I would suppose that many of us here today have installed smoke detectors in our homes, the purpose being to alert us to the presence of smoke and its normal source, which is fire. Not only is it important to install a smoke detector, but it's important to keep it in good working condition as well. Likewise, God has installed a sort of detector in our lives. what I would call a sin detector. It's what we call the conscience. When sin is present, the conscience produces guilt.
When transgression of the law has occurred, the conscience will emit guilt within the life of a person. It is important to keep one's conscience in good written condition too. The guilt that the conscience produces was one of the causes of the emotional, mental, and physical disorders in the world. I didn't say it's the only cause, but it's one of the major causes. Guilty people deal with guilt in various ways, through denial, suppression, cover -up. by counselors or medication,
sometimes through drug abuse, even suicide. Genuine guilt produced by the conscience can only be dealt with by getting to the source of the guilt, which is sin. When the smoke detector goes off in your home, you do not ignore it. You don't turn up the radio to cover up the sound, nor do you disconnect the power of it. But rather you see what the problem is and you deal with that problem. And so it ought to be with guilt.
Rather than trying to cover it up or ignore it, we should get to the source of the guilt, which is sin. And God be praised. He has dealt with the source of guilt. that is, with sin. He has dealt with our trespasses against his righteous law. We see that in our text today in Ephesians 1, verses 7 and 8. We are looking at what God has done. God has blessed us, verse 3, just as he told us, verse 4. Verse 5, in love he predestined us. And in verse 7, we come now to the fact that
God has redeemed us. What has God done? He has redeemed us. It literally says, we have the redemption. As we think about that this morning, I'd like for us to examine it with three interrogatives that we'll try to answer. The what, the how, and the wherefore of redemption. First, the what of redemption. What does it mean? to be redeemed. What is redemption? It is defined as deliverance
as a result of the payment of a ransom. It is a word that was commonly used in the Roman world in the day in which the New Testament was written. It refers to release from servitude. The term redeemed means the purchase of a slave and his freeing, his releasing from his slavery. And so you bring it into the spiritual realm, it has to do with the loosing of one's bondage to sin. That loosing being made possible because a purchase price has been paid on our behalf.
He says we have redemption, we being believers. We have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. Going all the way back to verse 1, those who are the saints, that is those who have faith. who are the faithful, who believe in Christ Jesus. He says, we have redemption. We have been delivered by a price from our former slavery to sin. That payment is a final payment. It has been done once and for all. There is nothing that we need
to add to it. One of the things that we can... gladly proclaim is the sufficiency of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The work that he did at the cross, the payment of his blood, the outpouring of his life for our sins, is a once and for all work. It never needs to be repeated. It cannot be added to by anything that we could do. We have the redemption. But the redemption that we have based upon Christ's finished work
has only begun. There is a final consummating aspect of it that we have not yet experienced. And that is the aspect mentioned in verse 14. When talking about the Holy Spirit, Paul says, He was given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession. In verse 14, he pictures a future aspect. He says there's something yet to come. The Holy Spirit is the down payment. He's the pledge of
our inheritance. The aspect of that inheritance which is yet to be given to us, the redemption of God's own possession. What's he talking about? Well, he's talking about that work in the future when our bodies, our physical bodies, will be released from bondage to corruption. at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the redemption that is mentioned in chapter 4, verse 30, where he says, And do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Once again, he's looking forward to a future event, the day of redemption, talking about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection of believers, the rapture, the taking away of the church. When our very bodies, now lowly and in corruption to sin, will be delivered from all of that. Paul speaks of it in our text in verse 7, we have redemption as in the past. His point being that even that future aspect is so certain that we can speak of it as something
that's already taken place. He does the same thing in Romans chapter 8 when he says, he mentions a number of verbs talking about our salvation, and he says, we've also been glorified. Past tense. Now, we haven't been glorified yet in our experience as time falls out, but he's saying that that future event is so certain, that time when we'll be glorified with Christ, that is changed, made like him. So he can speak of it
as something that's already taken place. The thought of redemption involves the release of us from our bondage to sin. In every aspect of our being, now we have been released from the guilt of our sin. One day we will be released from the very presence of sin and corruption in our being. And we long for that day, do we not? But he also talks about the how of redemption. He says we have redemption through his blood.
