The Last Word

if God’s people would once again
take their Bibles and turn to the book of Ephesians. If you
were not here last week, I shared with the saints that several
weeks ago my brother Cliff was asking about the reading list
and kind of the direction that we should take as far as what
books to focus on, what books to read in our New Testament
reading and in the worship service. And that led me to a kind of
an investigation of not only what have we read but through
what have I preached. And it was rather alarming to
realize that I had preached through books of the Bible that we largely
are completely unfamiliar with. I preached the book of Ephesians
in 2001. I don’t know that anybody other
than our family was here in 2001. There are other books along the
way and I guess I was a little distressed about that and not
necessarily looking to take a break in the gospel of John, but it
worked out that way. And what I purpose to do is to
do kind of an introduction and overview on the first Sunday
last week. which we did. The second Sunday
we would go to chapter one and I would preach a portion of that
in chapter two and chapter three and so forth. So for six, seven
weeks we will be out of the Gospel of John and back into the book
of Ephesians just by way of to stir your hearts in an appreciation
and an affection for this book. This, as we saw, is the third
in the series, the third in that triad of Paul’s epistle writing
that engaged three particular cities. From Ephesus he wrote
to Corinth, from Corinth he wrote to Rome, and from Rome he now
writes to the Ephesian believers in that region. If you would,
go back to chapter one, and I want to pick up in verse one. will
take it in its entirety. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus,
by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are
faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us
in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us to
adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to
the kind intention of his will to the praise of the glory of
his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. In Him,
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our
trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He
lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, He
made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His
kind intention, which He purposed in Him, with a view to an administration
suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up
of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon
the earth in him also we have obtained an inheritance having
been predestined according to his purpose who works all things
after the counsel of his will to the end that we who were the
first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of his glory
in him You also, after listening to the message of the truth,
the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were
sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. It was given as a
pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God’s
own possession to the praise of His glory. For this reason,
I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus, which exists
among you and your love for all the saints do not cease in giving
thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers that the
God of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give
you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of
him I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that
you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the
surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These
are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead
and seated Him at His right hand. in the heavenly places, far above
all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that
is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and he gave him
as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the
fullness of him who fills all in all. What a glorious chapter, what
an incredible series of truths there ladled out to the saints. I should tell you that whereas
I entitled, I think I came up with some title, the last word,
the final word, something like that. Barbara had to talk me
off the cliff because what I intended to do was to call this my last
sermon. And I knew that that would likely
send panic into the hearts of the people. And really what I
intended by it was much more innocent than that, although
the Lord is sovereign. I trust that I’ll be back here
next Lord’s Day. Essentially where this idea came
from is that if I could preach one last sermon, if I knew I
only had one sermon left to preach, the passage or at least the theme
is embedded in chapter one. If not the very passage itself,
if I didn’t preach this particular passage, at least I would want
to preach on that theme. Now, I will tell you that there
are many tempting morsels here in this passage for a preacher. But as tempting as it is, it
wouldn’t be verses 18 and 19 where Paul’s heart is that the
saints there in Ephesus would know, experientially come to
know the hope of the calling in Christ, the riches of the
glory of the inheritance in the saints. the surpassing greatness
of God’s power. Not even the articulation, the
particulars of that power. What great news and great content
is there for the believer to know that that power, maximum
power was exercised towards Christ the same creative power that
brought creation into existence when He raised Him from the dead,
and seated Him at His right hand, and put all things in subjection
under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the
church. What a choice passage of Scripture
that is. Nor would my last passage be
verse 11. as incredible a thought as this
is. In Him, we have obtained an inheritance,
and this is not a monetary thing that believers would look forward
to. Ultimately, I believe what we
inherit is Christ. What a glorious truth that is,
to look forward with all our hearts to spending eternity with
Christ. That’s in view. Nor The revelation, don’t you
like secrets? We all like secrets. Good secrets,
I’m talking about, not gossip or slander, but we like to be
let in. And as tempting as it would be to
preach verse nine and 10, He made known to us the mystery
of His will. That wouldn’t even be my last
selection. And, you know, honestly, as beautiful
as this truth is, neither would verse 13 that the fact that we
were sealed, we have a divine down payment. We have the Holy
Spirit resident within us. And in so much as that is true,
we have. That we are sealed in Christ. Salvation cannot be taken from
us. We have the very mark of God
upon us. And which pastor worth his weight
and training would not relish at the opportunity to preach
verses 3 and 4 and 5 and 6, the great doctrines of election and
predestination. There for the taking, they lay
there eager and ready to be preached. but not even as choice and precious
as those truths are, that would not be my last sermon. My theme,
and perhaps even the very passage that I would preach, if I had
only one sermon to preach, if I knew that I might die midweek,
and God granted me the grace to preach one last sermon, it
would be found in verses 7 and 8. That would be the theme. If
not the passage itself, redemption and forgiveness. Paul is moving here throughout
this incredible presentation of the blessings that God has
lavished upon believers. He’s moving here in verse 7 from
those verses, those introductory verses in verses 3 through 6,
from all that God has done for us, God the Father, now he comes
into the very work of Christ. And in a very real way, the focus
is shifted from heaven towards earth and to what Christ has
done for us. Look at verses seven and eight.
