Well, chapter one of Ephesians
abounds in magnificent statements and we could literally go verse
by verse taking one verse for a message and go through the
chapter and we would be greatly enriched and yet we would still
leave much unsaid. because it is such a wonderful
portion of Scripture. I say it does abound in magnificent
statements, and I want to speak to you from one of them, and
that's in verse 7. Ephesians 1, verse 7, In whom
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of His grace. Now let me put this in
the context. We have learned and we have studied,
we've read before the verses that precede this of the Father's
purpose of grace, that He chose a people unto salvation, and
that was before the foundation of the world. He chose a people
to be holy and without any blame. And then He predestinated those
same people unto the adoption of children by Himself. And He did all this to the praise
of the glory of His grace. He tells us that He made us accepted. He graced us literally. He graced
us in the Beloved, that is in His Son, in the Lord Jesus. As we get to verse 7, having
said to us that the Lord has selected a people that they would
be holy and without blame, and that these would be made to be
the children of God, the question then rises up in our minds, well,
how is this possible? How is it possible that people
who drink iniquity like water, as we do, people who are filthy
in their sinfulness, people who are transgressors, how is it
possible that we would be holy and without any blame before
God? And how is it that we could ever
be fit to be called the children of God? And how is it that we
would be accepted by God? And the answer to all of those
questions is to be found here in my text. It's in the Gospel. In fact, here is a very concise
statement of the good news of that salvation that is ours in
Christ Jesus. And here's the good news in whom
we have redemption. And we have this redemption not
through our works, not through our labors, but through His blood,
through His bloody death. And as a result of that death,
we have the forgiveness of sins. And it's all due to the riches
of God's grace. So, be sure you understand this
right from the outset of the message. At the very center of
the gospel, there stands this glorious truth. There is no salvation
for any of the sons or daughters of Adam outside of the bloody
death of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the very heart of the
gospel. Here we have in verse 7, we have
substitution. Here we have in verse 7 the satisfaction
of God's justice. Here in verse 7 we have the results
of the work of redemption of our Lord Jesus. What does it
result in? What is the end result of our
Savior having died for us, having shed His blood for us? The forgiveness of sins. Without the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, there is no remission. And where did all
of this originate? Where did all of this come from?
Well, this is not our idea. We had no way to understand or
to know or to conceive the manner by which God could be just and
justify the ungodly. This is a subject left only unto
God. And He found the way whereby
He can make us holy and without blame. and make us fit to be
called His children, God found the way. He'd kill His Son. His Son would be the bloody sacrifice
for all of the sins of His people. After all, by nature, we're in
captivity to sin, we're in bondage unto the evil one, and we're
under the curse of God's law. We have no hope in and of ourselves
of ever having salvation, the forgiveness of sins, acceptance
with God. That is out of the realm of possibility
if it's left to us. Thank God He did something. He purposed to do this even before
the world began. and it's by means of redemption. And redemption is indeed, it's
the theme of the Bible. It's what the Word of God is
about. The redemption of God's people from the curse of the
law. Redemption, He bought us from
God's law that held us captive. The law said, the soul that sins
shall die. and the law demands death for
sin. God came up with the only way
His law could be satisfied. It's through the death of a suitable
substitute for us, the Lord Jesus Christ. As you read through the
Word of God, you find redemption is indeed the theme of the Bible. In the Old Testament, redemption
is promised, prophesied, It is portrayed and it is fully and
beautifully proclaimed in the Old Testament. You see, everything
in the Old Testament, everything that happened, all the sacrifices,
all of the offerings, they all pointed to a greater sacrifice. A sacrifice that would fulfill,
would do what all of those Old Testament sacrifices merely pictured. They didn't put any sin away. When Abel offered the firstling
of his flock, when he offered his lamb upon the altar as an
offering unto God, as a sacrifice unto God, there's the innocent
dying for the guilty. But we know that the bloody death
of that lamb didn't put his sins away, but it did portray what
God's lamb would do. And as we go through the Old
Testament, we read time and time again of these sacrifices being
offered. They have no meaning unless we
understand they all pointed in the direction of God's Lamb. God's sacrifice. God found the
way. by which he could be just and
justify the ungodly. Redemption is indeed found throughout
the Old Testament. Redemption by price. Think about that Passover lamb. Redemption by power. Think of how God brought Israel
out of Egyptian bondage. How He led them across the Red
Sea on dry land. He opened up a path, one path,
for all of Israel. Think about redemption by a kinsman
redeemer. Those of you who are familiar
with the book of Ruth, such a beautiful book, and we see in Boaz the
kinsman redeemer. Only Boaz, only Boaz was willing
and able to redeem that which was owed by Naomi and by Ruth. There was, however, a nearer
kinsman to Naomi and Ruth, and Boaz went to that nearer kinsman
and said, you want to redeem them? And he said, no. And that nearer kinsman is God's
law. God's law. There is no keeping
of the law for us by which we are redeemed or set free from
our sin. Boaz is the redeemer. Boaz was
willing, Boaz was able to redeem everything that Naomi had lost
in her foolishness, she and Elimelech. Redemption says it's all paid
for. Redemption says everything's
been made right. That's what redemption says.
