Sermon Cloud

The Blessing of Redemption and Forgiveness

Ephesians 1:7-10

God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. While praising God for these blessings, Paul does something no other biblical writer does: he takes us to the top of a mountain peak and points out the six blessings that are the pillars that lift up all the other blessings God gives to His children. From that peak we can see down the corridors of eternity past and into the counsel room of the Trinity before the world was created where we were chosen and, in love, predestined to be adopted by God through Christ. The last two blessings pull back the veil to allow us to see a glimpse into our eternal future inheritance in Christ and the down payment of that inheritance which is given now: the Holy Spirit. This morning we consider the two blessings that are the fount of all and every blessing God gives.

Redemption and forgiveness. Fix our eyes upon the life and death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every blessing we enjoy flows from Calvary.

In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Forgiveness is how we are redeemed. The word redemption means to set something free from slavery - to liberate - through payment. The central message of the gospel is that we are redeemed - bought back to God -through Christ's blood and the forgiveness of our sins.

One of the characteristics of sin is that it is enslaving. Jesus tells the Jews:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.  John 8:34

Everyone. That means the whole world is a slave to sin - for all sin.

1. Sin enslaves us through our desires

Sin is unique in how it enslaves. When we think of slavery, we probably think of the horrific slave trade where African men, women, and children were kidnapped against their will and sold into slavery. But the slavery of sin is different: we aren't kidnapped against our will; we choose it voluntarily.

Sin rules us through our desires - first it promises us something we want, hooking our heart with that desire, then gradually that desire begins to enslave or rule our heart.

Dave Harvey, in his book, When Sinners Say I Do, recounts a true story of a marriage that was almost destroyed by adultery. Though the sins may differ, there is something frighteningly universal about the sensation he had as he began his journey into unfaithfulness:

During the months leading up to my...adultery, I experienced uncommon sleeplessness and anxiety. It was as if I was running down a train track toward an unseen but audible oncoming train. I knew the right thing to do would be to jump off the track but I continued running faster, somehow drawn in by the "excitement" of the feelings.

That sense of "I know I should get off, but something holds me on this track" is common to all of us in some area. May not be so extreme and obviously destructive choice as adultery, but we've all experienced it in some form. It could be something like:

¨       Anger - we know its wrong and you hate it, but when someone does something you don't like, suddenly it's the scorched earth policy. Anger burns you and everyone you aim it at. Nothing you want more in that moment than to let that anger out! You hear the train but you can't get off the track.

¨       Pride - we know we should value ourselves less, others more. We should admit when we're wrong, and apologize when we hurt someone. We know it is right. We hear the train coming - but something holds us to tracks.

¨       Laziness - We want to get life in order and work with diligence to move life in right direction and correct the erosive effects that neglect have produced. We want to ...but not today. Actually, today I want to chill out and not do those things.

¨       See the pattern? Lust, or pornography, or drugs or alcohol or greed or selfishness or bitterness or...name any sin.

Sin enslaves us through our desires. Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

2. It binds us with guilt, shame, and regret

Because of sin, most of us live with some awareness of guilt, shame, and regret. Deep within - it's there. The human story is not just story of the actions of sin. It's also about the devastating fruits of sin. And so the human story is full of sorrow and broken relationships and regrets. Full of shame. Guilt. How many people are tormented by guilt and don't realize that's what's tormenting them? One psychiatrist once said if he could convince his patients in psychiatric hospital that they were forgiven, 75% could walk out.

The chains of shame and guilt, and false shame and false guilt (often the result of others sin against us) is etched far more deeply in our story than we could possibly know. We're used to carrying it. It's always there. Whether we know it or not, our deepest shame and guilt is before God and deep within, we know that one day we will answer to God for our sin.

3. It's a bondage that encompasses the entire world

Slavery of sin reaches beyond mankind: all of creation is affected. When God created the world and put man over it, all was in a state of perfect harmony. Yet so interwoven is man with creation, when sin entered human race that all of creation was placed in bondage.

"As soon as we determined to serve ourselves instead of God - as soon as we abandoned living for and enjoying God as our highest good - the entire created world became broken. Human beings are so integral to the fabric of things that when human beings turned from God the entire warp and woof of the world unraveled. Disease, genetic disorders, famine, natural disasters, aging, and death itself are as much the result of sin as are oppression, war, crime, and violence."  ~ Tim Keller

Paul says in Romans 8 that because of sin the whole of creation is now in the "bondage to decay" and that it was subjected to futility - emptiness of slavery to sin.

4. It's a bondage that leads to judgment

But the most frightening aspect of the slavery of sin: because of sin all were bound for God's judgment. We are guilty in God's sight and must one day answer for our guilt. God must judge all sin in the universe or He will cease to be just and righteous - he will cease to be God. Nothing in all the world that can wash away our stains of guilt.

