Paul's epistle to the Ephesians,
chapter 1, and particularly verse 7. Paul's epistle to the Ephesians,
the first chapter and verse 7, where we read, in whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. And, of course, the whom is Jesus
Christ, and the blood is Jesus Christ's blood, and the grace
is the grace of Jesus Christ. And it's very noticeable, isn't
it, almost from the very beginning of this epistle, how quickly
the Apostle Paul, he wants to speak of Christ. His focus here in this seventh
verse is Christ, but all through this epistle you get the impression
that this is a man who can't wait to speak about the Lord
Jesus. We know that after his conversion
outside the gates of Damascus, we're told in Acts chapter 9
that having had his eyes opened by the visit of Ananias, he straightway
preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. And it says in verse 22, he increased
the Moor in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus,
proving that this is very Christ. The focus of his ministry and
the centre of his ministry was Jesus Christ. And so as you read
through the opening verses of this epistle, you see in the
first three verses that five times he mentions Jesus Christ. He speaks of himself as the Apostle
of Jesus Christ. He speaks of the church at Ephesus
as those who are the faithful in Christ Jesus. He prays that
they might know grace and peace from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says in verse 3, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Five times in those first three
verses he speaks of Christ. And if you look through the rest
of the book and you count up the number of times that he uses
that word, Christ, You'll find it 46 times in this comparatively
short epistle. There's no word that is more
regularly used apart from those little words like the, or and,
or of. Christ is at the centre of this epistle. He was at the
centre of Paul's ministry. And if we are Christians, if
we really are Christians, he will be at the centre of our
religion. and at the centre of our lives. Those who are faithful
in Christ Jesus, he speaks of here in verse 1. And he speaks in this seventh
verse of these tremendous blessings. They are priceless blessings,
aren't they really? You couldn't put a value on them.
Redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, the
riches of his grace. In whom? In Christ we have redemption,
he says. The forgiveness of sins through
his blood, through Christ's blood, according to the riches of his
grace, the riches of Christ's grace. And it's worth remembering,
before we come to the words in particular, it's worth remembering
what kind of people these were, these Ephesians that Paul is
writing to. It's very easy, isn't it, to
make the mistake of thinking that these things are really
for good people, for holy people, for righteous people. But these Ephesians, how are
they described in the second chapter? Well, Paul says in chapter
2, verse 3, he says, in times past, found in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
We were all by nature the children of rot, even as others. In verse 12 he reminds them where
they were before they came to faith in Christ. He says they
were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope. and
without God in the world. That's the kind of people that
Paul is writing to here. That's what they were like originally. These blessings here in verse
7, they're not blessings for good people only. In fact, when
you think about it, they are blessings that good people wouldn't
really need, aren't they? the redemption that he speaks
of, the forgiveness of sins. Obviously these things are intended
for sinners. And these sinners that Paul is
writing to here, they were almost as far off from God as it's possible
to be. How far off, he says in chapter
2, verse 13. Sometimes we're far off. having
no hope without God in the world. They were distant from God. They
were separated from God. They were not close to Him. They
were not serving Him. They were not following Him. And yet now, Paul says, we have. We have redemption through His
blood. We have the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. And it's wonderful to see how
Paul puts himself together with these Ephesians Though they were
so different outwardly in their background, these Ephesians,
they were primarily Gentiles. They were not those who had come
into the Christian church from the Jewish faith. But they had
come in entirely from outside. And so their upbringing, their
background would have been very different to Paul's, who was
brought up as a Pharisee in one of the most strictest sects of
the Jewish religion. And yet Paul says, now we, we're
both in the same place. We're both united in this, that
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace. Why does Paul remind them
of these great blessings? Well, he does it first, surely,
because he can't help it. Why is it that he talks about
redemption? Why is it that he talks about forgiveness? Well,
it's because he couldn't help talking about these things. They
were so wonderful to him. They were precious to him. No
doubt he could remember what his life was like before that
Damascus Road experience, how he constantly was trying to earn
God's forgiveness and to buy his way into heaven by doing
this and by not doing that. And now he knows this entirely
different pathway he's experienced. The redemption that comes through
Christ's blood and the forgiveness of his sins. He can't help talking
about it. These things were so precious,
so wonderful to him. But then surely he also writes
in this way for the encouragement of these Ephesian believers.