And he begins the verse by saying, in him. So that is the person who is in view when it mentions his blood. And it's not difficult to figure out who he's talking about, even though it's a pronoun that's not directly identified. You get back to verse 6 and it's clear. It's the beloved one. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. In him. Through his blood. That is the how of redemption. The price for your redemption and mine was infinite. A price we could never pay. It took an infinite
person to pay the price. Only the Lord Jesus Christ was qualified. The price itself was the shedding of his own blood. Not just any blood. His blood. It could not be the blood of an animal. It could not be the blood even of another man. It had to be a qualified man. It had to be the blood of a sacrifice, one who was worthy to be a substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ was worthy. The merit of his life, his life of perfect righteousness, cannot be calculated. It's unlimited. He was
a worthy substitute. to pour out his life for us. The worthiness of the substitute is important. A few days ago, a terrible thing happened in Wyoming. That little town where the man and woman went into school and held the students for a brief time as hostages. One of the news commentators, I thought, said it well. He said, well, justice has taken care of this one. And it seemed to work out that way, didn't it? But for a time, there was a ransom price of $300 million on the
heads of the children in that school. $300 million. Now, which of you would have paid the ransom? I'd like to meet you after the story. The heart of each one of us would say, I'll pay that ransom. And we might write out a check for $300 million if they're long enough. You have to get the specially long ones, I think, for that price. To write it all out. We could deliver the check, but the check is worth nothing. We could say this check is the substitute for the life of these children.
We could be sincere about that. But there's nothing to back up the check in the bank, at least in my account. There's either. We don't have the $300 million. You see, it's not a worthy substitute, as sincere as we might be about it. My friends, God has provided a worthy substitute. The only one that could be found. We might be sincere about paying for our own sins. We might be sincere about saying that we would gladly give ourselves
for someone else. You see, none of us is a worthy substitute for ourselves, let alone someone else. The Lord Jesus Christ is the worthy substitute. The infinite God incarnate in humanity without sin. He had lived a life of perfect obedience to the law, identifying himself with sinners all the way along, but he himself not being a sinner. The reason for his baptism was not that he needed to repent of sins. That was what John's
baptism was all about. Jesus insisted that John baptize him, but he did not have sins to repent of. What was he doing? He was identifying with sins. And throughout his life he did that. Until the day he came to the cross, which was the purpose for his coming into the world. And there he laid down his life as a worthy substitute for mankind. The substitute not only had to be worthy to die for us, but the substitute had to be willing to die for us as well. Jesus said, we came to
give his life. Not to have his life taken from him, note. He says, I come to give my life as a ransom for many. In John chapter 10, he said, I lay down my life. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of myself. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, or chapter 2, that is. Again, the Apostle Paul emphasizes the fact that he gave himself as a ransom. You see the point? The point is that no one could be grabbed off the street and made a substitute, even if they were such a thing
as a worthy person. The substitute had to willingly lay down his life. Now, that was not the case at all with the animals of the Old Testament that were used for atonement. They were not worthy either, although they had to be without spot and blemish and so on. But their blood, being the blood of but an animal, could not fully take away the sin of a person. God did provide the animal's blood as an atonement, a covering, until
the payment could be paid by Christ. But they weren't really worthy substitutes in the ultimate sense, nor were they willing substitutes. They were chosen. By the ones who would have sacrificed them. And their throats were slit. And the blood then poured out in the appropriate way at the altar and sprinkled. For the blood of the offerer. For the sins of the offerer. But they were not willing substitutes. My friend, the Lord Jesus Christ is not only the worthy substitute, he
was the willing substitute. He gave himself because he wanted to give himself for you and for me. Out of his great heart of love and compassion for us. Out of his desire to please God, his Father, who had sent him into the world, he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The how of redemption, it's in him, through his blood. Peter talks about this, and I'd like you to turn there with me to 1 Peter, and look at verse 18 of chapter 1. I think it would be good
to back up to verse 17. We'll come back to this a little bit later. But he says, and if you address as father, that is, if you call upon, if you invoke God as your father, he says, the one who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay, your pilgrimage upon earth, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things.
