Opening Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege and honor it is to be in your house. We thank you, Lord God, that you revealed to us your word. You've revealed to us your plan to save sinners, to purchase sinners in Christ Jesus, Lord God. We know that we were once slaves to sin, but those who believe on Christ have been purchased, have been bought with a cosmic price.
Father God, help us to consider these things and understand these things and meditate on these things, for slavery is something that is not prevalent in our day. But it's something that was prevalent certainly in the ancient world, Lord God. But we know that many are spiritual slaves to sin. And believers here, too, we were once spiritual slaves as well.
Father God, help us to consider this. Help us to revel in your grace, which you've lavished upon us. Help us to revel in your inheritance, Lord God. Help us to meditate on these things and understand these things and find encouragement in these things.
For this is a blessed truth, something that needs to be proclaimed, Lord God. And I pray that it would be proclaimed. I pray that if there's any here that do not believe, I pray that they would believe by your spirit, Lord God. And I pray the saints here that they'd be edified by this word, Lord God. and ultimately you would be glorified.
I pray now that you would give me strength, Lord, how I need you, how I need your help, Lord, for I know this is a holy task and a difficult task, Lord God, but I know that by your Spirit you can give me strength. And I pray that your name would be proclaimed. I pray that I would just be a mouthpiece. And I pray that you would be lifted high throughout all the earth.
And I pray that any other churches that are preaching the truth today, I pray that you'd give them strength and aid. that your gospel would go forth, Lord God. And may you be glorified in all things. Amen.
Introduction
So we are continuing our exposition of Ephesians chapter 1. Tonight, as I said, we're looking at verses 7 through 12. Ephesians chapter 1 verses 3 through 14 actually comes at the introduction of the book of Ephesians. And so what Paul says here is going to be fleshed out in the rest of the book.
Remember I said last time that the book can be structured in two main points or main headings. One, chapters one through three, which is right doctrine or salvation, and chapters four through six, right practice in response to that salvation. So we are in the section on orthodoxy or right practice or right teaching before we even get into the right practice responding to that right teaching. And so remember we're talking about something called the Covenant of Redemption, or it's called the Pactum Salutis, or the Pact of Salvation.
Last time we looked at the Father's plan of salvation, how he planned in love to save and elect in Christ. Today we are going to look at the accomplishment of the Son in history of that plan. And so we can summarize the covenant redemption this way. The Father plans, the Son accomplishes, and the Spirit applies.
So as I said, tonight we're looking at the wonderful accomplishments of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So the Father is found in verses 3 through 6, the Son is found in verses 7 through 12, and the Spirit is found in verses 13 and 14. And this can be set up by the three ways in which Paul says, to the praise of his glory at the end of verse 6, to the praise of his glory at the end of verse 12, and to the praise of his glory at the end of verse 14. That's how I've divvied it up and it also works well with this covenant of redemption.
And I want to highlight something that's very important in 7-12, verses 7-12. There's a lot of slave language here. Slavery is something that I do not think we fully understand the import or the grasp of it today. And when I say slavery, I'm not meaning man-stealing like in the South, but I'm talking about something different that occurred in the ancient world.
But you see, we don't really see slaves a whole lot, do we, in our modern world? We are free citizens, which is a wonderful, wonderful thing. But in ancient Ephesus, about one in three people were actually slaves. And it was a different system, a system that was regulated at that time, that even the Apostle Paul deals with in Ephesians chapter six.
It's not something that he condones, but he regulates submitting to one another in Ephesians chapter six. So it is something that we need to think about. Because the reality is, even though there's not a lot of physical slavery in North America, there's certainly spiritual slavery throughout. Believers, one day or before we were saved, we were slaves to sin.
We were shackled, tied together, bound to sin. Something that held us was a tyrant, was wretched, that sought to give us death, but thankfully we've been redeemed. Thankfully, we've been purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, unbeliever, you are still a slave to sin today.
And the price to pay for your purchase, the price to be redeemed, you cannot fulfill. You cannot fulfill this price. And so may I ask you and implore you to listen today, to listen and hear about the wonderful work of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So in Ephesians 1, verses 7 through 12, Paul praises God the Father for the redemption that believers have in Christ.
In Ephesians 1, verses 7-12, Paul praises God the Father for the redemption that believers have in Christ. And we will look at this redemption or this accomplishment under four headings tonight. We will look at the redemption by the Son in chapter 1, verse 7. We will look at the revelation of the Son in chapter 1, verses 8 to 9a.
