In Him: Redemption

Paul is detailing the spiritual blessings we have in him, or in Jesus

Which should cause us to bless the Father in light of it

Paul in detailing these blessings is going between what the blessings are proper, to the motivation and the purpose he has for the blessing

Proper: chosen (predestined) for adoption

Motivation: In love, according to his good pleasure

For the purpose: That we would be holy and blameless, to the praise of his glorious grace

And now, added to the blessings proper is: redemption

Chosen, adopted, redeemed

Ephesians 1:7–10 ESV

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

There was once a man named Miserable who lived in the town of Hard Service. He was a most depressed and wretched person as was all that belonged to his race and from his town. He walked with shackles on his ankles and he worked with chains around his wrists. His work was a most terrible burden as he had a harsh task master who was the prince of the place who people called Prince Power-Air. Each day Miserable would work under the hot sun, with little to drink or eat. His chains were tight, and his body ached as he spent all day digging a large grave that he heard rumors was marked for him.

Each night as he was trying to get some sleep, a market opened up right outside his window. The sovereign of the market was the sovereign of the country whose name was Theos, who even Prince Power-Air reluctantly served. At this market there was an exchange in which Miserable could try and be bought from the service of Prince Power-Air. One night, in tears, Miserable asked what price he must pay to be freed from Prince Power-Air’s service. With a stern face, Theos replied with giving him a piece of paper and said with a voice so frightening he said, “do this and live.”

The next day Miserable was excited to try and do the things on the list given by Theos. But the items on the list he found impossible to do. What stopped him were his chains about his body, and the work demanded of him by Prince Power-Air. Every night he would ask if his feeble attempts for the day were enough, and each day Theos would hear his case, but Prince Power-Air would be quick to remind Theos why Miserable deserved to remain in his service. Thus, Theos would always firmly declare no. And so he would go to bed in tears with Prince Power-Air still as his master.

Unable to do the work himself, Miserable decided to employ the help of others. Each night a different advocate would come to try and rescue him. One was named Popery, the other Muhammed, and the final one was Liberal but all three failed terribly which in the end didn’t really surprise Miserable as they wore the same chains as Miserable and looked just as wretched. Later Miserable found out they were all under the service of Prince Power-Air as well.

In order to understand Redemption, we must understand our condition leading up to Redemption

(Just like Miserable) Everyone is born, as sinners, in bondage or in slavery

Now unless you say what the Jews said to Jesus: John 8:33 “33 (We) have never been enslaved to anyone.”

It is not a slavery where you wear physical shackles , with a physical slave driver set over you

As we are talking about the spiritual blessings in Christ, so with this great problem we are talking about great spiritual curses

We are all born in spiritual slavery

Who is our spiritual slave master? Satan

What is our spiritual shackles? Sin

What is the work he is overlooking? Our death

Physical is included, but namely spiritual death....away from God

What is our only hope?

That we would be bought out of our slavery to Satan

Who must be paid in order to for the transaction to move forward?

Not Satan—we must pay his employer

God the Father

God promised judgement and punishment for our first parents when they sinned. And when they did all their posterity fell into this punishment. What was the punishment?

That instead of enjoying the freedom of having God as our master

He would give us up to Satan as our task master

Who would keep us in chains of sin, leading to our final death away from him

Although God is not happy with what happened in the garden, you must understand that the situation humanity finds themselves in now is not despite God, but was carried out by God as an act of wrath against us for our sin

Romans 1:24;26;28

παραδίδωμι- to surrender someone or something to another, especially to an authority.

God gave up humanity to Satan and his slavery service of sin

The curse that came forth from God as an extension of his wrath is not from a third party that God is separate from, but rather is something that came forth from him as a response to man’s sin

When Adam was kicked from the Garden, his race was no longer servants of God, but rather given up by God to be slaves of Satan

Adam’s work was cursed both physically and spiritually

In pain man will work the ground until they are placed in it at their death

Which is a physical picture of the spiritual reality of man’s painful service to Satan until their death

A service, started so sweet for God ended in bitterness and death for Satan

Unless if a payment was given to God who gave man up to this cursed state

A payment that would purchase the people out of the service to Satan

This is what’s meant by redemption: to be bought out of slavery

This payment must be substantial because of the debt that is owed

God being perfectly holy, without stain or taint made man good and upright for the honor to serve him forever

Instead, they sinned against an eternally holy God—and chose to serve the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever amen

And so the payment to appease his anger is set by him and it is at a value that is beyond comprehension

When someone tries to determine what the payment value needs to be they put themselves in the place of God, and limit his glory by placing a value far too small

If you spit in the face of a homeless person, you will probably get away with it

If you spit in the face of the president, you will be taken down quickly

Spitting in the face of the sovereign of the entire universe brings a punishment that no payment made by the offender can offset

And this is where we left off with Miserable

Not able to do what is commanded by Theos

Enslaved to Prince Power-Air

And so is helpless to endure the work load given by his master unto his death

One night, Miserable had decided to give up trying and he especially stopped asking for help. All it seemed to do was make Theos angrier, which made Prince Power-Air more zealous to make his work harder. At the market that night, before Theos, Miserable declared that he had nothing to say nor do, for he was simply at the mercy of Theos in his most miserable state.

