses and then I will share with you how the Lord has been talking to me through these verses and some other things over the past week or so. Alright, so starting in Galatians 4, verse 1. And again, I'm going to read out of the KJV. You're welcome to follow along in whichever version that makes that works best for you. So this is Galatians 4 and 1. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness 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. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Alright, so um you know it's been a few days ago now that uh I was reading these verses and the Lord just started talking to me about really in starting in uh verses uh four is where he really got my attention, but um he started talking to me about really understanding that we are free. Um we we have been set free. It's not something we have to wait for any longer. Um and that's you know it's so let's let's kind of see if I can break this down in the best way I can. So if we go into verse one, all right, it says that the heir, so the one that is uh to be given an inheritance, as long as he is a child, he doesn't differ from a servant, right? Because he's a child, he doesn't really have the same rights as uh as an adult, right? So the servant and the child, even though they may be the heir, they're basically, as far as authority is concerned, is the same. Then verse 2 says, But this child is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father, right? So this child is is being taught and being raised until the father decides that the child is ready to receive his inheritance. Okay. So verse three. Paul is relating this to us. He says, All right, so even the same is true for us. When we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world. And that's that's what kind of caught my attention. Is he says, when we were children, we were in bondage. And you know, I don't know, I've heard this scripture preached a few different times, and uh well, many times really, and the way that I have always looked at it, I'm not gonna say that this is the way that it was preached, but the way that I always looked at it when I heard it was we are waiting for this time appointed of the Father. And I do believe there's times and seasons with God, so not disputing that, but it says that, you know, I've always looked at this as something that is yet to be obtained, right? This is something that is in the future. I'm still waiting for God to do it. Um, you know, I'm I'm always just waiting and until that time appointed. But Paul is saying, well, no, no, no, we were children and we were in bondage, and the fullness of the time, so this is verse 4, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. All right, well, Paul is saying, yeah, we were in bondage, but guess what? The time of the appointed of the Father came. When he sent Jesus Christ to destroy the power of sin, the time of the Father has come. You know, uh my uh my mom always uses this phrase. She's uh uh been serving God for uh over forty years now, maybe close to fifty, I'm not, I think, but definitely over forty. And she uses this phrase, she said, you know, somewhere God's word had to be fulfilled. Somewhere John the Baptist had to come forth, somewhere Jesus had to be born, right? Somewhere he had to, you know, all these promises that God has made over the years had to be fulfilled. Well, verse four is exactly that. There was a time that God appointed, and he sent forth his son. And so guess what his son did? Verse 5, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. All right, and because we are sons or children of God, he has sent forth the spirit of his son, Jesus Christ, that spirit being the Holy Ghost, he has sent forth that spirit into our hearts, where that spirit now therefore cries, Abba Father. And now we are no more servants, right? We are no more the same as a servant, but we are now a son, and because we are sons, we have an inheritance of God that is accessible through the work that Christ did. And so the way the Lord uh you know, there's a lot more I could go into there, but I just want to focus on what the Lord really started talking to me about, and that was simply that the work has been done, and we don't have to be waiting for God to necessarily do something for us to be able to go forward. And so let me explain that a little more. Uh, so earlier in the week, um, so this was a few days ago when the Lord started talking to me about this scripture, but earlier in the week, um, I can't remember exactly what I was doing, and I think I was reading some notes or or meditating uh on the Lord, and uh, you know, what I have seen in my life, uh just through my church experience, um, is that people are always waiting for some sort of emotional experience for them to come forward in what God has called them to, right? And and the way that the Lord related this to me, and again, the what I've been in church a lot of, I've been in uh what I'll say is uh denominal church in terms of say, like a Baptist church, Methodist church, etc. Right, I've been in that, but I've spent a lot of time uh in what I will refer to loosely as Pentecostal, and by that I just mean churches where the Spirit uh or where people uh yield to the Spirit, if you