Redemption Through His Blood

God sees everything in stark naked reality and says, in spite of it all, I'm satisfied with you because I'm satisfied with my Son and you're in Him. And I forgive you everything from before the foundation of the world for as long as you live. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. It's a truth at the heart of salvation, the fact that you and I and everyone enters this world as guilty criminals, sinners before a holy God. Yet if you're a Christian, your penalty has been paid, and right now, this side of heaven, you have amazing spiritual blessings at your disposal. But what is this spiritual treasure, and how do you tap into it? Today on Grace to You, John MacArthur is going to help you recognize and appreciate and use the infinite wealth that's yours if you're a believer in Christ.

John calls this series from Ephesians 1, richer than you think. Now, just before the lesson, John, let me take a moment to direct our listeners' attention to some friends of this ministry. We certainly could not broadcast in this community without the partnership of our friends.

It's hard to imagine what Grace to You would look like without them. Well, and you're talking about radio stations, and radio stations are really just people. Station managers, station owners, announcers, and staff, and this is a wonderful partnership, and it's a rare partnership because we don't know these people necessarily personally. We tend to know the station managers and some of the voices and some of the other ministries that also are part of these stations, but there are so many people who serve in our partner radio stations that we don't even know, but they are in every sense a partner with us.

It should be obvious to everyone that without that partnership, no matter what we produce, it's never going to reach you. So I just want to encourage you folks who benefit from Grace to You and other ministries on this radio station, grab the phone or take out a pen if you're old-fashioned like me, or get your keyboard and send an email, and let the dear folks at the radio station that you depend on know that you are thankful. I promise you this, positive listener feedback is not only a blessing to those people, but it's crucial to our future on these stations.

When the folks who manage the station know that you love this ministry, that encourages them to keep us on the air. And so this Thanksgiving week is an especially appropriate time, I think, to express your appreciation for the Bible teaching the folks at this station provide for you, your family, and the folks around you. When you get in touch, we'd appreciate it if you just mentioned Grace to You by name. That's a yes vote for Grace to You and has a more positive impact than you would ever realize. So contact them, do it this week, and contact us as well, and let us know how this ministry has blessed you. But right now, stay tuned as we continue a series from Ephesians on Richer Than You Think. Yes, friend, you do not want to miss today's message. Follow along as John looks at the spiritual blessings that God made available to you the moment He saved you.

Here again is John MacArthur. Let's look together at Ephesians chapter 1...Ephesians chapter 1. We have begun what will prove to be greatly beneficial study of a marvelous Word from God, the letter to the Ephesians. And we're looking at verses 6 to 10, discussing the theme of redemption as Paul speaks of it in this section.

Now let's look at this as it unfolds in our text. We see five aspects of redemption as Paul speaks. First of all, the Redeemer.

Let's look together at verse 6. Grace would be the antecedent, grace through which He hath made us accepted in the Beloved One in whom we have redemption. Who then is our Redeemer? In whom do we have redemption? The Beloved One.

That's what he says. We have been accepted in the Beloved One. You see, because we are in Christ, because by faith we are made one with Jesus, because we are His body, because we are Christ in the world, we therefore are acceptable to God in Him and it is in Him that we have redemption. There's only one Redeemer, beloved, and that's the Beloved One. And the reason we can be called the Beloved of God is because we are in the Beloved One. He is the one in whom we have redemption. You know, the term Beloved was God's special name for His Son. We don't have to worry about who the Beloved here is, it's obvious. Who is the Beloved One? Listen to God Himself speak and tell you in Mark 1-11, this is My...what? Beloved Son and Him I am...what?

Well, please. Christ is the Beloved of God. Christ is the Beloved One and as the Beloved of God, He is the recipient of all that God has to give out of His love. And the only way that we can ever receive it is as we are in the Beloved One, you see. Actually, you want to get technical, there's only one individual in the entire universe, as far as we're concerned, from our vantage point, who is the recipient of all the goodness of God and that is Christ and we as we are in Christ and only as we are in Christ become able to receive those good things. Thou art My Beloved Son. So Christ is the Beloved of the Father. It is by Him because it is in Him that we are redeemed.

