I would suppose that many of us here today have
installed smoke detectors in our homes, the purpose
being to alert us to the presence of smoke and
its normal source, which is fire. Not only is
it important to install a smoke detector, but
it's important to keep it in good working condition
as well. Likewise, God has installed a sort of
detector in our lives. what I would call a sin
detector. It's what we call the conscience. When
sin is present, the conscience produces guilt.
When transgression of the law has occurred, the
conscience will emit guilt within the life of
a person. It is important to keep one's conscience
in good written condition too. The guilt that
the conscience produces was one of the causes
of the emotional, mental, and physical disorders
in the world. I didn't say it's the only cause,
but it's one of the major causes. Guilty people
deal with guilt in various ways, through denial,
suppression, cover -up. by counselors or medication,
sometimes through drug abuse, even suicide. Genuine
guilt produced by the conscience can only be
dealt with by getting to the source of the guilt,
which is sin. When the smoke detector goes off
in your home, you do not ignore it. You don't
turn up the radio to cover up the sound, nor
do you disconnect the power of it. But rather
you see what the problem is and you deal with
that problem. And so it ought to be with guilt.
Rather than trying to cover it up or ignore it,
we should get to the source of the guilt, which
is sin. And God be praised. He has dealt with
the source of guilt. that is, with sin. He has
dealt with our trespasses against his righteous
law. We see that in our text today in Ephesians
1, verses 7 and 8. We are looking at what God
has done. God has blessed us, verse 3, just as
he told us, verse 4. Verse 5, in love he predestined
us. And in verse 7, we come now to the fact that
God has redeemed us. What has God done? He has
redeemed us. It literally says, we have the redemption.
As we think about that this morning, I'd like
for us to examine it with three interrogatives
that we'll try to answer. The what, the how,
and the wherefore of redemption. First, the what
of redemption. What does it mean? to be redeemed.
What is redemption? It is defined as deliverance
as a result of the payment of a ransom. It is
a word that was commonly used in the Roman world
in the day in which the New Testament was written.
It refers to release from servitude. The term
redeemed means the purchase of a slave and his
freeing, his releasing from his slavery. And
so you bring it into the spiritual realm, it
has to do with the loosing of one's bondage to
sin. That loosing being made possible because
a purchase price has been paid on our behalf.
He says we have redemption, we being believers.
We have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. Going
all the way back to verse 1, those who are the
saints, that is those who have faith. who are
the faithful, who believe in Christ Jesus. He
says, we have redemption. We have been delivered
by a price from our former slavery to sin. That
payment is a final payment. It has been done
once and for all. There is nothing that we need
to add to it. One of the things that we can...
gladly proclaim is the sufficiency of the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The work that
he did at the cross, the payment of his blood,
the outpouring of his life for our sins, is a
once and for all work. It never needs to be repeated.
It cannot be added to by anything that we could
do. We have the redemption. But the redemption
that we have based upon Christ's finished work
has only begun. There is a final consummating
aspect of it that we have not yet experienced.
And that is the aspect mentioned in verse 14.
When talking about the Holy Spirit, Paul says,
He was given as a pledge of our inheritance with
a view to the redemption of God's own possession.
In verse 14, he pictures a future aspect. He
says there's something yet to come. The Holy
Spirit is the down payment. He's the pledge of
our inheritance. The aspect of that inheritance
which is yet to be given to us, the redemption
of God's own possession. What's he talking about?
Well, he's talking about that work in the future
when our bodies, our physical bodies, will be
released from bondage to corruption. at the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the redemption
that is mentioned in chapter 4, verse 30, where
he says, And do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by
whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Once again, he's looking forward to a future
event, the day of redemption, talking about the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection
of believers, the rapture, the taking away of
the church. When our very bodies, now lowly and
in corruption to sin, will be delivered from
all of that. Paul speaks of it in our text in
verse 7, we have redemption as in the past. His
point being that even that future aspect is so
certain that we can speak of it as something
that's already taken place. He does the same
thing in Romans chapter 8 when he says, he mentions
a number of verbs talking about our salvation,
and he says, we've also been glorified. Past
tense. Now, we haven't been glorified yet in
our experience as time falls out, but he's saying
that that future event is so certain, that time
when we'll be glorified with Christ, that is
changed, made like him. So he can speak of it
as something that's already taken place. The
thought of redemption involves the release of
us from our bondage to sin. In every aspect of
our being, now we have been released from the
guilt of our sin. One day we will be released
from the very presence of sin and corruption
in our being. And we long for that day, do we
not? But he also talks about the how of redemption.
He says we have redemption through his blood.
