Well, as we come to our text this evening, it is based on Ephesians 1 and verse 7, and I want to read just verse 6 and 7. You'll know that Ephesians 1 is this prayer, this praise that Paul brings to his God, and he reflects on what the Father does in choosing us before the foundation of the world, and all that the Father does in His kindness, verse 6, is to the praise of the glory of His grace, to the praise of the glory of God's unmerited favor. And then in verse 7, the praise shifts to the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And here we read, in Him, that is in the Son, in Jesus, We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. And it will be our privilege to focus on verse 7 here this evening. Our theme is dealing with redemption. I borrowed some of these slides from our Roman study on redemption. For slave traders would travel along with the Roman armies and when a conquered people, when a people was conquered, they would be sold into slavery. At one battle in particular, a Roman general sold a whole community of 53,000 persons to slave traders who in turn sold the prisoners into slavery at Rome. The concept of a ransom doesn't connect with the Western culture of the 21st century. The only common use of the word today is in reference to kidnapping, usually by terrorists. But this was a very common word in the 1st century Greco-Roman world. In the first century, this word, ransom, redeem, aroused immediate associations in the minds of those who read the New Testament. Redemption comes particularly from the culture of slavery. A slave could be set free by a religious ceremony. In the case of the polytheistic Greco-Roman, the slave owner takes the slave being freed to the temple of his god and sells the slave to the god. and he is reimbursed for the slave from the pagan temple treasury. But it's not like the pagan temple paid for it. The slave, his family, those who were the benefactors gave the money to the temple for it to be given. We have the record of hundreds of such transactions from all across the ancient world A typical formula that is chiseled in stone might read as follows, the name of the slave owner sold to the God, a male slave name, and there's the name goes in, at the price of for freedom. Well, with that, let's come to our passage here in Ephesians 1 and verse 7. And if you're looking at a handout sheet, Roman numeral 1, the nature. the nature of redemption. What is redemption like? Very quickly, it's Old Testament background. We find in the Old Testament land could be redeemed, a man could be redeemed, and Israel as a whole was redeemed. Exodus 15, 13, the people whom you have redeemed. Deuteronomy 7 and verse 6, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. And then two verses later, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. As we come to the New Testament, I want us to quickly have something of its biblical definition. What is it to redeem? Well, it is deliverance by the payment of a ransom. So there's the slave. and this slave is brought into the temple, there is the exchange of money to buy that slave out of his or her slavery, and so it has this specific notion of deliverance, not just general deliverance, but a deliverance by the payment of a price. And if we look in our New Testaments to help us unfold this definition, let me read from Colossians 1 verse 13. He, Jesus, has delivered us from the power of darkness, well, the Father, and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of his love. in whom we have redemption, in whom we have a ransom price paid for our deliverance, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. We have it again in Hebrews 9 and verse 12. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. There is this redemption of slaves. There is this figure that comes from that, that speaks of the greater reality of our eternal redemption from the slavery of sin and being owned and dedicated, owned by God and dedicated to him. Thirdly, it's connection to Christ. And this is easy, for as we look back in our text, we find in Ephesians 1 and verse 7, in him. In him we have redemption through his blood. This is an oft-repeated phrase of Ephesians 1, that in these verses from 3 to 14, where there is this praise that is being offered to God, this in him, in the beloved, is found some 11 times in these verses. Whatever redemption is, It is found in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is so easy for us to begin to trust in our own merits, our little good things that we have done, for us to get the focus thinking that we've actually accomplished something in our salvation. But God through the Apostle Paul time and time again will draw attention to the fact that God must save. We have nothing to contribute to our salvation. Redemption comes in connection with what Jesus has done. In him we have redemption. Then fourthly, D. Notice its specific ransom price. We have it here. We have it in the Colossians 1 passage. In him, we have redemption through his blood. Some would argue that the term redemption simply means deliverance and forget this earlier notion of the payment of a price. But it's interesting that we find in a passage like Romans 3 verse 24, justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood. The blood of Christ, the death of Christ, the life of Christ are mentioned over and over again in the context of redemption, so God is actually including the ransom price that he paid for our redemption. And then I would invite your attention to 1 Peter 1. You need not turn there, but please listen. 