(Ephesians) Redemption — Brian Brodersen

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Redemption

Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 1. For those of you that have been with us through Ephesians, we began a while back with an introduction, looking at the first couple of verses. And then in our last study, we looked at verses 3 through 6, and we see in verses 3 through 14, the work of the triune God being opened up to us.

We see that the Father is primarily referred to in verses 3 through 6, and then as we move from verses 7 through 13, we're talking primarily about the work of the Son on our behalf. And then we come to verse 14, and there's where we find the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit working together as, of course, one God, but three separate persons working together to bring about our redemption. And so we saw as we looked at the work of the Father, that it is the Father who has chosen us to be in Christ before the foundation of the world.

He's chosen us to be holy and without blame, and we rejoice in that. We know that what God has chosen us to be, He's able to bring that about in time and in space. So it's going to happen. We're going to get to heaven.

We're going to be there, and we're going to be there blamelessly. And then we're told that He predestined us to adoption, and that is speaking about, as we mentioned, that time when we will enter in fully to all that God has for us.

He's predestined us to enter into that glorified state. And then finally, in referring to the work of the Father, we're told that He has accepted us. He has accepted us. We have complete and total acceptance with God tonight because we are in Christ.

And so He told us that we are accepted in the Beloved. Now, referring to the Beloved, He now goes on to expound to us the work of the Beloved. That's a reference to Jesus Christ. And so here is what Jesus now has done for us.

Redemption Through the Blood of Christ

God planned out our salvation, and Jesus, of course, came into the world to carry out the plan by redeeming us. And so He says in Him, we have redemption through His blood. The word redemption tells us something about our state.

It tells us that we were basically in a condition of slavery. We were imprisoned. For the word redemption always speaks of delivering a person from a bound or imprisoned state. And this is what Jesus Christ came to do.

He came to redeem us back to God. It means to buy back. We once belonged to God. When God created the world and He created man, He created man in a state of communion with Himself. And yet man forfeited that relationship with God by submitting to Satan.

And when he submitted to Satan, he actually became the slave of Satan. And so man was imprisoned by his sin. And we needed to be purchased back. And so Jesus Himself, you remember He said in Mark 10, 45, He said the Son of Man came to give His life a ransom.

So He had to pay a price in order to win us back to God. And the price for our redemption was nothing less than the blood of Christ. The human soul is the most costly thing in the universe. It can't be bought with money.

You remember Jesus asked a question. He said, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? You can't give anything materially. There's nothing that has enough value to purchase a soul. Only the blood of Christ could buy back the souls of men and bring us back into a relationship with God.

And that's what Jesus came to do primarily. He came to shed His blood so we could be redeemed. When we look at the Gospels, of course, there are many things that Jesus was doing when He was here on the earth.

He was teaching us by example who God is and what He's like. He was verbally instructing us on how we are to live to please God. He was going about doing good things and blessing people. And as we're told in Acts, He was delivering all those who were oppressed by the devil.

He performed miracles. He did great healings and things like that. But the main reason why Jesus came into the world was to shed His blood. That's what it was all leading up to. That was really the primary issue that was at hand when Christ came.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a young guy on the streets of New York City. He was a nice enough guy, but he had just sort of developed his own system of belief. And he had all kinds of interesting ideas, all kinds of bizarre ideas, actually.

But as I talked with him, I would listen to what he said and try to be patient as he just rambled on with a lot of nonsense. But I didn't want to be offensive to him. So I tried to be patient and listen to everything he was saying.

And then I would be praying as he was talking that God would give me wisdom on how to point him back to Jesus. And I kept bringing him back to the reality of the resurrection of Christ. And how he went into this whole thing at one point for about ten minutes.

He kind of told me his whole philosophy. And when he finished, I said, you know, that's interesting. I don't agree with the word you said, but I'm glad you told me where you're coming from, so now I can talk to you.

And I started talking to him about the resurrection. And my point was this, you know, okay, this is your theory and it might be working for you right now. But there's only one person in history who died and came back from the dead.

And I want to hear what he had to say because I think he's got a little more behind his message than you do or anybody else. So at one point, he says to me, he says, you know, I really appreciate this emphasis you have on the resurrection.

