Redemption #2 — The Hand of God, the Down Payment and Freedom From Condemnation

Redemption means being loosed from everything that holds you back and brought into everything God has for you. In this second message of the series, the pastor explains the Greek word behind redemption, contrasts two Hebrew words for hand, the enemy’s hand that holds down and God’s hand that sets free, and shows why a redeemed believer should be conscious of righteousness rather than sin. It continues from Redemption Part 1: Behold the Lamb of God Who Takes Away Condemnation.

Below you will find the full video, a structured summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps for living in your redemption this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This is the second message in a series on redemption at NTC Ministries, posted in April 2024. It runs about 75 minutes and ends with an invitation to receive Christ, followed by communion. The pastor says he does not yet know how long the series will run, because there is so much involved in redemption.

He begins with a conviction: there is only one Redeemer. Other gods, he says, have no redeeming value at all. When we understand what Jesus has done, our lives are not only changed but made full.

Only One Redeemer: What Redemption Means

The pastor recalls teaching a college class in Israel and asking a group of women leaving a Buddhist prayer time whether their god would answer them. They said they did not know. That, he says, is the difference. There is no redeeming value in anything other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

He reviews John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus coming and says, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John knew he was born to prepare the way, and he pointed to the one who would be sacrificed to redeem mankind.

The Greek word for redemption, apolutrosis, is a compound. Apo means away, as in apocalypse, the taking away of the coverings. Lutron means to be loosed or freed. Put together, redemption means away with what is binding you, away with what is holding you back and holding you down. Satan wants to hold everyone down, the pastor says, even those who have given their lives to Jesus, so that they never receive all that God has for them.

In the King James Version the same word is also translated deliverance. When we are delivered, we are not only delivered from something; we are delivered to something. Merriam-Webster, he notes, calls redemption the act of making something better or more acceptable. That is why everyone who is truly born again knows that something changed. It is not a religious agreement that Jesus died and rose; it is a revelation that changes your life.

Two Hands: The Enemy’s Grip and the Hand of God

The pastor teaches that Hebrew has two words for hand. The first is the word he pronounces as cuff. His father used to warn him that he would cuff him upside the head, and that is the sense: to suppress, to hold down, to hold back. He says it is used only for the hand of an enemy and never for the hand of God.

The second word, which he calls yod, is the hand used of God. It means a freeing, liberating hand, a hand of help, assistance and provision. He points to Psalm 118:15–17: the right hand of the Lord does valiantly, the right hand of the Lord is exalted, and “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” Valiant, he adds, means to strike with power.

Sometimes we see God’s hand only in its effect. When the disciples woke Jesus in the sinking boat, He did not reach out a hand; He simply said, “Peace, be still!” (Mark 4:37–40). Other times it is literal. When Peter walked on the water and began to sink because he looked at the wind and the waves, Jesus reached out His hand and caught him (Matthew 14:22–31).

The enemy’s cuff is not usually someone striking you. It is the force that takes away opportunities, closes doors that should have opened, or dries up provision. But on the other side of that coin, the pastor says, is the hand of God that provides, turns it around, and opens a door that no one can shut (Revelation 3:8).

Redemption Is a Process: Redeemed From and To

In Ephesians 1:7–8, we have redemption through His blood according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us. Real redemption abounds, the pastor says. It overwhelms you. Everyone who gets saved says the same thing: I should have done this sooner.

That does not mean we experience all of redemption at once. He puts it this way: I have been redeemed, I am being redeemed, and I will be redeemed. God takes us from faith to faith (Romans 1:17), from strength to strength (Psalm 84:7), and from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The last element is the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23). When we see Him, we will be like Him (1 John 3:2). But that future redemption is no excuse to live weak and sickly now. When Israel left Egypt, there was not one feeble person among them (Psalm 105:37), and when Moses died at 120, his eye was not dim nor his strength abated (Deuteronomy 34:7).

Israel’s problem, he says, was mentality. They let God bring them from Egypt but not to the promise. Only Joshua and Caleb allowed full redemption. The same can be true of us.

The pastor also teaches that man is the only creation redeemed to be like Christ and to reveal God to all creation, including the angels. Even the greatest angels cover their faces before Him (Isaiah 6:2), yet the church is to make known the manifold wisdom of God to principalities and powers (Ephesians 3:10). Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law so that the blessing of Abraham might come on us (Galatians 3:13–14), and that blessing is meant to be seen.