You've got to understand this. When our Lord Jesus died upon
the cross of Calvary, He wasn't making an effort to set things
straight with God. He did set things straight with
God for all of His people. He did put our sins away. He
did satisfy God's justice. He did do everything God's holy
law demanded. And we know that's the case because
God raised Him from the dead. And then God received him back
into glory and said, sit here at my right hand. The position
of power, the position of authority. You sit here until you make all
your enemies your footstool. Redemption. All the way through
the Old Testament it's constantly spoken of. And then we get to
the New Testament and we find redemption being fully accomplished. And the wonders of this very
concise verse here in Ephesians chapter one and verse seven,
the amazing thing about it is everything we need to know about
who did it, who redeemed us and how he redeemed us, and the origin
of this redemption, everything is given to us in just these
few words. Redemption. Redemption. What is redemption? What is the
complete deliverance of chosen sinners from captivity, from
bondage and from the curse of God's law into the glorious liberty
of sons of God by the purchase of His blood and by the power
of His grace. Let me briefly give you six things
from this, the seventh verse here in Ephesians chapter one. Here's six statements. First
of all, and it's very simple, very simple. The purchaser of
redemption, he's identified, he's identified this way in whom? He's talking about somebody.
This is the one who purchased redemption. You see, before redemption
is even introduced, the Redeemer is made known. In whom? Remember, this salvation is in
a person. Not just any person, not just
any religious leader. Not just a person who is a great
teacher about the things of God. This salvation, this redemption
is in a very special person. He is at the very same time the
Son of God and the Son of Man. In whom? He's been identified
in the last few words of the previous verse, verse 6, as being
the beloved. He's the beloved. He's the beloved
of God. And we learn from reading these
verses of scripture previous to verse seven, that every blessing
that God has for us, every good thing that God gives to us is
all in Christ Jesus. In whom? In whom? It's very important that you
know this, that all of the blessings of God's free grace for time
and eternity are in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. In whom? He's the author of this redemption.
He's the worker of redemption. He's the only one who is involved
in actually obtaining the redemption of His people. He had no assistance,
not the angels, not some dead martyr, some martyr who's died
for the cause of God. We're thankful for men who have
been willing and have even shed their blood for the sake of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they're not redeemers. We're
thankful for preachers of the gospel because all of us, if
we've heard and we've come to understand the gospel of God's
grace, we heard this gospel from the lips of a preacher, but a
preacher doesn't redeem us. Redemption isn't found in the
church. Redemption is not found even
in partaking of an ordinance, even though this ordinance is
divinely instituted. Redemption is in somebody. And salvation is in knowing this
somebody. It's not merely knowing about
Him. Certainly, we learn some things
about Him. It's not just believing that
He exists. It's in our soul of souls trusting
Him as our Redeemer, as our Savior, as the one who made things right
with God on our behalf. In whom? He's the purchaser of
redemption. He did it. He obtained it. You read in Hebrews chapter 9,
He obtained redemption. by His blood. What does that
mean? He took hold of it. He didn't die to make an effort
to redeem. In His death, He actually redeemed
His people. And He went to glory and He sprinkled
His blood upon the heavenly mercy seat. It's done. The message to you today is not,
do this, do that. Go to some cathedral, walk the
church aisle, go to a so-called altar at the front, which there
is no altar. All of these things, that's what
religion requires of you. Do, do, do. But the message is, in whom we
have redemption, it's done. It's done. And as long as you're
doing to try to earn God's favor, you will not have any real peace. It's only as you come to see
in whom we have redemption, He did it all, then you find rest
for your soul. So the purchase of redemption,
in whom? Secondly, the objects of redemption,
we. We. Who did our Lord Jesus redeem
by His blood? We. Well, who's the we? Those He's been speaking about.