Because it is very possible even for the Christian to forget these
things. And as we go through life and the daily grind of life,
it's very easy, isn't it, for us to become so taken up with
the everyday cares and concerns and worries about the future
and regrets about the past. These things, they crowd into
our minds. And Paul here, he says, well, yes, there are those
things, but don't forget this. Don't forget what you have. Redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, the riches of his grace. We need to be reminded about
these things if we are Christians, because we are prone to forget
them. Easy to forget these great and
these wonderful truths that Paul speaks of here, but then he doesn't
just write in this way because he can't help it, and he doesn't
just write in this way for the encouragement of these Ephesian
Christians, but surely Paul also writes in this way, and the Holy
Spirit has put these words here for the encouragement of those
who are, as yet, outside of these blessings. All of these words, they were
written to the Ephesians, but they are part of the Word of
God that is given to mankind. And God, here through Paul, he
sets out the blessings and the benefits that are the Christian's
privilege. And he says to us here, You know,
these Ephesians, they were far off, and they didn't have the
right upbringing, and they didn't have the right religion, and
they were by nature the children of wrath, aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God in the world. But God here this morning
in this word says to us, these people have been so entirely
changed that they now have redemption and forgiveness according to
the riches of God's grace. And he sets before us the privilege
and the blessings of the Christian and encourages us by these words. The riches of his grace, he says
to us, these things are not things that are given to those that
deserve them. These blessings are not given to those who can
buy them, but they are given freely by my grace. It's the
same emphasis back there in the prophecy of Isaiah, isn't it?
When he speaks of waters and bread and wine and milk that
are given without money and without price, given by grace, given by the
riches of his grace. And if we are found here this
morning with a sense of sin and with a sense of our failure,
And if we are conscious of our distance from God and of our
separation from Him, well, these things are set here before us
to encourage us and to lift up our eyes and our minds to realise
that these things are given by the grace of God. Redemption
through His blood. That's the first thing that Paul
talks about here in this seventh verse, isn't it? Redemption.
What do we mean when we use the word redemption? Not really a
word that we would use in our everyday conversation so much
today, is it? When we talk about something
being redeemed. Well, really the word, it means
to buy back or to buy again. And I suppose today you might
find it used in reference to a porn broker. You know what
a porn broker is? They're shops, and if you're
short of money, you have an unexpected bill to pay, and you have something
valuable, well, you can go to these shops, you can go to a
porn broker, and you can say, well, I'll give you this gold
ring or this watch, and you give me 100 pounds in return, and
you keep the watch, and if I don't come back, within a certain time,
then you can sell the watch and you can have the money. But if
I do come back within that time and I give you perhaps £150,
then you have to give me the watch back. So you can hand your
watch over, you can get some money in return that you can
use to pay that unexpected bill. and you're hoping that within
a few months you'll come into some spare money and you'll be
able to go back to the shop and to buy your watch back again.
To buy it back. Well, the word that is used is
to redeem it. To redeem it. So that thing that
was yours, you're handing it over to someone else and then
you hope that in a few months' time perhaps you'll be able to
go back and buy it back. Redeem it back to yourself. Well,
this is the kind of idea that is conveyed by this word, redemption. Redemption through his blood.
When Jesus shed his blood, he was buying something back. He
was buying something again. Well, the first thing is, obvious
that there was ownership, wasn't there? We belong to God. Even as we're born into this
world, He is our Creator. And you remember how the psalmist,
he spoke about it in Psalm 100, didn't he? He says, Know ye that the Lord,
He is God. It is He that hath made us. And not we ourselves, that's
obviously true of us each, isn't it? We didn't make ourselves.
There's not one of us that had any contribution to our birth
or to our conception. It is He that hath made us and
not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep
of His pasture. And that is true of mankind generally. What was the purpose for which
man was created? The chief end of man, the catechism
says, is to enjoy God and to glorify Him. To glorify God and
to enjoy Him forever. We were made by Him. In that
sense, we belong to him and we were made in his image. When
Adam came from the hand of God right back there at the beginning,
God says, let us make man in our image after our likeness.