The Down Payment and the Penny

We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, the guarantee of our inheritance until the full redemption of the purchased possession (Ephesians 1:13–14). The pastor asks the obvious question: if God gave us the Holy Spirit, who is God, as a down payment, what could be greater still?

His illustration is a broken-down house worth perhaps 15 or 20 thousand dollars. Someone offers you a billion dollars for it and puts down 999 million, 999 thousand, 999 dollars and 99 cents, promising to return with the last penny. That is what God did. The Holy Spirit is the down payment. Health and financial provision in this world are the penny.

So yes, he says, God gives the power to get wealth to establish His covenant (Deuteronomy 8:18). Why reject what was bought for you? But it must never take God’s place. We were redeemed not with corruptible things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ, and born again of incorruptible seed, through the word of God which lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:18–23).

Blessing brings criticism. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). The pastor says he learned early that the more you live to make other people happy, the less happiness you have. Paul said that if he still pleased men, he would not be a servant of Christ (Galatians 1:10). Live according to covenant, he urges, not popularity.

He applies this to parents. Wives, mothers, husbands and fathers who cave in just to keep their children pleased will reap what they sow (Galatians 6:7–8). He tells of a father who lived only to please his son and later came to him repenting, after the young man ended up in serious trouble. Correction, he says, is spiritual surgery. Redemption even reaches our time, which we are to redeem (Ephesians 5:16), and our resources, which we use to grow and fulfill what God asks.

Free From Condemnation and Sin Consciousness

Apart from God’s grace, the pastor says, we could never live without condemning ourselves. So do not allow it. A mistake is an event, like an event at the Olympics. It is not you. When you do great, that is an event too. All things are from Him, through Him and to Him (Romans 11:36).

Hebrews 10:1–4 says the law, a shadow of good things to come, could never make the worshipers perfect. If it had, they would have had no more consciousness of sins. Instead, those sacrifices were a yearly reminder of sin, because the blood of bulls and goats could not take sin away. If the blood of Jesus did take sin away, the pastor asks, should we be conscious of sin? No. We should be conscious of righteousness and of our redemption, not our fall.

He warns against preaching that keeps people sin-conscious, and against the idea that God must still judge and punish. Jesus took all judgment on Himself. He was a man of sorrows who bore our griefs (Isaiah 53:3–4). In God’s presence is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11), and Jesus wanted His joy to remain in us (John 15:11). He never knew sorrow until He took ours.

There is no such thing as a saved sinner, the pastor insists. That is like a married bachelor or an honest thief. Saved by grace, you are the righteousness of God, not because you performed perfectly but because righteousness is a gift. Those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life (Romans 5:17). Hebrews 10:5–10 says God took away the first to establish the second, and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Adam had everything given to him in a vast garden and never had to ask for anything. When he sinned, he became conscious of his nakedness and hid. God asked, “Who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:10–11). Self-consciousness breaks relationship, the pastor says, just as people who fail to keep a promise to us start avoiding us. Fear has torment, but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Living in condemnation is its own kind of lukewarmness (Revelation 3:15–16).

He shares how the Lord told him to move to Merrill and start a church just after he and his wife had finished building a home. He told the Lord that if He wanted them to move, He could tell her. A couple of months later she woke him and said they needed to move. He did not have to manipulate anything. Christians sell the Lord short, he says, because they do not understand redemption. Jesus, the last Adam, is a life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45).

Let It Be to Me: Receiving Redemption Like Mary

How do we walk in all that God is while still in these bodies? The pastor answers from the way Jesus came into the world. In Luke 1:26–38, the angel Gabriel greets Mary, a young woman engaged to Joseph, as highly favored. He notes that she was a teenager in a society that treated women as second-class, so the greeting was the opposite of everything she had been taught about herself.

Mary asked, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” Many believers, he says, respond to redemption the same way. They see Jesus as the one who gets them to heaven someday, while they stay a hamster on a treadmill until then. The angel explained that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the power of the Highest would overshadow her, adding that with God nothing will be impossible.

He contrasts this with views that make Mary a co-redeemer. She was simply someone the Lord spoke truth to, and she received it. Mary said, “Let it be to me according to your word,” and the angel left. There was no argument. She conceived when she said yes to God’s word.

That is the pattern for us. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so” (Psalm 107:2). We have been redeemed from the power of the enemy, of condemnation, of inferiority and of darkness, but we have to say so. Anyone in Christ is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). God did not just deliver us from hell; He delivered us from ourselves. Your value is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

Pride, by contrast, comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). The pastor admits that much of what he accomplished came after times on his face before God, saying he did not know what he was doing. Colossians 1:12–14 says the Father has qualified us to share the inheritance of the saints in light, delivered us from the power of darkness, and given us redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Condemnation, he says, is Satan’s way of discrediting God, just as he told Adam that God was withholding something. It is all he has.