We are one with Him. Second, not only do we see the Redeemer but the redeemed. Who are the redeemed? Who are...well, it's very, very clear. It's the us and the we, the us of verse 6 and the we of verse 7.

Us accepted, we have redemption. So we see the Redeemer and the redeemed. And thirdly, the redemptive price. That's in verse 7, the redemptive price.

It says in whom we have redemption through what? His blood. That was the price.

How did it happen? What was the price to buy us out of the slave market of sin? What was the price to take us back and set us free?

How was that bondage broken? How was that price paid? Well, it's very clear the wages of sin is death. The price was death. Somebody had to die. And Jesus did, in whom we have redemption through His blood, Christ's blood, Jesus' blood.

And let me say this to you again. This is simply a metonym for His death. Jesus couldn't just cut Himself and bleed on somebody and redeem them. This is simply a way of saying that He poured out His life, you see. Speaking of a sacrificial, substitutionary, violent death for sin. It's just a way of saying. The point is a life poured out.

It implies substitution. The New Testament says, for example, He gave His blood. The New Testament also says He gave His soul. The New Testament says He gave His life. And the New Testament says He gave Himself.

It all means the very same thing. He died for us. He was a substitute on the cross for us. We should be there. We should have been there. We should die. We should pay the price.

We should be able to do that on our own. That's what would be pure justice, but God's justice is mingled with His mercy. So God provided a substitute. And the substitute was Jesus. And His blood and His death actually, now get it, actually made redemption. The blood of bulls and goats through all the sacrificial system were simply symbolic and typical. His death was actual.

It did it. For by one offering He perfected forever them that are sanctified. Oh, by His blood poured out, He paid the price. And He offers us the purchase price to buy us back from the slave market of sin and turn us loose and set us free. Well, I tell you, when I think about that, it's no wonder that Peter said what he said in 1 Peter 1.18, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ.

No wonder he thought it was precious, huh? And I understand why all that singing is going on in Revelation chapter 5. It says in Revelation chapter 5 verse 9, they sang a new song.

And what did the song say? It said, Thou art worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, for Thou was slain and has redeemed to God by Thy blood those out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and has made us unto our God a kingdom of priests and we shall reign on the earth and man. When that song is sung in Revelation 5, the angelic chorus gets up off their angelic seats and begins to sing worthy as the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.

No wonder they sing. No wonder Peter said its precious blood paid the price. The blood of Jesus Christ paid the price for the sin and the sins of the slaves, bought them out of the captive hold of sin and set them free as the liberated sons of God.

And in their freedom they are in union with Jesus Christ so that they become one in Christ and so that every good thing which the Father gives the Son becomes theirs in the Son. The blood of Jesus, indication of His sacrificial substitutionary death, frees us from the guilt of sin, the condemnation of sin, the power of sin, the penalty of sin and someday even the presence of sin. So the Redeemer, the Redeemed and the Redemptive price. Fourth, Paul talks about the redemptive results. What does it mean to be redeemed?

What are the results? He presents two areas of results. First of all in verse 7, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. In whom we have redemption through His blood which means the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Forgiveness.

Oh man, that's a fabulous word, an absolutely thrilling word with so much meaning and so much richness that no way in one sermon could we ever, ever possibly talk about it. Jesus said when He was teaching the people to keep His supper, He said this is the blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26, 28, that's part of it. That's the redemptive result, forgiveness. I don't know about you, but it's nice to be forgiven, isn't it?

Oh, what an inheritance, forgiveness. Israel in the Old Testament understood this. You know when they had the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the Day of National Atonement for Sin, there were two goats that were used by the high priest. The blood of one goat was sprinkled on the altar. The other goat, the other goat, the priest went up to that goat, put his hands on that goat's head and as it were, he laid all the people's sins on the head of that goat. He confessed the people's sins on the head of that goat and that goat was then taken out and sent into the wilderness where it could never find its way back again. It symbolized the taking of sin and sending it away where it would never ever be seen again. Beloved, that is exactly the word used here for forgiveness.