Then we will look at the reconciliation in the Son, chapter 1, verses 9B and 10, and then we will look at the reward in the Son as well. Chapter 1, verses 11 and 12. So we have four R's, redemption, revelation, reconciliation, and reward. Let us first look now at redemption.
Redemption by the Son
Notice in chapter 1, verse 7, by Him we have redemption. By Him, we have redemption. And so what Paul is trying to highlight here with this we have is that the Ephesian church can already experience the present blessings that Christ accomplishes. And this word redemption is originally connected with something called the manumission of slaves.
Manumission just means the freeing of slaves. Just think, if you're a man on a mission to free a slave, you have manumission. Pretty simple, pretty clear. It's just talking about the freedom of freeing a slave from slavery.
And so it's used, again, as a slave way. And it's now applied to how sinners are released from sin through Christ. It's now applied to how sinners are released from sin through Christ. And I want to talk about how slavery functioned in the ancient world just for a little bit.
Aristotle, the ancient philosopher, says this. The slave is a living tool, and a tool a lifeless slave. The slave is a living tool, and a tool a lifeless slave. A slave was no better than a living broom.
A slave was just simply a piece of property that an owner could buy and could purchase. And so slaves were subject to the absolute power of their masters. Subject to the absolute power of their masters, just like as sinners are slaves subject to the absolute power of sin, subject to this tyrant, this sinfulness, this wretchedness, this tyrant of sin that seeks to drag us down. And so slavery also was, as I said already, was not necessarily Man-stealing.
There were many ways that slavery came about. Or you could buy or purchase a slave. There are four ways that one guy highlights in his book. He says, you could be a prisoner of war.
Someone, other countries come in, conquered you. Now the conquered country is now cheap labor for the conqueror. You could also sell your child or yourself to pay off any debts that you might have. There's also punishment as well.
If you commit a crime, you might become a slave. And one of the punishments, or one of the things related to the punishment of slavery, is you might be sent to the mine to work, which is really a death sentence. Most slaves died in the mine. And the fourth way is by birth.
Maybe your parents became a slave from the three previous things, and now by birth they're born into slavery as well. So this word redemption is talking about this release, this manumission from slavery, and there are many ways in which you can be freed from this slavery. And I'll go through them now. A slave could purchase his freedom by himself, and that was probably the incentive for good service.
See, a slave could work hard to earn dough or earn a reputation, and that way he might be able to buy himself out of slavery. Another way is what's called sacral freeing. That is, the deity would act on behalf of the slave and that, therefore, the slave could be released based on the relationship between the deity and the one or the master of that slave. So the deity almost acted as that mediator for the slave.
That was in the pagan world as well. A friend or a relative could free a slave. Or the master could release the slave as well. The master could release the slave as well.
And I'm going to draw these ideas out, hopefully, throughout the rest of this time together. But it is something we need to think about. Something we need to consider and understand. Even as believers, what we once were, how we were once slaves to something else, and by the grace of God, we've been purchased.
We've been brought out of slavery to sin. And the primary, the great illustration of this comes from the Old Testament. That is the exodus from Israel, this idea of redemption. Remember, the people of Israel were slaves to the Egyptians, were slaves to that tyrant Pharaoh.
But Yahweh, the divine warrior, in his goodness and in his kindness, took and he redeemed this people out of slavery and made them his own, a people for his own possession. It's truly, truly a wonderful thing when we think about what redemption actually is. How when we were once sinners, we were bound to this sin. We were tied down by the shackles of our sin.
How we didn't know where to go, nowhere to turn, yet God in His goodness sought to redeem His elect, sought to redeem sinners from this slavery. Notice under redemption
The Price of Redemption
the price of slavery. In verse 7, in Him we have redemption through His blood. In Him we have redemption through His blood. You see the price for our purchase was a cosmic price.
It required, it was an eternal price that we had to pay. It was something that only eternity would have satisfied to the One who was our owner. But you see, thankfully we have redemption through blood. We have redemption through the One who is eternal.
We have redemption through the God-Man, by Him. We have redemption through His blood. This blood sacrifice, this atoning sacrifice. Remember, Pastor Cam read this morning in 1 John 1, chapter 2, verse 2, that Christ is a propitiation, that is, He is an atoning sacrifice.