At that statement, a most handsome man showed up to the market. Theos looked upon the man with great delight which surprised Miserable since he had only seen Theos have a face of scorn. Miserable then heard whispers around him that it was Theos’ son. The first thing Miserable noticed was how this man lacked any chains or shackles. He walked as if he was free, and as he passed by Miserable there was mercy and love in his eyes and he even made eye contact with Miserable. There was a sudden hope within Miserable’s breasts that perhaps this man could do something about his most terrible estate. When the man approached Theos, he spoke a dialect that Miserable did not yet understand. He believed someone called it grace. But the man pointed to Miserable then Theos nodded his head and then nodded his head at Prince Power-Air. What happened next horrified Miserable and it was most unexpected. Prince Power-Air drew a sword that was created from the biggest factory in the town Hard Service, and he struck a mortal blow to the beautiful man. Miserable let out a cry, and Theos turned away, though Miserable had sworn he saw a tear in his eye. Miserable turned away to go back to his bed more dejected than ever.

Just as Miserable reached his door, he heard a command from Theos on his throne: “Go Forth!” Miserable turned around and saw a Dove named Penuma come to the man’s dead body and flapped his wings in a most surprisingly powerful manner, given the peaceful stature of the bird. But the power of his wings was manifested in how the dead man came back to life and found his seat by Theos himself. And with a command of the now risen Son: “that man Miserable is now mine!” the pile of blood went forth from the blast of the Dove’s wings to Miserable and even crawled up his entire body.

The robe of blood Miserable now wore gave him the confidence to once again ask Theos for his freedom from the service of Prince Power-Air. When Theos asked by what payment? Prince Power-Air began his accusations like before, but was this time harshly interrupted by the Son himself who yelled, “silence!” with an anger in his eyes that was only matched by the love he had in his eyes for Miserable when he first entered the market. The Son was so terrifying, with the look of anger in his eyes, and power in his breathe, that all Prince Power-Air could do is fall down and only whimper his accusations from that moment on. It is understood by all that even those whimpers will one day be silent at the time Theos determined.

The Son then looked to Theos and said, “the man Miserable, who will now be called Mercy-Filled is wearing a robe dipped in my blood. He wears the payment I provided in my death and resurrection.” Theos then looked at Mercy-Filled, no longer with scorn but rather delight; the same look he gave his son as he entered into the market. Theos then with joy said, “your sin was of a cost you could never pay. But my son’s blood is very precious to me. So valuable it is to me that I declare you to be free from Prince Power-Air’s service. Go Mercy-Filled, you are now free to go.”

Ephesians 1:7 “7 In him we have redemption

In Jesus, the Son, we have been bought out of our slavery.

The payment given to God the Father to make that possible?

Ephesians 1:7 “7 In him we have redemption through his blood

Why blood?

What makes the blood of Jesus so valuable?

He had no chains as he walked this earth (without sin)

He was God’s son (this is what made the currency valuable)

Yet he was a man like Miserable (this is what made it proper currency)

And it’s being bought out of slavery to Satan that the following beautiful fruit can come forth

Ephesians 1:7 “7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses

And then Paul repeats the motivation of the Father from whom all blessings flow

Ephesians 1:7 according to the riches of his grace,”

For such a payment to be made, the very source must be of great wealth

And we see, that the plan for redemption coming forth from eternity past has its genesis in the richness of God’s grace

Ephesians 1:8 “8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight”

it is common to say the rich live a lavish lifestyle

Showered and abundant in luxury

Well, God being rich in grace lavished such grace—showered abundalty—upon his chosen people

In fact it was done in all wisdom and insight

Meaning, God displayed perfect wisdom and insight in how to order all events in creation to shower to the fullest his grace upon his people

Imagine being a wealthy father who desires to shower your son with good things for his graduation party

With all wealth in your bank account, would you settle for a pony ride and clown show?

No, you would go above and beyond to make it a festive occasion

Order the most expensive stallions, hire his favorite entertainer, you would bring an entire fair to your backyard

God in eternity past, being rich in mercy, wanted to display this wealth to his chosen people, and so ordained all events to come to past in order to display such wealthy grace

It is not as if God gave some from his richness, rather all things come to pass to display his richness in grace

Ephesians 1:9 “9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ”

Not only does he act in all wisdom and insight, but when Christ purchases us out of slavery, we are given understanding of this mystery

Mystery is anything that requires revelation by God to understand

We can understand God is all powerful and beautiful and worthy of worship because of his creation…general revelation

But to understand what he is doing in salvation

Therefore our salvation always comes with knowing what God is doing in creation, and a desire to know

Whereas our slave driver Satan kept us in deception as the father of lies

God redeems us from his service and brings us to know truth

And this is where the blessing of adoption comes in too

Ephesians 1:5 “5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”

Remember, to be a son of someone is to be one like kind

When enslaved to Satan, he was not only our master, but our Father

So not only were we kept in deception, but we enjoyed the deception we were in…we were like kind of Satan who loves lies and hates truth

And any truth that comes forth from God was offensive to us and we shied away from it

So really, our story through out this sermon would have to be changed

Miserable wore chains and was under Prince Power-Air

Miserable wanted to be released from the chains and out of Prince Power-Air’s service

Every time he tried Prince Power-Air accused him to Theos which kept him imprisoned

BUT, the truth is

The sins that keep us enslaved is our delight

We keep sinning because we desire it and in that way it is our chains around our wrists

And any call for us to leave the service of Satan for Christ is meet with stiff resistance from our own selves…since we are in deception and a son of Satan

And in fact, it is true that Satan killed the Lord Jesus, but the sword he used was his very slaves that he came to bring out of bondage

Thus, in the story, it is more accurate that Miserable himself made the fatal blow directed by Prince Power-Air