And so God created man in his own image. In the image of God
created he him, male and female, created he them. And as Adam
and Eve were set in that garden, they were part of God's creation,
they belonged to him. made in his image, they were
his possession. And yet as we look out into the
world today and we don't have to look far, do we? We can look
within our own hearts and we can see that something has gone
wrong. That that relationship that Adam
and Eve had with God back there in the early chapters of Genesis,
it's been lost, it's not the same anymore. And, of course,
we know how it happened. When they ate of that fruit in
the garden, what was the effect upon them? Well, their relationship
with God was entirely changed, wasn't it? And now when they hear the voice
of the Lord God walking in the garden of the cool of the day,
what do they do? Well, they don't come to Him. They don't say,
oh, look, it's our Creator. Let's go and speak with Him and
hear what He has to say. Now they want to hide themselves
from Him. And they run away and they hide themselves from the
presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. They
don't want to be near him anymore. And it was true of them, but
it's equally true of each one of us, isn't it? As we're born
into this world, we're not born loving God and keeping his commandments. We don't have to be taught to
lie and to steal. We don't have to be taught to
argue and to fight and to be proud and to want to have the
last word and to not listen to our parents. Nobody has to teach
us those things. They come naturally, don't they? God says to the children of Israel
through Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 52, He says, Thus saith the Lord,
ye have sold yourself. Ye have sold yourself for naught.
And that's what we all do when we choose to break God's commandments,
when we choose to walk opposite to Him, when we choose to serve
ourselves. We are selling ourselves. That's what Paul means when he
says here in chapter 2, verse 3, we were by nature the children
of wrath, no longer the children of God. But the children of Roth, we
don't love him, we don't want to be near him. And they're strong words, aren't
they, that Jesus had to come to the Pharisees with, but it's
not an exaggeration. There in John 8, verse 22, he
says to those Pharisees, to the rulers of the Jews, Well, they were saying, we are
the children of Abraham. When Jesus said to them, I speak
that which I have seen with my father, and ye do that which
ye have seen with your father, they answered and said unto him,
Abraham is our father. But Jesus said, if ye were Abraham's
children, you would do the works of Abraham. Ye do the deeds of
your father, and they said unto him, we be not born of fornication,
we have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, if God
were your father, you would love me. And that's as true today
as it was then. There's many people who will
claim God as their father. The Muslims will speak of God
as their father in a sense. But Jesus said to these Pharisees,
if God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded
forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but
he sent me. And he comes to this conclusion,
doesn't he, as he speaks to those Pharisees, ye are of your father,
the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there
is no truth in him. It's not surprising that the
Jews were so offended And they said to him, say we not well
that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Or they said of
him, how can you possibly believe that we, the Jews, are the children
of the devil? Don't you know that we are the
chosen people, the special people, the separate people? Or they
said, you can go and tell the Gentiles that they're the children
of the devil, but don't come to us with that kind of message.
And so they hated him for it, and they drove him out, didn't
they? At the end of that chapter they took up stones to cast at
him. That was the punishment for blasphemy, wasn't it? But
Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple going through the
midst of them and so passed by. They showed themselves to be
the children of the devil by their works and especially by
their attitude towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Something is wrong and there's
no Other explanation for the state of the world today is there
than this simple fact that the majority of people are not serving
God but are serving the devil. We are all by nature the children
of wrath, says Paul, even as others. And as we look out into
the world today and we see the kinds of things that people are
doing and saying and thinking and teaching, We have to say they're not serving
God. They're not doing what God says is right. They're not believing
what God says is true. That they are against him, and
again, it's very easy to throw stones at other people, but we
can equally make the same mistake, can't we? We choose our own wisdom
instead of his word. We choose to trust what we can
see instead of what he says. And so subtly we can show ourselves
to be not in a right relationship with him. And yet God is not powerless
or frustrated in the face of this. God looked down upon these Ephesians
when they were unconverted and he saw them as they were. And
he saw that they were the children of wrath, and he saw that they
had no hope and were without God in the world, and he saw
that they were doing the works of their father, the devil. But
he was not powerless. He was not frustrated. He did something about it. And
that's what's spoken of here, isn't it? We have redemption.
Redemption, he has brought his people back again. He has brought
them again. How has he bought them again?