1 Peter 1, verse 17. And if you call on the Father who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. Live a holy life. That's the directive. And now the motivation. Knowing that you are not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. And though this is not our normal word for redemption, It's interesting how attention is brought to the fact that in the New Testament there is often this focus on the blood. It's not going to be something cheap and easy like silver or gold, but it is with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. So some It is sad that Bible students can be offended by the mention of blood. If you're going to talk about Jesus, if you're going to talk about his death, then let's not go into the gory detail of the blood. But really, how can you do that? Even in the communion service, even in this object lesson, that God brings in places front and center before us. There is the fruit of the vine that is to stand symbolically for the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here we have it. Redemption through his blood. Redemption through his blood. In Hebrews 9 verse 22, according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood. And without shedding of blood, there is no remission. And then fifthly, E. Notice these next words in Ephesians 1 and verse 7. This is E, it's personal possession. In him we have, and it's interesting that in those earlier verses where we would hear of God the Father has chosen us from before the foundation of the world, how he has predestined us to the adoption of sons, there is this similar verb, the tense, that it's in what we would regard as a past tense, something that God has done, but then when we speak of the blessing that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is present, it is now, it is something that we are experiencing today. It's not something that we simply get at the final coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, in him we have. in him we have today, we will have tomorrow, and we will have the next day. It is our personal possession. There is this ongoing action in this present time. And notice as a side light that salvation is not to be a hope-so matter. Are you a believer? Are you going to heaven? Well, I hope so. I guess I just have to wait until the great and final day to find out for sure if I'm in there. But that is not the religion of the New Testament. It is not the thinking of the Apostle Paul, who can write to the Philippians, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. In Him, we have our personal possession as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have this sense of redemption. Whatever exactly that means, we have it. All right, let's move to the next part, the middle part of verse 7. If we have seen something here already of the nature of redemption, what is it? It's buying back with the payment of a price. But now we come to Roman numeral 2, a key component of that redemption. And the key components found in the middle part of verse 7, the forgiveness of our sins. When Jesus redeems us, when he pays the price of his blood, his life, his death, what gets accomplished? Well, it is the forgiveness of our trespasses. Notice, first of all, then, A, our humbling condition, sins. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins. And once you sin, That sin sticks to you. It adheres to you. And you need to have God to pull your sin away from you so that you are not bound to your sin and to your guilt. This is something that Bunyan understood, and this is something that he illustrated by having Pilgrim going out of the city of destruction, and there was that great burden that was on his back. I just did a search yesterday wanting to find a particular illustration and I dropped burden into my Kindle version, Pilgrim's Progress, and over and over and over again is the appearance of this burden. There is a burden on Pilgrim's back that is weighing him down. He is regularly complaining about the sense of guilt. He knows that he has sinned before his God and he feels like it's going to weigh him down and send him to the grave and send him even to a place of eternal damnation. Now, notice that we are bound to our sins and our punishment. I can state that. I can give an illustration from Bunyan, but that's not the same as quoting to you from Ephesians 2 and verse 1, and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. When God comes, he finds you bound to your trespasses. That's our word in Ephesians 1 verse 7. He finds us as bound to our sins. That's a different word. That's a word of Colossians 1 and verse 13 or 14. But then notice the message there, the latter part of verse 3, and we're by nature children of wrath, just as the others. You and I are locked into our sins, and if we've got sins that are not covered by the blood of Christ, then it is calling for God's judgment. We have the guilt of our sins as well. Well, there's the black. There's the bad news. that we have our condition is one of sins and they stick to us and they burden us down. Secondly, B, our gospel privilege. Our gospel privilege, forgiveness. And the basic idea of forgiveness is that of release. And we can take an animal who was tied in the stall and we can release that donkey so he's no longer bound by his rope and confined to that particular place. Or we can find this word that is used in forgiveness to speak of divorce. And divorce is again something, you know, what, What God, when he has joined someone together, then we're never to separate that. And generally, divorce is a bad thing. but here is a kind of divorce, a kind of release that is a good thing. We are stuck to our sins, they adhere to us, but God is talking about a release from our sins. And the word for release is a word that can be used of a husband and wife. They're bound together, they're supposed to stay together for life. But there are occasions where there is to be this release, 1 Corinthians 7, when that one decides that as an unbeliever that they're going to depart and leave their spouse because the spouse has believed, then let them go. but we are not to initiate that divorce, that cutting loose. But here when it comes to sin, we are to have this kind of release. And even though it may be a little bit awkward for me to talk about, someone may even now feel the pain of divorce, yet see that being divorced from your sin is a good thing. I've been locked in, I've been glued to it, but God has come and given me this definitive release. It is as though I have been divorced from my sin, and once I'm divorced from it, I don't want to be glued to them again. Here's the illustration that I wanted