Yeah, there's a lot of people
who get snickered by that one. You got about a minute, I think,
right? If that is correct. Alright, brethren. All right, we're going to get
started here. And our text is Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1, and I want
to look at verses 7 through 12 with you. And last week, we began looking
at this epistle of Ephesians here, and we saw the blessings
of God the Father in his acts of salvation for his people. And so today, as we go through
this text, we're gonna be looking at the glory of Christ, our Lord
and Savior, in his acts of salvation for his people. I've titled this
message, Redemption Through His Blood. Redemption Through His
Blood. And I want to just begin with
God's perspective of our salvation. You that believe Him, this is
God's perspective of your salvation. And what I mean by that is we
are to understand that the one in whom our God saves us, the
one in whom he deals with us in is the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, that's who God, how
God deals with us. It's in his son, Jesus Christ. All right, when it speaks of
our having faith in Christ, We are, one way to understand that
rightly and think of that is we are believing the Word of
God, the testimony that God has given to us in His Word and we
do so in Christ. We stand in Christ and believe
God. We don't believe God outside
of Christ. We have no fellowship or relation
to God outside of Christ. So when it speaks of Our faith
in Christ, yes, we do have faith in him, in his work and in his
person, but we also believe God in Christ. We believe him in
Christ, not outside of him, right? You can believe a lot of things
about God outside of Christ and have no fellowship or relation
to God. But in Christ, you have everything
revealed to you and all knowledge given to you concerning his salvation
of you. And so our God is dealing with
us in Christ, in the one in whom we are saved, the person and
work of Jesus Christ. Look back at verse five. Ephesians
1.5 says, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself. So that our Lord is teaching
us that we are justified by God through Christ. And when it speaks
of our justification, it's God's pronouncing us, declaring us
to be righteous, right? That's justification. God declaring
you to be righteous, perfect before him in the Lord Jesus
Christ, because of the Lord Jesus Christ. He also says in Romans
3, 24, that we are justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. All right, so all our glory before
God, it's in Christ. We glory before God, we know
God, we boast of His salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1.6, It's to the praise
of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. All right, so now what we see
here in our text is, are the details of what Christ accomplished
for his people in his work of salvation for them. All right,
verse seven, it speaks of Christ's act of redemption. All right,
and that's what I wanna look at primarily with you here this
morning, Christ's act of redemption, what this redemption is, what
he accomplished. All right, verse seven says,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace. So what is this redemption? Well, our English word redemption
It comes from Latin, the Latin language, which signifies buying
again. Buying again. So it deals with
a purchase. And what our understanding is,
what the Lord's teaching us here, is that our Savior obtained something
by giving the proper price, the proper purchase price for it. If Christ had not paid the proper
price for the object that he sought, he would not have obtained
that object because he would have failed to have given the
full proper price for it that was required for it. And the object of our Lord's
purchase was his church. That's what he sought. And he
purchased the church with his own blood. Now, our Lord in the
scriptures, he gives us various scriptures that informs our understanding,
that helps us to rightly understand this redemption. that we see
what it is that our Lord really accomplished for us and did by
his redemption, by his purchase of his people. So there's various
terms that we're gonna look at here that reveal to us a deeper,
a better understanding of what our redemption in Christ is. Now, one of those words that
our Lord uses is the verb to buy. to buy, so that we rightly
understand we're bought. We are a purchased people. And in the scriptures, in Revelation,
for example, we read things like, such that we are bought unto
God. we're bought unto God, or we're
bought from the earth, or that we are bought among men. All right, we're bought from
the earth and bought from among men, and it gives you the understanding
like we saw in Isaiah recently, in Isaiah 45, verse 20, where
he describes us as them that are escaped of the nations. We're escaped. of the nations
were delivered from the just condemnation coming upon the
inhabitants of the earth, coming upon the nations because we were
bought and delivered unto God. We were bought unto God so that
now we are in the possession of God and here's the inhabitants
of the earth that are yet under the condemnation of God's wrath. because they haven't been purchased
out from that. They're still lying under the
wrath of God, waiting for their judgment. Now, another thing
that we also see here is that Christ did buy us again. Christ did buy us again out of
the hands of justice. Out of the hands of justice.