I like that. He says, you know, people are always talking about the death of Jesus and the cross. And, you know, to me, that's not the important thing. The important thing is that he rose again, or at least that you believe that he rose again.

And I said, well, I said, actually, the resurrection was only possible because he died. And the resurrection is, of course, important because if Jesus didn't rise, then everything he said that he came to do, he probably didn't accomplish.

But the death of Christ is equally as important as the resurrection of Christ because it was by his death that he was able to purge us of our sin. That he was able to take our sin upon us, upon himself.

That he was able to actually redeem us back to God. That's why Jesus came. He came to die. He was born to die. He came to shed his blood because nothing else could redeem man. Satan had mankind in his grasp and there was no way that man could be freed.

Nothing he could do to free himself. There was nobody able to come along and liberate him apart from God himself. And so it was through the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ that we now have redemption.

We have been purchased, bought back, delivered from the slave market. The word redemption, as I mentioned, would be used when a person would go down to the slave market. Back in Roman times, slavery was part of the culture.

And one of the things that people would do is they would go to the marketplace to purchase slaves. And there were those that would occasionally go into the marketplace and purchase a slave and buy their freedom for them, actually.

That's what's being talked about here. Being delivered. Having your freedom bought for you. You see, we were bound to sin. And because of our sin, we were under the judgment of God. But Jesus came and he purchased our freedom for us by shedding his blood and providing us the forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness and the Removal of Guilt

The forgiveness of sins. You know, when we first get saved, one of the things that we often experience is a lifting of a great burden from off of our shoulders. That's the burden of the guilt of sin that we've been carrying around with us.

And I'll tell you, I can remember back over 20 years ago when I gave my life to the Lord, I remember the burden of guilt being lifted from off of my shoulders. And to have our sins forgiven. To know that God has washed away my sins completely by the blood of Jesus.

To know that God has nothing against me tonight. God's not angry with me. He's not holding me accountable for my past. To know that God has removed my sins as far from me as the east is from the west.

What a glorious thing. God remembers our sin no more. We had a young lady call the radio program the other day and she said that some, oh, I don't know how she referred to him. Something like a professor or some really smart guy told her that God couldn't possibly forget anything.

Therefore, God couldn't forget her sins. And that really rattled her. That really rocked her. Because she was under the impression that God had forgotten her sins. And she was resting in that reality.

That God had washed away her sins and didn't remember them anymore. But some smart guy came along and said, oh, no. God is omniscient. He can't forget anything. Therefore, he has not really, truly forgotten your sins.

Well, that smart guy made a mistake. And the mistake was failing to realize that God can do anything he wants to do. And God said in his word that he has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.

God said in his word, their sins and their iniquities, I will remember no more. So, if that's what God said, then I'm going to stand on that. I'm going to rest in that. I'm not going to get caught up in some great philosophical gymnastic exercise over how an omniscient being could forget something.

I'm just going to rest in the fact that God said their sins and their iniquities, I will remember no more. He's washed away our sins. I think it would be helpful for each of us occasionally. Especially those of us who have known the Lord for a longer period of time.

To sometimes just sit down and think about that fact. To think about the fact that our sins have been forgiven. To just remind ourselves of what a glorious thing that is. What a wonderful thing that is.

Because as I said, when we first come to the Lord, we have that sense of deliverance and that burden being removed from us. But you know, as time passes, we can forget that great experience to some extent.

It becomes a bit foggy in our memory. But to sit down and to think about what that was like. Or just to meditate on the fact that our sins are forgiven. What a glorious thing to know right now, tonight.

That I'm accepted in the beloved. God has nothing against me. My sins are forgiven. When I stand before the Lord, He's not going to say, Now why did you do this? Or I'm going to have to punish you for that particular thing.

He's not going to do anything like that. I'm accepted by Him. You know, quite a few years ago, I had an experience. That sort of brought back to me in a fresh new way. The blessing of forgiveness. I've shared this story a few times over the years.

Maybe you heard it. If you listen to some of the teaching on the radio. But several years ago, we were living in Huntington Beach, Cheryl and I. And we, I think we had just had our second child. And we had moved into a home over in an older neighborhood in Huntington.