We have a High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses, so we come boldly to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:15–16). He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). God prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies (Psalm 23:5–6), and there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

Living Your Redemption This Week

The pastor closes by leading a prayer to receive Jesus as Redeemer and then serving communion (1 Corinthians 11:23–26). God punished the Substitute, he says, so He will not punish you too. He declares healing and freedom, for whom the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36).

• Say so out loud. Declare daily that you are redeemed from condemnation, inferiority and the power of darkness.
• Treat a mistake as an event. Ask forgiveness, receive it, and refuse to make the failure your identity.
• Look for God’s hand. When a door closes or provision dries up, expect the hand of God to open what no one can shut.
• Say yes like Mary. When God’s word seems too big for you, answer, “Let it be to me according to your word.”
• Live for covenant, not approval. Make one decision this week to please God rather than people, especially in your home.
• Keep the penny in its place. Receive God’s provision gladly, and use it to grow and fulfill what He asks.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Only one Redeemer
• 1:03 Opening prayer and John 1:29
• 2:08 Apolutrosis: loosed from what binds
• 3:19 Two Hebrew words for hand
• 4:18 Psalm 118 and the storm on the sea
• 5:24 Peter walks on the water
• 7:17 Redemption: a ransom in full
• 8:30 Ephesians 1:7: redemption that abounds
• 9:48 Been redeemed, being redeemed, will be redeemed
• 10:56 Romans 8:23: the redemption of our bodies
• 12:14 Not one feeble among them
• 14:29 Revealing God to the angels
• 16:50 The Holy Spirit as down payment
• 19:22 Redeemed with incorruptible seed
• 20:31 Living to please God, not people
• 26:51 A mistake is an event, not you
• 28:00 Hebrews 10: no more consciousness of sins
• 32:05 There is no such thing as a saved sinner
• 33:45 Adam, the garden and self-consciousness
• 39:15 The move to Merrill
• 46:00 Mary and the angel Gabriel
• 52:43 Let it be to me according to your word
• 59:04 Colossians 1: qualified and delivered
• 1:03:09 Hebrews 4 and 2 Corinthians 5:21
• 1:08:42 Prayer to receive Christ and communion

Redemption Series

This message is part of a seven-part teaching series at NTC Ministries. Go back to the previous message or continue with the next one:

• Previous: Redemption Part 1: Behold the Lamb of God Who Takes Away Condemnation
• You are here: Redemption #2 — The Hand of God, the Down Payment and Freedom From Condemnation
• Next: Redemption Part 3: Free From Condemnation, Starting With Your Words

Frequently Asked Questions

If I am redeemed, why do I still struggle?

The pastor teaches that redemption is a continuing process. You have been redeemed, you are being redeemed, and you will be redeemed when your body is changed. God moves you from faith to faith and glory to glory. Struggle does not cancel redemption. What slows it down is a self-conscious, sin-conscious mindset, like Israel leaving Egypt but never entering the promise.

Is it wrong for a Christian to want financial provision?

Not according to this message. The pastor says God gives power to get wealth to establish His covenant, and that rejecting what was bought for you makes no sense. But he calls material blessing “the penny” compared to the gift of the Holy Spirit. It must never take God’s place, and it is meant to be used to grow and to fulfill what God asks.

What should I do when I feel condemned after a mistake?

Treat the mistake as an event, not your identity. The pastor’s counsel is simple: tell the Lord you are sorry, ask Him to forgive you, and trust Him to perfect what concerns you. Then turn your attention from yourself to the truth of what Jesus has done. Condemnation, he says, is Satan’s main tool for keeping believers from what God has for them.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• John 1:29 — the Lamb of God
• Psalm 118:15–17 — the right hand of the Lord
• Ephesians 1:7–8 — redemption through His blood
• Ephesians 1:13–14 — the guarantee of our inheritance
• Romans 8:23 — the redemption of our body
• Hebrews 10:1–4 — no more consciousness of sins
• Luke 1:26–38 — let it be to me
• Colossians 1:12–14 — qualified and delivered
• Romans 8:1 — no condemnation

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

Watch More Messages

If this message helped you see your redemption more clearly, there are hundreds more teachings from NTC Ministries waiting for you. Browse the full sermon archive and keep growing in all that Christ has done for you.