Christ - The One Who Loves My Soul

Have you ever experienced something that changed your life? Maybe it was something positive like getting your driver's license, or something negative like losing a loved one but regardless, I think we can all say that we’ve had experiences that really impacted our life in one way or another. And that thought is one I want us to hold onto as I tell you the story of John Newton.

John Newton, who is most famous for writing the hymn Amazing Grace, has an interesting testimony. His mother, who was a godly woman, died when he was seven years old so he was raised by his father. At a young age, he would begin sailing with a merchant ship but was fired for being a loose cannon; shortly after he joined the Royal Navy, he decided he would try to run away from his duties and when they caught him, they put him in bonds and beat him. After this, he was able to convince his superiors to place him on a slave ship where he would work for a plantation owner and enslaver named Clow. Clow would severely mistreat John, but what do you expect when you work in a business that moves humans around like animals? One day they moved him to work on another slave ship and a storm hit the ship and amidst the horrible storm, it is said that he came to Christ. He tried to remain in the business to be a positive influence on his ship-mates but he would eventually leave the slave ships to work in an office where his Bible studies led him to be so bothered with the idea of slavery that he left the business and became an outspoken advocate against enslaving people.

Why do I tell you this story? Because it is a beautiful story of God’s grace freeing a slave-trader from his own enslavement to sin and the effects of His saving grace in the life of this man would soon lead him to fight for the freedom of others both physically and spiritually. And that is how the Gospel works, isn’t it? We don’t believe in a Gospel that just gives us something to do on Sunday morning, but a Gospel that seeps into every aspect of our lives. This story about John Newton gives us a wonderful example of the truth that we will find here in the book of Ephesians 1:7-10. If you remember, last week we looked at how Paul is exploding with joy at the love of God for us, and as Paul writes this down, he talks about the love of the Father for us. Now, if you weren’t here, or maybe if you’re wanting to apply last week's sermon a little more, I would put it this way, “Whenever I doubt the love of the Father, I should remember that in Christ, He loves me as if I were His own child.”

Today, you might be feeling weighed down with the worries of this world. Maybe you don’t understand the gospel and you’re living in sin and the weight of its burden is crushing you. Or maybe you’ve taken your eyes off of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and you feel overwhelmed, or maybe life’s roller-coaster has discouraged you and you’re questioning whether the Lord even really loves you. Well, if that’s you, this text is for you, because today I want us to consider the mind-blowing and life-changing love of Jesus Christ. So, with that said, for you who find yourself doubting the love of Christ, I want you to remember two things: First, Jesus loved me where I was, and second, He showed me with His blood. And after we see those two things, I want to show you what that means for us. Let’s go ahead and dive in to our text today:

Ephesians 1:7–10 NKJV

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 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.

He Loved Me Where I Was

Thomas Costain’s history, The Three Edwards, described the life of Raynald III, a fourteenth-century duke in what is now Belgium. Grossly overweight, Raynald was commonly called by his Latin nickname, Crassus, which means “fat.” After a violent quarrel, Raynald’s younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him. Edward captured Raynald but did not kill him. Instead, he built a room around Raynald in the Nieuwkerk castle and promised him he could regain his title and property as soon as he was able to leave the room. This would not have been difficult for most people since the room had several windows and a door of near-normal size, and none was locked or barred. The problem was Raynald’s size. To regain his freedom, he needed to lose weight. But Edward knew his older brother, and each day he sent a variety of delicious foods. Instead of dieting his way out of prison, Raynald grew fatter. When Duke Edward was accused of cruelty, he had a ready answer: “My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills.” Raynald stayed in that room for ten years and wasn’t released until after Edward died in battle. By then his health was so ruined he died within a year. . . a prisoner of his own appetite.

This sounds like a ridiculous story, but the truth is that we live in a world that is enslaved to sin, and it isn’t just a few people who are bound by it, instead without the saving grace of God we are all bound by the chains of sin. Some struggle with sexual sin, some struggle with anger, bitterness, gossip, or rebellion, the list goes on and on, but the truth is that every single one of us is bound by sin. Paul wrote in Romans that, “All have sinned…” We go where it commands, we run when it calls. We are slaves to sin. What we find in Ephesians 1:7 is that we were a people enslaved to sin, but not only that, if we look just a little deeper into the verse, we find that we were trespassers. Now, today if you’re guilty of trespassing, that means you’re on someone else's land but Bryan Chapell put it so well when he describes trespassing here as forsaking the boundary of closeness with God for the sinfulness of the world. This word describes us as people who willingly sinned against God. So, we were slaves, and we were proud in our slavery.

