Redeemed Through Jesus’ Blood!
By Pastor Matt Black
02 April 2006
Lord's Day morning
Ephesians 1:7-9
Introduction: Open your Bible to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. The title of this morning’s message is “Redemption Through Christ’s Blood.” Christ came into this world to save sinners. And it takes a blood sacrifice—the very life blood of God to take away the record of our sins against God. Christ’s blood satisfies the wrath of God for us! It takes away our guilt—not just the feeling of guilt-yes it does that, but it takes away our guiltiness! We are no longer guilty if we are “in Christ!”
Many have tried to explain the blood away from the Gospel. Brethren, if you have no blood, you have no Gospel! Charles G. Finney who lived in the 1800s—he was said to have part in the revivals of that time in America. He said Christ did not come to substitute, but His death was only an example. That man taught this doctrine far and wide. He was not part of any revival or reformation in our country. He is part of the DEformation of America! You take out the need for a substitutionary blood sacrifice, and you have no Gospel. Finney, I believe is the father of modern liberalism.
Further, Christ did not shed His blood to give people an opportunity to be saved. He came to actually save His people. Christ came to accomplish salvation for His church. He came to “to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28), and to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). That is what we read in our text this morning. Look with me at Ephesians 1 and verses 7 through 9.
Ephesians 1:7
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
We come this morning to the
centerpiece of the entire Bible. All throughout the Old “
Testament, God promised a redeemer. God promised to send Christ.
It is clear from the Scripture that the Redeemer of mankind is the same in all ages.
Redemption in Jesus Christ is the scarlet thread of the Bible. In the Old Testament He was called the Seed of the woman,[1] the Prophet,[2] the Seed of Abraham,[3] the Son of David,[4] the Branch,[5] the Servant of the Lord,[6] the Ancient of Days,[7] the Great King,[8] the Holy One of Israel,[9] the Sun of Righteousness,[10] the Prince of Peace,[11] and the God of the whole earth[12]! In the New Testament, we see that God fulfills all His promises, and the Word becomes flesh, and His name shall be called Jesus “for He shall save His people from their sins.”[13]
All of the sacrifices of the Old Testament foreshadow what we see in this verse. All the Old Testament prophets “enquired and searched diligently, [and] prophesied of the grace that should come unto [us]: 11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” When we come to this verse, it is as if all the angels in heaven were peering through the clouds in anticipation—Abraham and Moses, Isaiah and Ezekiel—they all anticipated this REDEMPTION.
Job said: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” (Job 19:25).
And here today, our redeemer lives—He has stood upon this earth! He has died for our sins! He has shed His precious blood! He has been raised from the dead! Our redeemer lives! Our sins are washed away by the precious blood of Christ!! We have redemption through the precious blood!
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
How many Old Testament saints sacrificed, but they did not look to Christ in those sacrifices? They knew all about the structure of the sacrifices and the law, but their heart was not hot for Christ! In the same way today, there are many lost people out there that have an extensive theological education. What I mean is, there are many people who think that just because they have this impressive theological understanding of the Bible that that is the same as knowing God. Knowing God and knowing ABOUT God are as far away as Heaven is from Hell. The knowledge of God alone never saved anyone. It is not knowing theology or theological terms that saves a person. It is trust in Christ that saves us! Lots of folk on the Last Day will be saying to Jesus, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we have a lot of theological knowledge?” He’ll say “Depart from me, I never knew you.” We must not only submit our intellect to God. In order to be saved, we must submit our intellect as well as our will and our emotions to God. We must trust in Christ and come to God through blood to be redeemed.
You see, Redemption is applied through BELIEVING!!
What is it that brings you this redemption? Are you coming to God through the blood of Christ? Are you coming to Him in His righteousness—emptied of all your own supposed goodness, and looking to the blood atonement of Christ to forgive your sins? Are you trusting in that? Verses 12-13—“who first trusted in Christ… after that ye trusted… after that ye believed…” You are not redeemed until you actually believe. And when you do, God will credit your faith as righteousness.
Having said that, I think there are others who are like a miserly couple I read about recently.
Several years ago a prominent newspaper reported the story of an elderly man and wife who were found dead in their apartment. Autopsies revealed that both had died of severe malnutrition, although investigators found a total of $40,000 in cash stored inside paper bags in a closet.