In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which
he lavished upon us. What we have in Christ, if you
have placed your faith in Christ, you have paid in full forgiveness. You don’t operate off a payment
plan. You don’t contribute in part
to that. You have a paid in full forgiveness. begin our consideration of this
significant passage which harbors this profound message, you have
to remember here that Paul is enumerating a great host of blessings
even as we just recited. We bless or praise God, verse
3, because of all with which He has blessed us. That’s what
he means there at the head of this entire section in verse
3 when he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Praise God because he has blessed
us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
Note first of all here that he isn’t concerned with earthly
blessings. Paul isn’t fixated on things
that God has done for him here on earth. Though certainly God
has done those things. God has given us all things as
well. Creation, and food, and family,
and friends. as Paul would say in Acts, life
and breath and all things. God has given those things, but
that isn’t where Paul is fixated in his gratitude. Of course,
he’s given us those things as well, but for Paul here, his
focus is on spiritual blessings. And he says here that there are
no spiritual blessings lacking to the believer. Do you see that?
There aren’t any spiritual blessings that are lacking. God has given
them all because he says every spiritual blessing. Because God
has given us the fullness of his blessings here on earth,
he deserves our praise. That’s essentially the argument.
That’s verse 3 in brief. But no sooner does Paul suggest
every spiritual blessing, he immediately begins to list them.
And he limits himself here in this section to 6. Glance down
at verses 3 and 4. That’s where we see the doctrine
of election and predestination. In verses 5 and 6, he zeroes
in on predestination. In verses 7 and 8, as I’ve already
pointed out, he zeroes in on redemption and forgiveness. In verses 9 and 10, he addresses
revelation, having been led in on the secret truths of God. In verses 11 and 12, as we saw,
he articulates our inheritance in Christ, and then he closes
out this great section articulating these six blessings by discussing
our having been sealed by the Holy Spirit. Now, Paul We know
this, he doesn’t cite every possible spiritual blessing that God has
ever bestowed. All the paper in the world would
not be sufficient if someone were to begin to list all of
them. But he does give us these amazing six. And for our purposes
here this morning, I have focused in on but one of them. The third
one on the list, redemption unto forgiveness. And it has to be
both, as we’ll see in a moment. Redemption without forgiveness
would be utterly meaningless. Forgiveness without redemption
is impossible. It has to be both. Let’s consider
these two astounding concepts. First of all, Paul says we have
redemption. And we are befuddled a lot of
times and led astray by the world’s understanding of redemption.