Those who are the objects of God's choosing grace. You go
all the way back to verse 1, the we are the saints, those
who've been set apart by God. These are set apart for His grace,
for His salvation. It says in verse 1, to the saints
which are at Ephesus and to the faithful, to those who believe. Who are those in whose stead
our Lord Jesus died? How can they be identified? See,
the only way you can know this morning that you are one of God's
chosen vessels of mercy, the only way you can know that you
have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
is if you believe. If you believe Him. If you rest
in Him. If He's all of your hope. Examine
the foundation for your salvation. Is it based upon some experience
you had years ago? Or is it all in Him? All in Him. The objects of redemption,
we. And there's not one word in all
of the Word of God that would lead anybody who honestly reads
the Scriptures to believe in universal redemption. Universal
redemption is not taught in the word of God. Our Lord Jesus died
for his people. Thou shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins is what the scripture
says. Galatians chapter three, Christ
hath redeemed us, us from the curse of the law. Isaiah chapter 53, it says, for
the transgression of my people was he stricken. The people God chose, the people
He ordained to be holy and without blame, that's who the objects
of redemption are. Those that He set apart to be
His children, The objects of redemption. So very, very simply,
I hope clearly, you can see the purchaser of redemption is in
whom? And the objects of redemption,
we. We. Now here's the third thing. Here's the fact of redemption. In whom we have redemption. We have it. It is a present,
everlasting possession of every child of God. It's not something
we hope to have. It's something we have right
now. Being redeemed, I am now and forevermore saved by the
grace of God. You see, redemption means deliverance
by the payment of a price. And it was a one-time work. A thing is redeemed by a payment of a stipulated
price. It's illustrated in many ways
in the Old Testament. man goes into slavery, perhaps
he overextended himself, he got into debt, he couldn't pay his
debts, the law locks him up, or he becomes a slave to the
one he's indebted to, but he has a rich relative who can redeem
him. He can pay everything he owes. He can pay his notes, pay his
debts, if that near relative, if that
kinsman is able and willing to pay, as with Boaz. The same thing is true if a person couldn't pay their bills, that
actually auctioned them off as a servant. as with Hosea's wife
who left him, Gomer, and she couldn't pay her bills, and so
she went up for adoption, to be auctioned off. And Hosea was there and he bought
her. These and so many other illustrations
of redemption are found throughout the Old Testament. we couldn't
pay the debt that we owed to God. Who could ever imagine or
even begin to estimate the greatness of our indebtedness to God for
all of our sins? Only God himself knew the full
extent of our debt. And our Lord Jesus Christ being
God, He came to pay, to pay. He redeemed us. He paid our indebtedness. What justice demanded, He rendered
to it. You know, redemption, though
in many ways, is kind of a thing that you did in the past, It
is still occasionally used. You get in a bit of a financial
jam and you go to a pawnbroker. Here's a watch my granddaddy
gave me. Boy, I'm broke. I've got to have
some money. What will you give me for this?
I'll say $50. $50, okay. I'm going to try to
save up and I'll come back and I'll get that if I can. Well,
you know, up until then, anybody can come in here and buy it,
I understand. Well, our Lord Jesus is the one
who bought us. We were like that little boy
who made a sailboat. And that little sailboat It kind
of meant the world to him. He named it freedom. And he,
having made that little small sailboat, he'd go out that creek
behind his house, he'd tie a string to it and push that little sailboat
out and he'd walk along the creek bank as it floated down the creek. He just loved that little sailboat.
And one day, he's doing that and bless his heart, the string
broke. And away goes his boat. He's
so heartbroken. He's so sad. He goes back home,
tells his daddy what happened. And a couple of weeks later,
he's walking with his dad downtown. They walk by a pawn shop. And he looks in, he says, Daddy,
Daddy! There's my boat! Are you sure, son? Yeah, look
at the name on it! Freedom. And they go in. And the boy says to the man who
owns the pulse shop, that's my boat. I made that boat. And the man said, well, it's
a nice looking boat. I'll give you that. But listen,
son, I paid money for that. And the only way you're going
to get that boat back is to redeem it, buy it back. And he looked up at his daddy
and us dads know immediately dad goes to his wallet, pulls
out the money and he pays for it. And the boy gets his boat
back, redeemed. And he goes out the door saying,
I made you and I bought you. You aren't twice mine. And I
tell you what, God made us. But then we fell into the awful,
awful torrent of the river of sin. Took us right away from
God. Our fault. Our Lord Jesus came to buy us
back. He made us and He remade us in
grace. He paid our debt. He redeemed
us. He bought us back. That's redemption.