It says in Galatians 4.5 that Christ came to redeem them that
were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. Now, to be bought by another
might sound demeaning to those who have no ear of faith, that
don't know the things of God or understand that by nature
we're under the wrath of God and that we are justly condemned
under the law because none of us keeps the law perfectly. And
so to find out, to hear that we've been purchased out from
the weight under the law, that debt of sin that we owed under
the law or that debt of righteousness that we owed under the law that
we didn't fulfill, that we couldn't keep or do, that's a joy to the
child of God to know that we've been purchased out from the hands
of justice which would have have squeezed us and crushed us to
wring out every drop of payment that it could have obtained.
It's like that picture that you see, I think it's Revelation
14, where the second angel, he sticks that sickle in and reaps
the harvest of the earth described as the vine of the grapes, right,
that vine of grapes which is cast into the winepress of God's
wrath. That grape will be squished and
crushed under the holiness, under the just holiness of God, squeezing
that grape and pouring out every bit that can be gotten which
it owed to God, which can never amount to any righteousness.
It's destroyed. But we're delivered from that,
brethren. We're delivered because Christ purchased us. He bought
us unto God. He's paid the price in full. So we see him as our faithful
high priest. When you think of Christ, one
of the pictures, one of the understandings that's given to us is that he's
our high priest. And there he is serving the Father,
doing everything necessary for our salvation and our deliverance,
so that by himself he served the Father, giving him the sacrifice,
the just sacrifice of himself, offering himself to the Father
to make atonement for your sins. to deliver you, to purchase you
unto the Father. Now, in other places, that word
used for redemption, it signifies our deliverance as one who is
a slave or captive. And that also fits our understanding
according to the scriptures, the testimony that God gives
us that we all fell in Adam. We're sinners. We rebelled against
God in Adam and therefore that fellowship with God was severed
and we lost that union with him and that knowledge and understanding
of him and how to worship him and and have no desire by nature
to worship him as he declares that he is to be worshiped in
the scriptures. So that by his work, our Savior's
work, we understand now that by nature I'm a slave sold under
sin. I'm a captive of wickedness and
darkness and shut up in that prison of darkness where I don't
see or understand the light of God, but Christ is the one who
came because of his purchase, because he paid the price that
that prison gate is now open by him and we go free, we that
he paid that price for. And what we see there in that
is that the lowest, meanest, person of us, the one who is
the least profitable among us, was purchased by the one who
is the most precious among us. By him who is the fairest among
10,000, he came and laid down his life for the servants, we
that were but slaves to evil in the kingdom of darkness. I think one of the scriptures
that give us a picture or an understanding of that is Matthew
20 28 which says even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many right
to redeem many all his people wherever they are scattered he's
given the purchase price for them and so We, being slaves,
normally the price for that is gold and silver, right? Real
money to deliver a slave, right? To purchase them. We don't have
any means, being slaves, being bound in our iniquity, we don't
have the wherewithal to pay the price for our deliverance. We
can't do it. But Christ came. The purchase
price wasn't gold or silver. It was his blood. It was perfect. righteousness
that he paid unto the Father. We're told by Peter that it's
with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, so that we're now affectionately called the
Church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. And when you think of that, it's
not like he just pricked his finger and spilled a little bit
of blood for us. like you did when you were a
little kid or something like that and you hurt yourself and
spilled a little blood. No, He gave all His blood. He poured out His blood so that
He gave His whole life. He gave His life that we should
go free. So that we are now reconciled
to the Father and delivered from that condemnation which we justly
earned. He's satisfied, holy justice. He's satisfied it and we go free
now in Him. All right, now what we see there
is that our God, a good way to think of it is that he has done
everything necessary to deliver us from the kingdom of darkness
into the kingdom of light. That's what your Savior accomplished
by his redemption of you that now believe him by his grace
and power, all right? Now, we see in verse seven what
he accomplished. It says the forgiveness of sins,
all right? All the sins that were committed
by you that now believe on him, he paid the price for those sins. He put them away. He made atonement
for them. by the sacrifice of himself and
his shed blood. And we know who they are because
the testament that Christ bought them is that faith which he has
wrought in them whereby they look to him and live. All right,
we see his work, his glory in saving his people. Now, what
does it cost us? What does it cost us to be recipients
of this redemption, of this purchase of us by Christ? What do we owe
now to God to have that purchase? Nothing. Nothing, the Scriptures
say. It's freely given to all whom
He loved and chose in eternity and laid down His life for them. Verse 7 tells us that it's according
to the riches of his grace. When Paul, there towards the
end of Acts, when he was in the custody of the Roman centurion,
and Paul tells the Roman that he's a Roman citizen. And that
Roman centurion said, how is that possible? I, with a great
sum of money, purchased my citizenship of Rome so that I can enjoy all
the benefits of Rome. And Paul said, I'm free born. I'm free born into the kingdom. And that's what our salvation
is, brethren. We are free born citizens by
the blood of Christ. so that you're now born a citizen
of the kingdom of God, enjoying all the spiritual blessings of
God in Christ as a result of this redemption, all right? And we see his work in his people
because they hear that word, and hearing that word, faith
is revealed in them whereby they believe, looking to Christ. And when they shall look, they
shall live. the word tells us there, right?