When we ask the simple question, what is redemption? We have to
acknowledge that we have done a good job at muddling or at
least allowing this world to muddle our understanding of what
redemption is. largely due to the world of sports,
athletics, we often understand this word in relation to some
team who somehow overcomes great obstacles to beat the team against
whom they’ve been most unsuccessful. And when they finally win, we
say they got redemption. The same is said of someone who
up to a point is beleaguered by some trial or consequence
or some hardship, and who suddenly overcomes and achieves some great
measure of success, and we call that redemption. And basically,
that’s the way the word is used, not only in sport, but in business,
and it really is more synonymous, it seems, with revenge than any
other word, right? There is yet another oddity with
the understanding of this word as used by our society, whether
it’s in athletics or politics or business. So often when the
word is used to describe one of these overcomers, we hear
that they redeem themselves, right? Whereas they were looking
like losers, like so many chumps, like has-beens, now that they
have overcome, they have redeemed themselves, they are now winners. There are a number of different
words in the Greek translated, but here, apolutro, redemption,
it’s a biblical word, it’s a biblical concept. and it has a very particular
significance, and it doesn’t have any reference to revenge. The root meaning of this little
word, one of the first Greek words that a student of Greek
learns, literally means loosed, untied, freed. You are set free. Here it is a compound word prefixed
with the preposition apa, which basically has the meaning from. to be loosed from, to be set
free from. And so Ephesians 1.7 here, it
means to be loosed or released from with the implication of
being loosed or released from someone or something. Now it
could point and often does in extra biblical literature to
having been released from jail or captivity of sorts, from chains
or bonds, release. And yet we are still incomplete
in our understanding of the biblical significance of this word. We’re
started. We begin to have an understanding
when it talks about release as opposed to revenge. But especially
as it’s used here, we have an incomplete understanding of it.
Because here it has the clear implication that there is a cause
to this release. There is a price that has been
paid. There is deliverance, yes, absolutely,
but not just deliverance. It is deliverance because of
a price paid, a ransom, if you will. If bail, the idea of bail,
if that wasn’t such a temporary idea, we might even think of
bail. But this word has a stronger
implication than bail, which is temporary and fleeting. It
can easily be rescinded. The word strongly suggests here
that there is a cost, a price paid for this release. It’s a ransom. It was the language
used to describe the transaction of buying slaves out of slavery. And so Paul points to one of
six most significant blessings bestowed on sinners is that of
having been released from bonds by the payment in full of a ransom. That we’ve been freed. There’s
a price paid to satisfy some debt, a ransom that has been
paid to release a person from whatever enslaved them. In the
Old Testament, God is presented repeatedly as the Redeemer. God
Himself is referred to as the Redeemer of Israel. It is He
who so frequently rescued His people from all manner of bondage,
not the least of which was their enslavement to the Egyptians.
And so we have it in Exodus 6, for instance, Say, therefore,
to the sons of Israel, I am the Lord. I will bring you out from
under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from their
bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and
with great judgments. Psalm 80, pardon me, Psalm 78,
looking back on this, said that they remembered that God was
their rock and the Most High God their Redeemer. God is the one that rescued Israel
over and over again. And in our particular case, God
rescues us, doesn’t he? Because we discovered, largely
because of the sins we just laid out in that New Testament reading,
our sin had us imprisoned. Those particular sins accumulated
to where we had a debt One, sin would have contributed to that
debt and made it an insurmountable amount. We had a debt that we
could not pay, and it had us in chains. We were perpetually
imprisoned, and we desperately needed redemption because our
sin had us imprisoned. We were held captive. It was
against our will. We would have loved freedom.
We had none. We were enslaved to our own sin. We were in that slave-like condition.
It was self-imposed. Robert Haldane, the Puritan,
describes it in these terms. Man had rebelled against God
and had incurred the just condemnation of his law. That’s the circumstance
in which God finds us. We brought the full weight of
God’s law down on our head. But God, he says, by his free
grace and of infinite compassion substituted his own son in the
place of the guilty and transferred from them to him the obligation
of their punishment. Did you get that? He took all
of our sin and placed it onto Christ as his obligation. He
made him suffer and die for their sins, the just for the unjust. It’s biblical truth. Paul, in
writing to Titus, his shepherd there on the island of Crete,
So busy about going and teaching the older men and older women,
younger women, younger men, and for any of those in that list. He admonishes them in verse 11.