Another story I came across is that of Hetty Green. For many years she was called America’s greatest miser. When she died in 1916, she left an estate valued at $100 million, an especially vast fortune for that day. But she was so miserly that she ate cold oatmeal in order to save the expense of heating the water. When her son had a severe leg injury, she took so long trying to find a free clinic to treat him that his leg had to be amputated because of advanced infection. It has been said that she hastened her own death by bringing on a fit of apoplexy (that’s the medical way of saying she burst a blood vessel in her brain) while arguing the merits of skim milk because it was cheaper than whole milk.
The book of Ephesians is written to Christians who might be prone to treat their spiritual resources just like that miserly couple and Hetty Green treated their financial resources. Such believers are in danger of suffering from spiritual malnutrition, because they do not take advantage of the great storehouse of spiritual nourishment that they have at their disposal.[14]
This morning, there is great spiritual nourishment knowing God the Son came and bled and died for you!! That’s called REDEMPTION. We have a temptation when we hear a theological word again and again and again. We hear it so many times that it loses its meaning. Redemption is one of those words. We’ve heard it so many times that it doesn’t thrill us anymore. God has put words in the Bible like this to nourish us. We ought to feast on words like this because they tell the story of all that Christ has done for us. So let the feast begin!
We are accepted in Christ! We are “accepted in the beloved.” It is in Him that “7 we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Amen! Jesus Christ is the Prince of our redemption! He is the Captain of our salvation! “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10). Jesus Christ is our Redeemer from sin, the Beloved (the one who is in the state of being the object of all God’s love). It was Christ Himself, the beloved, who paid the price for our release from sin and death. Now because Christ paid this ultimate price with His blood, we belong to Christ, and now we are acceptable to God! Now we are called “the beloved of God” (Romans 1:7).
In the Old Testament, we find a beautiful picture of Christ in the Kinsman redeemer! There were three qualifications for the Kinsman redeemer:
1. He had to be related to the one needing redemption
· Christ was related to us—He was found in fashion as a man and He humbled himself (Philippians 2:8). The Word became flesh! (John 1:14). We have “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Christ was related to us!!
Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
2. He had to be able to pay the price
· Hebrews 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;
· Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
The blood of bulls and goats couldn’t take away sin. Only the precious blood of Christ!
3. He had to be willing to do so, and He was!
· John 10:15, 17-18 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
God the Son came to give His blood for us! The word redemption in our text means “to purchase something from the marketplace, and also to loose or set free from bondage and slavery”. Throughout the Bible, God promises that His people will be set free from slavery to wickedness and free from service to the wicked one.
During New Testament times the Roman Empire had as many as six million slaves, and the buying and selling of them was a major business. If a person wanted to free a loved one or a friend who was a slave, he would buy that slave for himself, and then grant him freedom, testifying to the deliverance with a written certificate.[15]
This word “redemption” is used to designate the freeing of a slave in that way. It is an emancipation—a setting free from the slave master of sin. Redemption is Christ purchasing freedom for us with His own blood on the Cross. We are locked up in the shackles of sin, and Christ frees us, by buying our freedom with His own blood. He paid the redemption price to buy for Himself sinners who would make up His church—His elect people. And that ransom sets us, the people of God, free from the penalty and power of sin, and one day we will be free even from the very presence of sin!
You see we are all born as slaves to sin “obeying the lusts thereof!”
John 8:34, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant [SLAVE] of sin.—We are slaves of sin, and Jesus comes with a ransom price to buy our freedom!
But what has Christ done?
So that’s the Meaning of redemption, no let’s look at what it cost Christ to purchase our freedom!
Christ came to redeem us with His own precious blood!
1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Christ gives His blood as the payment price to buy us from the bondage sin. He walks right into the shopping center of the world. And as it was in New Testament times, He goes to the place where the slaves are—these people that had been conquered by sin and were in servitude to sin. He goes and He lays down His life for them. He pays the price of that slavery with his blood. Look at Matthew 20:28. Jesus said that he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to “give His life a ransom for many.” Christ gave his blood to redeem us from the bondage, the guilt, the enslaving power, consequences, and the effects of sin—He has even redeemed our bodies so that when he comes again, we will receive a perfect, glorified body, free from the bondage of sin!