like silver or gold from your beauty way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For he was foreknown, he was chosen, selected before the foundation of the world that has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through him are believers
in God. The Lord Jesus Christ appeared at the appropriate time in the history of the world that he might as a worthy and willing substitute give himself his precious blood for the sake of you who are believers in God through him. Therefore, knowing that we are redeemed with such precious blood, he says, we ought to conduct ourselves during the time of our stay on the earth with reverence. and fears about us. We
are a purchased people. So great was this sacrifice and so infinitely sufficient for our redemption from sin that it is the subject of heavenly praises by the four living creatures and the 24 elders in Revelation chapter 5. The eternal song goes like this. We are the art thou to take the book and to break its seals. For thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
And thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth. And so wonderful is that chorus that it says that a memorable company of angels was described as myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands of angels then. joined together in singing with these people. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing. And then so captivating is that scene that it says that everything created in heaven, on earth, on the sea, and all things in them. Now you see everything in God's created universe. begins to sing. And the chorus goes like this, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. You see, so wonderfully sufficient, so complete is the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. That the song of the ages is all about him and will be forever and ever. Let's think about the wherefore of redemption. He says in him we have redemption through his blood. And by the way, don't ever be ashamed to talk about the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are some people who count themselves Christians and religious who are ashamed of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, thinking it to be rather unseemly
to talk about his blood. There are some denominations that have rewritten their hymnals to take out the songs that deal with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are those who despise what they call the bloody religion. My friend, without the shedding of his blood, there is no remission of sin. Never be ashamed of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shed for us and of the great truth that is involved in that. Let's talk about
the whole four of redemption. He says, we have redemption through his blood, comma, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. Redemption is about the forgiveness of our trespasses. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins. And in so doing, he fairly dealt with our sins. The word forgiveness in the original language means to carry away. You see, the redemption
that we have has this result. It is the forgiveness, the carrying away of our sins, not just the covering over of them. It's not merely an atonement. God is not sweeping them under the rug, able to do that because of the blood of Christ, but he completely carries them away so that there is no longer any record. God chooses to separate our sins
from us. One of the most moving parts of Bunyan's great story, Pilgrim's Progress, is that point when Pilgrim moves before the cross and the burden that he has carried all the way in his pilgrimage to that point snaps away from his back and rolls away, that burden being the guilt of his sins. You see, God has caused our sins to be rolled away, to be separated from us. John the Baptist saw him coming and said, Behold, the Lamb of
God is taking away the sins of the world. In Psalm 103, the psalmist says it this way, As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. I think the very meaningful ceremony that took place on the Day of Atonement in ancient Israel beautifully pictures this. It was on that day and that day alone that the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies and there sprinkle the blood according
to the commandments of the law. Part of the initial ceremony involved the bringing before him of two, not one, but two goats. One of the goats was sacrificed. The throat was slit. The blood was poured out upon the altar. Speaking about atonement for sin, dealing with it. Atonement for sin has to be carried out. The judgment of the law upon sin, which is death, had to be fulfilled. It was fulfilled in that first goat who shed his blood. The second goat then was brought to
the priest. The priest put his hands over the head of the goat and then confessed the sins of the nation of Israel. The goat then was taken away alive, taken away, and released in the wilderness far from the camp, never to come back again to Israel. You see, on the one hand, we deal with... The penalty for sin. Death. The shedding of the blood of a substitute. In the other, we have the result pictured, and that is the removal of the very sins themselves from those who are
under the blood. The wherefore of redemption, my friend, is the forgiveness of your sins. All of them. All of them. That is emphasized in Colossians chapter 2, having forgiven us all of our transgressions, says Paul. There was a lady one time who accosted Dr. Harry Ironside about that. He was a Bible teacher 50 years ago now, well known in the United States. Some of you have his books, undoubtedly. He was emphasizing the fact that all of our sins, past, present, and future, have been dealt with
by the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to him and said, Pastor Ironsides, I believe that my past sins have been dealt with, but not my future sins. I mean the sins now. And those are all committed in the future. I don't believe that. The past sins are dealt with. And in a kind way, he said, dear ladies. When Christ died for your sins, how many of them were past? You see the point. When Jesus paid the price for our sins, they were all future. There was no past, present,