The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.
instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live
sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for
the blessed hope in the appearing of our great God and Savior,
Christ Jesus. He says that’s how Christians
ought to be living, changed lives, regardless of what age category
you fit in. Then he tells us why. Why should
we deny ungodliness? Why should we live sensibly and
righteously? Why should we be looking for
Christ? Because He gave Himself for us,
that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify
for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good
deeds. People, Jesus Christ is not only
our Redeemer, He is our redemption. He is the ransom price. He is
the one who paid it, but He paid it with His own life. Matthew 20, 28, the Son of Man
did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life
as a ransom for many. Did that include you? If you
placed your faith in Christ, then you know that it did. Because
as sinners, there was a bounty on our head, an immeasurable
fine that we couldn’t pay. Not with all the good deeds,
not with all the effort, not with all the personal righteousness,
whatever we could drum up, it was absolutely insufficient.
We couldn’t have made a drop in the bucket. And our imprisonment,
our bondage was our fault. But then we meet Christ, and
Christ has paid our debt. And with that debt paid, and
please know that when that debt is paid, it was paid in full. We never have to add anything
to the sacrifice of Christ. We never have to contribute to
it. Jesus Christ will never have to suffer another, nor will any
others. That debt was paid in full. It was paid once for all. And as such, we can no longer
be held. The account against us has been wiped clean. That’s
the testimony of the New Testament, right? Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law. We have been bought with a price,
1 Corinthians 6.20. We can no longer be held. We
are no longer imprisoned. We are released and we are free
to go. There not only remains no just
cause for holding us against our will, no force on earth or
in hell has the power or authority to do that. We are free, free
to go. What the ransom price points
to here without any question is the ransom price that was
paid by Jesus Christ for our sin. He paid it with His own life. He
paid for your sin with His own life. The penalty was ours. The sacrifice should have been
ours. The cost was our life. But Jesus Christ stepped in and
paid it in full. John Eady, one of my favorite
commentators of any book on which he commented, said it this way,
redemption stands out in Paul’s mind as the deliverance. So unique in its nature and so
well known that it has the article prefixed. It is enshrined in
solitary eminence. It was not just redemption, it
was the redemption. that Christ purchased. Paul can
never stop talking about redemption. It was core and central to the
Apostle Paul. Think of Romans 3. Redemption is and is only in
Christ. Now, apart from the law, the
righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by
the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, through
faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe, for there
is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through
the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. To Paul, this was the glorious
doctrine. I would even suggest to you if
Paul had one last message to preach, this might be the theme. Paul wants to make the nature
of this redemption absolutely clear to us here. As we’ve already
noted from the outset, redemption cannot stand alone. Much like
the illustration, remember, of repentance and faith, two sides
of the same coin, redemption from something must be a redemption
to something. And Paul makes it clear that
we are not only redeemed from the power of sin, but we are
redeemed from the punishment and condemnation of sin. We are redeemed to forgiveness. There’s a simple sentence in
verses seven and eight. We have redemption, the forgiveness
of our trespasses. Allow me a pause here as we look
to the second portion of that statement. If you glance at the
passage once again, consider the structure. of this statement. The simple sentence is not just
that we have redemption, we have redemption with the explanation,
the forgiveness of our trespasses. Redemption here is explained
by forgiveness. Redemption does not, it cannot
stand alone. Alone it would be utterly meaningless.
Paul writing In a truly parallel passage, we caution people frequently
about the idea of parallel passages. Make sure that it’s a parallel
passage. This is absolutely a parallel
passage. Since it’s next door, would you
turn to the book of Colossians? Colossians chapter one. And this too will elucidate,
make even more clear what Paul is saying here in Ephesians.
because he wrote this epistle to the Colossians in that same
season. Same thought, same message, different
words, different emphasis. Look at verse 13. For he, that
is Jesus Christ, rescued us from the domain of darkness. Did I
tell you it was bad? It was really bad. We were dead
in our trespasses and sins, He rescued us from the domain of
darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Back to Ephesians, if you would,
the ransom is paid, but what? Here’s what you would have to
imagine. If you took ransom redemption just on its own, the ransom is
paid, the prisoner is released. Can we even imagine a prisoner
having been newly released from prison who, although free, stands
outside the gate of the prison and never leaves the parking
lot? I mean, ever. even if we can consider that
freedom, it’s not living. And such would be pointless.