Or it means the turning away of the wrath of God. That turning away of the wrath of God. You see, we needed this sacrifice to purchase our freedom, to purchase our redemption from slavery to sin. to purchase this for us. And so it is truly a truly wonderful thing when we think about the cosmic price that we had to fulfill.
You know, working would be a death sentence. We would be like those ones in the mine who would be going to die. If we tried to earn our own salvation, tried to pay our own debt, we would have failed immensely. We would have failed immensely.
We could not have done it. It was an eternal price and only one who is eternal could pay for that. Only one who was eternal could pay for that.
The Nature of Redemption
I notice as well in chapter 1 verse 7 the nature of redemption. We have redemption through his blood. Why? For the forgiveness of our trespasses. for the forgiveness of our trespasses.
And what this word means, it talks about the act of freeing, the act of freeing from any obligation, guilt, or punishment that we might have. The act of obligation from the guilt, or freeing from the obligation or guilt that we might have. Remember last time I talked about this idea of adoption. The idea that any person could be adopted, and the one who was adopted could have their previous debts canceled.
They have their previous debts canceled. Therefore, we see this here. We receive pardon. We receive freeing from our debts because of the work of Christ.
It's truly, truly a wonderful thing. And notice what we're forgiven of, our trespasses, i.e., the violation of a moral standard. The violation of a moral standard. You see, God has his law, those ten commandments, that first table that is vertical towards him and that second table that is horizontal relating to people, and we have broken that.
We have fallen short of that obligation, we've fallen short of that standard, therefore we receive punishment. We receive punishment And yet, thankfully, in Christ, we are forgiven of that. We are forgiven for these offenses, for this wrongdoing. And it's truly, truly a wonderful thing when we think about slavery being tied down.
No way out. No way to pay for our debt at all. And Christ comes and He pays that debt. He purchases us out of slavery.
Truly, truly a wonderful thing when we think about it. And
The Riches of Grace
notice that He does this at the end of verse 7, according to the riches of His grace. According to the riches of His grace, or the wealth of His grace. That idea of adoption again. We are adopted into a wonderful, eternal inheritance that cannot change.
We are adopted into this wonderful, eternal inheritance that will not change at all. It is salvation from sin It is a cosmic inheritance. It is an eternal inheritance. One that all the riches that would be far above all the riches of this world.
Far above being adopted by Bill Gates. Far above being adopted by Donald Trump. It is far above any riches that we would ever see on the face of this earth. And it was all according to what?
His grace. All according to his goodness. All according to his kindness. Thanks be to God for this grace, which He was not obligated to give to us.
Which He was not obligated to give to us. And as we saw at the end of chapter 1, verse 4, remember, the Father predestined in love. The motive for this is love. The motive for this is kindness and goodness.
Thanks be to God for the salvation for the redemption from our slavery, from our bondage. What a wonderful ransom that was paid by the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That cosmic debt was paid by the only one who could pay it. And so I want one takeaway we can take away from this idea of redemption.
That is, I think we need to meditate more and more, especially on the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. We live in a busy, busy world. We go, go, go, go. And we need to stop sometimes, quiet our hearts, and think about this idea.
Think about what we once were and what we now are in Christ Jesus. We've been redeemed. We've been purchased from something that we could not have purchased for ourselves. It is truly a wonderful thing.
And I have to admit, even as a seminary student, that I have to fight for these times as well. You would think that being at seminary would be easy to meditate. I've said time and again to my fellow colleagues, and they echo the same thing, I get the information in my head, But sometimes I don't stop and think about the import of it. We need to stop sometimes and think about this work of redemption, what Christ has done on behalf of sinners.
It's truly, truly a wonderful thing that we need to meditate on, day in and day out, especially as believers. So we've seen this redemption in Christ. We've seen how we've been purchased by the blood of the lamb.
Revelation by the Son
Now let us look at the revelation of the Son in chapter 1, verse 8 to 9a. He says, which, at the beginning of verse 8, he says, which he lavished upon us all, which he lavished upon us all in all wisdom and insight. This idea of lavishing is causing to have something exist in abundance having something to exist in abundance. It's something truly, truly wonderful.
And one guy highlights the immediate context that this includes the Gentiles in this as well. You see, it's not just for the Jews, but it's for the Gentiles as well. Most of us in this room, we can have this redemption if we believe on Christ. We can be considered righteous in the sight of God because of the work of Christ, even now, because of this wonderful, rich grace that includes the Gentiles in the salvation of sinners.
