The evening we had, and looking
so forward to today, just preaching does something for me that nothing
else in this world does. I mean, it does something for
you, nothing else does. I mean, you know, tapes and CDs
are wonderful, if you miss one, or you got one that you really
like and you want to listen to it, but there's nothing like
a preacher preaching, and looking, and you're in a, you know, between
the congregation, that communication that goes on. Just nothing like
it. And I've been praying for this meeting for a long time,
and here's what I hope will happen. Start with me in verse 26. Philip, saying, Arise, and go
toward the south, under the way that goeth down from Jerusalem
unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose, and went, and behold,
a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch of great authority, under Candice,
queen of Ethiopia, who had charge of all her treasure, and listen
to this, had come to Jerusalem for to worship." Come a long
way to go up there to see all the ceremonies, and all the riches,
and all the things that went on, all the ceremonies, and all
the and here the Pharisees was returning and sitting in his
chariot read Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip,
Go near and join thyself to this chariot. Philip ran, he had to
catch up with it. And he heard him read the prophet
Isaiah and said unto him, Understand what thou readest? Do you understand
what you're reading about? said, How can I? Some man should
guide me. And that's what these preachers
do. And that's what God gives us in His Bible for to guide
us. Guide us in a way. Guide us to Christ. And he desired
Philip that he would come up and sit with him. And this is
where he's reading from. The place of the Scripture which
he read was this, Isaiah 53, He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter, and like a lamb done before his shearer, so opened
he not his mouth. In his humiliation, judgment
was taken away. And who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the
earth. And the eunuch answered Philip
and said, I pray thee, who is this prophet talking about? Is
he talking about himself or some other man? Some other man. Then Philip, listen to this,
this is what I know that these men do. Then Philip opened his
mouth and began at the same scripture preached unto him. And as they
went on their way, they came unto a certain water. And the
eunuch said, See, here is water. And what a question! What doth
hinder me to be baptized, to be immersed, and confess my faith
in Christ? If thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest." And he answered him, now this is it, this is
it, this is it right here. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. God come down to this world,
that's what he's saying. That this man you talked to me
about was the Son of God. God, begotten of God, sin of
God, used of God, blessed of God, and the only man ever approved
of God. Stop this chariot right now.
But I pray that's what happens today. These men preach. Somebody
said, oh, by what do it hinder me? If you believe with all your
heart, believe that Jesus is the Son of God. When Brother
Donnie was reading the passage from Acts chapter 8, when the
Ethiopian eunuch was asked the question, what hinders me from
being baptized? He said, believe with all your
heart, you may. And I love his answer. I love
what he didn't say. He didn't say, I believe I'm
one of the elect. He didn't say, I believe Christ died for me.
He didn't say, I believe I've been born of God. He said, I
believe that Jesus Christ is son of God. Now, what I want
to remind us of before I try to begin this message, faith
has absolutely nothing to do with what you believe about yourself,
nothing. It has wholly to do with what
we believe concerning who so believeth that Jesus is the Christ,
is born of God. If you believe he's God the Son,
the only begotten of the Father, and that begetting is not an
event of time, It's a fact irrespective of time. He's the only begotten.
If you believe he's God's Christ, God's prophet, God's priest,
God's king, you know what? Lord's done something for you.
He's revealed himself to you. And isn't that what salvation
is? The revelation of himself. Now turn with me, if you would,
to Ephesians chapter one, verse seven. Ephesians chapter one,
verse seven, I want to attempt to preach this morning on the
forgiveness of sin, the forgiveness of sins. And this ought to be
something that interests every one of us. I reckon more than
anything else, this is my greatest need, the forgiveness of sins. Verse seven, Ephesians chapter
one, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins. to the riches of his grace."
Now, notice he speaks of the forgiveness of sins, not just
sin. I want my sin forgiven, but sin
in some Respects is generic. The forgiveness of sins. Sins I've committed today. Sins
I committed yesterday. Sins I committed that I felt
horrible about 10 years ago and I don't even remember them now.