Redemption means something, it does something, it accomplishes
something. And Paul tells us plainly that
redemption means forgiveness. It is redemption unto forgiveness. Paul tells us here that this
redemption, which came at such a cost, secured something that
could never be purchased with material goods. It secured our
forgiveness with a holy God. We heard from the pulpit several
weeks ago, Isaiah 5310, and we were told and reminded of that great
image of redemption, the day of atonement, when one goat,
the blood of one goat was sprinkled upon the mercy seat while the
other goat was sent out as a living image of the sending away of
the sin. Redemption secured our forgiveness. Our penalty is paid, our debt
is canceled. Please pause and note this with
me. This word that is used here in
verse seven is not the normal word for sin. Translated in most
translations, it’s trespasses, right? Paul uses that unique word In the redemption God provided,
we have forgiveness of our trespasses. Sin speaks of an offense against
God, which ultimately results in estrangement from God. It’s
that pile of transgressions. Transgression, however, zeroes
in on the particular offense, the very specific law that has
been violated. And those transgressions, that
transgression here noted points to a violation that ultimately
results in a departure from a course of righteousness as outlined
in God’s law. And as you know, that is no light
matter. To break one law is to be guilty of all, right? Any
transgression is offensive to God, but to break one of them
brings death, And the totality of these transgressions, sin
is death. Our situation was desperate. God’s Word tells us that all
have sinned. Every single person ever born
has violated God’s law, transgressed His command. All have accumulated
a life of sin. All stand dead before a holy
God. Paul will go on to remind the
Ephesian believers in chapter two, which passage, by the way,
is awfully tempting to preach. Paul reminds them they were dead
in their trespasses and sins. All have sinned, says Paul in
Romans. It’s fascinating to note that
this word forgiveness, it has few really true parallels. Few synonyms. Leniency was one
of them. Leniency is nowhere near strong
enough. Aren’t you glad that when you were saved, God didn’t
just grant you leniency? What would a little bit of God’s
wrath feel like? It’s not that God went easy on
us, it’s that he wiped our debt clean. Likewise with the word
clemency. We were actually and truly guilty. We had an infinite sum which
we could never repay. To say that God grant us some kind
of a deferred sentence or that he commuted our sentence. The only other word that comes
close is pardon. But forgiveness, forgiveness
is special. You see, because divine forgiveness
wipes the debt clean. So clean it is as if we never
sinned in the first place. And really and truly we are no
longer guilty because of our redemption. Our sin has been
paid for in full. We will never have to answer
for it again. There is therefore now no condemnation. for those
who are in Christ Jesus. It’s not as if we’ve served our
time, we’ve paid our debt to society, and now we are free
to resume and rebuild our life with this kind of scarlet letter
about our neck. God’s forgiveness is such that
the guilt of our sin has been removed, not just the penalty. The Bible paints a very clear
picture of God’s forgiveness, doesn’t it? Psalm 103.12, as
far as the east is from the west. So far he has removed our transgression
from us. Isaiah 44.22, I have wiped out
your transgression like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy
mist. Micah 7.19, he will again have
compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities
underfoot. That doesn’t sound like a God
who’s going to pick them up and throw them back in our face,
does it? No wonder the great apostle John
writing his first epistle said it this way, if we confess our
sin, he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sin and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness because Jesus Christ paid for those sins. And so the parallel of forgiveness with redemption lies in the very heart of God.