That was the plan from the beginning to save a multitude that no man can number, from every tribe, from every tongue, from every nation, It's truly, truly a wonderful thing. Notice, he lavished this upon us in all wisdom and insight. Now, I take the beginning of 9a to talk about what preceded 8b. That is, I think 9a should be translated after making known, he lavished wisdom and insight.
After making known, he lavished wisdom and insights. And so we have this revelation of the mystery of his will. We have the revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, and then he gives them understanding. He gives them the ability to grasp this.
He gives them insight. This idea of wisdom and insight is a gift. for people to understand and comprehend the Gospel. We need it revealed to us objectively, but we also need the work of the Spirit inside of us, within us, that inner testimony of the Spirit, in order that we might grasp these things, that we might understand the Gospel. The Gospel really is clear and simple.
We are sinners in need of a Savior. Christ lived, died, and rose again to save sinners. Yet, we still need the work of the Spirit in our hearts, in the hearts of sinners, to fully understand this Gospel, to fully understand what it means. And so we see here, the Father makes known the mystery of His will in Christ Jesus to save Jews and Gentiles, but He does it with wisdom and insight.
He gives those people wisdom and insight. Wisdom probably refers to the capacity to understand and function accordingly, whereas this idea of insight is more the ability. So we have the capacity and the ability to understand. And we need the Spirit for both of those things.
We need to have the right amount of room, if you will, in our heads, but we also need the ability to do that. And that only comes from the work of the Holy Spirit inside of us to understand who Jesus is, to understand our sin and our need for the Lord Jesus Christ, to understand this great work of redemption in Christ Jesus. in Christ Jesus. And so, as I've already said, we've seen how He does this in Wisdom and Insight. He reveals the mystery of His will.
And this word mystery carries the idea of something that was previously hidden, or only known vaguely, but is now more known fully. You see, this is the redemptive historical thrust of this passage, because at once we thought in the Old Testament it was just for Jews, but there were times when we see Gentiles that are saved. But now we know that God's plan from all eternity was to save both Jews and Gentiles in Christ Jesus. It's truly, truly a wonderful thing for Gentiles like you and I that he would reveal this to us in order that we might know the work of Christ, know our sin, and see our need for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
This is a special revelation, this is the work of God, this is the work of God to reveal to us His plan, to reveal to us the gospel of Jesus Christ. And you know what? We need someone to tell us about this truth. We need someone to reveal this to us.
The gospel is something that is proclaimed, it is not something that we do. The gospel is something that is proclaimed, not something that we do. And so we have one clear application I think we need to take away from this. We need to proclaim the truth.
We need to tell people about the truth. And hopefully the Holy Spirit will take and work in the hearts of the elect to bring them out of darkness and into marvelous light. As a one who preaches the truth, we do not know who the elect are, but we are still mandated to preach that truth that sinners might come to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they might see this work of Christ and believe on Him and have this redemption from their slavery, this redemption from their bondage, and so we need to proclaim the truth, whether that's in the pulpit or sharing it with friends and family at the appropriate time. I'm not binding your conscience that you have to go out on Saturday morning and go door-to-door, but the gospel is something that must be told.
Something proclaimed, something shared, not done. We live in a manner consistent with the gospel, but we proclaim that gospel. So we've seen this redemption in Christ. We've seen how God reveals the work of Christ to his saints.
And
Reconciliation in the Son
now let's look at the reconciliation in the Son, chapter 1 verse 9b to verse 10. He says, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ. Now this purpose here is also found in verse 5. That is, He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.
I think it's better translated, rather than purpose, good pleasure. The good pleasure of His will. That is, God does this out of His goodness and His kindness. It's in this state of favor or being favored.
That is, God does this because He favors His people. Because He has a good pleasure according to His plan. It might not always seem like it's a good plan, but it's a great plan. It's the best plan.
And He does it out of goodness and kindness to save many sinners in Christ. And notice he says, this mystery in Christ is revealed. This mystery in Christ is revealed and it's set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of the time. Now this idea of plan actually probably refers to God's unique plan to save sinners.