Sins. Individual, evil, wicked, hell-deserving
sins that are all my fault. Sins. God forgives sins. David said, if thou, O Lord,
should mark iniquity, who would stand? But there is forgiveness
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Do you know someone who
has no understanding of the forgiveness of sins has no fear of God. The only people who fear God
are the people who know something about the forgiveness of sins. And these sins are forgiven by
him in such a way as they will not be remembered. their sins
and their iniquities, I will remember no more." Oh, aren't
you interested in that? Everybody in heaven, God's not
going to look at them and say, I remember what they did. No,
there'll be nothing there to remember. That's how these sins
and iniquities are forgiven. There's nothing there to remember. 1 John 3, verse 5, he was manifested
to take away our sins and in him is no sin. Now I see three
things in our text that the forgiveness of sins is tied to. In whom? That's the first. In whom? Second
is in whom we have redemption through his blood. That's why
there is the forgiveness of sins. There is redemption through his
blood. And the last statement is according
to the riches of his grace. Now that is forgiveness. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins. according to the riches
of his grace. Now in whom speaks of union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's something that I don't
understand and I believe. Isn't that the way it is with
all gospel truth? We don't really, I don't understand how I've been
eternally united to Christ. How I've never been separated
from the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. How
I've always been in the Lord Jesus Christ. But I have. Do I understand that? No. Do
I believe it with all my heart? In whom? You look in the context
of this very passage of scripture, look in verse three. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. How many? All. In heavenly places. Where? In Christ. According as
he hath chosen us in him. Before the foundation of the
world that we should be holy and without blame. before him
in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. in whom we have redemption through
his blood. Now, is it any wonder that Paul
said in Philippians chapter three, Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in him. Now I can say this because the
scripture teaches it, but also with depth of conviction. I don't
want God to see me any way but in his son. I want it to where
all he see is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when God comes looking
for me, that's the only way I want to be seen in the Lord Jesus
Christ, in whom we have redemption through his blood. Is it Ephesians
4.32? Now, understand this. We're talking about the forgiveness
of sins. There's only one reason, one reason why God forgives sins.
It's not because you were sorry. It's not because you asked him
to forgive you. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. That is the only reason. And if I present any other reason,
that's a denial of the only reason. God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you. Now notice, he says, in whom
we have redemption. through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. Who's the we? Not everybody's
forgiven. And I want to say this the way
it ought to be said, but there is a place called hell where
people are not forgiven, where they die in their sins and they
suffer eternally. And hell is eternal because no
man can ever pay the debt of his sin and satisfy God. If someone
abused, brutally murdered, and dismembered your child, could
they say, here's 10 million, will that satisfy you? There
is no satisfaction. And the reason hell is eternal
is there is no satisfaction. No satisfaction, but there's
one who's satisfied. The we is defined in the context
that they're the ones He has blessed, they're the ones He
elected, the ones who are holy and blameless, the ones who are
loved, the ones who are predestinated, the ones who are adopted, the
ones who are accepted, the ones who are forgiven, all of God's
elect. That's the we. And you know what
they all have in common? Their great need. is the forgiveness
of sins. That is my personal greatest
need, the forgiveness of sins. Do you remember when those men,
our Lord was preaching in a house that was crowded and they brought
that man, their friend that was crippled, they wanted him to
heal. They couldn't get in. They got up on top of the house
and broke up the roof and set him down. There he is, crippled. What's his greatest need? He's
crippled. And the Lord looked at him and
said, son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Well, wasn't that man's greatest
need to be healed? No. And they said, who is this
that forgiveth sins? God only can forgive sins. They
were right there. They were right there. They didn't
know that one speaking to them was the ancient of days. Now,
in whom we have redemption through his blood. That's the reason for the forgiveness
of sins. In whom we have redemption through
his blood. It's only through his redeeming
blood that we can have the forgiveness of sins. Now, what would you
think? of a judge here in Cumberland
County, or wherever you live, who said, I'm a loving judge. I'm going to forgive his crimes
and put him back out into society. He's not gonna have to go to
prison. He's not gonna have to be punished for his sins. I'm a loving judge.
I'm going to forgive him. What would you think of a judge
like that? We'd get rid of him, wouldn't we? We'd get rid of
him quick. That man's not competent to judge. God will only forgive
sin and sins a way that honors his justice. When the Lord gave
us the Lord's table, he said concerning the wine, this is
my blood in the New Testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. And that's the same word translated
forgiveness in our text. This blood is shed for the remission,
for the giveness of sins. And this Is the same thing Hebrews
9.22? Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. Blood means death. Now, I hope
I can say this the right way. There's one reason for the death
of Christ. Sin. That's the only reason. Now,
I do not understand how this can be, but I know it's so. The
Lord Jesus Christ took my sins and my sorrow, and he made them
his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. My sin, my personal sin, my sin
became his sin and he owned them as such. Turn with me for a moment
to Psalm 40. Somebody read this recently at
home. Verse one, I waited patiently
for the Lord. Have you ever done that? Is there
any but one whom this can describe? I waited patiently for the Lord
and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also
out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet
upon a rock and established my goings. Look in verse six, sacrifice
and offering, thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then
said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Now is there any question? with
regard to who is speaking here. This is quoted in Hebrews chapter
10 as the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse
11, and this is still Christ speaking. Yes, it's David speaking,
I realize that. But remember, whenever you're
reading the Psalms, who do you look for first? The Lord Jesus
Christ. In every one of them, somebody
says there's 22 Messianic Psalms. No, there's 150. He's the meaning
of all of them. And the first thing we look at
is, this is him speaking. Now look what he says. Verse
11, withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let
thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me, for
innumerable evils have compassed me about Todd's iniquities that
were charged to me. Doesn't say that, does it? Mine
iniquities. have taken hold upon me so that
I'm not able to look up. They are more than the hairs
of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me."