It’s God that blends those two things together. It’s God that
wipes our sin clean because of the redemption price that his
son paid. But there is a unique feature
to this little passage. It is a paid and full forgiveness. If you have placed your faith
in Christ, you are absolutely forgiven. Not only will you not
have to pay for a Christless or with a Christless eternity
for that sin, But you’ve also been empowered to rise above
it by God’s grace to live and walk in newness of life. But
this paid and full forgiveness is spelled out here very particularly. It’s not for everybody. It’s
available to all that Paul says it is applied to only very few. Would you look back again at
verse seven? First of all, this paid in full forgiveness is only
available through faith in Christ. It’s only available through faith
in Christ. This is what I would call the
great sphere of paid in full forgiveness. Look at verse seven. It isn’t just we have redemption,
the forgiveness of our trespasses in him. That is in Jesus Christ,
we have redemption. Now literally here in the Greek,
it says in whom. And that at least makes us pause
and ask to whom this whom refers. Remember I shared with you that
Ephesians 1, 13 through 14 is one of the longest, has been
called one of the longest sentences in the Bible, one long-running
thought. And this is one of the devices
that makes that possible, to refer back to a previously mentioned
individual. And here in verse 7, there is
no strong break, certainly no punctuation in the Greek at the
end of verse 6. And so in verse 7, when Paul
says, in whom, we simply trace backwards to identify to whom
Paul is referring. Simple, really, because the whole
section is about Jesus Christ. And I want you to see this. Look
at it beginning in verse three, blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places where in Christ, just
as he chose us where in him before the foundation of the world,
look at verse five. In love, He predestined us to
adoption as sons, by what means, through Jesus Christ. Skip down
to verse 6. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, which He freely bestowed on us, where? In the Beloved,
in that sphere. We see it in verse 7, as we just
did. And He goes on and on and on through this entire passage.
All the way down through 14. constantly referring back, pointing
back in him, in him, in Christ. So when Paul suddenly here in
verse seven refers back by saying in whom, we know absolutely that he’s
pointing back, speaking to us about Christ. Redemption is in
Christ and it’s only in Christ. Forgiveness is in Christ and
it’s only in Christ. The bottom line here is that
Paul declares that our redemption unto forgiveness is in him and
only in him. It is not in any other. He is
indeed the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through him. We cannot be redeemed or ultimately
forgiven by any other. We certainly cannot earn or accomplish
it by ourselves. This is a blessing that is available
only through Christ, only through faith in Christ. But there is
a second qualifier here in this passage. This paid in full forgiveness
is only available through faith in Christ. That is the great
sphere of blessing. But he also gives us the great
means of that blessing that it is secured through the blood
sacrifice of Christ. Now we’ve already hinted at this,
we’ve already grasped this, but if you look at verse 7, in him
we have redemption through his blood and through no other means. There’s no other payment, there’s
no other sacrificial system, no series of good works. As we
look back to the great means of this blessing, redemption
that secures forgiveness, we are instructed that the agency,
the means through which it was provided was the blood of Jesus
Christ. Ultimately, we know that that
points to Christ’s vicarious death on our behalf. Christ’s
death was sacrificial, substitutionary. He died on behalf of others,
not for his own sin. He died in our place. We deserved
it. He died. We deserved it as sinners. He did not. Christ’s death, his
shed blood was the fulfillment. the ultimate sacrifice of that
entire groundwork that was laid in the Old Testament, remember?
Leviticus tells us of the sacrificial system prescribed by God for
the atonement of sin. Leviticus 4.26, all its fat he shall offer up
and smoke on the altar, as in the case of the fat of the sacrifice
of peace offerings, thus the priest shall make atonement for
him in regard to his sin and he will be forgiven. There the
sacrificial system is opened to sinners. The sacrifice stood
in place of that sinner and the life of the victim was taken.
The blood of the sacrificial victim was shed. God makes it
explicitly clear why that was so. Leviticus 17, the life of
the flesh is in the blood. I’ve given it to you on the altar
to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood by reason
of the life that it makes atonement. It had to be a blood sacrifice.
