The first song we sung that Brian
led was Blessed Redeemer, and that fits right in perfect with
my subject today, in whom we have redemption. Redemption by
the blood of Christ. We'll be looking at Ephesians,
first chapter of Ephesians, verses one through seven. So if you turn there, I will
read that. The first chapter of Ephesians
is, it just lays out God's free and sovereign grace
to all of us. How his grace is given to chosen
believers through his redeeming blood. And it just condenses
everything into just a few verses, but it covers so much. So let's
read the first seven verses there. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to
the faithful in Jesus Christ. Grace be to you, and peace from
God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as he has 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 unto 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, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. I'm going to be focusing on verse
7 in particular. Paul tells us in verse 7, in
whom we have redemption through his blood and forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace. Why do we need redemption? That's
a good question for any believer. We're all born sinners. We come
just from birth. We come from birth speaking laws. It tells us in the Bible that
every one of us are sinners. There's no exceptions. The only
one that was sinless was Christ himself. Psalm 58 verse 3, the wicked
are estranged from the wound and they go astray. as soon as they are born speaking
lies. We become enslaved and in bondage to our sins in our
natural state as soon as we are born. So what is redemption?
It's when you redeem something of value for one thing. You take
one thing that's value and exchange it for something else. That's
what redemption is. And say if you had a coupon.
at a grocery store that said, this coupon is good for a can
of coffee. You take a coupon, you give it to the store, and
they'll give you a can of coffee. So you're exchanging one thing
for another that's of value. And Christ exchanged his blood
for his chosen believers' salvation. He paid for our sins with his
blood. So redemption is the complete deliverance of chosen sinners
from that captivity, bondage, and the law's curse. We are given
the glorious liberty of the sons of God by the purchase of his
blood and the power of his grace. Redemption is the theme of the
Bible. It is promised, prophesized, portrayed, and proclaimed all
the way through the Old Testament. Everything points to redemption.
And in the New Testament, it explains and declares redemption.
Everything in heaven has reference to it. So, redemption has a price
though, and sin has to be paid for, and in the Old Testament,
the Paschal Lamb was the price that was paid. The Paschal Lamb
was the perfect lamb that was sacrificed during Passover. But
Christ is the Paschal Lamb of God. He is perfect and without
blemish, just like the Paschal Lambs of the Old Testament. And He was sacrificed for our
sins. And in the Old Testament, the Paschal Lamb had to be done
year after year, but Christ done it one time, once and for all
time. He paid it all. So He doesn't
have to keep repeating it. He paid it all at one time. Redemption
by substitution. Christ went to the cross to pay
for our sins. not his sins because he didn't have any. He was sinless
but for the sins of his chosen people. And that's not all people,
that's his chosen people that were chosen before the foundation
of the world even. Redemption should be the dominant
theme of our prayers, meditation, and worship. Thanksgiving was
just a few weeks ago, and we're thankful for our friends and
jobs, family, our church. But what greater thing can we
be thankful for than our redemption? Christ has redeemed us with his
own blood, and we cannot redeem ourselves. Only Christ can do
that. So that is the most greatest thing that we can be thankful
for. Redemption is the dominant theme of every message the grace
preacher preaches. Wayne tells us that every week
that he's up here. They preach redemption through
his blood every time they stand behind the pulpit. Every grace
preacher does that every week. Redemption through his blood
is the only thing you must have. Without redemption, You must
perish. Someone must suffer for your
sins. Someone must pay for your crimes, either you or a substitute.
But we cannot do it ourselves. Your conscience tells you that
we are incapable of paying for our own sins. That substitute
is none other than Christ. Only Christ was able to do that
for us. Redemption has been accomplished and purchased through four chosen
sinners through the precious blood of Jesus and all who trust
have it. Now I wanna talk about six things
here in verse seven. I'm gonna focus in on verse seven.
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace. the purchaser of
redemption, in whom the object of redemption, redemption, we,
that's believers, the fact of redemption, we have, the price
of redemption is his blood, the result of redemption, the forgiveness
of sins, and the cause of redemption, the riches of his grace. First up is the purchaser of
redemption. That is none other than Christ
himself. the Son of God. Note the first two words of this
verse, in whom all the blessings of God's free grace for time
and eternity are in Christ. in whom we have redemption through
his blood. Christ was called and appointed
to be our redeemer in eternity. In the covenant of grace, he
freely agreed to it. Psalms 40, verses 6 through 8,
sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou
opened. Burnt offerings and sin offering
hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, this is Christ, I delight
in to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart.
And in the fullness of time, the fullness of time is the exact
time, you know, things don't happen by chance or, you know,
just whenever, you know, God has a plan for exact time
for everything, so the fullness of time was at a particular time.
He was chosen to accomplish the redemption of a chosen multitude.