Now, my iniquities became his iniquities. Well, how could that
be? God did it. That's the only way
that can be. God did it. And Christ willingly
took them on. You see, he's going to pay for
the debts of his bride, and he's going to take full responsibility
for his bride. And we're saved the same way
we were lost. We were lost in another. We're
saved in another. So that my sins actually became
his sin. So that when God punished him. He was punishing him for his
sin. And I'm given his rapture. Now, don't anybody say, are you
saying that Christ sinned? No, he never sinned. He's the holy spotless lamb of
God. He never sinned in his person,
but everything that sin is became his. When Christ took the place
of Barabbas, the guilty, set free, wasn't he? That the innocent
was condemned. That's exactly what took place.
But when he was made sin as my substitute, the guilty was punished
and the innocent was set free. Romans 3.24 being justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans
5.9 being now justified by his blood. Colossians 1.20, having
made peace through the blood of his cross. Hebrews 9.12, by
his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. He's called in Revelation
13.8, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Revelation
1.5, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his
own blood. You see, the redeeming blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ demands the forgiveness of sins for all
for whom he died. Now understand this, the teaching
of universal redemption, that teaching that says that Jesus
Christ shed his blood for all men and made salvation possible
for all men Yet some of those people may wind up in hell if
they don't do what they need to do in order to make his blood
work for them is a complete denial of the justice of God. There's
no gospel in that message. I love that passage of scripture
in Revelation chapter 12, verse 11. They've been talking about
the accuser of the brethren. Satan, the accuser of the brethren
who accuse What could the devil accuse you
of before God that would not be true? Anything? Would he have to stretch and
make up things? But you know the scripture says
in Revelation 12, 11, they overcame him. How? By the blood of the
Lamb. Now understand this. Yes, we
have redemption through his blood, but it's only through his blood. And then it says in our text
in verse seven, in whom? We, all of God's elect, all who
believe. And I want to stop here for just
a moment. I want to remind you, who did
Christ die for? Sinners. Yes, he had died for
the elect. Yes, he died for those the father
gave him. Yes, he died for those who believe. But I'm very thankful.
First Timothy 1.15 says, this is faithful saying, worthy of
all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
No adjective, doesn't say believing sinners, doesn't say repentant
sinners, doesn't say, well, I think the most funny thing is sensible
sinners. I thought sinners were stupid. And they are, but it
doesn't give any kind of adjective, just sinners. Are you a sinner? And this redeeming blood is for
you. Now notice it says, in whom we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace. How infinitely exhaustless are
the riches of His grace. Now, I don't know if I'm saying
this right, but I'm going to try it. Grace is an attribute
of God. You know, people talk about the attributes of God and
that's very important, but I do know this. When the Lord proclaimed
his name before Moses and made himself known to him, he said,
the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering,
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. That's who he is. I've
heard people say, God may forgive, but he must be just. No, he must
forgive because he's gracious. This is who he is. This is his
nature. He delights in mercy. Now, his grace is infinite. It
has no boundaries other than his will. It's sovereign grace.
I'll be gracious to him. I will be gracious. And if somebody
bristles at that, let me tell you, the only reason you bristles,
you don't really believe you're a sinner. You're self-righteous. That's
the only reason anybody bristles at that. It's omnipotent grace,
there's grace, there's no limitations of power for it to act. It's
eternal grace. And here's what I like about
being eternal grace. Grace that was given to us in Christ Jesus
before the foundation of the world. Here's what's great about
it being, a lot of things about it being great about eternal
grace, but here's the best thing. That means there's no conditions
I have to first meet. Isn't that great? There's no
conditions I must first meet in order for him to give me his
grace. It's eternal grace. It sources his eternal love.