to find, a Bunyan's illustration of forgiveness. Now I saw in my dream that the highway up which Christian was to go was fenced on either side by a wall. Therefore Christian ran up that way, but not without great difficulty because of the load on his back. So he ran until he came to a place somewhat elevated. upon that place stood a cross, and below at the bottom was a tomb. And I saw in my dream that just as Christian came up to the cross, his burden came loose from his shoulders and fell off of his back." If we were to imagine that great burden is tied up securely with ropes and cords that Christian, in and of himself, he can't break it. He can't release it. But by looking at the cross, God cuts it loose. And what happens to that burden? His burden came loose from his shoulders and fell off his back. It began to tumble and continued to do so until it came to the mouth of the tomb. It, the burden, then fell into the tomb, and I saw it no more. Then Christian was glad and relieved, and he said with a joyful heart, he has given me rest from my sorrow and life through his death. Then he stood still a while to look and ponder, for he was very surprised that the sight of the cross should ease him of his burden in such a way. He looked therefore and looked again, even until the springs in his head sent their waters flowing down his cheeks. Perhaps he has tried to get rid of this burden by making a deal with God, God, I'm gonna be really, really good in this. I'm going to give this up. I'm gonna show this kind of self. Nothing worked. But by looking at the cross, like looking at the serpent long ago in Israel's history, look to the cross and live. Here is that definitive release from all of our sins. Here is our official divorce. and we are no longer wed to our sins. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. Thirdly, C, applicatory questions. Do you have sins? that need to be forgiven by God, sins that you need to be cut loose from you. It's amazing to me that someone can be so confident that God does not exist, and yet they can be troubled in their inner being by the reality of guilt. I have done this sin, And I feel my guilt. I feel the wrongness of this. I feel ashamed for having done this. This is God's little testimony in our conscience. And if we have a sense of guilt, then we need to plead with God that he will give us the forgiveness of our trespasses through the Lord Jesus Christ. What is it that brings guilt to your mind? Maybe it's some violation of the Ten Commandments. Maybe you're not exactly an example of purity, not exactly living as one man, one woman together for life. Maybe impurity in your thoughts, in your television viewing, in your internet use. Or have you borne false witness? Do you have you developed a habit of rewriting history to yourself to the point that you actually believe it? Is there something of a spirit of being discontent and covetous? I want that. And it gets so bad that I no longer like this individual and the reason why I don't like them is because they have what I have and I've turned green with envy. Well, if you are guilty of these sins, it's the working of conscience that you feel guilt. But here's the good news. This verse is talking about a release from our sin, a divorce of our guilt. And the plainest passage in all of the Bible on this, in my judgment, is 1 John 1, 9. If we confess our sins, if we say to God the same thing about our sins as what God says about our sins, if we will confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If you're a believer and you come to the table of remembrance here this evening, do you have a sense of your official divorce from the guilt of all of your sins? Whatever was bound up there on your back, on the burden that Christian had, it doesn't illustrate it so graphically. that he looks at the cross and the straps break and it rolls down into the tomb and he sees it no more. That's a picture for you and me as believers. There was this definitive release from our sins and from the guilt of our sins. Roman numeral three, the source, the source of our redemption. Why do we have redemption? Well, the latter part of verse seven gives us the answer. According to the riches of his grace, Think for a moment, A, the significance of God's grace. God's grace is his undeserved favor to sinners. And just in the verses before, blessed be the God and Father who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heaven and places, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, just as he predestined us to adoption as sons, And as he mentions these blessings that God has planned in eternity past, we experience them in time, but he traces it back as to why God did this. And there it is in verse six, to the praise of the glory of his grace. to the praise of the glory of his grace. God grants to us an undeserved favor. We deserve damnation. We get heaven. We get the perfect righteousness of Christ. We do not deserve it. And that's the whole attention of that earlier praise to God. And now we have it in verse seven, almost a repetition of the theme. Perhaps the echo of grace hasn't left the apostle's mind yet. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. I didn't merit it. I didn't deserve it. I didn't pay the ransom price. It was not my blood, it was his blood. And even if it were my blood, my blood is foul. And it would not do anything but get God all the angrier. But Jesus redeems us with the payment of his blood, and it is all of grace. Notice quickly, secondly, B, the abundance of God's grace. According to the richest, of his grace, the riches of his grace. Paul understood the riches of God's grace. When Saul of Tarsus was breathing out murderous threats against believers and God struck him with blindness and then gave him a glorious vision of Christ, Paul wasn't trying to get saved. Paul wasn't looking for any deliverance from his sin, Paul was trying to rid his first century society of a cancer that was called believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not exactly deserve to be saved and so he experienced the riches of God's grace. Think of the