How has he redeemed them? Through his blood. Through his
blood. When it talks about the blood
of Christ, it's not just referring to his physical blood, that liquid
that would have ran through his human body, but it's a reference
to his death. That's what blood means in the
Bible. Very often it means death. Right back in the early chapters
of, I think it's in Deuteronomy, it says the life is in the blood. That's literally true, isn't
it? If you lose your blood, you lose your life. And so when we
read about the blood of Christ, we are to understand it as the
life of Christ, and especially the death of Christ. We have
redemption through his blood, through the shedding of his blood,
through the laying down of his life. That's how this redemption
was accomplished. That's the wages of sin, isn't
it? The wages of sin is death, says Paul in another epistle. And those wages, they fell upon
Christ. Isaiah, he speaks of it, doesn't
he, in that well-known 53rd chapter. He says he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon him. With his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray. Again, it's the same idea, isn't
it? Here are the sheep, they belong to the good shepherd,
but they've gone astray, they've turned aside, they've wandered
away from the shepherd. They're far off from him. They're
not serving him, they're not doing what he says. They're not
honouring him. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord says, the
prophet hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. That was
what was happening at the cross. It wasn't just Jesus suffering
as a great example of suffering and of patience under suffering
and of forgiveness under suffering. But as he laid down that life,
he was suffering the punishment that was due to sin. And it was
a specific redemption, wasn't it? That's emphasised here in verse
4, isn't it? As Paul writes to these Ephesian
Christians, he says, he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. That's where their redemption
came from. It wasn't that God looked down
upon them and said, well, these people are not so bad as the
others, therefore I'll forgive them. Though they were chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world, before they even
had any existence, before they even made any choices. chosen
in Him before the foundation of the world, and so that redemption. As Jesus died on that cross,
their sins were laid upon Him. It is a specific atonement. We
talk about the limited atonement. You know, in another sense, when
we look at the atonement, when we look at that blood, when we
look at the worth of that sacrifice, we can equally say that it is
of infinite value, can't we? It would have to be of infinite
value even if there was only one person who was to be saved
through it, because sin is an infinite thing. And it is of infinite value because
it was not just an ordinary human life that was laid down there
on the cross. But in a sense, although it sounds
illogical and impossible, it is true to say that that blood
was the blood of God. You remember how Paul, it was
in Ephesus, wasn't it, that he gave that great charge to the
elders of the church? And he says to them, take heed
therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church
of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. Yes, it was
the blood of Christ, it was human blood, but it was also the blood
of God and so it is of infinite worth. There's no limit to its value,
there's no limit to its power, no limit to the effectiveness
of that sacrifice. And surely that's why the Lord
Jesus himself and that's why the apostles can so easily use
that little word, whosoever, can't they? When they speak about
the forgiveness that there is in Christ. When Jesus spoke about it to
Nicodemus, He said, whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Whosoever
believeth in him. And so when Paul is there in
the prison and there's that great earthquake and the jailer comes
in and he's so afraid that the prisoners will have escaped, What does he say? What shall
I do? He sprang in before them and came trembling and fell down
before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, Sirs, what
must I do to be saved? Well, Paul didn't say, well,
it's difficult to say really because I don't really know whether
you're one of the elect. I don't really know whether you're
one of those who was chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. No, he can say this, can't he? Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Because that redeeming
blood was of infinite value. And no sinner is too far off
to know this redemption. The redemption through his blood. A death for others. Blood that was shed for others'
sins. Redemption through his blood.
That's the first thing that Paul talks about here. But then he
goes further, doesn't he? And he gives us one of the effects
of this redemption. And he speaks of forgiveness.
Forgiveness. That's a beautiful word really,
isn't it? That word forgiveness. When someone
is forgiven, it's a wonderful thing to them, isn't it? You
can think of that jailer that I was just talking about. when
he knew that forgiveness. It must have been a wonderful
thing to him. He would never have forgotten that moment, would
he, when his sins were forgiven? Perhaps you've experienced it
in another sense, you've offended someone, you've done something
and you've, perhaps they've lent you something and you've gone
away with it and you've broken it because you've been careless
and you're afraid to tell them. But you know that one day they'll
find out and so you go to them and you confess it. Well, it's
a wonderful thing, isn't it? A wonderful feeling when they
say, well, I forgive you. I forgive you. And suddenly that
burden is lifted. Well, says Paul, it's the forgiveness
of sins. This word forgiveness, it carries
with it the idea of being sent away. As if these sins which
are lying upon the church, they are lifted up and sent away,
taken away. There is liberty, there is deliverance,
there is freedom. We have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness. As if the sinner
is freed from the guilt of sin and freed from the power of sin.
And naturally we don't realise that we're under that power,
do we? And these Ephesians, before Paul
came to them, when they were living the life that's described
in chapter 2, verse 3, the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, they probably would have
said, well, we're free. We do what we want. We fulfill
our own desires, our own minds. We get up in the morning, we
decide what we want to do, and we do it. Well, they might have
said, we're free people, but they were slaves. They were slaves
to sin. They were not their own masters.
but sin was dictating to them and controlling them and enslaving
them. Paul writes about it to the Romans,
doesn't he, in chapter 6, that wonderful chapter. He says to
them, ye were the servants of sin, and again it's a strong
word, the slaves of sin. Again, those Romans might have
thought that they were free, they might have thought they
were doing what they wanted and believing what they wanted and thinking
what they wanted, but in reality, all their doings and all their
thinking They were under the power of
sin, the dominion of sin. And they weren't able to free
themselves. They couldn't make themselves forgiven. They couldn't
make themselves free. They couldn't deliver themselves.