The unique plan of salvation to save many in Christ Jesus. And it kind of comes from the idea of house, the idea of building, the idea of planning, the idea of setting forth his plan to build up his church, to build up his people, to bring them out of darkness and into marvelous light. Truly, truly a wonderful thing when we think about this plan. He set it forth in Christ.
He set it forth in Christ And notice at verse 10, he says, as a plan for the fullness of time. As a plan for the fullness of time. Or, it's probably translated, when the time was ripe. At the appropriate time.
You see, we've been talking about this plan of redemption to save many sinners. But God accomplishes His plan according to His time. He works in the way that he said he would work. He works according to his sovereignty and in the way that he said he would do it.
And the primary centerpiece of history is Christ Jesus. And the plan centers around the work of Christ Jesus. Remember, in that covenant of redemption, the Son consents or willingly sets aside his life or plans to set aside his life to save many sinners in Christ Jesus. He willingly does this.
Christ is the centerpiece of all history. Christ is the centerpiece of this plan to save many sinners in Christ Jesus. to save many sinners in Christ Jesus. And that's what we see in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 11. This was according to the purpose, the eternal purpose, that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Christ Jesus is the plan. This is the salvation of sinners, that Christ would redeem slaves from the curse of the law, and it's a great thing to consider and understand when we think about this wonderful truth. But notice the purpose for this fullness or this plan. Look at this purpose, to reconcile To unite or reconcile all things in Him.
Things in heaven and things on earth. To unite all things in Christ. To unite all things in Him. Or to sum up, is probably a better way, is a good way to translate it.
To sum up everything in Christ. To bring everything together in Jesus Christ. Edie says, the idea seems then to be that heaven and earth are now united under one government. The idea that heaven and earth are now united.
It's not so much universal salvation, but unification. Not universal salvation, but being united in Christ Jesus under one government. And notice it says, things in heaven and things on earth. This highlights a major theme in this book, this cosmic reconciliation.
Our sin was a cosmic sin. It was an eternal sin. We only needed someone who could fulfill those demands to purchase us out of that, and now we see this cosmic reconciliation in Christ Jesus. And so we saw a cosmic fallen Adam, and now we see this cosmic reconciliation in Christ.
Gordon Clark says, this does not imply an eventual universal salvation. so that Satan might be saved, but merely a unification and subjection by which Satan is put in his place. So to speak And as just indicated, the destruction of the present physical world in a universal blazing fire. So we see unification, but we also see the judgment of sin. We see the judgment of God Most High upon His enemies and how Christ unites all things in heaven and things on earth in this cosmic way.
That's what the Apostle Paul is trying to get at. This whole plan centers around Christ Jesus. Now, the application I think is one we can all consider and think about.
Christ the Center of All Things
The purpose of all things is summed up in Christ, not you and me. Christ is the center of the world. Christ is the center of the universe. Christ is the center of the plan of salvation.
We are not. Sometimes it's easy when we're driving along the road and some guy cuts us off to think that somehow the world stops there because we're angry. We must remember that this world does not revolve around us, even as believers. Even as believers, even as a seminary student, it's easy for us to get into our head that we are the light rather than preach the light.
And I pray that we would not be that way. I pray that we would preach the light. We would be a silent mouthpiece to proclaim the truth rather than me proclaiming myself. And I admit, brothers and sisters, that that is a struggle.
That is a struggle, I'm sure, for any pastor who gets up in here. It's easy to think that we're the light rather than proclaim the light. It's easy to think that salvation and history is moving to the time where we get up into the pulpit and preach. No, Christ is the center.
Christ is the one we need to preach. Christ is the one we need to proclaim. And we need to remember that He is the center of all things. He is the center of reconciliation, not you and I.
Not you and I. So we've seen this redemption. We've seen this revelation. We've seen this reconciliation.
Reward in the Son
Now let's look fourthly at the reward in the Son. Chapter 1, verses 11 and 12. He says, in Him we have obtained an inheritance. In Him we have obtained an inheritance.
This refers, I think, to promised heaven. Some commentators think this refers to the idea that God has obtained for himself an inheritance, namely his people. But I think it probably does refer more to the idea that his saints have an inheritance. His saints have a promised heaven.
His saints have a promised land. And so the idea is that the noun form of this verb here has the idea of something that's assigned kind of by lot or simply given as a portion. So it has the idea of us being given an inheritance. And it probably was used for the distribution of the countries that the Jews conquered.
