Redeemed #2

There should be nothing in our hearts rather than utter gratitude and worship to Christ, saying, Lord, redemption, and you paid the price, and I am free. Bless your holy name. Welcome to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hi, I'm Bill Wright. We're continuing a series titled Secure in Christ Forever with part two of Don's message, Redeemed. Last time, Don looked at the fact of our redemption. He pointed out that the language of Ephesians 1.7 speaks of our redemption through the blood of Christ in the present tense.

It's ongoing, ensured by God, not subject to our ups and downs. Today, as Don continues to teach God's people God's word, our teacher will hone in on the focus of redemption so that we might better appreciate what lengths Christ went to on our behalf. So, friend, have your Bible again open to Ephesians chapter 1.

Let's join Don Green now in the Truth Pulpit. In your slavery to sin and Satan, you could not buy your own release. You could not purchase your own freedom. The presupposition of the picture is that you were bound and helpless in your condition. And so you could not buy your way out through money, through good works, through religious rituals, through anything else. There was no way out of your condition. You were locked. You were bound. You were a slave.

We don't mind saying these things. We don't mind hearing these things corporately as a church because, here's the thing, it is only when you understand and embrace how desperately helpless your position was that you can ever begin to appropriately understand and respond to what Christ has done for you. If you don't understand that you were bound, you're not going to appreciate your freedom.

If you don't understand that you were bankrupt, not just a little bit in debt, you're not going to fully appreciate the price that was paid for your release. And so the key to understanding salvation, the key to understanding Christ and responding to Him in the appropriate level of love is to realize how bad it was. Because when you understand how bad it was, then the one who came with the key and unlocked and said, come forth with me, becomes someone who is exceedingly sweet and precious to you. There's no other way around it.

Someone who thinks they contributed to their salvation cannot possibly love Christ in the proper way. Because that view leaves you kind of doing a high five. We did it, Lord, together.

No, no, cut that hand off. Lord, you did it all for me. And I am a grateful follower as a result. There is no high five with the Lord that together you guys figured out the way to accomplish your salvation. No, there is falling on your face before Him in unspeakable love and gratitude.

Thank you for doing what I couldn't do for myself. That changes everything. And that is why this passage is such a basis to praise God. Redemption tells us that Christ has paid the price for you. When Christ died, He was paying the price that God required for sinners to be released from slavery to sin. It is in Christ alone where there is redemption. To say that in Christ we have redemption is another way of saying that Christ paid the price for your salvation. You who had empty pockets, you who had more than zero in your bank account, you had unspeakable debt in your bank account that you could not pay, the Lord Jesus Christ came and paid it for you.

And what a price He paid. Look at verse 7 with me. Paul, by the inspiration of the Spirit, compacts so much truth into so few words. He says we have redemption through His blood. An obvious reference to the crucifixion of Christ. An obvious reference to the fact that Christ voluntarily laid down His life at Calvary in order to secure your redemption, in order to pay the price that was necessary to release you from your sin. Stated differently, beloved, and in a day and age where preaching of the cross has been marginalized and we're used to wearing the cross as a piece of jewelry, something attractive, let's remember that the cross was an instrument of torture. Let's remember that Christ suffered a violent death to secure our redemption. That the innocent Son of God took the stripes on His back, took the crown on His head, endured the blows and the spittle on His face, carried the cross to His own execution site, was nailed on the cross, was lifted high to die, was mocked as He hung in disgrace and agony. Darkness fell for three hours while He bore the eternal weight of sin and separation from His Father in a profound mystery that we cannot properly articulate. This innocent Son of God went through that violent physical and spiritual suffering in order to pay the price for your redemption.

Let's think about it from a different perspective. Christ accepted. Christ received obediently, voluntarily. Christ received that violent judgment that should have fallen on you.

That's what should have happened to you and to me. Except for us, it would have been eternal. The infliction of punishment that we deserve for our sins against an eternal law of an eternal God.

You see, there's no way to marginalize this or trivialize this. We need to hold it up to our understanding and embrace it. I was really, really lost and Christ paid a really, really high price to save me, to redeem me, to buy me, to rescue me, to deliver me, to save me.

And it could have been no other way. His agony in death and separation from the Father was what it took. Hebrews 9 22 says, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Your guilt could not have been removed from your account except through what Christ did. Your eternal well-being is locked up into what he did on the cross. And so we love him for that. We praise him for that. And let's pivot from the past guilt to the present aspect of what this means for us now in our liberation. Verse 7, in him we have redemption through his blood.