and future. As we look at it, there is. But when he died for our sins, he paid an eternal price and an infinite price that dealt with all of our sins. That is one of the blessed reasons we believe in the security of the believer. Because through his blood we have the forgiveness, the removal of our sins. This forgiveness is said to be according to the riches of his grace. Notice that it doesn't say out of the riches of his grace he's forgiven us, but according to the
riches of his grace he's forgiven us. This may be illustrated, the difference that is, by thinking of two men of wealth who are approached to give to some cause. The first man gives meagerly. He gives out of his riches. The second man gives generously to the cause. He is the one who gives according to his riches. In giving us the forgiveness of our sins, God has not merely handed out to us a little grace out of his riches, but he has, according to his riches, lavished upon us his
grace. To lavish means to cause to overflow. It's a picture of flood. It means just being dumped on. It means a deluge. A cloudburst of grace, if you please. In Romans 5 .17, the apostle took it this way. Grace, for sin abounded. Grace, what? Abounded more. The word that he uses there is the same Greek word as here. For sin was present. Grace was lavished upon us. It abounded more. God does not go out his grace little by little to us. He does not break off a piece of grace
and say, here you go for today. You see, God gives us all the grace we need all at once. Nor does God give us a little bit of grace for each act of obedience that we do. That nullifies the whole idea of grace, doesn't it? You see, if it's out of works that we are rewarded, then it's not grace. Grace means it's favor that we don't deserve. We've done nothing to earn it.
Now I emphasize that because some of us have come out of backgrounds where we have been taught from little children that the grace of God is something that we get in pieces. The idea being that if we do these certain things, if we keep these sacraments, or perform these rituals, or say these prayers, God gives to us a little bit of grace. And it's as though we can keep it in a sack, you see. And with all through life we're just sort of collecting grace by doing these
things. Hoping. Hoping that someday when we have to stand before God, our sack of grace that we've collected through the years will be enough to outweigh our sins that we've committed. Is that the idea of grace? Is that what the grace of God is? Is that the riches of his grace according to which he's forgiven us? Well, I absolutely demean the grace of God to think of it in those terms. The grace of God is lavished upon us. God has not withheld. God is not an ogre. He
is not meager in his giving. God gives and gives freely grace to us. He lavishes it upon us with delight. God does not dole it out little by little, but he gives all his grace to us. I've compared it in the past to a large reservoir of grace. But you see, even a reservoir has limits. And there is no limit to the riches of God's grace. It's infinite. It cannot be drawn upon and depleted by anyone. The greatest sinner who's ever lived
cannot deplete the grace of God. Indeed, if he calls upon the Lord Jesus Christ and according to his grace is forgiven of his many sins, That sinner does not at all diminish the grace of God. It cannot be diminished. It's infinite. As all of God's attributes are infinite, so is his grace. There is no measurement. We can't even say that God has great grace, although we
do say that and we sing that. And I think we know what we mean when we say that, but we can't even use a term like great to describe his grace. Because, you see, that measures it in... in comparison to something else, and it can't even be compared. The infinity of God is just unlimited. It's boundless, and so it is with God's grace. You may feel that you have sinned too deeply, that you've gone too far, that there are some things in your past that God can't deal with. My friend, will you
listen to what I'm saying today? Out of the riches of God's grace, he is able to redeem you and forgive you of all of your sins. He is able to pay the price for you. Indeed, he has paid the price for you through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever the purchase price may be for you, God's got it. It's there. God is wealthy in grace. Have you received the Son? Have you received his beloved one as your Savior? Well,
if you have, you know the meaning. If you don't, if you haven't received him, you don't know the meaning. Do you have the certainty today of your sins being forgiven? Or are you something like pilgrims, still laboring under the load of your guilt and sin? My friend, for the real guilt, and remember there is such a thing as false guilt, but for the real guilt in your life, thank God. Thank God because it means that your conscience is working as God intended it to do. That is
a detector of sorts in your life. God is sounding that detector to tell you you're guilty of sin, transgression, that you have offended him. He is warning you. Do something about that before you come into my presence, before you die. You say, what can I do about it? Well, there's only one thing you can do, and that is come to the
Savior. Receive him who died for your sins, who shed his precious blood, and who rose again from the dead and is alive today, not only to save you now, but to save you forever, to take you home to heaven at that point. So that when you stand before God, he stands there with you. And even at this moment, for those of us who are in Christ, he stands before God on our behalf. You know, there are certain demands upon God's redeemed in light of the abundance of his grace.