In Galatians 4, verses 4 through 6, it tells us, but when the
fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because
ye are sons, God hath sent pour the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father." It amazes me that the Holy Spirit
is sent into believers' hearts, you know, that, you know, no
believer is missed, you know, He will not miss anyone, but
the Holy Spirit is, you know, right there to your heart, and
it's just amazing that He is, He does that for us. Excuse me
for a second. Jesus had the right and the ability
to redeem us. Turn to Hebrews 2, and we will
read verses 9 through 16. Okay, Hebrews 2, 9 through 16.
But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he,
by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. For it become
him. for whom are all things and by
whom all are all things in bringing my sons unto glory to make the
captain of their salvation perfect through suffering for both he
that's sanctified and they whom he And they who are sanctified
are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them
brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in
the midst of the church, will I sing praises unto thee. And
again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and
the children which God hath given me. For as much when, as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise
took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, and that is the devil. deliver them who through fear
of death were all their their lifetime subject to bondage.
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he
took on him the seed of Abraham." It tells us that he took on the
seed of Abraham, but who are they? believers through Christ
are Abraham's seed, and therefore we are God's children and heirs
of Christ. You know, so we are the children
of God. Redemption is something Christ
did. He himself alone, something he obtained without our aid,
a work accomplished altogether outside ourselves. Hebrews 9.12
tells us, but by his own blood he entered once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And us as
believers, and that's not everyone, that's believers, the chosen
people that were chosen for the foundation of the world. Redemption
is His. He did it. He obtained it. He
owns it. It resides in Him and Him alone.
He is made of God unto us. Redemption by divine imputation. 1 Corinthians 1 verses 30 and
31. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of
God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glorieth in the Lord. The next point is number two. is the object of redemption.
The object of redemption are God's elect. The we in this verse,
Paul says, in whom we have redemption through his blood. That's his
chosen people. We are the we in the text. Who are those people redeemed
by the blood of Christ? We are not left to guess and
speculate about this. This first chapter of Ephesians
tells us exactly who we are. We have redemption through his
blood. That's the reason this is one of my favorite books in
the Bible. It gets right to the heart of the matter. Let me give
you some examples. Turn back to our text in Ephesians
1. Okay, looking at verse three,
all who are blessed. Who being the brightness, whoops,
I better turn back to Ephesians. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. In verse four, it
tells us, all who were chosen in Christ, according as he has
chosen us, he chose us, we didn't choose him, in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. And in verse five, all who were
predestined Verse five tells us, having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will, not our will, but his will. Verse
six, all who are accepted to the praise of the glory of his
grace within, he hath made us acceptable. Christ made us acceptable
in the beloved. And verse seven, all who are
forgiven, whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace and verse 11 all who have obtained
the inheritance verse 11 tells us in whom we have have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
And then verse 13 goes on to tell us, all who have faith,
in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And in verse
13 also talks about being sealed. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit
of promise. God promised that we would be
saved, or He would take care of our salvation, and He accomplished
that on the cross. Okay, universal redemption is
universal nonsense. We teach an effectual Savior
who is obtained and in whom we have an effectual redemption.
I looked up the word effectual so I knew exactly what I was
talking about, and it means to be successful in producing a
desired or intended result. Christ produced the desired result
on the cross with his blood. Our complete redemption, with
no help from us, we cannot redeem ourselves. So his intention,
by being an effectual Savior, he completed everything on the
cross. It's not left up to us. There's nothing that we can add
to it or anything. Number three, the fact of redemption. Paul
shows us in whom we have redemption through his blood. Redemption
is a present, everlasting possession of every believer. It is not
something we just hope to have, it is something we have right
now. Being redeemed, I am right now and forever redeemed. Christ redeemed us on the cross
and his work is finished. We are free from sin. It doesn't
mean that we don't still sin, but we are free from the bondage
of sin. Romans 6 verse 18 tells us, being
made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
in 1st John chapter 3 verse 5, and ye know that he was manifested
to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Christ was sinless,
but he took on our sins to make us acceptable for our salvation. This does not mean that we will
never sin again, but those sins are forgiven. Wayne tells us
every week that We don't have a free license to go out and
do whatever we want. God puts a restraining hand on
us. We still sin, but we don't take
pleasure in sin by any means. try to, you know, restrain ourselves,
and God actually does the restraining, not us. We are freed from the
law. We are no longer under the law.
The Old Testament talks about the law, and the people in the
Old Testament were under the law, but we're not under the
law any longer, thanks to what Christ done for us on the cross.