That is found in the Old Testament. That is the dividing of lots, the giving of the giving of the promised land, the separating of it after Joshua conquered the people in the land of Canaan. And so we have this promised land imagery. Now this promised land for believers is not something that is physical.
It's something that is eternal. It's something that is far greater than anything on this earth. It's truly a wonderful thing. We have salvation in Christ.
We have an eternal inheritance that cannot go away. Thanks be to God for that wonderful work in Christ Jesus. Calvin says the Apostle Paul is showing that from first to last, all have obtained salvation. That is, all believers have obtained salvation. by free grace because they have been freely adopted according to the eternal election.
We have been given free grace. We've been given this salvation, this inheritance by free grace because of this, through this free adoption because of the work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We have this wonderful inheritance that will, that does, that pales in comparison to any inheritance we might receive on this earth. And
Predestination and Divine Purpose
notice this idea of predetermining, this choosing beforehand is repeated once again. He says, the Apostle Paul says in chapter 1 verse 11, having been predestined according to the purpose of him. Being predestined, and that word carries that idea that decide upon beforehand. Things are pretty clear in scripture.
That's a clear word. God decided beforehand what he would do. It's pretty crystal, pretty clear, and thankfully he did that. Thankfully he chose sinners out of free and sovereign grace, sinners like you and I, because we would not have been able to pay the purchase price for our redemption.
That's, yeah, wonderful, wonderful stuff. And notice it's according to the, uh, the, the, the, uh, according to the purpose of him. Now this purpose word here is different from the words that we saw in verse 5 and verse 9. And more carries the idea of divine purpose in advance.
Not so much good pleasure, but his plan beforehand. His plan beforehand. Again, predestination is clear in Scripture. We just twist it and change it because we don't like it.
But nonetheless, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, they accomplish salvation. God the Father predetermines, the Son accomplishes, and that Spirit applies. And notice, to bring about, to work, who works all things according to the counsel of His will. He works all things.
God does this. God does this. He's the one who has the capability to bring this out, not you and I. Not you and I.
Then we see at the end of chapter 1, verse 11, the counsel of His will. or the idea of this resolve, this the one who decides, this resolution, the decision of the divine will. This plan does not change. This plan has always been to save sinners in Christ Jesus, to the praise of the glory of God Most High, to the praise of the glory of God Most High. And notice in chapter 1 verse 12, so that we who are the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory.
We need to praise God for the hope that we have in Christ. And this idea is that we have this realization of this hope already. We have this inheritance. We have been redeemed.
And we need to praise Him as believers for His wonderful work, for that work of salvation, for, remember, the goal of redemption. The goal of redemption in mankind is to enjoy, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. That is our focus, that is our purpose. Whatever we do, whether in word or deed, we do it all to the glory of God Most High, even in our thoughts, even in our words, and even in our deeds.
For the glory of God Most High. And notice he says, so that we who are the first to hope in Christ Jesus. Now this we here, I think, refers to the Jewish Christians that were in Ephesus. I think this refers to the Jewish Christians that were in Ephesus.
Remember he said in Romans, for the Jew first, then the Greek. Remember the gospel spread from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the outermost parts of the world. We see kind of this emphatic we here, and then we see another emphatic you in verse 13. That is, we who are the first to hope, i.e.
Jews, and then we see you who are the first to hope, or excuse me, you, in him, you also when you heard the word of truth. That is, he's distinguishing between Jews and Gentiles here. Not as though before he wasn't talking about the unified church, but these emphatic pronouns, these we's and you's, seem to indicate he's separating between the Jews and the Gentiles. Bruce says, Jewish believers are foundation members of the new community, the first fruits of the people of God in the age which Christ has inaugurated by his death and resurrection.
So the Jews were the first to receive Christ. Christ set forth his apostles that they might proclaim the truth to the outermost parts of the world. So one thing we can take away from this is pretty simple. It's at the end.
Praise God the Father for the hope that is in Christ Jesus. Remember how he starts. Blessed be the God and Father. And so we need to praise God the Father for the work of the Son in redemption.
It is something that we could not have done. It is something that we could not have purchased. It was cosmic and only one who was eternal could purchase that for us. So praise be to God the Father for his wonderful work, his plan to save sinners in Christ Jesus.
Conclusion
Now in conclusion, As I said at the outset, there is redemption in Christ through atonement. There is redemption in Christ through this atonement. And as we looked at, we saw this purchasing from slavery. We saw this idea of redemption being revealed to us.