And he begins the verse by saying, in him. So
that is the person who is in view when it mentions
his blood. And it's not difficult to figure out
who he's talking about, even though it's a pronoun
that's not directly identified. You get back
to verse 6 and it's clear. It's the beloved one.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. In him. Through his
blood. That is the how of redemption. The price
for your redemption and mine was infinite. A
price we could never pay. It took an infinite
person to pay the price. Only the Lord Jesus
Christ was qualified. The price itself was the
shedding of his own blood. Not just any blood.
His blood. It could not be the blood of an animal.
It could not be the blood even of another man.
It had to be a qualified man. It had to be the
blood of a sacrifice, one who was worthy to be
a substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ was worthy.
The merit of his life, his life of perfect righteousness,
cannot be calculated. It's unlimited. He was
a worthy substitute. to pour out his life for
us. The worthiness of the substitute is important.
A few days ago, a terrible thing happened in
Wyoming. That little town where the man and woman
went into school and held the students for a
brief time as hostages. One of the news commentators,
I thought, said it well. He said, well, justice
has taken care of this one. And it seemed to
work out that way, didn't it? But for a time,
there was a ransom price of $300 million on the
heads of the children in that school. $300 million.
Now, which of you would have paid the ransom?
I'd like to meet you after the story. The heart
of each one of us would say, I'll pay that ransom.
And we might write out a check for $300 million
if they're long enough. You have to get the specially
long ones, I think, for that price. To write
it all out. We could deliver the check, but the
check is worth nothing. We could say this check
is the substitute for the life of these children.
We could be sincere about that. But there's nothing
to back up the check in the bank, at least in
my account. There's either. We don't have the
$300 million. You see, it's not a worthy substitute,
as sincere as we might be about it. My friends,
God has provided a worthy substitute. The only
one that could be found. We might be sincere
about paying for our own sins. We might be sincere
about saying that we would gladly give ourselves
for someone else. You see, none of us is a worthy
substitute for ourselves, let alone someone else.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the worthy substitute.
The infinite God incarnate in humanity without
sin. He had lived a life of perfect obedience
to the law, identifying himself with sinners
all the way along, but he himself not being a
sinner. The reason for his baptism was not that
he needed to repent of sins. That was what John's
baptism was all about. Jesus insisted that John
baptize him, but he did not have sins to repent
of. What was he doing? He was identifying with
sins. And throughout his life he did that. Until
the day he came to the cross, which was the purpose
for his coming into the world. And there he laid
down his life as a worthy substitute for mankind.
The substitute not only had to be worthy to die
for us, but the substitute had to be willing
to die for us as well. Jesus said, we came to
give his life. Not to have his life taken from
him, note. He says, I come to give my life as
a ransom for many. In John chapter 10, he said,
I lay down my life. No one takes it from me.
I lay it down of myself. In 1 Timothy chapter
1, or chapter 2, that is. Again, the Apostle
Paul emphasizes the fact that he gave himself
as a ransom. You see the point? The point is
that no one could be grabbed off the street and
made a substitute, even if they were such a thing
as a worthy person. The substitute had to willingly
lay down his life. Now, that was not the case
at all with the animals of the Old Testament
that were used for atonement. They were not worthy
either, although they had to be without spot
and blemish and so on. But their blood, being
the blood of but an animal, could not fully take
away the sin of a person. God did provide the
animal's blood as an atonement, a covering, until
the payment could be paid by Christ. But they
weren't really worthy substitutes in the ultimate
sense, nor were they willing substitutes. They
were chosen. By the ones who would have sacrificed
them. And their throats were slit. And the blood
then poured out in the appropriate way at the
altar and sprinkled. For the blood of the offerer.
For the sins of the offerer. But they were not
willing substitutes. My friend, the Lord Jesus
Christ is not only the worthy substitute, he
was the willing substitute. He gave himself because
he wanted to give himself for you and for me.
Out of his great heart of love and compassion
for us. Out of his desire to please God, his
Father, who had sent him into the world, he became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
The how of redemption, it's in him, through his
blood. Peter talks about this, and I'd like you
to turn there with me to 1 Peter, and look at
verse 18 of chapter 1. I think it would be good
to back up to verse 17. We'll come back to this
a little bit later. But he says, and if you address
as father, that is, if you call upon, if you
invoke God as your father, he says, the one who
impartially judges according to each man's work,
conduct yourselves in fear during the time of
your stay, your pilgrimage upon earth, knowing
that you were not redeemed with perishable things.
like silver or gold from your beauty way of life
inherited from your forefathers, but with precious
blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless,
the blood of Christ. For he was foreknown, he
was chosen, selected before the foundation of
the world that has appeared in these last times
for the sake of you who through him are believers
in God. The Lord Jesus Christ appeared at the
appropriate time in the history of the world
that he might as a worthy and willing substitute
give himself his precious blood for the sake
of you who are believers in God through him.