And we were fixing up the place. It was a fixer-upper. And Pastor Chuck, of course, one of the things he loves to do is help fix up old houses and things. And so he would come over on a regular basis.

And be doing, you know, different things around the house and around the yard. And so forth. And he came over one time. And he would park out in front of our house. And one day I was out mowing the lawn while he was in the backyard.

I think putting a fence up or something. And as I was mowing the front strip of grass out there. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing exactly. And as I went by his car, the little grass catcher on the mower just peeled the paint off of his car.

From the front fender to the back bumper. And, you know, I didn't even see it when it happened. But, you know, as I continued to mow, I happened to glance over. And I thought, wow, look at that scratch in Pastor Chuck's car.

Wow, I wonder how that happened. And all of a sudden I came to the realization that I had done it while mowing the lawn. And I've got to tell you, I just, my heart sunk. And I just felt like the biggest idiot imaginable.

And the last thing I wanted to do was to go in to the house and say, Chuck, come on outside and look what I did to your car. And thanks for all that you've done for us around the house here. I just didn't have the heart to tell him.

So guess what I did? I pretended like it never happened. I didn't tell him a word of it. Well, some time passed. And about a week later, Cheryl said to me, you know, my dad's a little down. And I said, well, why?

She said, well, he just doesn't understand. You know, he's got somebody that evidently doesn't like him. I said, really? Well, who? Why? What? You know, tell me what's going on. She said, well, he doesn't know, but he found this scratch in his car.

And he figured it was somebody who came along who maybe didn't like something he said, you know, from the pulpit and just took their keys and, you know, scratched the car from front to back. And, you know, she's telling me this.

And all of a sudden my heart begins to beat and I start to sweat. And, you know, I'm thinking, oh, no, what do I do now? And, you know, I said, well, that's terrible. You know, I, boy, I feel so, I'm going to pray for him.

Somebody out there not to get him scratching his car. So, you know, time went on and he just couldn't seem to get over this. It just kept bothering him and he kept bringing it up every now and again. You know, and every time I'd hear about it, I would, oh, you know, Lord help.

And I would just I just couldn't bring myself to confess it. I just I just felt so stupid. And so, you know, to make a long story short, finally, we're driving along. And, you know, it's about a month, you know, since it's since it's occurred.

And we're driving out, I think, the 55 one time. And and Cheryl just she brings it up again. You know, she says, poor dad, you know, and the car, the scrape, you know, and he you know, he's just not getting over this.

And and finally, the guilt was so heavy upon me. Finally, I just said, honey, honey, stop. I scratched your dad's car. And she looked at me, she said, you what? You scratch my dad's car. Why did you scratch my dad's car?

She starts crying. You know, don't you like my dad? All he's done for us. You know, and I said, no, of course I like your dad. I didn't scratch it intentionally. And then I told her the story. You know, the lawn.

I was mowing the lawn and with the lawnmower he gave us. And, you know, while he was repairing the fence and I did it. So she says, I'm going to call him right now and tell him. And I said, no, don't.

Don't tell him. Oh, please. So she says, look, you either tell him or I'm going to tell him. So I said, OK, I'll tell him. And, you know, I finally got to the point I got up enough nerve. And when we got back home, I called him.

I said, check. I need to talk to you for a second. Yes. Check. You know that? You know that scratch in your car? Yes. Check. I'm the one who scratched your car. You know what he said? Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. Is that what? Praise the Lord. He said, oh, I'm so glad it was you and not somebody that was out to get me. And, you know, that was the end. Thanks for calling. No problem. And at that second, I had sort of a reoccurring of that initial feeling I had of being delivered from guilt.

Because the burden that I was carrying around for over a month was just suddenly lifted off my shoulders. And, oh, I was free again. I could look Chuck in the eye. I could, you know, I could talk with him.

It was a great feeling of being delivered. And that's what's happened with us in regard to our sin. Through the shed blood of Christ, God has redeemed us and he's forgiven our sin. And when we tell him we've sinned, he just says, you're forgiven.