That's redemption. And then, here's the precious
price of redemption through His blood. Have you ever wondered the reason
that the Spirit of God did not say, He redeemed us by His death? though that's an accurate statement. Remember this, all of the Old
Testament, all the deaths of those sacrifices involved the
shedding of their blood. And if our Lord Jesus is going
to be the fulfillment of all of those sacrifices, then the
emphasis must be not merely upon His death, because He could have
been put to death in many ways. In fact, the Jews tried to stone
Him. But the way that He will be put to death is by shedding
His blood to His death. It's gotta be a gory death. It's
gotta be a death that involve pain and suffering and misery
and torment to His body and to His soul. He shed His blood. Therefore we sing, what can wash
away my sin? We don't merely say nothing but
the death of Jesus. There are lots of religions today
that would put it that way. But the answer is nothing but
the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood. Our Lord
Jesus, He's the only one qualified to pay the price of redemption. Remember, this blood is God's
blood. It is not blood tainted by Adamic
sin. It is not blood tainted by the
filth of our sinfulness. He was, is, and always shall
be God. God cannot be contaminated with
sin. And I remind you, He is one person
of the Trinity. the Father, the Son, and the
Spirit of God. And there at the cross, our Lord
in the Trinity of His persons was there. And though there is
a sense in which God the Father forsook His only begotten Son,
in another real sense, there could be no separation, no division
of the Godhead. Therefore, it would be absolutely
impossible for Him to have been made the filth of sin. That would
mean the Father was made the filth of sin and the Spirit was
made the filth of sin as well. Our Lord Jesus, all the while
as He shed His blood, He remained perfect God. Only God could redeem. And this is the price of redemption. Covenant blood. Blood that paid
our indebtedness. And then, here's the result of
redemption. The forgiveness of sins. Remember
this. No remission without redemption. No remission, no forgiveness
without redemption. Wherever there is redemption,
there must be the forgiveness of sins. Let's be very, very careful when
we think of the subject of the forgiveness of sins. You see,
there are some people who tell us that the Lord Jesus, He came
into the world to show us that God is willing to forgive. And they'll say to people like
you, he is ready to forgive. That's wrong language. That's altogether wrong. And
that's how easy it is for error to kind of slip in. It isn't
that he's ready to forgive. or that he offers forgiveness.
The declaration of the Word of God is this, as a result of the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, sins are forgiven, not
forgiveness is available. It's a big difference. In... 2 Corinthians chapter 5
and verse 19. We do not read that God was in
Christ showing He was ready to be reconciled. No. God was in
Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. the death of our Lord Jesus,
His bloody sacrifice, it wasn't an effort to accomplish the forgiveness
of sins of everybody. It was the accomplishment of
the sins of His people by the bloody sacrifice of His Son. That's the result of it. And
when our Lord Jesus died, of course, those of us who live
today and those who, most everybody, shortly after his death, they
hadn't even committed any sins yet. I hear people say, well,
you know, forgiveness pertains to sins back yonder, but what
about sins now? All of our sins were in the future
when our Lord Jesus died. He forgave them all. That passage Ron read to us from
1 John 1 verse 9, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That doesn't mean that our forgiveness,
that God forgiving us is conditioned upon Our confessing sin. It's going to take a whole lot
more than your confession of sin to put them away. God is faithful and just to forgive
us. Because our Savior died in our
stead. And then lastly, the source of
redemption. According to the riches of His
grace. Covenant grace is behind it all. The apostle has told
us in this verse that the method of our redemption and salvation
by the Lord Jesus shedding His blood to His death is due now,
he tells us, to the riches of God's grace. God purposed redemption by His
grace. God provided the Redeemer by
His grace. God performed the redemption
through His grace. God gives us faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus by His grace. Grace will perfect us in eternity
when our bodies are raised in the final resurrection. And grace will have the lasting
praise of it. Grace. What a tremendous statement. And as I said at the beginning
of the message, this is just one of many found. Every one
of these verses are just loaded. As all of you know, all of you
who've studied Ephesians chapter one. So here's the purchaser
of redemption, in whom here are the objects of redemption. We,
here's the fact of redemption, have. It's accomplished. Here's the very price of redemption
through His blood. Here's the results of redemption,
forgiveness of sins. And here's the very source of
redemption, the riches of His grace. Isn't it wonderful that
we have been forgiven? that the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, has cleansed us and goes on cleansing us from all
sin. And if you have not been brought
by the Spirit of God to cast your soul with all your cares
and sins and transgressions, just cast yourself upon the Lord
Jesus Christ and His mighty grace. Oh may God the Spirit lead you
to do that. There's a wondrous grace to be
found in the Lord Jesus. And if you believe Him, if you're
brought to believe Him, then it's only because of the riches
of His grace that ordained it to begin with. And He gets all
the glory. And the reason we partake of
this Lord's Supper, by the way, is because the Lord instituted
it. This is for sinners who are blood-bought. We are blood-bought. We're not the servants of sin
anymore. We're the servants of righteousness.
And the Lord has blessed us with the saving knowledge of His Son.
And so He tells us to remember His death until He comes again. There's the bread that speaks
of His body broken for us. and there is the wine that speaks
of his blood, blood. And I wrote the article for the
bulletin this morning that says that, you know, we don't give
you the bread and the wine at the same time because they're
to be separated. The reason they're to be separated
is because as what happens to the body when the blood is taken
from it? Death. Death. And so we thank
God for the death of our Lord Jesus. For the fact that He,
the Bread of Life, came down here. And He was bruised and
battered and broken for us. And His blood has redeemed us. Redeemed us. It's a finished
work. The men will wait upon you now.
And they'll serve the bread and make sure everybody's served.
And then we'll have prayer and take the bread.