whom he did foreknow, then he also did predestinate. And the
measure of his grace is his grace. It's not our concept of his grace,
but his grace. It's not limited by any amount
of human sinfulness. You can't be too sinful for God
to give you his grace. and it's utterly and completely
free. When we're talking about the
forgiveness of sins, now it cost God, the Godhead, how did it
cost them? I can't even, the blood of his
dear son. But for me and you, it's utterly
and completely free. The grace of God does not end
the forgiveness of sin. It begins with the full, free,
complete forgiveness of sin. of all your sin. That's God's grace. It doesn't
end with forgiveness after you, no, no. It begins with the full,
free, frank forgiveness of sins. Notice how he says in verse eight,
wherein he hath abounded toward us in his grace, the riches of
his grace, he hath abounded toward us. Now turn back to Romans chapter
five for a moment. Verse 20, moreover, the law entered
that the offense might be restrained, that's not what it says, that
it might abound. Now, if I have any understanding
of the law of God, I know that all I do is break it nonstop
and that sin abounds in me. And I'm not talking about the
way I used to be. I'm talking about right now, right now. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, overflow, cover everything, so there's
nothing else. But where sin abounded, wherever
you find a place where sin abounded. I don't care where it is on this
globe, wherever you find a place where sin abounded, abounds in
me. Grace, grace did much more abound. Look in verse 21. that as sin
hath reigned unto death." Now, question. How much power do you
have to prevent death? What can you do to prevent death?
You can live perfectly healthy. You can never smoke, drink, or
whatever it is that people do who live long lives. You can
never subject yourself to any... It doesn't matter! You cannot
prevent death, can you? Nothing you can do to prevent
death. Even so, in the precise same manner, there's nothing
you can do to prevent grace. Just as much as you can't prevent
death, you can't stop reign of grace. And this is where sovereign
grace comes from. This is the reign, the reign. of grace. And notice how he says
this, even so my grace reign through righteousness. This is
righteous grace. This is a grace that honors the
righteousness of God unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now through this redeeming grace,
go back to our text in Ephesians one, through this in whom through
this redemption by his blood, through this according to the
riches of his grace, we, everybody who needs this, that's about,
am I in this group called we? Well, do you need to be? Do you
need to be? If you need to be, you are. He healed them that
had need of healing. We have, means we've got it. We have the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of his grace. Now, through the redeeming
work of Christ and the riches of his grace, every believer
has, has the forgiveness of all their sins. And the way he forgives
is worthy of the glory and excellency of his character. It's not like
that narrow, difficult, half-hearted, with strings attached forgiveness
there is among men. You know what I'm talking about.
It's full, it's free, it's bottomless, it's boundless, it's absolute,
because it comes from his glorious person. God's forgiveness is
free. That means there's no conditions
you first have to meet to have it. Well, you need to be sorry
for your sin. When have you ever been sorry enough? When have
you ever been sorry enough? I think of that Psalm in Psalm
38, I think it's verse 12, where David said, I'll be sorry for
my sin. Well, that's the Lord speaking. He's the only one who
truly demonstrated true sorrow for sin. My sorrow and your sorrow,
we'll forget it quick enough. Remember how bad you felt about
something that you hadn't even thought about it for months?
This forgiveness is not because of some conditions you meet. What condition did Saul of Tarsus
fulfill before he was pardoned? None whatsoever. None. He was on his way to kill believers. and God met him in the person
of his dear son. Romans 5.10 says, If when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Now this forgiveness is free. There's no conditions we must
first meet and it's full. Each sin, every sin. I love what
the hymnist said. There's pardon for transgressions
past. It matters not how black they're
cast. And oh my soul with wonder view
for sins to come. Here's pardon too. You see, they
were all forgiven before they were committed in time. They
were forgiven in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sins. And forgiveness is not given
because of the worthiness of the sinner and is not withheld
because of the unworthy. It has nothing to do with the
sinner. It's for Christ's sake, the gift of His grace. And forgiveness,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God to lay? It's God
that justified them. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather that's risen again,
who's even the right hand, who also maketh Now, in closing,
don't we have to confess our sins? Yes. If we confess our
sins, he's faithful, just, and for this our sins. Well, what
does it mean to confess your sins? Does it mean to admit every
one of them? Well, two problems with that.
There's not enough time in the day. And the other problem is
you don't know what most of them are in the first place. It's
to take sides with God against yourself. It's to agree with
what God says. If we confess our sin, he's faith
and just. Not merely gracious and merciful,
although he is, but he's faith. You see, he determined he'd forgive
those before time began. And he's just. He does it in
a way that honors his forgiveness of our sins and to cleanse us
from all Unrighteousness. Yes, you must confess. Next, and I want to say this
with proper reverence, but the most God-like thing you and I
can ever do to forgive somebody. I mean, I don't care what they've
done for your heart completely. And if you don't, you know what
the Lord says? You won't be forgiven. Somebody says, that works! If
you've been forgiven, you will forgive. You will not forgive.
You've never been. What about this scripture? What? Have you been forgiven much? I know some people like to talk
about their testimony, their religious testimony. They like
to talk about all the wicked things they used to do, and really
they're glorying it. You know, how macho they are, and how,
you know, all this. No, that doesn't have anything
to do with it. Everything I've ever done, I've been, it's been
forgiven much, loveth much. Believer, believer, the only
way you're permitted to look upon your sin are as forgiven
sin, in whom we have redeemed his blood, even the forgiven
according the rich.