And then he goes on and says exactly what he's referring to. He says, we have the forgiveness of our trespasses. Five words that redefine our spiritual condition.

Five words that redefine our eternal future. He says our trespasses have been forgiven. The word trespass, in the plural here, trespasses, indicates conscious, willful, deliberate acts that violate God's law and his righteousness. It's not just that you made some mistakes earlier in life. You kind of stumbled over a math problem. I did that wrong.

No, no. The Bible describes our sin as deliberate rebellion against God. Conscious disobedience to him. And the nature of God's justice, we read about justice, God's justice from Psalm 9 a little earlier. The nature of his justice is such that there must be accountability for that sin. There must be punishment for disobedience. Our flabby approach to law and order, parental authority and disobedience, our flabby approach in the 21st century has nothing to do with the way God views disobedience against him.

It must be punished. And what redemption teaches us is that even though you were guilty, even though you were without excuse, the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price so that you would be free from that penalty of sin. It says, in him your sins are forgiven.

Now let's enter into that realm and glory in it and rejoice in it for just a moment. What does it mean that your sins are forgiven as a Christian? What does forgiveness apply to your account? To say that you are forgiven means that God has eternally canceled your responsibility for your sins. It means that you have been released from the liability for punishment that otherwise would have been required. The weight of guilt upon you has been removed. God says, I will no longer hold your sins against you because of what my son has done on your behalf. I have applied my punishment which I poured out on my innocent son. I have applied that to your account so that the debt has been fully paid.

Paid in full. Beloved, if you're a Christian, if you have redemption, you have the forgiveness of your trespasses. Among many other things, that means that you can let go of the shame that you feel about the things that you did wrong in the past. You don't have to carry that as an ongoing burden on your conscience. Christ has satisfied the demands of God's justice. Therefore, walk from your broken chains and go free. You're forgiven.

Paid. Their sins and their lawless deeds, God says, I will remember no more. Buried in the depths of the sea where no one can find them.

Where they will never be called back to your account. Since we are in Christ, God does not punish us again. Either now or into eternity.

You have been forgiven. Christ voluntarily paid that price. And so think about it, beloved. Think about what we're saying. A slave to sin and Satan.

Bound without means of getting our own release. Christ intervened on our behalf. And he didn't just intervene with the entry of an accountant on a book. Didn't just take an eraser and kind of scrub out your guilt in the books of heaven.

No. In love, he came to earth. In love, he personally bore the cost. In love, he shed his own life blood. In love, he came to earth knowing that would be the outcome. Knowing the end from the beginning. Knowing that the cross was ahead for him. He said, I will come.

I will do that. I will lovingly, graciously, gladly lay down my life for you. It takes some silence for that to set in. For that to sink in. To realize the glory of what that is describing. This is the intersection of your eternal destiny. Christ went before you before you were even born so that you could never be lost. So that your sins could be fully atoned. The payment could be made. Christ, as it were, said, Father, I'll take that.

Just let my people go. Christ put his hand on the cross and at the same time put his hand over you so that you would be shielded from the punishment that should have been yours. He paid the price and he's got the holes in his wrists to show it. To prove it. He's got the hole in his side to prove it. He's got the holes in his feet to prove it.

Those holes in his body are the statement that the price has been paid. And with Thomas he comes to you who are not saved and he said, here put your hand in this place. Have hold of me that I might extend that same grace to you who do not yet know me. Why would you turn away? You see, speaking to those of you who do not know Christ, you see there's such a, you know I've run out of synonyms after a while.

There's such a hard hearted stubbornness to hear Christ presented to you and say, no, I won't bend the knee. Really? You would rather kiss your chains over here? You would join with those who spit on Christ and say, no, I'll live my own life.

I like the life I've got just fine right now. Really? You would mock Christ that way? What a shameful attitude for you to carry in your heart. That's wrong.

That's so wrong. There should be nothing in our hearts rather than utter gratitude and worship to Christ saying, Lord, redemption and you paid the price and I am free. Bless your holy name. Christ paid the price so that you, who could not satisfy the debt on your own, could belong to God's family. With no claim on the Godhead, the Godhead reaches out and says, we will do this.