Therefore, knowing that we are redeemed with
such precious blood, he says, we ought to conduct
ourselves during the time of our stay on the
earth with reverence. and fears about us. We
are a purchased people. So great was this sacrifice
and so infinitely sufficient for our redemption
from sin that it is the subject of heavenly praises
by the four living creatures and the 24 elders
in Revelation chapter 5. The eternal song goes
like this. We are the art thou to take the book
and to break its seals. For thou wast slain,
and didst purchase for God with thy blood men
from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
And thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests
to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.
And so wonderful is that chorus that it says
that a memorable company of angels was described
as myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands
of angels then. joined together in singing with
these people. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing. And then so
captivating is that scene that it says that everything
created in heaven, on earth, on the sea, and
all things in them. Now you see everything in
God's created universe. begins to sing. And the
chorus goes like this, To him who sits on the
throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor
and glory and dominion forever and ever. You
see, so wonderfully sufficient, so complete is
the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. That the song of the ages is all about
him and will be forever and ever. Let's think
about the wherefore of redemption. He says in
him we have redemption through his blood. And
by the way, don't ever be ashamed to talk about
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are
some people who count themselves Christians and
religious who are ashamed of the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, thinking it to be rather unseemly
to talk about his blood. There are some denominations
that have rewritten their hymnals to take out
the songs that deal with the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. There are those who despise what
they call the bloody religion. My friend, without
the shedding of his blood, there is no remission
of sin. Never be ashamed of the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ shed for us and of the great
truth that is involved in that. Let's talk about
the whole four of redemption. He says, we have
redemption through his blood, comma, the forgiveness
of our trespasses according to the riches of
his grace which he lavished upon us. Redemption
is about the forgiveness of our trespasses. You
see, the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for
our sins. And in so doing, he fairly dealt with
our sins. The word forgiveness in the original
language means to carry away. You see, the redemption
that we have has this result. It is the forgiveness,
the carrying away of our sins, not just the covering
over of them. It's not merely an atonement. God
is not sweeping them under the rug, able to do
that because of the blood of Christ, but he completely
carries them away so that there is no longer
any record. God chooses to separate our sins
from us. One of the most moving parts of Bunyan's
great story, Pilgrim's Progress, is that point
when Pilgrim moves before the cross and the burden
that he has carried all the way in his pilgrimage
to that point snaps away from his back and rolls
away, that burden being the guilt of his sins.
You see, God has caused our sins to be rolled
away, to be separated from us. John the Baptist
saw him coming and said, Behold, the Lamb of
God is taking away the sins of the world. In
Psalm 103, the psalmist says it this way, As
far as the east is from the west, so far has
he removed our transgressions from us. I think
the very meaningful ceremony that took place
on the Day of Atonement in ancient Israel beautifully
pictures this. It was on that day and that day
alone that the high priest could enter into the
Holy of Holies and there sprinkle the blood according
to the commandments of the law. Part of the initial
ceremony involved the bringing before him of
two, not one, but two goats. One of the goats
was sacrificed. The throat was slit. The blood
was poured out upon the altar. Speaking about
atonement for sin, dealing with it. Atonement
for sin has to be carried out. The judgment of
the law upon sin, which is death, had to be fulfilled.
It was fulfilled in that first goat who shed
his blood. The second goat then was brought to
the priest. The priest put his hands over the
head of the goat and then confessed the sins
of the nation of Israel. The goat then was taken
away alive, taken away, and released in the wilderness
far from the camp, never to come back again to
Israel. You see, on the one hand, we deal with...
The penalty for sin. Death. The shedding of the
blood of a substitute. In the other, we have
the result pictured, and that is the removal
of the very sins themselves from those who are
under the blood. The wherefore of redemption,
my friend, is the forgiveness of your sins. All
of them. All of them. That is emphasized in Colossians
chapter 2, having forgiven us all of our transgressions,
says Paul. There was a lady one time who accosted
Dr. Harry Ironside about that. He was a Bible
teacher 50 years ago now, well known in the United
States. Some of you have his books, undoubtedly.
He was emphasizing the fact that all of our sins,
past, present, and future, have been dealt with
by the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to him and
said, Pastor Ironsides, I believe that my past
sins have been dealt with, but not my future
sins. I mean the sins now. And those are all
committed in the future. I don't believe that.