will, right? Not saying that people don't yield to Spirit in other churches, but they're more charismatic, they're more outward expression, right? So that's that's what I'm referring to when I say Pentecostal, people that are just more outwardly expressing uh what they feel that the spirit is doing, right? And so that's where I've spent a lot of my time. Um, and I've observed a lot of things over the years, and one of the things that I have observed is that uh and is that people are always waiting for something, they're always waiting for God to do something else in their lives. There's always something that that's holding them back, if you will. They're just they just don't have the confidence that God has done everything, so they need God to do something else. And and you know, the way the Lord again related it to me is that people are waiting for a day of Pentecost experience, right? And especially in these uh, again, what I'll loosely call Pentecostal churches, right? They are waiting for this day of Pentecost experience. They're waiting for the Spirit of God to come in like a like a rushing mighty wind. They're waiting for the Spirit of God to cause them to basically lose all control of their faculties where they don't know what they're doing, and they're gonna do what it's said in the book of Acts, and they're gonna go out and they think they're gonna stumble around and start speaking in tongues and doing all these things, and God's gonna use them to do great miracles and all this different stuff, right? They're waiting for that type of experience before they do anything with what God has already put in them, which is the Holy Ghost. I mean, that's what Paul said. He said, He has now sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, right? And the Spirit of His Son is meant to do one thing. It is meant to conform us to the image of Christ. It's not meant for anything else, it's meant to conform us to the image of Christ. And by conforming us to the image of Christ, then other things will happen. Right? Other things will happen because guess what? If we are conformed to the image of Christ, then we will act like Christ, we will manifest or demonstrate Christ. So that is the purpose of the Holy Ghost. But everybody, or not everybody, but it seems to me from what I again, what I have observed uh in 17 years of serving God, is that people are waiting for God to do something else in their lives before they feel like they can step forward. And that is not what the scripture says, right? That's not and that's not what God is saying right now. He is saying, you have what you need to move forward, so start moving forward. And that is one thing that is always true with God. You know, we always have what we need. Now, we may not feel like we have what we need, and there may still be some progress and some growth and maturity that we have to uh you know enter into, but as far as having what we need, we have what we need. It's no different than this natural life. Look, we have uh in terms of growth, like from an infant to a toddler to an adolescent to a teenager to an adult, you have what you need to be able to grow. You might have to figure out all those different stages of life, right? Because there are changes in your body, there's changes in your mind, there's changes, you know, you get into hormones and different things. There's things that change, but you still have what you need. Your body naturally has what it needs, your mind naturally has what it needs to be able to grow. And so it's no different in our relationship with God. We have what we need, and he sends forth the spirit of his son into our hearts to help us grow, to help us mature, to lead us to Christ. I mean, that is what the Holy Ghost does, is it leads us into the mind and nature of Christ. Um, and so I want to encourage you, don't feel like you don't have what you need. You have exactly what you need. Um, and I want to go to another scripture in John chapter 8, verse 34 through 36, and and this will this will help further the point. Um and so uh, you know, I've heard this scripture many times, uh, but I was listening, listening to uh to someone minister the other day, and they brought out uh scripture 36 8 and 36, which we'll read here in a second. They brought this out, and I just heard the Lord speak to me when they brought it out, and uh it just it really I don't know, it gave me a different level of confidence uh than what I have uh had before. But I'm gonna read these verses here. So this is the gospel of John, chapter eight, verses thirty-four through thirty-six. Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth ever. If the son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. All right, and so I've heard, you know, I know there's songs about verse thirty-six, and you know, I've heard it preached, you know, whosoever the son shall make shall set free is free indeed, right? And um, you know, I heard this minister say that verse, and I mean it's like God just spoke to me, illuminated me, and I have had a new confidence, a new authority, a new power over anything that tries to bring me into bondage. And now you're saying, well, what can bring you into bondage? Well, there's lots of things that can bring you into bondage, right? There's fear, there's a lack of confidence. A lack of confidence has you in bondage because you don't feel like you can move forward, right? You you don't have the confidence to do what you think you should do. Um, and that can be also kind of a type of fear, right? Uh, maybe there is a temptation that you know what you struggle with, and temptations can be many things. We talked about um the lust of the flesh uh in in the previous episode, right? That it's important that we walk in the spirit, that we do not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Well, you can get angry, you can get jealous, and you can want to act on those things. Uh so there's many temptations that we can have. And so, you know, really what the Lord just showed me is I don't have to give in to any of those things. I don't have to be angry, I don't have to be fearful. I don't need that to be satisfied in God, right? I don't need that. I don't need uh, you know, maybe you struggle with financial provision. I don't need more financial provision to be satisfied in God. There's nothing else that I need. And that and that's really kind of what the Lord just put in my spirit. I don't need that. I'm good. I don't need that. And and so that's what I want to uh you know relay to you today. I don't need it. I don't need anything else, right? I don't God has given me what I need. It doesn't mean He's not going to give me more, but I don't need anything in this life to satisfy me in Christ. What I need is Jesus. What I need is Jesus Christ living inside of me and the reality of the Holy Ghost and that nature of Christ and that divine, that divine nature of Christ living inside of me. That is what I need, and that is what I'm talking about. Don't think for one second that you need anything else in this life to satisfy you, because the only thing that you and I need is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He is the one that gives us peace. You know, the the con the other side of what I didn't get to bring out in the first episode about walking in the spirit, you know, yes, it keeps you from fulfilling the lust of the flesh, but you know what happens when you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh? The fruit of the spirit starts coming in. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, kindness, meekness, temperance, faith. You know, instead of getting bitter, you can love, right? Instead of getting depressed, you can have joy. Instead of wanting to give up, you can have long suffering. Right? Those are all things that being in the spirit helps you to do. And so therefore, I don't have to have anything else naturally. I don't have to have anything else in this flesh. What I have to have is Jesus Christ. Um, and you know, another scripture which I'm I don't have it marked, but I know you uh well I'll say you might know it, you might not. If you don't look it up, but it says, uh those that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. Right? Well, that is what I am looking for, is I am hungering and thirst thirsting, excuse me, hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Well, I don't just want to hunger and thirst after it all the time. I want to see it be filled in me. Right? I want it to come forth in me. I want to see it in my life. That is the filling, is when it actually happens in my life. And so therefore I am hungering and thirsting after that. But again, make no mistake, I'm not waiting for God to give me a day of Pentecost experience. I'm not waiting for God to visit me in prayer one more time. I'm not waiting for him to speak something to me to tell me that I can go forward, but no, instead now I know I have the confidence that I have exactly what I need and I'm going to go forward in what he has already given me, knowing that if there is anything else that I lack, he will show it to me and he will reveal it to me, and he will perfect me in that area. I can come before boldly before my father and say, you know what, Lord, I don't have what I thought I had here, or I am struggling, and I need you to help me. And guess what? That's exactly what he's gonna do because he is my father, and he is going to give me everything that I need. Amen. So uh, you know, and I want to relate uh just another experience here just to kind of bring this to a close. Um, but you know, again, going back to Galatians 4 and John 8, right? We have been made free from the power of sin. Jesus said that if you commit sin, you are the servant of sin. Well, I am no longer a servant to sin because the Son has made me free. And going back to 2009, this is when the Lord uh really called me out of sin and really turned my life upside down. Um, and this experience came to my mind today before I uh before I was uh going to record this episode. But what he reminded me of, so in 2009, um I uh you know I spent a lot of time before coming to the Lord drinking alcohol, and that was kind of just a way of life. Uh I I wouldn't say I was an alcoholic, but I definitely practice alcoholism, right? I was getting drunk multiple times a week. I was in college in a fraternity, and that's just that was the way of life. Um and the Lord had been drawing me several months before I fully surrendered, and so I had kind of