We can't take that for granted. We can't pretend as though we can live like the devil now the rest of our lives, knowing that God has enough grace to forgive us of whatever we do. That's not the purpose of the richness of God's grace. God's riches of grace are given to us that we might lead lives that are pleasing to God. I'd like to use two words to describe the kind of life that we ought to live in light of the abundance of the grace of God. We ought to lead in the
first place a holy life. Come back with me to 1 Peter again, chapter 1. We'll back up just a couple of more verses this time than what we've studied before. In verse 14 he says, And as obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance. But like the one who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior. Because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. And notice that that is in the same context as the blood of Christ
and redemption. A few verses down. He says we are to lead holy lives. That means lives that are separated from sin. Lives that are separated from the world. Lives that are set apart for God's special purpose. What is there about us in our Christianity these days that we think that once we are saved, now we can go out and be just as much like the world as we want to be? Why is it that we think that we have to look like the world and smell like the world and live
like the world being God's children? We are not redeemed for that purpose. He has redeemed us with precious blood that we might be a peculiar people, a different people. Indeed, one who has the attitude, I want to go out and live like I want to live. Do like the world. It's probably giving evidence to the fact he's never been saved. You see, the grace of God not only saves us, but it sanctifies us. It sets us apart. We lead a holy life. The demands of my redemption involve
a holy life. Secondly, a surrendered life. We are freed from slavery to sin, not to go out and do our own thing. We are freed from sin, not to be independent of God, but we are freed from sin so that we can now give ourselves, by God's grace, to the Lord Jesus Christ, to be his slaves. It's wonderfully pictured in the Old Testament in something that was done. In Exodus chapter 21 it's mentioned. A man who was a slave in ancient Israel could be redeemed from
his slavery. But if during the time of his servitude he married, had children and so on, his wife and children still belonged to the master. And so there were many times when a man who was in servitude chose not to be redeemed. But it was really done this way. He was redeemed from his servitude by a price. But then willingly, he
would give himself back to his master. And there was a way that they symbolized that and made it obvious to everybody that this man was a slave from now on, not because of a price on his head, but because he was willing to be a slave. That's what he wanted. They took a sharp instrument and they poked it right through his earlobe. So that when anybody saw his earlobe, they knew that here is a man who has willingly surrendered
to his master. That same picture is used of the Lord Jesus Christ coming into the world in Psalm 40. He says, My ears thou hast opened. He's saying that I'm coming with an ear that has been opened in my willing obedience to you, Father. I want to ask you a question. Is your ear open to the voice of God? Is your life surrendered to him? Are you his slave by voluntary giving of yourself today? Your redemption from sin by precious blood has not been so that you can go out and do what
you want to do. That's not the point. The point is now you are free to give yourself to Jesus Christ. Are you living that way today in your lifestyle? Are your decisions made in light of Christ's Lordship? Are your motives, are your goals in line with what Jesus Christ wants in your life? Or are you a redeemed person doing your own thing? Please understand that that's a contradiction. You're a living contradiction.
And you need to get yourself consistent. If you're redeemed by precious blood, I call upon you today to give yourself the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In every area of your life. Father, we are redeemed by precious blood. Thank you for reminding us of that this morning and of the demands that come upon us because of it. We are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and your spirit with your God. Lord, remind us today as we need to be reminded every day that
we are not our own. We're yours. And may our lives be holy and surrendered in light of that. In Jesus' name, amen. I'd like us to sing in closing a verse of 557, words by Fanny Crosby. If you today are struggling with the matter of a surrendered life or a holy life, or if you have never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your own Savior, I want to encourage you to seek us out. We're not going to have a public come forward invitation this morning. We're going to sing
and be on our way. But I'll be at this door, and there'll be other staff members around, and we want to talk with you and help you in that spiritual struggle that you're going through. Give us that opportunity, will you? Let's stand together and sing the first verse of 557.