The past sins are dealt with. And in a kind way,
he said, dear ladies. When Christ died for your
sins, how many of them were past? You see the
point. When Jesus paid the price for our sins,
they were all future. There was no past, present,
and future. As we look at it, there is. But when
he died for our sins, he paid an eternal price
and an infinite price that dealt with all of
our sins. That is one of the blessed reasons
we believe in the security of the believer. Because
through his blood we have the forgiveness, the
removal of our sins. This forgiveness is said
to be according to the riches of his grace. Notice
that it doesn't say out of the riches of his
grace he's forgiven us, but according to the
riches of his grace he's forgiven us. This may
be illustrated, the difference that is, by thinking
of two men of wealth who are approached to give
to some cause. The first man gives meagerly.
He gives out of his riches. The second man gives
generously to the cause. He is the one who gives
according to his riches. In giving us the forgiveness
of our sins, God has not merely handed out to
us a little grace out of his riches, but he has,
according to his riches, lavished upon us his
grace. To lavish means to cause to overflow.
It's a picture of flood. It means just being
dumped on. It means a deluge. A cloudburst of
grace, if you please. In Romans 5 .17, the apostle
took it this way. Grace, for sin abounded. Grace,
what? Abounded more. The word that he uses there
is the same Greek word as here. For sin was present.
Grace was lavished upon us. It abounded more.
God does not go out his grace little by little
to us. He does not break off a piece of grace
and say, here you go for today. You see, God
gives us all the grace we need all at once. Nor
does God give us a little bit of grace for each
act of obedience that we do. That nullifies the
whole idea of grace, doesn't it? You see, if
it's out of works that we are rewarded, then
it's not grace. Grace means it's favor that we
don't deserve. We've done nothing to earn it.
Now I emphasize that because some of us have
come out of backgrounds where we have been taught
from little children that the grace of God is
something that we get in pieces. The idea being
that if we do these certain things, if we keep
these sacraments, or perform these rituals, or
say these prayers, God gives to us a little bit
of grace. And it's as though we can keep it in
a sack, you see. And with all through life we're
just sort of collecting grace by doing these
things. Hoping. Hoping that someday when we have
to stand before God, our sack of grace that we've
collected through the years will be enough to
outweigh our sins that we've committed. Is that
the idea of grace? Is that what the grace of
God is? Is that the riches of his grace according
to which he's forgiven us? Well, I absolutely
demean the grace of God to think of it in those
terms. The grace of God is lavished upon us.
God has not withheld. God is not an ogre. He
is not meager in his giving. God gives and gives
freely grace to us. He lavishes it upon us with
delight. God does not dole it out little by little,
but he gives all his grace to us. I've compared
it in the past to a large reservoir of grace.
But you see, even a reservoir has limits. And
there is no limit to the riches of God's grace.
It's infinite. It cannot be drawn upon and depleted
by anyone. The greatest sinner who's ever lived
cannot deplete the grace of God. Indeed, if he
calls upon the Lord Jesus Christ and according
to his grace is forgiven of his many sins, That
sinner does not at all diminish the grace of
God. It cannot be diminished. It's infinite.
As all of God's attributes are infinite, so is
his grace. There is no measurement. We can't
even say that God has great grace, although we
do say that and we sing that. And I think we
know what we mean when we say that, but we can't
even use a term like great to describe his grace.
Because, you see, that measures it in... in comparison
to something else, and it can't even be compared.
The infinity of God is just unlimited. It's boundless,
and so it is with God's grace. You may feel that
you have sinned too deeply, that you've gone
too far, that there are some things in your past
that God can't deal with. My friend, will you
listen to what I'm saying today? Out of the riches
of God's grace, he is able to redeem you and
forgive you of all of your sins. He is able to
pay the price for you. Indeed, he has paid the
price for you through his Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Whatever the purchase price may be for
you, God's got it. It's there. God is wealthy
in grace. Have you received the Son? Have you
received his beloved one as your Savior? Well,
if you have, you know the meaning. If you don't,
if you haven't received him, you don't know the
meaning. Do you have the certainty today of your
sins being forgiven? Or are you something like
pilgrims, still laboring under the load of your
guilt and sin? My friend, for the real guilt,
and remember there is such a thing as false guilt,
but for the real guilt in your life, thank God.
Thank God because it means that your conscience
is working as God intended it to do. That is
a detector of sorts in your life. God is sounding
that detector to tell you you're guilty of sin,
transgression, that you have offended him. He
is warning you. Do something about that before
you come into my presence, before you die. You
say, what can I do about it? Well, there's only
one thing you can do, and that is come to the
Savior. Receive him who died for your sins, who
shed his precious blood, and who rose again from
the dead and is alive today, not only to save
you now, but to save you forever, to take you
home to heaven at that point. So that when you
stand before God, he stands there with you. And
even at this moment, for those of us who are
in Christ, he stands before God on our behalf.