So we're the happy recipients of this salvation because everything
necessary, he's provided it. He's given us all, all that was
needed, all that was necessary. He's given it all to secure our
deliverance from that kingdom of darkness and being translated
by his glory and power into the kingdom of light, the kingdom
of his dear son. So, having seen that, let's look
at these blessings a little more as we go through these scriptures.
Here, as a result of being his possession now, verse 8 tells
us that wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
right? So Christ has abounded toward
us in grace, in grace, not as an exactor, but as one who is
gracious to you, in comforting you, in revealing these truths,
these blessings to you. That's how you understand what
God has declared in his word concerning you, knowing that
you can't save yourself and what Christ has accomplished for you. It says that he's declared in
wisdom and prudence, and this word prudence here means understanding,
as in spiritual understanding, right? He's revealed himself
in wisdom and in knowledge of what he's accomplished, right?
So what does that look like? Well, we understand that our
sins are now forgiven in Christ, right? We find that he makes
us his saints, we are called saints, and made righteous by
Him, whereby we glory in our Lord and we serve Him. He's conforming
us to the image of His dear Son. We understand now by His glory
and power that we are reconciled unto the Father. We now have
fellowship with God. We did not have that fellowship,
but now we have reconciliation or fellowship, the knowledge
of God and how or in whom we are now received by the Lord
Jesus Christ. By his glory and power, by this
redemption, he's removed the enmity that existed in us by
nature, that was in our flesh against God, right, who created
us. We rebelled against him and there
was enmity deep-seated hatred and rebellion against how he
has revealed himself in his word, right? The people who have no
spiritual knowledge, they rebel against the truth of God revealed
in this word. And that's why they make idols
unto themselves. And having heard what they've
heard, they make a God as they would like him to be according
to their own thoughts and wishes, right? And we find that he's
secured our eternal life. you have life with your God forever. Eternal life in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then we behold his wisdom
in this salvation. He knew that we could never,
there would be no law given by which we could save ourselves
and earn perfect righteousness for ourselves. No law could be
given, so He, in wisdom, gave the law to show us you can't
keep the law, to show us that you can't make yourselves righteous,
and He provided the one in whom we are forgiven and received
the Father. That's all His wisdom, and He
reveals it all in regeneration by his Holy Spirit. And he loses
not a one of them. Now, none of this is kept hidden. God's not hiding this from you.
He's revealing this to you over and over in his gospel, constantly
drawing you to himself, teaching you, correcting you, keeping
you, providing for you endlessly in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
nine says, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. All right, so that it's even
clear to us who receives the glory in this. Me, for what I've
done for God. No, for the glory is all the
Father's. It's all the Son's and the Holy
Spirit's. It's our God who provided everything for us in the covenant
of grace, even when we were yet sinners and rebels against our
God. He did this all for us when we
were yet enemies. And so we understand now this
mystery that our God purposed our salvation. He predestinated
all things, right? He sent the Son to the Son of
God, to take on Him, this human nature, this flesh, that He might
be the perfect and fit sacrifice for His people as the Lamb of
God. That fellowship that was lost
in Adam has now been restored entirely in Jesus Christ, your
Savior. This work of regeneration, we
now know this is the work of God, the Holy Spirit. We didn't
get ourselves saved. We didn't make ourselves born
again. He gave us life. He gave us spiritual birth. It's by his grace and power that
we now believe because we are born again. He did all that work. The glory is to his name. And
he did this for both Jew and Gentile. None of us is saved
any other way. We all come through the blood
of Jesus Christ. and we know that we shall be
raised from the dead. We shall see him as he is and
we shall glory in him." All right, so this is all of our God's sovereign
will toward us now being made known to us sinners according
as God chooses, as it pleases him through the ministry of the
word and by his Holy Spirit which is to us a spirit of revelation
and knowledge in the things that our God has freely done for us
in Christ, all right? And now this revelation, this
knowledge, it comes to us with power, with power, all right? As our Lord says, as he spoke
by Paul, who spoke in the spirit, that the Lord said to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. It's all according to the Lord.