We will bring you. Using the plural to refer to the Trinity. Sometimes you just want to be quiet in the presence of that truth. This is incomprehensible. By what I mean by that, it is so much more than we can possibly begin to appreciate in the totality of our understanding.

We can understand it, but we can't plumb the full depths of it. What manner of love is this? What kind of grace is this that has been showered upon us who know the Lord Jesus Christ? How could it be that the Son of God would do that for us when he was under no external obligation to do it?

How could that be? Can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died he for me who caused his pain? For me who him to death pursued? Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, would die for me? That's the price.

What kind of love is that? Well, Paul explains it. We're going to look at point number two now, the focus of redemption. We've seen the fact of redemption in the first part of verse seven.

Now we just want to look at the focus of redemption for just a moment. To say that we have redemption through his blood, look at verse seven with me. The forgiveness of our trespasses and to, even in the most superficial way that we've done it here this morning, to try to scratch the surface of what that means for us, brings us to this great focus at the end of verse seven. This is according to the riches of his grace which he lavished on us.

Paul multiplies words of generosity and wealth here in this little phrase to emphasize to us something of the incalculable kindness that has been shown to us in salvation. It's not just that it was according to grace, although it certainly was unmerited favor that was shown to us. Beloved, those of you who are Christians, get this through your head, what I'm about to say right now. Because I understand that you're like me, it's sometimes easy to think that maybe God's being just a little bit unfair to you. We have got to banish that from our thinking as we go through and respond to earthly circumstances.

No, look at verse seven. God has dealt with us according to the riches of his grace. In the bountiful, immeasurable goodness of the favor of God, he has opened up the storehouse and he has poured it out upon us without measure, without restraint, without regret. He has been richly good to us in salvation. He has been abundantly generous in kindness toward us. And he didn't simply give us the riches of his grace.

Look at verse eight. He lavished it on us. Grace, riches of grace, lavished riches of grace upon you in Christ. God abundantly poured blessings on you when you didn't deserve it. God did not send a drizzle of grace to dampen the ground of your life. God showered upon you in a rain burst of waters of grace, poured mercy after mercy after mercy upon you, raining down blessings without measure, without ceasing, not ceasing now, not ceasing throughout eternity. The grace of God has wiped away our sins, has restored us to his family, and has secured us throughout all of eternity. Oh, brother and sister in Christ, don't you see? Don't you see the way that that should soften and tenderize your heart? And that even if you're like me and your eyes can talk about this and be dry, you realize that at least in your heart there should be rivers of tears of gratitude wetting the page of the Bible on your lap.

Oh God, thank you for how good you've been to me. Oh God, I can't begin to measure your grace, let alone an exponential presentation of the riches of your grace and the exponential of the exponential that you lavished it on me. Do you see when Paul's heart was so full of this truth as he began to write this letter? Look at verse 3. Do you see why Paul opens up by praising God? 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.

Blessed be his name. Verse 6, it's to the praise of his glory. Verse 12, to the praise of his glory. Verse 14, to the praise of his glory.

Verse 18, I pray that you would understand. Glory, glory, glory, praise, praise, praise to you, oh God, who have been so greatly merciful to your people. Praise, praise, praise to you, oh Christ, who paid the price of a violent death to secure this for our souls. Praise, praise to you, oh Holy Spirit, who applied it to our hearts. And the price paid for your salvation.

That is what we remember today. When you fully grasp the magnitude of what redemption means, it's easy to join the apostle Paul in pouring out praise to the incomparable Christ and our loving Father in heaven. Pastor Don Green will take us further into our series Secure in Christ Forever on our next broadcast, and we hope you'll join us then here on The Truth Pulpit.

But right now, Don's back in studio with a special resource offer. Well, my friend, I am committed to the dynamic of verbal preaching. I love to preach and speak. I think there's a dynamic when a preacher opens the Word of God to hearers that the audio component of that is a means that God uses greatly in the lives of those who hear. But I also understand that sometimes you want to go back and study what was said more closely.

We have transcripts of all of my full-length sermons available on our website, and I would encourage you to go there to find them and to be able to study the messages more closely through the written word, as you've also enjoyed it through the spoken word. Thanks, Don. And friend, to find those and all our resources, just visit thetruthpulpit.com. That's thetruthpulpit.com. Now for Don Green, I'm Bill Wright. See you again next time as our teacher continues to teach God's people God's Word from the truth pulpit.