It is the Greek word apheami which means to send away never to return. Our sins then have been sent away never to return. That incredible? Now listen to me. Remember where we are in chapter 1. All of this was happening in the mind of God before the world began. Your sins and mine were already in God's mind totally forgiven before the world was ever created. What a thought. And some Christians go around so depressed because they think God's going to just, you know, really hold everything against them.

No, the goat was sent away, so were your sins. Let me show you something. In Psalm 103, I like to talk about this subject, close to home. You don't have to look it up. Just kind of listen.

You can jot it down. Psalm 103, 12. Here's how far that goat went.

Are you ready for this? As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Anybody know how many miles that is? The east from the west? Infinity, isn't it?

It has to be. Let me tell you another one. Isaiah 44, 22. That's Psalm 103, 12. Isaiah 44, 22.

This is good. It says this, I have blotted out like a thick cloud thy transgressions and like a cloud thy sins, for I have redeemed thee. You see? And redemption is forgiveness, blotted out, forgotten, removed, sent away. And then I especially love Micah 7, 18. Who is a god like unto thee who pardons iniquity, passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage, retains not his anger forever, delights in mercy? Now verse 19, He will turn again. He will have compassion on us.

He will subdue our iniquities. Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of what? The sea. They're in the depths of the sea, as far as infinity, in opposite directions. They are gone.

They are apheomy. They are sent away never to come back again. All of this in the mind of God before the world began was already done. When Jesus comes into our lives, He says to us what He said to that terrible, scarred woman who was caught in the act of adultery. Woman, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. And Paul says, There is therefore now in Christ no...what?...condemnation. Forgiven, sent away, dismissed. You say, But I don't deserve it. That isn't the point. Of course you don't deserve it.

Neither do I. It's through His blood. Now some behaviorists want to come along and tell us that we can't be blamed for our sin. We are the victims of genes or circumstances or mothers or fathers or whatever.

It's not your fault. But you know that doesn't work because it's not...it's bad enough to have guilt for your sin. Then when you blame your mother, you got guilt for blaming your mother and you're deeper in a hole. It doesn't make sense. Something deep in the human conscience doesn't believe the behaviorist lie.

So what does the gospel do? It walks up and says, Hey you, you're guilty. Not your mother, not your father, not anybody. You.

Not your genes, not your circumstance. You are a sinner. You know if I can handle that?

Well you can handle it because I have a provision for it. There is One who has paid the price to forgive every single sin and remove guilt totally. Christ set us free. And by the way, forgiveness is complete. My little children, He's forgiven you all your trespasses for His name's sake, 1 John 2.12. Ephesians 4.32, Be ye tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Colossians 2.13, He's forgiven you all your trespasses. People think, Well, you know, it only...when I was saved they were all forgiven, but since then, man, I've got to struggle to keep the slate clean.

No. They were all forgiven before you were ever born. When Jesus died on the cross, they were all there. When God had it in His mind before the world began, it was all there. It was all taken care of.

It was all finished. And it's just what Jesus said to Peter. If you've once had a bath, all you need each day is to just kind of wash your feet off a little bit when they get dusty. And as you walk through the world, and day to day you sin, the Holy Spirit does a little dusting work just to keep you clean. And that's what 1 John 1.9, He's faithful and just to keep on cleansing us.

See, it's constant, constant, constant. You say, That means God accepts me. That's right. God accepts you. He accepts you in the beloved one, not on the basis of your good looks or your mind or your works, but on the basis of His plan from before the foundation of the world. There are no second-class Christians.

We're all in Christ, as Christ, beloved sons, totally forgiven. And if you can't forgive yourself, you've got a God complex. You're saying, Well, the reason I can't forgive, I know God forgives me, but I know some things He doesn't know. You can't say that. Or else you can say, Well, I'm actually a higher standard. You've got a real problem. You think you're God. Why should you remember what He forgot before the foundation of the world? You know that?

