The Blessing of Redemption

THE BLESSING OF REDEMPTION Spring Valley Mennonite; October 18, 2020; Ephesians 1:7 I received a text message this last week which said that a friend had received $250,000 from the government, and all that I had to do to receive a like amount was simply to apply at the attached website. It sounded just too good to be true, which of course it was. My friend had been hacked, and the message was a scam. Scams prey upon the greed of the unsuspecting, the hope to get something for nothing. Yet, when we read the first chapter of Ephesians, it sounds too good to be true. These promises stretch our ability to even understand. For example, we find that God set a plan in motion to redeem mankind and His fallen creation BEFORE the world or people or man's fall into sin even existed! Such concepts don't fit our normal categories. How about this idea: God exists outside the limitations of time, dwelling in the "eternal present?" Try to grasp the idea of eternity, or that God had no beginning, but has eternally existed! Trying to understand God is like trying to hold the ocean in a teacup: our limited minds simply don't have the capacity. Our only conclusion must be that much about God and His ways are beyond our comprehension, and we simply must accept such things by faith. But incredibly, God has openly shared with mankind what we need to know at this time, with a promise of more to come in glory. 1 Corinthians 13:12: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. As the hymn states, "We will understand it better by and by." These amazing first verses of Ephesians 1 remind us that God is fully in control, and that out of His great love, He has extended grace toward us. We observed earlier in this first chapter of Ephesians that we are designated "Saints" not because of anything that we have done, but fully because of what Christ has done for us. God adopted us into Hs family and gave us the status of sons. We are holy and blameless in Christ, chosen by God even before time began. All this is incomprehensible-unbelievable-incredible-BUT TRUE! This is why we should be tremendously encouraged by these verses. God says it...I believe it... and that settles it! As incredible as it seems, for those who have been adopted into God's family, every spiritual blessing that we need has already been deposited into our account-we only need to claim these blessings by faith. It is difficult to claim something until you know it is there, so today we will continue to explore our spiritual blessings. Listen carefully, or you might miss claiming your riches! We will limit ourselves to a single verse this morning, Ephesians 1:7: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. I. REDEMPTION THROUGH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST "In Christ we have redemption." Note as we begin to look at the concept of redemption, God clearly states that redemption is "in Christ." Jesus is THE way, not one of the ways. Acts 4:12: "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved." This is so basic it might be missed, but if you miss this one point, you will forfeit eternal life! "We have redemption." The picture presented by this word, and others like "redeemed" is the picture of a slave market. Such markets were very common in the Roman Empire, as slaves accounted for a large percentage of the population. As Rome spread its domination, many of the conquered peoples were made into slaves. Anyone who could pay the price could acquire as many slaves as he desired. Paul's image is that we were bound as slaves in a great slave market. Then Jesus came, paid a price, bought us and restored us to usefulness. A slave in a slave market is useless to anybody until he is purchased, then he becomes useful and fruitful for someone. As I think of redemption, the most common example today is that of a coupon. Almost weekly we receive a mailing from the grocery store containing coupons. Sometimes we have a coupon which entitles us to a free item. We take one of these coupons to the grocery store, select the item, being sure to have read all the small print, especially the expiration date (!), then hand the coupon to the clerk and the coupon value is deducted from the bill. We have "redeemed" the coupon, exchanging it for its stated value. That concept translates well into our "redemption": An exchange was made, Jesus' life was exchanged for our salvation. But a coupon carried around is useless until it is redeemed. This Greek word used for redemption means "The releasing on the payment of a ransom." There is a ransom price which must be met before liberation can be accomplished. The ransom that was paid for our redemption was the blood of Christ: our text states, "We have redemption through His blood." To whom was this ransom paid? It was paid to satisfy the justice of a holy and righteous God. God's justice is part of His divine nature and it cannot simply be set aside. This is the debt we owed. God's justice demanded a payment for the redemption of mankind, for we were slaves to our sin. Because another part of God's nature is love and mercy, God provided His own Son as that ransom. As the life is in the blood of every living creature, the precious blood of Jesus was the ransom paid. This payment for our sin is called "substitutionary atonement." Christ took our place-He is our substitute. And the result? We were released from paying our own debt, our personal obligation, for Christ payed it for us. Our text additionally states that: II. WE ARE FORGIVEN OUR TRESPASSES The phrase "the forgiveness of our trespasses" further explains the content of our redemption, for sinfulness is the problem which made the death of Christ necessary. Scripture clearly states, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." "No trespassing" signs are common along our roads. Such signs set limits upon where we are allowed to go, and if we ignore such signs, we all know we stand guilty and can be prosecuted. God has erected "no trespassing signs" in life. His divine "No trespassing signs" are found in the Bible, and we all are guilty of crossing those off limit fences. Often, we are very deliberate about doing so; we look at the sign and look around us to see if anyone is looking, and then choose to trespass. But God always sees, and we fool ourselves if we think we can get away with sin. Let me point out that God does not give us these fences to make us holy. They have no power to make anyone righteous. Their value is to define God's standards, what God requires. The Law of Moses and the 10 Commandments have never made anyone holy or righteous; on the contrary, they condemn us. Galatians 3:10-13: "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM." Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM." Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"- The "No Trespassing Signs" of the Bible only define the magnitude of our sinfulness. They leave us without excuse. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus explained our inability to keep those standards: "Thou shalt not murder" means that we cannot even harbor hate within our hearts! "Thou shalt not commit adultery" was defined as a lustful look! Our Lord was just better defining the fences so each of us would realize that we are sinners in need of a Savior who could forgive our trespasses. Can we begin to grasp the gift of forgiveness God has given us through Christ? We are forgiven of every trespass! And because the ransom was paid over 2000 years ago when ALL our sins were in the future, all our sins, past...present...and future are covered under this gift of forgiveness. III. THREE ASPECTS OF OUR FORGIVENESS This subject of forgiveness confuses us at times. Scripture presents forgiveness in three distinct aspects: First, we are given eternal forgiveness. This is what the Apostle is speaking of here. Every believer is eternally forgiven the moment he places his trust in Jesus. He now stands before God justified-declared righteous with every sin forgiven and as clean as if he had never committed a sin. He never has to come before God again for the forgiveness of his sins. He is righteous and his name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. He has been given an eternal home in heaven. This is the first great aspect of forgiveness. But a second aspect of forgiveness has been called "Restorative forgiveness." Eternal forgiveness exists for us because God as Judge has been satisfied. My status has been changed from a sinner to a son, as proven by the great truth of our adoption. God now deals with us as a son. A son has responsibilities in the family, and much of the New Testament spells our family responsibilities as a child of God. Now a question: What happens when a child of God fails to carry out what God tells him to do? For instance, turn to chapter 4 of Ephesians: Verse 1 tells us to "walk in a manner worthy of our calling." We are to "walk" or live in such a way to correspond to our status as family members. (Read vv. 1-3) What happens when we fail to live humbly, patiently, and tolerantly with one another? When we are not loving as God tells us to be? We must admit that we all fail and imperfectly keep God's family rules. This is when the second aspect of forgiveness comes into play. We do not need eternal forgiveness, that which has made us a child of God, but we do need "Restorative Forgiveness" which restores our communion and fellowship with God, as well as His blessings in full measure. 1 John 1:9 describes this type of forgiveness. I have heard this verse referred to as "The Christian's bar of soap." "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Sin on the part of the believer does not affect his standing as a child of God, but it does affect his communion with the Father, and that fellowship is not restored until the failing believer comes confessing his sins. He then receives the forgiveness of restoration. A Third Aspect of forgiveness has to do with the consequences of our sins, and it rests in the compassion and mercy of God. This could be called "Merciful forgiveness." Sometimes God does not allow the full consequences of our sin to fall upon us. We do not receive a speeding ticked every time we go over the limit, even though we deserve it. Sometimes the policeman lets us off with a warning. We all have experienced this type of forgiveness. It certainly is not deserved, but our loving and merciful father at times will bring back material and temporal blessings which we have forfeited. God promised such undeserved restoration to Israel in Joel 2:25: "Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust., My great army which I sent among you. But we must understand that this aspect of mercy is completely up to God; we may cast ourselves upon God in such cases, but it certainly is not a given thing that these deserved consequences will not come upon us. We must beware of following the person who sowed his wild oats on Saturday night, then spent Sunday praying for crop failure. I think of the life of someone like John Newton, who engaged in the African slave trade for many years, even as captain of a slave ship. We cannot imagine the horrors experienced by those unfortunate people. What type of punishment did such a slave trader deserve for all the untold misery he caused? Yet, God granted him mercy. John Newton was gloriously converted around 1750, and he became an evangelical minister and writer of hymns. He wrote from his personal experience the words, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost but now am found; was blind but now I see!" Newton knew this third aspect of merciful forgiveness which mediated the consequences of a vile life. One further thing must be said about this Amazing Gift of Redemption: This is the reason for the giving of such a gift: it is found in the last phrase of verse 7. IV. ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE Please take note that it does not say "out of the riches of His grace" but "according to the riches of His grace." What is the difference, you say? Can you estimate the riches of God's grace? Is God a millionaire in grace? A billionaire? A trillionaire? More than that! God's grace is limitless! Hs grace will never run short, and we have been redeemed according to the riches of His grace. Dr. Harry Ironside gives an illustration of the difference of "out of" and "according to": he tells of someone approaching a millionaire asking for a donation for a worthy cause. The millionaire smiles and says, "Well, I think I can give you a little something," and he reaches into his wallet and pulls out a $10 bill. That wasn't what was hoped for, for he certainly could afford much more. He gave the $10 out of his riches. Now, if he had taken out his checkbook and written you a check for $10,000, or even given you a blank check, saying "fill in what you need" that would have been "according to his riches." His donation would have matched his ability to give. God has redeemed us "according to the unlimited riches of His grace!" And this grace has been lavished upon us! To lavish is to heap it on more and more. It carries the idea of doing something far more than what is required. God superabundantly poured out his grace which flows from a limitless supply. We need never feel spiritually poor again! For although we were redeemed because of God's grace, and received the forgiveness of sins because of God's grace, that was just the beginning! John 1:16: "For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace. Romans 5:17 tells us, "For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, MUCH MORE those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life though the One, Jesus Christ. Through the appropriation of God's superabundant grace, we can reign in life, not merely survive. Grace is a way of life. Only as we increasingly rely upon Jesus to work through us by His unlimited grace, can we realize the power to live truly good and blessed lives. Grace truly expresses a radical way to live, fully dependent upon God. Because of this gift of redemption in its three aspects-eternal, restorative and merciful-we are spiritually wealthy beyond measure. It is past time that we began living in accordance with our standing in grace. We draw upon this limitless resource of grace by faith. 2