And then we saw this reconciliation in Christ, who is the center of all things. And we also have this reward in Christ Jesus as well. We have this reward in Christ Jesus that cannot perish. And so
Application
I'll close with reminders first for believers and then for unbelievers. Believers, as I've said already, we need to meditate on the gospel. We need to consider it, we need to think about it, we need to understand it, we need to stop sometimes in our busy schedules and meditate on this wonderful work. When we consider what slavery was, when we consider we were once this lifeless tool Ah, it's truly, truly wonderful that Christ paid that price, that Christ purchased us from that.
So we need to consider that and remember that as well. Secondly, we need to proclaim the Gospel. We need to proclaim this truth because it's something that must be shared. There are those that are in slavery, that are fighting, that want to...
I'm sure there are some that want to come out, and we need to proclaim that truth. to them, that some who are bound to it have sin and guilt and they don't know where to turn. They need to turn to the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So we need to proclaim that truth. And thirdly, we need to live in a manner consistent with this gospel.
As I said, Ephesians starts chapters 1 through 3, 1 through 3. is talking about the right doctrine or right salvation or how salvation works, things we need to know, and chapters 4 through 6 talk about how we must live in response to that. One man comments concerning this freedmen idea. He says, the freedmen owed the former master reverence and gratitude. And this freed man would sometimes work for a specified number of days a year, and even give a portion of his estate to this One who redeemed him.
Now, when it comes to sin, it was God who we sinned against. Yet, when we were enemies, He purchased us. When we were enemies, He purchased us from this slavery. And so we must live in reverence and gratitude for being purchased out of that slavery.
When we think about that slavery, where we were, oh, should we not respond in reverence and gratitude to the Lord God Most High for that salvation in Christ. And so remember we have aid from our new Master, from our new, the one we're supposed to serve, we have aid from the Holy Spirit to serve the Lord God Most High. Not perfectly, but certainly we must strive because He has paid a great price. He has paid a great price and we need to be awakened and soul-stirred.
Ryle says concerning right living. He says, watch, pray, and fight. Watch, pray, and fight, believers. We need to watch and pray and fight.
Now, unbelievers, this slave to sin leads to an eternal death. That's what the Apostle Paul says in the book of Romans. This slave to sin leads to this eternal death. Do you like being a slave to this sin?
Do you like being under this bondage to this tyrant? Why would you not believe on the One who has paid that price? Why would you not look to the Lord Christ and have faith in Him and believe on Him? Remember what Aristotle said about a slave.
It's a lifeless tool. You are dead in your trespasses and sins. You are dead in your works and you need to believe on this Christ. Do you like being lifeless?
Why would you not believe and have life? Why would you not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and have this redemption in Christ Jesus? For if you do not, you could go out and die today, and you will die in your bondage to sin. And you will face eternal punishment.
And you will remember the times your parents spoke the gospel to you. And you will remember the time it was proclaimed to you. You need to believe on this now. Believe on it now that you might not have eternal torment, not only in the mind, but physically as well.
Believe on Christ that you might not be saved, because you cannot pay your debt. Your debt is too large that as much as you want to try, you cannot fulfill that purchase price. Now believe on Christ and you shall be saved. Believe on Christ and you shall be saved.
Now blessed be the God and Father who has redeemed us, who has accomplished his work in the sun of redemption. Amen. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, Lord God. We thank you for the work of redemption in Christ Jesus. We thank you that you've saved sinners in Christ. You've redeemed us from the curse of the law.
You've purchased us from that slavery, Lord God, something that we cannot purchase ourselves. We thank you for it, Lord God. We thank you for that work of Christ, who paid the price. Father God, we pray that for believers here that we would consider this, we would meditate on this and understand this, and that we would live in a manner consistent, that we'd walk with reverence and gratitude to the one who has freed us.
We thank you for this, Lord God. And we pray that if there are unbelievers here today, Lord God, only you can save, Lord. We pray that you would save them. We pray that you'd convict them in their hearts, and that you would call them out of darkness into marvelous light to believe on the Lord Christ.
And Father God, may you forgive us of our sins as we sin, Lord God. We thank you for the work of Christ. We thank that he is that advocate. We thank that he is that propitiation and the one who has redeemed us.
May you be glorified in all things, Lord God. Amen.