set some of this, some of the drinking aside. I still did it from time to time, um, but I had kind of set it aside. And then when I did come to church and when I did decide that I was going to serve God, I put it aside for good. And um, you know, so leading up to this experience that I'm trying to get to, so I had set, again, I had set drinking aside, I'd I had I can tell you where I was, and I remember, you know, I was like, Lord, if I'm gonna serve you, I can't do this. Right? I can't, I just can't do this. I can't live this way if I'm going to serve you. And so um I remember sitting on the couch at uh uh so there was a girl that I had met when I came to church, and we started talking, started dating, and she's now my wife. Um, but back then, you know, we were just sitting on the couch at her grandparents' house in their living room, and there was a commercial that came on for alcohol, and she asked me, does that still bother me? And I just kind of thought about it for a second. I was like, Yeah, it really does. I still want to do that. Um and so uh we went to church that evening. We had we at that time, the church I was going to, we had Saturday night services, and so we went to the church that evening. And uh at the end of the service, I remember going up to the to the minister and asking for them to pray for me. Uh, but I almost really couldn't even get the words out because I was so terrified that I was going to go back into that bondage of drinking. I was so terrified because the power in my mind felt so great. It felt so strong. It seemed like it was darkness and hopelessness, and it was just such a power and a force warring against me that I just I didn't think there was any way possible. And so I asked, you know, for this this minister to pray for me, and uh, and they did, and you know, they they when they prayed for me, uh I can't even describe words, won't do it justice, what happened, but all I know is that every voice, every thought, every fear left my mind instantaneously, and my mind was the best way I know how to describe it was black. I mean, it was absolutely black, empty. I couldn't have a thought if I wanted to. It was just like God completely erased everything in my mind, and I have not struggled with a desire to drink ever since. And so I say that to say that it doesn't matter what you're facing, what you feel, if you feel like something is too powerful, it's not because Jesus Christ has destroyed the power of sin. Every power that the enemy can bring against us, again, whether it's a temptation, whether it's a fear, whether it's a lack of confidence, um, you know, whether you're worried about financial security or provision or, you know, whatever. If there's something in your home, if you're if there's a force that's warring in your home and your family and division and strife and all that, it doesn't matter. That power is no, has no power over what Jesus Christ has done for us because Jesus has destroyed the power of sin. And that power of sin is not just the power to try to make us commit sin, but is every negative effect, it is every warfare, it is everything that is not of God. Um, he has defeated that power, he holds the uh the authority. And so um, you know, I want to leave you with that, and and then, you know, sometimes, and the final thought here, um, you know, sometimes we do have to walk things out. And so, uh, not talking out of both sides of my mouth, but sometimes you do have to walk it out, right? You still will face temptation, you still will face a warfare. Even hearing this word today, the enemy will try to make you have doubt and unbelief because you might still feel some of the things that you felt before you listened to this. But that is where spiritual warfare comes in, and that is where we take the word of God and we go to war. And you know, things aren't always automatic, but knowing, taking the confidence that I have what I need, and devil, you have no place in me. You have no right in my mind, you have no place in me. And again, the phrase that has worked for me, um, you know what? I don't need that. I don't have to be angry, I don't have to react this way, I don't need that. You know, whatever it is, I don't need to be fearful. I don't need anything else, right? I don't need it. And that is my sufficiency is of Christ. And that's that's the phrase that's worked for me, so maybe that will work for you. Um, but again, we have it, it does take practice. We do have everything we need move forward, and I'll share you with another phrase that um that I've heard my mom say, and she's got some good ones. Uh, but I'll share this one with you. She's she's told me before, she said, you know what, God didn't always deliver me immediately, but he does deliver me completely. So the same is true, I believe. Uh sometimes sometimes there's times where God delivers us immediately, and then there's other times where you know what, we got to walk it out, and he may not deliver us immediately, but you know what? He delivers us completely. The work, when it's done, is always done. So uh thank you for tuning in today. Again, enjoyed sharing this with you. Um, I pray that this has been a blessing to you, and I look forward to uh having you join in another day. May God bless.