It's over. No more to talk about. We need to remember that. How many times have you confessed the same sin a thousand times over? I've done that. And, you know, sometimes you get in a sort of a mode of condemnation and you start bringing up the past.

You know, you might go back years and years. Stuff that you confessed ages ago that you haven't even thought about. But there it is. And there you are again confessing it. And, you know, the Lord is saying, I don't remember this.

I don't want to talk about this. This is gone. That's the kind of forgiveness we have from our God. He's removed our sins from us. And he's done it because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. And that precious blood that he shed is able to cleanse a man from every sin.

Not just some sins. But every sin. Some people don't realize that. Some people think, well, you know, if I sin after I become a Christian, I somehow have to pay for it myself. No. You can't. You can't pay for your sin.

There's only one thing that can pay for sin. That's the blood of Christ. The Roman Catholic Church has developed a whole doctrine based on how to deal with sin. Once you've been baptized and committed sin after your baptism.

The solution they've developed is what they call purgatory. And purgatory is a place where you're purged from the sins that you've committed after your baptism. Or sins that you weren't able to confess.

You know, in a confessional situation before you died. They recognize the ongoing problem of sin. Which we recognize as well. But the solution that they've come up with is the wrong solution. Because it doesn't do any good.

Because fire doesn't cleanse sin. Only the shedding of blood cleanses sin according to scripture. And the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from every sin. And so that blood that was shed to redeem us.

Provides us with the forgiveness of sin. And even though I still sin as a believer. That blood is still working tonight. To cleanse me. To keep me in a state of purity before God. So I can live in a relationship with Him.

Grace Abounding Toward Believers

That is great news. God's holding nothing against us. Because of our trust in Christ. Listen. In Him we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of sins. According to the riches of His grace.

Which He made to abound toward us. You say, well how could God do this? He can do it by His grace. It's just something that He's pleased to do. It's something that He delights in doing. Because of what Jesus did.

Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. And God delights. It's His pleasure. Because of what Christ did. To forgive me of my sin. It's according to the riches of His grace.

Which He made to abound toward us. The grace of God is abounding toward us. There's not a small supply of grace. But sometimes our concept of God would be one that would sort of make grace out to be. Just a limited thing available for brief periods of time occasionally.

But there could be nothing further from the truth. It's abounding toward us. Spurgeon many years ago wrote a book called Grace Abounding. And that's how we need to think of grace. We need to think of it as floods of grace.

Torrents of grace. Just all the grace you could ever need is available the moment we call upon the Lord to save us. The moment we call upon the Lord to deliver us. The moment we call upon the Lord to forgive us.

The abounding grace is right there. It's overflowing. He's caused His grace to abound toward us. Now he goes on and he says in all wisdom and prudence. Having made known to us the mystery of His will.

According to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself. So here's another benefit that has been brought to us through the redemptive work of Christ. Not only this abounding grace which provides us the forgiveness of sin.

But in all wisdom and prudence. He's made known to us the mystery of His will. You know here is a glorious glorious fact. We have been let in on the universe's greatest secret. We know the end of the story.

The Mystery of God's Will and the Coming Kingdom

We know where things are headed. That is such a comforting thing. I would imagine it's always been comforting to God's people. But I think it's particularly comforting today. As we survey the situation that we find ourselves in as human beings living on this planet.

We're living in a world that I think is definitely different than it's ever been. In this one way. We're living in a world where we have the capacity to completely destroy ourselves. Not only do we have the capacity to completely destroy ourselves.

But there are certain people as we've seen recently. Who are actually thinking in very destructive terms. And not afraid to do the most unimaginable things to bring about destruction. I was reading in the paper last night.

That the intelligence agencies in our country are saying that there is a 100 expectation. That if we are to retaliate against the terrorists by attacking Afghanistan. Or by doing anything whatsoever.

That there is going to be more terrorism against Americans. Against our country right inside our borders. A 100 expectation they say. And as we look around us and as we see. You know it's interesting.

You could easily conceive of a third world war with what's going on in the world today. The globe itself is in some ways being divided up for battle. And as I look at these things. If I didn't know the end of the story.