So redemption is priceless, but also…
Now the nature of Christ’s vicarious atonement is further emphasized in the Bible with Paul’s concept of our union with Christ. Think how many times Paul uses that phrase he uses the phrase “in Christ.” Paul says in Romans 6 for example that when Christ obeyed, you obeyed. And when Christ died you died! When Christ satisfied the wrath of God, you satisfied the wrath of God. When Christ was buried, you were buried; when Christ was raised again, you were raised from the dead! And you are now seated with Christ in Heaven. And in Romans 6 Paul puts that in the past. There was a way where Christ’s people were in Him. For in fact, you were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, that He might be your substitutionary sacrifice. He went to the Cross for you.
Look at 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Christ was made sin for us. Christ for us; we in Christ. He obeyed for us.
Romans 5:19 By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
That is our hope as Christians. It is the only ground that any of us have to stand before God as justified men and women and children.
To be redeemed is to be in Christ. It is to abide in Him. It is to walk with Him. Being redeemed does not mean that you know a lot about Him. Many will enter hell today who are filled with the knowledge of the Lord. The devils believe and tremble. To be redeemed is to be enwrapped in Christ. It is to be utterly protected by His ransom—by His blood. Of course you know His blood is our robe of righteousness! Those who are redeemed are justified. That means that all your sins are taken away. The verse here calls it “the forgiveness of sins.” That’s justification.
We are certain that the everlasting punishment of sin declared in Scripture, will never happen to the man who is forgiven. When transgression is removed the soul stands clear at the bar of God, and there can be no further penalty. "I absolve thee," says the great Judge; and that carries with it weight, so that a man that is forgiven is cleared of the punishment which he must otherwise have borne. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus."[16]
We must have our sins forgiven. We are no longer held to account for our sins. Our lying, cheating, adulterous works are all nailed to the Cross of Christ and forgiven.
I believe that the great joy of forgiveness, to the believer, is that God has taken away his anger from him.
How does God take away our sins?
1. SUBSTITUTION: THIS PAYS THE PRICE THAT THE LAW DEMANDS
Romans 5:8-11
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died [SUBSTITUTED] for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
2. RECONCILIATION: WITH THE PRICE PAID GOD NO LONGER PUTS SIN ON OUR ACCOUNT!
2 Corinthians 5:18-21
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
3. PROPITIATION: TAKES AWAY GOD’S WRATH
Romans 3:24
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
What is a propitiation? It is what makes God’s mind toward us. It is a legal term that reminds us that as sinners we are justly under God’s wrath and condemnation, rightfully and justly sentenced to hell. But on Calvary’s cross, when our sins were imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ, He fully satisfied the justice of God. He became the wrath-bearer that He might deflect God’s wrath from us onto Himself. And all those for whom He acted have been propitiated.
We are accepted in the beloved.
Ephesians 1:7
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
What a message we have!
2 Corinthians 5:18-20
God “hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
We are—you and I who were enemies of Christ are now reconciled, and God has given us the calling of being ambassadors to the elect world!!
We are the people the Father gave to the Son, now we must tell the lost of Christ’s redemption. God will redeem His own.
Psalms 107:2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
Go out and say so this week! As Spurgeon said, Save the elect and elect some more!
Conclusion: Are you washed in the blood? Perhaps you have a lot of theological knowledge, but you are a spiritual miser, you have not appropriated the blood of Christ for yourself. Perhaps you are a believer and you are not “saying so.” You are redeemed, but you have not taken to yourself the ministry of reconciliation. Are you proclaiming the grace of Christ today?
Closing Hymn: 252 Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
[1] Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Romans 1:3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
[2] Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
John 6:14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
[3] Genesis 26:4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
Hebrews 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
[4] Ezekiel 34:23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
[5] Zechariah 3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
Zechariah 6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
[6] Isaiah 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Ezekiel 34:24 And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.
Ezekiel 37:24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
Zechariah 3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
[7] Daniel 7:9, 10 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. 10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
Revelation 20:11-12 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
[8] Psalms 48:2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
[9] Psalms 89:18 For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
Isaiah 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
Isaiah 55:5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
Isaiah 60:9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
Isaiah 60:14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Luke 4:34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.
Acts 3:14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
[10] Malachi 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
[11] Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
[12] Isaiah 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
[13] John 1:45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
Acts 4:10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
[14] John MacArthur. Ephesians (Moody: Chicago, 1986), vii. This is not a direct quote. I changed some of the wording to help make the point more suited to my people.
[15] Ibid., 18.
[16] Charles Spurgeon, http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/2207.htm.