Ooh, that's exciting. And that's why you're accepted. And if He accepts you, accept yourself. You know, you imagine somebody come up to me and say, I'm a personal friend of the President. Well, you are almost, right?

A personal friend of the Vice President, Secretary of State, Governor of Merit, and listen, about 50 famous people. I would say to him, That's wonderful. However, I am a personal friend of the Almighty God of the universe. Furthermore, he thinks I am fantastic. Do you realize that right now he is up there preparing a place for me so that when I leave here, I'll be dwelling with him forever? Additionally, he has granted to me all good things as much as I need for whenever I need of all that he possesses. And not only that, we talk about it every day.

You forget who you are. God sees everything in stark, naked reality and says, In spite of it all, I'm satisfied with you because I'm satisfied with my son and you're in him. And I forgive you everything from before the foundation of the world for as long as you live. It reminds me of, I think it was Philip Bliss who wrote, I am so glad that our Father in heaven tells of the love in the book He has given. Wonderful things in the Bible I see, but this is the dearest that Jesus loves me.

And I think the last verse, Oh, if there's only one song I can sing, when in his beauty I see the great King, this shall my song in eternity be. Oh, what a wonder that Jesus loves me. I mean, if He can accept me, I can accept me. That gives us our sense of worth. I'm worth something. I matter to God. And if I matter to God, I matter to me and to you. Everybody has that value.

You know, getting self-worth and having this firm self-image isn't a matter of playing games with psychology. It's a matter of knowing what God has done for you in Christ. That's the first thing, forgiveness. Second thing. Well, let me go back. I can't leave that yet. Got to talk about one other thing. The end of verse 7, you say, But how much forgiveness?

I don't know if He's got enough to go around. Oh yeah. According to the riches of His grace. Now watch that phrase. According to. It's all grace.

Just remember that. Grace is undeserved favor. It's all grace based on His love. But He always gives us according to His riches. How rich is He? He's rich, believe me. Unspeakable riches, right?

There aren't any words, so there's no sense of trying to describe it. He has enough and more than enough. He has infinite grace. So He always gives us forgiveness according to.

The Bible doesn't say out of, it says according to. And that's a relative rather than an absolute. Like, for example, if I go to a rich man, he's a millionaire, and I say, Oh, I have a need for twenty-five thousand dollars for a wonderful project I'd like to do. Oh, it's so important to me. Would you mind supporting this project? My brother would be happy to, and he writes me out a check. Twenty-five dollars. I say, Twenty-five dollars. This is out of your riches. I go to another rich man, I say, Rich man, I need twenty-five thousand dollars for this wonderful project, for the Lord's work. He sits down and writes me a check.

Thirty thousand says, There's an extra five in case you need some more. Oh, you gave me according to your riches. See the difference? When God gives, He doesn't give out of, He gives what?

According to. Always in abundance. Forgiveness according to His riches. As rich as He is, that's how forgiving He is.

All right, now the second one. The first result, forgiveness, the second one is wisdom and prudence, verse 8, in which He's abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Again, whenever God does something, He abounds. He doesn't just hand stuff out in little tiny increments.

He dumps it on you. He abounds super abundantly in two things, wisdom and prudence. Now this is the positive side. The negative side, forgiveness. The positive side, wisdom and prudence. He forgave us and now He gives us His plan. Let me distinguish these words.

He made to overflow, the verb means to overflow, to super abound. The first word, wisdom, is Sophia. It has to do with wisdom in eternal things like life and death and God and man and sin and eternity and time and it's theological. But the second word is prudence and it's phronesis in the Greek and it means, it simply means insight into earthly things, day-to-day living. Now as a Christian, we not only have forgiveness, that takes care of the negative, but positively God gives us the equipment to understand Him and to walk through the world on a day-to-day basis.

Isn't that super? Wisdom and insight. So that we have all...we're not just pie in the sky spinning off great theological truths.