I must say. I would be worried. I would be frightened. But here's the glorious thing. In all wisdom and prudence. He's made known to us the mystery of his will. We know how the story is going to end. We know how it's going to work out.

We know that God is going to set up his glorious eternal kingdom. And we know that the things that are happening right now. Are just further indicators that that reality is going to dawn on us in the not too distant future.

So as we look at these things. Although they are certainly frightening from the point of view. That doesn't factor God into the picture. When you factor the word of God into the picture. And the promises of God and the declarations of God.

Concerning the course of events that will lead up to the second coming of Christ. I can look at things and say. It's right on schedule Lord. It's all coming together. You know several years ago when the.

The Soviet Union. Fell apart and the whole communist. Thing sort of broke up in that part of the world. There was suddenly after. After many years of anticipating a Russian invasion of Israel. There was suddenly a rethinking of the interpretation of Ezekiel's prophecies.

And many people began to say. Well I guess it wasn't Russia as was thought. And we'll have to wait for further developments to see. You know just which nations were actually being referred to and so forth.

And Russia seemed to be no longer a candidate. In the minds of some people. To invade Israel in the future. And now as you know 10 years or so have gone by. We've seen things that have occurred. That sometimes seem that.

You know maybe that's true. Maybe Russia won't play a part in it. But then other times well you know maybe they will have some involvement. But it's interesting to me to see what's going on with the current situation.

And reading again just the other night that. The Russians just. Made an agreement with Iran. To sell them. 1 .2 billion dollars worth of arms. We know that Iran. Is a terrorist nation. We know that. They have great animosity toward Israel.

We know that one of the reasons why they're not anxious to join in. A coalition with the United States is because of our. Ongoing support of the Israeli government. And even though the Russians have sort of come on board and said.

You know we'll be part of this anti-terrorist thing. It's interesting to me. They turn around a week later. And strike an arms deal with the Iranians. But as you look in Ezekiel 38. As you look at the prophecy of Gog and Magog.

And as you look at the nations that join them in this northern invasion of Israel. The first nation that's listed there is Persia. And Persia is Iran. And so it's very intriguing. To see how. The mystery of his will that we know.

The final outcome of. Is slowly but surely. Unfolding before the eyes of the world. And we can look back in the ancient prophets. And see their words being fulfilled in the activity going on around us today.

But thank God we know the end of the story. We know. What's coming in the future. So God has made known to us the mystery of his will. And notice according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself.

It was just the pleasure of God. To save us. And to make us his people. And then to reveal to us the truth. To reveal to us the future. This is all. Something that God just simply delighted in doing. He wants us to know what he's about.

And what his plans are. And so Paul is just as he's going through this he keeps. As he mentions the great things that God has done. He keeps going back and just reminding us that. You know God is just doing this because.

He's good. Notice back in verse 5 according to the good pleasure of his will. In verse 7 according to the riches of his grace. Here in verse 9 according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself.

Verse 11 according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. This is glorious. Why did God do any of this? Why did God decide to save us in the first place? Why did God go about redeeming us?

Why did God the father come up with a plan to redeem the human race? Why did God the son implement that plan by shedding his blood on the cross? Why is the Holy Spirit come to? Visit us here on the earth and to bring us into this relationship.

Why did he do it? Some people say well he saw that there was a spark of goodness there within the human race. And he knew that if he just. Fanned that little spark it would. Grow into a glorious flame in the future.

No. That's not why he did it at all. It had nothing to do with us. Because there was no spark of goodness. Because the scripture says that. We're sinners. All we like sheep have gone astray. The heart of the human race is deceitful above all things and incurably sick.

But God took pity on mankind. And because of his abounding heart of love and compassion. He just decided this is what I'm going to do. At a great cost to himself I might add. At a great cost to himself.

But it was his good pleasure to do it. And so according to the good pleasure which he purposed in himself. That in the dispensation. Of the fullness of the times. He might gather together in one all things in Christ.

Both which are in heaven. And which are on earth in him. So this is. This is what everything is leading up to. The mystery of his will. Is this now the word mystery doesn't mean. Mystery like we would generally think of it today.