And that is what this word, “redemption” implies here. But I’m glad that that’s not all it describes. The word, “redemption” means to release, and in this context, it is that we have been released from enslavement to sin by the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not too sinful, or too far gone for the love of God, instead He is happy to be known as our Redeemer. If you have talked yourself into thinking that your salvation was something that God begrudgingly allowed, you’ve got it all wrong! One beautiful old hymn says, “And oh, may this my glory be. That Christ is not ashamed of me!” Guys, what I want us to grasp as we look at this text is that the Lord Jesus Christ was fully aware of the condition we were in and yet He loved us where we were. And the next phrase shows us how He proved His love for us.

He Showed Me With His Blood

In his book Written in Blood, Robert Coleman tells the story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor. “Would you give your blood to Mary?” the doctor asked. Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, “Sure, for my sister.” Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room—Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny’s smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube. With the ordeal almost over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence. “Doctor, when do I die?’ Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had hesitated, why his lip had trembled when he’d agreed to donate his blood. He thought giving his blood to his sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he’d made his great decision. Johnny, fortunately, didn’t have to die to save his sister. Each of us, however, has a condition more serious than Mary’s, and it required Jesus to give not just His blood but His life.

Here in Ephesians 1:7 we find that the cost of our redemption was the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is wording that pictures those Old Testament sacrifices and it points to Jesus taking our place and satisfying the wrath of God. What we see here is the most beautiful truth in all the world, and that is that Jesus died for sinners. The death and resurrection of Christ wasn’t just to give you a second chance, but was to give you and me permanent forgiveness forever. One old song said, “What sins are you talking about? I don’t remember them anymore!” And this is the truth that we find in the Bible; that through the blood of Christ, we are forgiven of our sins forever and ever! Paul continues on to say that this was, “according to the riches of His grace that He richly poured out on us…” Guys, this is just beautiful. It isn’t that God was handing out pennies of grace from the treasures of Heaven to sinners. Instead, what we learn here is that God has given us the greatest of all riches in Christ Jesus. It’s almost as though Paul is saying, “What more could God possibly give than His own precious Son!” It is as though the account of Heaven’s glory would bankrupt itself in giving its most beautiful Son for our redemption. It is like the small boy going to drink from the water fountain on a hot summer day and instead receives an ocean of grace. Romans 5:8 says, “But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Hebrews 9:12 says that Jesus “...entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”

This is the greatest news ever given, and it has been given to you and me today! It is the mind-boggling, earth-shattering, and life-changing love of God for sinners. But what does this mean?

First, this means that God loves and receives sinners. Jesus says, “"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Come to Him today, run to Him confessing your sins and trust in Him as the Savior of your soul and you will be saved.

Second, this truth changes our lives. Paul continues and says, “He richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding.” That statement “wisdom and understanding” covers both the knowledge of the gospel and the practical application of it to our lives. To know that we are forgiven of our sins because of Christ alone will point us to a life that embraces that truth and lives to love and serve the God who saved us.

But this doesn’t only affect our conduct, but our outlook. What we learn in verse 9-10 is that the Father chose to work in Christ to bring all things back to the way they’re supposed to be. Through the gospel, enemies may be united, Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ, wrongs can be righted, sinners are delivered, and joy is known because even though we may feel hurt in this life, we know that Jesus is bringing all things together under His authority and that one day, everything will be the way it was always supposed to be.

So, as you go through your day, your week, or simply through life; if you ever find yourself doubting the love of Christ, I want you to hold onto to these things:

Don’t minimize how sinful you are without grace.

Rest in the truth that salvation is by grace alone.

Rejoice that God was fully aware of who you were when He saved you, and He did it anyway.

And remind yourself that the One who loves you, is the One who is in control of all things coming together for His purpose.

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