language of Ephesians 2 and verse 7, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. What are we going to do as believers for all eternity? Well, one thing that we're going to do for all eternity, that in the ages to come, He might show us the exceeding riches of his grace. Eternity is going to be needed in order for us to appreciate the extent of God's kindness to us in his grace. In the midst of Paul's blind, murderous zeal against Christians, God saved him, the riches of his grace. Thirdly, C, the measure of God's grace, according to the riches of God's grace. So the redemption that he gives to us, it's somehow tied in with how big the riches of God's grace would be. If we got a letter, They came to the church and Mike opens the mail and it's a check from Bill Gates for $10,000. I've got a sense that when they're counting the money, they're gonna, how many zeros is there? But if he gave us $10,000, that would be a very nice gift, but it really is not according to the measure of his grace. It's not according to the riches of his grace. We may think it to be a large donation, but when Bill Gates gives us something like, I don't know, ten billion dollars, then you can imagine them really counting the zeros When he gives his 10 billion, that will be according to the riches of his wealth. And this is what God the Father did in giving the son. It's according to the riches of his grace. Salvation in one sense is so easy. You come with your sin, with your good works, and you lay it at the foot of the cross, and you believe in Jesus, and you get his perfect righteousness. So it's easy in that gospel transaction. On the other hand, God doesn't want you to think that salvation is easy. It's not easy for him. It's not uncostly to God the Father and God the Son. When God comes and puts his Son to death on the cross, It was according to the riches of his grace. Let's think of the Apostle Paul. I mentioned this a moment ago. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, a violently arrogant man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant." This is a regular theme with Paul. He saved us, this redemption through his blood, this forgiveness of our trespasses, it is in accordance with the riches of his grace. But you know this is the problem with some. This is a problem with all of us at some point in our lives. We don't really see that our offenses against God are that big of a deal. So if God wants to save us, it's like God can take a couple, just a sprinkle or two there of water and that will deal with this person's little sins because actually, after all, I'm not that bad of a person. Jesus confronted this when he was at the house of one of the religious leaders by the name of Simon. And Jesus thought the best way for him to convey the message of the greatness of God's grace in forgiving sins was to ask this Simon a question based on a little story. There was a certain creditor who had debtors. One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. We don't need to know how much a denarii, just think in terms of there's $50 or there's $500 or there's $5,000 and the other one owes 10 times more. And Jesus says, tell me, Which of them will love the forgiving creditor more? Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And Jesus said to him, you have rightly judged. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house. and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. I therefore say to you her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Then he said to her, your sins are forgiven. I hope that as we, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, as those who are members of a local church, that as we come to partake of the elements that we are like that woman, that we have a sense of how great our sins are. and what those sins would have done to us if we came into the day of judgment and we were still slaves to our sins and still with Bunyan had the great burden on our backs. We have the divorce of our sins. that burden, as we've looked at the cross, rolls down and into the tomb, and he saw it no more, and you and I are to see it no more, and that is only accomplished according to the riches of his grace. If you've truly seen the depth of your sin, then you will love the Lord Jesus Christ much. Let's pray. Father, thank you that we could spend these minutes together in your Word. Thank you for giving us sections like Ephesians 1, where there is such a density of truth. that we can look at the first part, the redemption of our trespasses, and realize that there is so much here about the redemption we experienced. This component of redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, being released from them, being divorced from them, and then to think, Lord, of the source of this redemption according to the riches of your grace. Father, thank you for conceiving of a plan where your Son, the eternal second person of the Trinity, was willing to humble himself by joining to himself true humanity and coming to live that perfect life so that he could go to the cross and die that shameful death, which was also the perfect sacrifice for sin. So easy for us. We give up our sin. We believe in the Lord Jesus and get his perfect righteousness, but so costly for you. You have to be willing to send your son. The Lord Jesus has to be willing to come and die. And God, the Holy Spirit, has to be willing to take up residence within us, transform us initially, and keep sanctifying us over the course of our lives here. Father, help us as believers to come to the table of remembrance with that sense of thankfulness and appreciation of the woman who was forgiven much, and grant that for Any sitting here this evening hearing something of the reality of sin, hearing something of the reality of the forgiveness of sin, the taking away of guilt, may that be appealing to them. And we pray that you would help them to come and find it through the only source that is to be found in all the universe. through the perfect doing and dying of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray these things in his matchless name. Amen.