The Greek word mystery. It means something that could not be known apart from divine revelation. So in other words this is stuff that man never could have figured out himself. This is stuff that man never could have come up with.

You know when I think of the gospel itself. Here's one of the things to me. That just affirms to me the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is so unlike anything man could ever dream of. You look at the long history of the human race.

You look at the literature of humanity. You look at the religions in the world. And you find that not one of them ever even got close. As I was talking to this fella. Different fella. Few weeks back. He was a Muslim guy.

And I really started talking to him about the grace of God. And how the grace of God. Is unique to Christianity. No other religion in the world knows anything of the grace of God. As I was just talking to him about that.

That unique element of Christianity. He actually said to me. That is unique. He locked on to it. And he understood for a brief moment. The uniqueness of grace. And then he thought for a minute. And he said.

But the problem with grace is this. He said the problem with grace is. If God just forgives people's sins. Then that will lead them to think. That they can just go on and keep sinning. And that was a very perceptive.

A very perceptive statement. And I said. You know. I understand. How you came to that conclusion. But here's something you have to realize. God when he pours his grace on a person. Simultaneously he does this.

He regenerates them. And in regenerating a person. He gives them a new nature. Which delights in pleasing him. And no longer pleasing themselves. And so you don't have a person. Abusing the grace of God.

Who truly receives the grace of God. Because regeneration takes place. And there's now a delight to do. God's will. And he was pretty impressed with that answer. No thanks to me. It was just. That's the truth.

That's the gospel. That's what God has done. We could have never figured this out ourselves. We could have never invented such a thing. That God would come down and die. For sinful creatures. And expect nothing from them.

Except to believe what he did. You can't find a religion on the planet. That teaches anything like that. Every religion teaches that. You've got to do something. Christianity says no. God did everything.

You just believe it. And you can be part of what he did. So. This. God has revealed this. And this is what he's revealed. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times. Now a dispensation. Is a period of time in which God works in a particular manner.

Some people have looked at history. From a theological standpoint. And they've divided history up into dispensations. And they are known theologically as dispensationalist. And so they look back to. The beginning of creation.

And their man was created. And they say that back in the time before Adam and Eve fell. That that was the dispensation of innocence. And then they fell from their relationship with God. Sin entered into the world.

And so now a new dispensation began. And with. The coming of the flood. And the destroying of the earth. And then the repopulating of the world through Noah. A new dispensation began there. And then with the coming of Abraham.

A new dispensation began there. And then Moses came. And the dispensation of the law came through Moses. And then Jesus came. And the dispensation of grace. Came along with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And there's some. There's some validity to. That. Thinking process there. We are presently then. According to that particular view. We're presently living in what we might call the dispensation of grace.

But there is a dispensation yet in the future. There are actually two more dispensations. There is a dispensation of wrath. Which will come. In what we commonly call the tribulation period. But then there is the dispensation of the fullness of times.

And this is where everything is going. And the dispensation of the fullness. Of the times. Is when he. Will gather together in one all things in Christ. Both are both which are in heaven. And which are on earth.

In him. So this is where everything is leading up to. This is the mystery of his will that we've been. Given insight into. That the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come back. He's going to come back to this earth.

And he is going to reconcile. The earth to God. He's going to bring heaven and earth. Back together again. Like they were originally. In. I think it's a second chapter of acts or maybe the third Peter's preaching.

And. At one point. He refers to Jesus. He said. Whom heaven must hold. Until the time of the restitution of all things. Or the restoration. The word that's used there is a word that actually means to bring things.

Back to the original intent. And that is what we have to look forward to in the future. God is going to bring things back to what he originally intended. What we have been experiencing on this planet for the past several thousand years.

However many thousands of years man has been here. What we have been experiencing on this planet is not what God intended. God did not intend. The misery. God did not intend the sorrow. He didn't intend the pain.

He didn't intend the suffering. He didn't intend the death. The destruction. This is not part of God's plan. This all came about as a result of man. Choosing to. Disobey God. And bringing the consequences.

Of separation from God. Upon himself. And his descendants. But God is going to restore it. He's going to bring it back to its original intent. And that's what Paul is talking about here. There is coming a future.