You know, there are certain demands upon God's
redeemed in light of the abundance of his grace.
We can't take that for granted. We can't pretend
as though we can live like the devil now the
rest of our lives, knowing that God has enough
grace to forgive us of whatever we do. That's
not the purpose of the richness of God's grace.
God's riches of grace are given to us that we
might lead lives that are pleasing to God. I'd
like to use two words to describe the kind of
life that we ought to live in light of the abundance
of the grace of God. We ought to lead in the
first place a holy life. Come back with me to
1 Peter again, chapter 1. We'll back up just
a couple of more verses this time than what we've
studied before. In verse 14 he says, And as obedient
children, do not be conformed to the former lusts
which were yours in your ignorance. But like
the one who called you, be holy yourselves in
all your behavior. Because it is written, you
shall be holy, for I am holy. And notice that
that is in the same context as the blood of Christ
and redemption. A few verses down. He says we
are to lead holy lives. That means lives that
are separated from sin. Lives that are separated
from the world. Lives that are set apart for
God's special purpose. What is there about us
in our Christianity these days that we think
that once we are saved, now we can go out and
be just as much like the world as we want to
be? Why is it that we think that we have to look
like the world and smell like the world and live
like the world being God's children? We are not
redeemed for that purpose. He has redeemed us
with precious blood that we might be a peculiar
people, a different people. Indeed, one who has
the attitude, I want to go out and live like
I want to live. Do like the world. It's probably
giving evidence to the fact he's never been saved.
You see, the grace of God not only saves us,
but it sanctifies us. It sets us apart. We lead
a holy life. The demands of my redemption involve
a holy life. Secondly, a surrendered life. We
are freed from slavery to sin, not to go out
and do our own thing. We are freed from sin,
not to be independent of God, but we are freed
from sin so that we can now give ourselves, by
God's grace, to the Lord Jesus Christ, to be
his slaves. It's wonderfully pictured in the
Old Testament in something that was done. In
Exodus chapter 21 it's mentioned. A man who was
a slave in ancient Israel could be redeemed from
his slavery. But if during the time of his servitude
he married, had children and so on, his wife
and children still belonged to the master. And
so there were many times when a man who was in
servitude chose not to be redeemed. But it was
really done this way. He was redeemed from his
servitude by a price. But then willingly, he
would give himself back to his master. And there
was a way that they symbolized that and made
it obvious to everybody that this man was a slave
from now on, not because of a price on his head,
but because he was willing to be a slave. That's
what he wanted. They took a sharp instrument
and they poked it right through his earlobe.
So that when anybody saw his earlobe, they knew
that here is a man who has willingly surrendered
to his master. That same picture is used of the
Lord Jesus Christ coming into the world in Psalm
40. He says, My ears thou hast opened. He's saying
that I'm coming with an ear that has been opened
in my willing obedience to you, Father. I want
to ask you a question. Is your ear open to the
voice of God? Is your life surrendered to him?
Are you his slave by voluntary giving of yourself
today? Your redemption from sin by precious blood
has not been so that you can go out and do what
you want to do. That's not the point. The point
is now you are free to give yourself to Jesus
Christ. Are you living that way today in your
lifestyle? Are your decisions made in light of
Christ's Lordship? Are your motives, are your
goals in line with what Jesus Christ wants in
your life? Or are you a redeemed person doing
your own thing? Please understand that that's
a contradiction. You're a living contradiction.
And you need to get yourself consistent. If you're
redeemed by precious blood, I call upon you today
to give yourself the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
In every area of your life. Father, we are redeemed
by precious blood. Thank you for reminding us
of that this morning and of the demands that
come upon us because of it. We are bought with
a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body
and your spirit with your God. Lord, remind us
today as we need to be reminded every day that
we are not our own. We're yours. And may our
lives be holy and surrendered in light of that.
In Jesus' name, amen. I'd like us to sing in
closing a verse of 557, words by Fanny Crosby.
If you today are struggling with the matter of
a surrendered life or a holy life, or if you
have never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your
own Savior, I want to encourage you to seek us
out. We're not going to have a public come forward
invitation this morning. We're going to sing
and be on our way. But I'll be at this door,
and there'll be other staff members around, and
we want to talk with you and help you in that
spiritual struggle that you're going through.
Give us that opportunity, will you? Let's stand
together and sing the first verse of 557.