It had to be the taking of the life of the victim. Life for
life. In order to be forgiven, blood
must be shed, life must be taken. Sin is a serious offense against
God. And as I already mentioned, as
we come into this passage, we come face to face with the matter
of Christ’s death. We are brought full circle in
God’s plan for the salvation of sinners. The price for sin
in a once for all sacrifice was the perfect blood of a spotless
lamb, the life of Christ. That was the price for the redemption
of sinners, the blood, the death of Christ. It was a violent,
merciless death of an infinitely innocent Savior. Just as the
sacrificial blood of a lamb atoned for a sinner for a time, Jesus
Christ’s blood was poured out for sinners for all time. No sacrifice ever needs to be
repeated. He had no sin, but he faced death. He faced death because he willed
to pay sinners ransom. Peter loved this truth. And he
did not shy away from this horrible and glorious truth. Horrible
in the sense that it was a bloody sacrifice, it was death. It did involve the shedding of
blood of a willing savior, glorious for all the same reasons. First
Peter one, if you address his father, the one who impartially
judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear
during the time of your stay on earth, knowing that you are
not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from
your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers. but with
precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. Paul, as I’ve already said, loved
this truth. Paul did not evade this horrible
and glorious truth that his own savior had not only spilled and
spent his blood, but that it was terrifically
effective. It accomplished something. The
redemption of sinners, the purchase of the church, Acts 2028, the
blood of Christ. But there is a third qualifier
here. That paid in full forgiveness
is only available through faith in Christ. It’s only secured
through the blood sacrifice of Christ. And it is only provided
because of the grace of God. And here we have the great enablement
of blessing. Look at verses 7 and 8. In Him
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our
trespasses according to the riches of His grace which He lavished
upon us. The phrase riches of His grace
is a common device that Paul uses to highlight God’s superlative
nature. We know from theology that whatever
character trait God possesses, He possesses in perfection. And whatever God does is done
to the full. So we often catch Paul highlighting
these examples in Scripture. Romans 2.4, the riches of His
kindness. Romans 9.23, the riches of His
glory. Romans 11, 23, the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Ephesians 2, 7, the surpassing
riches of his grace. Here it’s grace again that’s
in view that Paul speaks of as having been poured out upon us
liberally. It provided the satisfaction,
the acceptable sacrifice to God. It met the ultimate need of those
who were absolutely destitute in themselves for salvation. That blessing, because of the
nature of this word, was absolutely unmerited. We didn’t deserve
it. It’s absolutely unearned. We couldn’t have earned it. It
cannot be bought with material wealth. It cannot be earned through
any work of goodness. any act of benevolence. It is
grace, God’s grace, solely given because of the sovereign providence
of God. And even when given in overwhelming
measure, it is an endless supply. As one beloved shepherd put it,
the favor of man toward offenders is soon exhausted. In other words,
we get tired of forgiving other Christians, don’t we? Not God. The favor of man towards
offenders is soon exhausted, and according to its scarcity,
it soon wearies of forgiving. But God’s grace has unbounded
liberality. Much is expended. Many sinners
of all lands, ages, and crimes are pardoned, fully pardoned,
often pardoned, frankly pardoned. But infinite wealth of grace
remains behind. In other words, he says, God
never runs out of grace. God never runs out of lavishing
that grace upon sinners. God never runs out of calling
sinners to repentance. For salvation in Christ. Bought through his blood. The great B.B. Warfield addressed
this great concept in speaking of the Redeemer, our Lord Jesus
Christ. Warfield said it this way, the
title Redeemer gives expression not merely to our sense that
we have received salvation from Him, but it also to our appreciation
of what it costs Him to procure this salvation for us. It is
the name specifically of the Christ of the cross. Whenever
we pronounce it, the cross is placarded before our eyes and
our hearts are filled with a loving remembrance, not only that Christ
has given us salvation, but that he paid a mighty price
for it. Would you humble yourselves before
him? Lord God, we come into your holy
presence and we thank you and praise you. And for some, perhaps
many of us, we needed a reminder. We had become too complacent,
even flippant about our own lives, too casual in thinking about
our salvation, forgiveness. But we are reminded of the great
price that was shed and paid for us. Lord God, we thank you
for Jesus Christ, our savior, and we do pray that you would
grant us the grace to live and walk accordingly. Lord God, we
know we know all too well that in our midst are those who do
not know Jesus Christ. who have not yet had their sin
dealt with, they still walk in it. Lord, we pray, prevail upon them,
move upon them by your Holy Spirit. Make them to know their wretched
condition and their desperate need of a Savior. And may this echo in their hearts.
In Him we have redemption through His blood. the forgiveness of
our transgressions according to the riches of His
grace which He lavished upon us. It’s in Jesus’ name that
we plead. Amen.