And Romans 7, 4, chapter 7, verse 4, Wherefore,
my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ. In Romans 8, 1, There is therefore no condemnation
to those, to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after
the flesh but after the Spirit. We are the possessors of everlasting
life in Ephesians 2, 6. And he has risen us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We will
have everlasting life with Christ in heaven because we are in Christ. My fourth point is His blood,
the price of redemption. In whom we have redemption through
His blood. Let's talk about His blood for a minute. His blood
represents His life sacrificed for us. The life of the flesh
is in the blood. If you cut a major artery and
start losing blood, you're going to die. It doesn't matter. you know, whether it's animals
or people or anything, you know, you start losing blood, you know,
you're going to lose your life. And life is in the blood, but
the blood of Christ gives you eternal life. We must have the
blood of Christ to have eternal life. Our blood, you know, if
we lose our blood, we die. But As long as we have the blood
of Christ, we are going to live because of our salvation. His blood is man's blood. Man
sinned, so man must suffer. Sin became a man, but was still
God, to suffer in our place. So our sins were paid, and they
were paid with his blood. His blood is God's blood. Acts
20, 28 tells us, take he therefore unto yourselves and to all the
flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed
the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.
God's blood is infinite in merit, omnipresent in power, omnipresent
in efficiency. I had to look that word up, too.
It means to produce a desired result, very much like an effectual. The intended result of God's
blood was to take away our sins, and it was mission accomplished. you know I got thinking about
him losing his blood and he passed passed away on the cross for
for us and when he sacrificed his blood I don't have anything
to back this up or anything there's no scripture to back it up but
I I believe that he gave every drop of his blood for us you
know there's nothing in the Bible that tells us that or anything
but you know he'd completed the work and I think that he gave
a complete sacrifice for his his believers so like I say that's
nothing that's in the Bible that's just an opinion of my own his
blood is covenant blood Hebrews 13 20 Now the God of peace that
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great
shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. His blood is eternal blood. Hebrews 9.12 tells us,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. His blood is sprinkled blood.
The very next verse in Hebrews 9 13, For if the blood of bulls
and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifyeth
to the purifying of the flesh. Verse 14, How much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offering himself
without spot to God Purged your conscious from dead works to
serve the Living God His blood is assuring blood Turn to Hebrews
10. We're going to look at verses
19 through 20 22 Hebrews 10, 19 through 22. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having the high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and assurance
of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscious and our
bodies washed with pure water. No wonder Peter calls the blood
of Christ the precious blood of Christ. The price of our redemption
was his blood. Ye are bought with a price, and
that price was the blood of Christ. Number six, the results of redemption. The results of redemption is
the forgiveness of sins. Wherever there is redemption
through his blood, there is forgiveness of sins. We cannot have one without
the other. God has forgiven us of all past sins, he has forgiven
us of all present sins, and he has forgiven us of all future
sins. He has removed them from us. Psalms 103 verse 12 tells
us, as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed
our transgressions from us. He cast them into the deep sea.
He blots them out. Isaiah 43 25, I, even I, am he
that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not
remember thy sins. He does not hold our sins against
us. He's blot them out, and they are gone, never to be brought
up again. He will not impute them to us.
Romans 4, 8, blessed is the man in whom the Lord will not impute
sin. We will not be charged for our
sins because Christ already paid for them in full with his blood. He has purged them away from
us. He will not remember them against us forever. He will never
deal with us any less gracious because of our sins. Can we say
the same thing? You know, when somebody does
something to you, you know, you might give them a cold shoulder
or something like that. You tend to remember stuff. You know,
say somebody cheated you on something, and you know, you kind of hold
a grudge. Christ does not do that. He's taken those sins throw
them away, put them in the deep sea and stuff like that, never
to be brought up again. He will never deal with us any
less graciously because of our sins. Can we say the same thing? I know that God will never treat
us that way because Christ has redeemed us completely. The last
point is the riches of his grace, the cause of redemption, the
riches of his grace. Grace planned it, it was planned
from the foundation of the world. Grace provided it, Christ provided
his blood for us. Grace performed it, Christ did
it when he went to the cross. Grace applied it, the blood was
applied to our sins. Grace will complete it. This
will happen when the last believer is delivered, and not until the
very last believer is delivered. He will not lose a single one
that was given to him. Grace will have praise of it.
In closing I'd like to read Ephesians 1, 3 to 7 one more time. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he has
chosen us, he chose us, we did not choose him. In him before
the foundation of the world, before we were even born or thought
of or anything. that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. Without blame, our sins are forgiven. Having predestinated us onto
the adoption of children, that goes back to being chosen before
we chose him. He chose us beforehand. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will, not our will, but his will, to
the praise of the glory of his grace, it's his grace given to
us, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. We can't make
our own selves accepted. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his
grace. So it is all of Christ. What more can you say? There's
nothing else that we can do. We can't save ourselves. We can't
gain any favor by attending church or putting more money in the
offering plate or anything like that. Those things don't mean
a thing to Him. What counts is the blood of Christ. He forgave our sins and redeemed
us. think about the great Redeemer Jesus and how we would be lost
without without him we would be totally lost so and I think
that's all I have for right now I will have Brian come up and
lead us in