They couldn't give themselves liberty. But here Paul says we
have the forgiveness of sins. All those things in which we
fail, that's what the word sin means here. sins, we fall beside, we come
short, we slip away, we know what we ought to do but we fail
to do it. We come to the Word of God and we read that we ought
to always tell the truth and then we go and we tell a lie,
we slip, we fall beside it. And yet Paul says we have the
forgiveness of sins, not something that he said we're hoping to
have, Not something that he said, well, one day we might have it.
No, he says, we have it. We have it in Christ, in whom
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins. This
was the great message of Paul's preaching, wasn't it? In Acts, chapter 5, we have a
very similar expression. Peter is speaking there as they
stand before the council. They've been put in prison for
teaching concerning Christ. The high priest has risen up.
They're filled with indignation. They put their hands on the apostles,
put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord opened
the prison doors and they come out and the angel says to them,
go and stand in the temple again and speak to the people all the
words of this life. And they're again arrested and
brought before the council and Peter says, we ought to obey
God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted
to be a prince and a saviour for to give repentance to Israel
and forgiveness of sins. This is the whole reason that
Christ came, says Peter, to these Jews. This is what he came to
give. Repentance to Israel, forgiveness
of sins, This was the same thing that Paul preached, wasn't it?
You see him there in Antioch, and he says to those Jews in
the synagogue, Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
The forgiveness of sins, sins being sent away and lifted away. And there's no greater evidence
of the fall of man and of the darkness of man than that we
can hear of the forgiveness of sins and not be interested in
it. These Jews weren't, weren't they, in Acts chapter 13, when
they heard the things that Paul was talking about, the forgiveness
of sins, they spoke against those things. They contradicted, they
blasphemed, they almost said, we don't want the forgiveness
of sins. Why did they not want the forgiveness of sins? Well,
they thought perhaps that they didn't have any sins. Or perhaps
they thought that though they had them, they could put them
right. And Paul says to them, it was
necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken
to you, but seeing he put it from you, and judge yourselves
unworthy of everlasting life. That's what they were doing in
their reaction to Paul's message. When they heard of the forgiveness
of sins, but said, oh no, we don't want to hear about that.
They were putting it from them. They were judging themselves
unworthy of everlasting life. But this was what Paul preached.
This was the centre of the gospel that Paul preached. This was
what Christ came to do, to give forgiveness of sins. Again, Paul
says we have it. It's something we can rely upon,
something that's already there. Not something that we hope to
achieve, not something that we're building up to. Not something
that we're working towards. No, he says, we have it. We have
the forgiveness of sins again. The question for each one of
us, isn't it, do you have the forgiveness of sins? It's easy
to talk about the forgiveness of sins, isn't it? And it's lovely
to think about the forgiveness of sins, but the vital thing
is, do you have it? Could you come in with Paul here
and say, yes, I was far off. I was by nature a child of rock.
I was, as is described in the following chapter, without hope,
without God in the world, but now I have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins. How does it come to the
man? How does it come to a person?
Well, it's the third part of the verse, isn't it? Redemption through His blood,
He's spoken of that. The forgiveness of sins, He's
spoken of that. Where does it all come from?
The riches of His grace. The riches of His grace. There's a great emphasis on the
freedom of all this, isn't there? A great emphasis on the freeness
by which these blessings come. They're not earned. They're not
bought. They're not paid for. These Ephesians
didn't do anything to deserve these blessings. that they were given freely.
And again, doesn't it show us, doesn't it teach us that there
is hope in this Gospel even for the furthest off? There's no
one that we can look at in the world today and say, well, yes,
there is a forgiveness in the Gospel, but it's not for that
kind of person. And when we find ourselves to
be so overwhelmed by sin, we ought not to say, well, yes,
there is a forgiveness in the Gospel, but it's not for people
like me. because it comes according to the riches of His grace. The
riches of His grace, not just grace, but the riches of His
grace. And this word riches, it carries
with it the idea of fullness. This grace is not, if you like,
a half-full grace, but it's a full grace, an overflowing grace.