We don't earn that first. That's all freely given in grace
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we respond. He wills and we shall. We respond, we do those works
which he has worked in us because we're his workmanship according
to his grace, power. Verse 10, so that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things
in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in
him. So that everything that was that
was promised in this word everything that was prophesied of all meets
together and is fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ everything
is completed in him in him it is finished brethren all right
there's nothing left for you to do by your own power everything
that that is necessary is all provided through the Spirit of
Christ in us and fulfilling all righteousness. He's fulfilled
it all. It's all done by Him. And anything God requires, it's
all accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. Even our belief,
even our walk, everything we do is all fulfilled by His power
to the glory, praise, and honor of His name. Thank Him. Thank Him for this. Even everything
yet to come, when he shall perform that great restitution, when
he shall set all things right. Today we hear many leaders of
the West, the whole West seems united in this great reset they
keep talking about. That's their attempt to make
a utopia, to establish peace in the earth, but they have to
do it with cruelty, and wickedness, and evil, and darkness, and what
they do shall, will be seen to us as what it is. It's just pure
sin, and evil, and unrighteousness. And Christ shall come in, in
the time that God has appointed, and he shall destroy them and
set all things right for his people. He shall come and restore
all things, and set everything right, and a new heavens, and
a new earth, to the praise and glory of His name. So, when this
world is doing what they're doing, just know that your God shall
keep you firm to the end, believing Him, trusting Him, and He's going
to provide everything and sustain you, and He shall destroy the
enemies of God. All right? Now, we rightly, therefore,
look for Christ's return. We look for His coming. Maranatha. Maranatha. Lord Jesus. We look for his return and his
coming, knowing that these things here on earth, whatever trouble
we may suffer or have or any persecution we receive for our
hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, we know that this is not our
inheritance, right? This is not our all. We have a kingdom yet to come,
which is established and made by Christ himself. We have a
city that we yet look for, the city of God, wherein dwelleth
righteousness and the people of God with him. Ephesians 1.11
says, In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him which worketh all things after
the counsel of his will. And we are certain of these things,
in that our Savior has risen from the dead, and He shall soon
return. And when He does, He shall give
command to all them that are in the graves to rise up out
of them. And His saints shall be gathered
to Him in that glorious ascension, wherein we shall dwell forever
with Him, there when He now turns and destroys, when he punishes
the wicked of the earth and them that destroy the earth, he shall
punish them and he shall destroy them forever. And so we'll be
witnesses of his glory and power when he restores all things after
his own counsel and perfect will. Verse 12, that we should be to
the praise of his glory who first trusted or hoped in Christ. All right, so we shall praise
him in glory in him for what he's accomplished for us in his
son, Jesus Christ. So I pray the Lord bless that
word to your hearts and comfort you knowing that we're redeemed,
we're purchased unto God, delivered from sin and the death which
is resting upon the inhabitants of this world who know not God.
All right, so let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we
thank you, Father, for your glorious salvation, which you reveal to
us in your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, bless us to hear your word
and to understand your wisdom and prudence in these matters
that you have accomplished all things necessary for our salvation
for our deliverance out of this kingdom of darkness into the
kingdom of your glorious light. Lord we we also pray for our
brethren we think of Ron who is now in the hospital and and
in much pain and has to stay there at least a few more days.
Lord, we pray that you would bless him, that you would comfort
him. Lord, that you would heal the inflammation, that the pain
would be gone, that he could eat and drink normally again
and be allowed to leave and go home. Father, we pray for his
comfort and peace in these things and help us, Lord, to be a help
and an encouragement to him as he's there in the hospital and
sick. Lord, we also think of our brother
Scott who is sick as well and not doing well. Lord, we pray
that you would rest your spirit upon him, that you would heal
his body, that you would purge his body of the sickness and
the pain that he feels, Lord. Father, have mercy upon him and
have mercy upon Claudia and Johnny, who love these men dearly, Lord,
that you would comfort their hearts and give them peace as
well. Help us, Lord, to be lovers of our brethren, to remember
them consistently before you, and Lord, that you would be merciful
to your people. We pray this. We think of even
Abby, the Lord, who is home sick as well, that you would heal
your children and that you would restore them again to our fellowship. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. All right brethren, so about
15 minutes, about two minutes after the hour on that clock.