We know how to put it into work. So by wonderful grace He forgives our sin and then He dumps into our minds and pours through our hands and feet and mouths principles for spiritual living in the midst of a world like ours. Spiritual discernment. We are the wisest. God has taken us into His confidence. Listen, God thinks so highly of you, beloved, as a Christian that He has given you the secrets of the universe. André Moreau, the French philosopher said, the universe is indifferent. Who created it? Why are we on this puny mudheap spinning in infinite space?

I have not the slightest idea and I'm convinced that nobody else does either. Well I may not have an IQ like him, but I'll tell you one thing. I know truth because what He has chosen to hide from the wise and the prudent of the world, He has chosen to reveal to the babes, right? Jesus said that. And by the way, if there's anything you don't know, you can get it real quick because James 1 says, if any man lack wisdom, let him what?

Ask of God who gives to all men liberally and holds nothing back. I'm telling you people, not only has He taken care of the sin problem, but He's opened up to us the concept of His truth and how to live it in the world. That's the results of redemption.

I mean, that's real freedom. Lastly, the redemptive reason. Why did He do it all? What's the intention of it?

What's the purpose? Verse 9, having made known unto us the mystery of His will...that's right, He told us this mystery of the church and the body and all these fantastic things according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself. He did it on His own with His own desires in mind for Himself.

But why did He do this? Why this incredible revelation? Why this amazing reality of salvation and redemption in order that in the dispensation of the fullness of times? And beloved, that means the Millennial Kingdom and right on out into eternity. When time is filled up, when the end comes, when the Kingdom arrives and eternity comes, the New Heaven and the New Earth ultimately, of course, are seen there, He will gather together in one all things in Christ which are in heaven and which are on earth even in Him.

Listen. God is redeeming in order that He might gather everything to Himself. That will be the day when Paul said to the Philippians, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord. To the glory of God the Father, whether they be on earth, in heaven, or under the earth, Christ will gather the universe into unity. Right now the universe is splintered, it is scattered, it is splattered, it is divided. Satan rules, demons rule and God will call all things into one in Christ and there will be incredible and eternal unity in Him, all things redeemed. Why is He redeeming us? To make us a part of the final goal of history, to bring all things to Himself.

And the rebels, purged out, dismissed from His presence. That's the purpose. Macbeth said it, history is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing. Wrong.

That's wrong. God has an absolutely clear, wonderful purpose. The completion of history, everything comes together. You begin to see it in His millennial kingdom, ultimately in the new heavens and the new earth, all things one in Christ. Are you redeemed?

If you are, I hope you're thankful. All that God could possibly give, He's given to you. He planned it in the past, He worked it out in the present in order that you might experience the fullness of it in the future. And it's all yours through faith in Jesus Christ. As spiritual riches, God gave you at salvation. That was John MacArthur's focus today on Grace to You as he continued his series titled Richer Than You Think. John teaches each day on radio.

He also serves as Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. Now friend, you may remember before the lesson, John mentioned how important it is for us to hear from listeners like you. Your letters let us know that we're hitting the mark, we're helping you grow and your grasp of God's Word. And your letters encourage us much more than you know. So when you have a moment, jot a note and send it our way. Email is a great way to contact us. The address? Letters at gty.org.

One more time, that's letters at gty.org. Or if you prefer old-fashioned mail, write to Grace to You, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412. And make sure you take advantage of all the free Bible study tools you'll find at gty.org. That includes the Grace to You blog, past episodes of this broadcast, and the Grace to You telecast. You can also download any of John's sermons free of charge in audio or transcript format. That's 3,500 sermons by John from more than five decades of his pulpit ministry. Again, to take advantage of those free Bible study tools, go to gty.org. And to keep up to date on the latest free offers from Grace to You, make sure you follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson, encouraging you to be here when John looks at why, if you're a Christian, you never have to fear losing your salvation. Amazing truth from the book of Ephesians. It comes your way in our next half hour of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on tomorrow's Grace to You.