A hymn writer, he put it well, didn't he, in that 303rd hymn, He says, Thou, O Christ, art
all I want, more than all in Thee I find, more than all. I
know it says all in all in our book, but I think in the original
he said, more than all, which really doesn't make sense. You
can't have more than all. But it makes sense when you think
about it in relation to Christ. And he comes to the end of that
third verse, vile and full of sin I am, Thou art full, full
of truth and grace. And that was his hope, wasn't
it? Plenteous grace with Thee is found, grace to pardon all
my sin. redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins, given freely, without money, without
price. And it is given freely. And there
is encouragement, isn't there, if we come to these blessings
and we say, well, I wish I had them. They are given freely, they're
not given to those who deserve them. How did these Ephesians
believe them? How did these Ephesians receive
them, rather? Well, He speaks of them in the
first verse as those who are the faithful. Those who are the
faithful in Christ Jesus. They had believed upon Him. They
were trusting in Him. They were relying upon Him. They
weren't trusting in or relying upon their own works. They weren't
hoping that one day they would be able to get to a point where
they could deserve these things. These things are given freely
to those who come. And Jesus loves to give them.
He loves to give them. He spent 33 years accomplishing
this redemption. He went through that terrible
suffering of the cross to accomplish this forgiveness. Doesn't it
show that he loves to give these things? redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins. Again, Isaiah says he shall see
of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. He shall
see the effects of that work that he accomplished in his life
and in his death, and he shall be satisfied, he shall be pleased
with it. By his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. And he gives redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins. And this is what will give the
Christian confidence and hope, even though they live in a world
which seems to be so controlled by the enemy. And even when there
seem to be so many who walk in the ways that are opposed to
the Word of God, it's easy to be discouraged in a day like
today, isn't it? But here is something that gave
these Ephesians confidence. Here is something that gave Paul
confidence. All these Ephesians, no doubt there would have been
those around them who would have criticised them and said, well,
you don't really understand how you can follow the teachings
of that man Paul and of that man Jesus. Don't you know this
or haven't you heard about that? All these Ephesians would have
been able to say, well, I don't know anything about those things
but I do know this, I have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace. Just like that
man who was born blind back there in the ninth chapter of John's
Gospel. And you remember how he was brought
before the council. And he knew what was going to
happen if he confessed Christ. He knew that he faced being put
out of the synagogue, and for him, that would have meant really
much more than we imagine it would mean today. You know, today,
if we're put out of a church, we can go to another church,
can't we? If we're put out unjustly, we can go to another church.
But for this blind man, that wouldn't have been an option
for him. To be cast out of the synagogue was to be excommunicated
as a Jew. His family would have rejected
him. His friends would have disowned
him. He would have had nothing. He knew what was going to happen. But when the Jews come with their
arguments, and when they come and say, well, we know that you
can see, but it wasn't Jesus that did it. Give God the praise.
We know that this man is a sinner. Well, he said, I don't know anything
about that. I don't understand these things
that perhaps you understand, but there is one thing I do know.
Whereas I was blind, now I see." He couldn't help it, could he? He couldn't help seeing. And you see the outcome at the
end of the chapter. Jesus came and found him. Though he had
been cast out, Jesus came and found him. And we see him there
at the end of that chapter. He said, Lord, I believe, and
he worshipped him. Redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. If we are those who are described
here, those who are resting upon Christ Jesus, those who have
given up all other hope, who have seen that there is no other
ground to build upon, If we have come as these Ephesians had come,
if we have come as Paul came, if we have come like that Philippian
jailer came, if we are resting upon Christ, if we've come with
the hymn writer, if we've been able to say, Thou, O Christ,
art all I want, more than all in Thee I find. Well, it's as
true of us as it was of these Ephesians. As true of us as it
was of Paul himself, we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. These
are the things that Paul loved to speak of. These are the blessings
that he spoke of that flowed through Christ. May they be our
blessings, though we are by nature as far off as these Ephesians
were. May we know these great blessings
here we have, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. May God bless his word to us.
Amen. I'm going to sing as our closing
hymn, number 836. Hymn number 836. Believer, lift thy drooping head. Thy Saviour has thee victory
gained. See all thy foes in triumph led
and everlasting life obtained. God from thee grave has raised
his Son. The powers of darkness are despoiled.
Justice declares the work is done and God and man are reconciled. Hymn number 836, the tune is
Mainzer 364.