¨       Not time.

¨       Not tears.

¨       Not penance.

¨       Not doing good works.

The bible tells us that nothing on this earth has the power to wash away our guilt in eyes of God. In fact, there would be no hope, if not for gospel, and the spiritual blessings of redemption and forgiveness.

The blessings of redemption and forgiveness

In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Consider: how does the blood of Christ liberate us from the slavery of sin?

God is sovereign and all powerful, but He could not redeem us simply by divine fiat - by that we are no longer bound to sin and its penalty. If He were to declare us innocent when we were guilty - here is the horror of it - we would not then be innocent, it would simply make God guilty of being unjust. Nothing you could ever imagine could be more frightening than the all-powerful God being corrupt and unjust.

But God is just, and our sin, which is primarily against God, had to be punished. We were bound. But God, in His wisdom and insight had a plan, a mystery that would be revealed at the proper time:

God Himself would come and pay. The One owed would be the One who pays. In love, He sent His Son, Jesus, who lived in perfect obedience to His Father. Where Adam failed the temptation, Jesus succeeded perfectly! Sin found no hold in him. Where men displease God with their sinful choices, Jesus greatly pleased the infinite heart of God with all His righteous choices. God loved His Son, and He was well-pleased with Him.

And so as Jesus voluntarily went to the cross He had no sin of His own to pay for. He stood in our place. He was, as Isaiah prophesies, "pierced for our transgressions". He absorbed the payment for our sin. We didn't co-pay for our sins- he absorbed it all. The One who pleased God perfectly stood in our place to absorb the judgment and punishment that we deserve. God poured out His fury for our sin on His Son. Jesus wasn't a "lesser being" - He is God. God poured out His wrath for our sin on Himself. He took our offense against Him and took it on Himself.

That's why only in Christ can we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. The precious blood of Christ redeems us - it sets us free from slavery to sin.

¨       By the blood of Christ we are set free from bondage of guilt - we are no longer guilty before the Lord. We are forgiven. Our debt was absorbed by Someone else. By God. We are redeemed!

¨       By the blood of Christ we are set free from the frightening bondage of God's Judgment. When the Christian stands before God on Judgment Day they need not fear one bit. For them Judgment Day already came - Jesus bore that judgment. He took the punishment for our sin - and there is no wrath left. Redeemed!

¨       Finally, we are set free from the daily bondage to our sinful desires. By the grace of God, through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit we are progressively being freed from the power of sin.

We are redeemed from the rule of our desire to "stay on the track" even though we hear the train coming. God has placed within us a desire to please and obey God.

"Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon." ~ John Piper

Experience life. Powered by grace. Paul says all this is according to His riches in grace. We can pass over words like these and not even begin to comprehend what Paul is saying.

God is infinitely wealthy - unlike AIG, Lehman Bros, and Bear Stearns, His wealth and His grace never runs dry. And He lavishes it upon us - way beyond what we need.

¨       He forgives us of our sin. Not barely , but removing it as far as the east is from west.

¨       He clothes us with the righteousness of His Son.

¨       He adopts us as His own sons and daughters. Once His enemies - now children? It's an intimate relationship.

¨       It transfers us from kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His Beloved Son.

And, in the fullness of time, He also will restore all that our Fall destroyed. All that corruption has held in bondage will be made right again. That's what Paul means when he says that in the fullness of time God will "unite all things in him, things in heaven and on earth." What is wrong will be made right. The perfect kingdom and joy that we were created to know and enjoy, in perfect harmony with our God and intimate relationship with Him, will be restored.

Grace unmeasured - not doled out just as needed. It is not a handout of grace - it's a vast wealth of grace. It is not a trickle of grace -an ocean of grace. Grace unmeasured by an incredibly generous God who delights to be a Father to us and delight us with goodness beyond what we could imagine or comprehend. We will be amazed and filled with boundless joy.

Application:

Last night I took a walk to pray. Ask you same question asked myself: do you feel these truths deeply? Is your soul enjoying the riches of God's grace?

¨       Application is challenging, because this isn't about what we do - about what God has done.

¨       Meditate on this truth: you are redeemed from bondage to sin. Forgiven.

¨       If you are tempted to feel condemned - make sure confess and repent - then know it's under the blood.

¨       If on train tracks and hear train coming - believe God has given you power to get off - and get off! If it is a sin like temptation to adultery that jeopardizes life and loved ones, ask for help.

All of this we find in Christ. If you are not in Christ, these blessings are not found outside of Him. I urge you to come to Christ and trust in Him. There is no other way according to scriptures. At least, ask Him if He is real, to reveal Himself to you.