“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. . . . and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1:3,7).

Those of us who have been ransomed are compelled to tell others. Our fellowship with the Father and with the Son must be shared. The prerequisite for such fellowship, and our main message, is that “the blood of Jesus Christ . . . cleanseth us from all sin.” The first verse of the wonderful old hymn, “He Ransomed Me,” rehearses this truth.

There’s a sweet and blessed story Of the Christ who came from glory Just to rescue me from sin and misery; He in loving kindness sought me, And from sin and shame hath bro’t me, Hallelujah! Jesus ransomed me.

The blind man, who could now see, testified: “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. . . . If this man were not of God, He could do nothing” (John 9:25,33). Indeed, He was “of God,” for “when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, . . . To redeem [or rescue] them that were under the law” (Galatians 4:4,5).

Some who need rescuing don’t realize it. They may think they “have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). Others recognize that they have been brought “into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:23,24).

God sought us out in loving kindness, “hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Timothy 1:9). Hallelujah! Jesus ransomed me. JDM