We all have come to church today to worship God. That is why it is called a worship service. It is our primary duty as saved people. The more we know God and what he has done, the more fervent our praise will be. Apostle Paul encourages us in worship by showing us the length and breadth of God’s salvation in Christ. Ephesians 1, like a New Testament psalm, shows us what God has done for us in the past, what he is doing in the present, and what he will do in the future.
This is a work of the Triune God. The Father elected us in the past. The Son redeems us. In the future, the Holy Spirit will bless us with an eternal inheritance. In verses 3-6, we saw the Father’s eternal election and predestination. Now, we come to the Son’s work in verses 7-12, and then the Holy Spirit’s work in verse 13. We should not think that these acts are solely independent, with each person of the Trinity acting on their own. We saw that election and predestination, though primarily done by the Father, were all done in Christ. We need to understand that all three are fully involved in our entire salvation, but each one takes up a primary work at different stages. It is as if all three are on the stage of our salvation. In election, the floodlight was on the Father, and now it moves to the Son, then to the Spirit.
The great question is, “Okay, God elected, predestined, and made great plans to make us holy and blameless before him, predestined us to adoption to the praise of the glory of his grace, and accepted us in the beloved. How did God plan to work that out? What was going to be His method to bring those elect people into the reality of all these blessings?” The method is called redemption.
Redemption is primarily the work of the Son. So in verse 7, there is this basic transition; the focus moves from the Father to the Son. After saying he accepted us in the Beloved, verse 7 states, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” This is such a rich verse. There are six thoughts in this verse, and the key word is “redemption.” We’ll cover three this week and three next week: the meaning of redemption, the conditions of redemption, and the means of redemption.
The Meaning of Redemption
As soon as you hear the word “redeem,” you might think of redeeming gold you’ve pledged in a loan or redeeming credit card reward points or phone coupons. If you are to offer heavenly praise like Paul, you must understand what the apostle had in mind when he used the word “redemption.” The apostle had a very lofty concept in his mind.
“Oh, the pastor is explaining words again, let us sleep.” I hope that as people of God standing for truth, none of us will be tired of understanding these wonderful Bible words. The terrible condition of Christianity in our generation is because of theological indifference, laziness, and carelessness with biblical words. The truth of God comes to us in words such as election, regeneration, justification, reconciliation, adoption, and sanctification. In 1 Corinthians 2:13, Paul says, “we speak…not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but in words which the Holy Ghost teaches.” We must be careful with how we treat the words of the Holy Ghost. All these words have a specific meaning. These distinct meanings reveal our spiritual condition.
You cannot give just any meaning to them. Someone said, “Words that can mean anything will soon mean nothing.” That’s why Paul told Timothy, “hold fast to the pattern of sound words.” Timothy, do not play fast and loose with the words of God, giving them irresponsible, uncontrolled, or imaginative meanings to suit your experience. God has spoken in words that convey distinct meanings. A lot of false teaching is caused by carelessly using God’s word and not carefully guarding the meaning of divine words. That is what we see today. In modern songs, the words “redemption,” “salvation,” and all these things are jumbled up in a meaningless way. So, if you want to guard your soul and help it grow in faith, take the time to learn the meaning of divine words and hold fast to those sound words. So, listen carefully as I explain the word “redemption,” and hold fast.
What is the meaning of the word “redemption”? If we have to understand it, we should not go to Webster’s or Oxford dictionary, but to the Bible. In the Old Testament, the Lord repeatedly said to the Israelites, “I redeemed you from the 400 years of Egyptian bondage by mighty works.” So, the first idea of redemption is releasing someone from terrible bondage. There is always a concept of redeeming by paying a price, purchasing something to make it yours. To highlight redemption by blood, he also made them put the blood of the Passover lamb on the lintel and doorposts of their homes.
In Exodus 12, the Lord says, “Because I redeemed you as my people, everything that opens the womb is mine, animal or child. Now, if you want it back, you must redeem it by the payment of a price.” That payment is called a ransom. So, to redeem means to free something from an obligation by paying a ransom. You cannot redeem anything without a ransom. First-century people living in the Roman Empire, as soon as they heard “redemption,” it brought to mind the common picture of a pathetic slave in the market. Someone comes, pays a price, purchases him, and then sets him free. Redemption meant release from bondage by the payment of a price.
The Conditions of Redemption
If you say, “in Him we have redemption,” people may say, “Who wants redemption? Go and tell some slaves. I am already free.” That is what the blind Pharisees told Jesus, who had never seen their hearts and realized their condition. We have to understand our condition by nature for us to understand redemption. If Paul praises God for a freedom obtained by the payment of a price, he clearly thinks of the condition of bondage he and the Ephesians were in by nature from which they were released. Unless you and I painfully, personally, and inwardly understand our bondage, you will never get thrilled over the truth of redemption. Only when we realize our slavery will you appreciate freedom.
What language can I use to explain our spiritual bondage? What examples can we use? British rule is nothing. The worst bondage in history is Egyptian bondage. Our spiritual bondage is a billion times worse than the bondage of Egypt. Like I showed in a sermon poster, we were bound by chains upon chains and made the worst slaves.
The first set of chains to which we become slaves is the bondage of the curse of the law. As God’s creatures created in his image, God wrote his law in our hearts. We were promised life in the covenant of works only if we kept the law personally, perfectly, and perpetually. “This do, and you shall live.” We failed to keep it from Adam, and the curse of the law fell upon all of us. It is that curse that not only brought all miseries in this life but also brings death and eternal hell. It intensifies more and more in our lifespan. All our thoughts, words, and conduct throughout our lives are carefully observed and measured by God according to his law. Not only every deviation or transgression from the law, but every failure to conform to the law, brings a curse upon us. So the first bondage is to the curse of the law. You and I, by nature, are in a state of bondage to the curse of the law.
This is a law that will never change and will never leave us until it punishes us for all our sins. What a terrible state to be in, in bondage to a law that cannot change. There is no way that we can say, “God, can you just relax your law?” No, “like me, my law is unchangeable. I, as a righteous God, will by no means clear the guilty.” The law demands perfect obedience or an eternal curse.
Let me ask each of you a question this morning: Have you ever seen yourself personally, inwardly, and genuinely before the demands of God’s law? “You shall not covet your wife or things, facilities, dress, or house.” “You shall not lie.” “Do not take a rupee of another person’s property.” “Do your work carefully in a way that you have enough to take care of your needs and help others.” “Lusting after another woman or man is adultery.” “Anger is murder.” “Children, honor your father and mother.” Every time you do not honor them, they have to tell you ten times to do something, insulting them, you break God’s law. Breaking the Sabbath, taking God’s name in vain, giving importance to other things than God as idols. Have you realized that God sees every thought, every motive, and every attitude of every moment of every day continually against his law? It is all recorded in two unerasable memory drives: one, your own conscience, and two, God’s heaven book.
Have you felt the haunting pressure of breaking God’s law in your conscience? Knowing that God will not relax one millimeter of its demands, he will punish you for breaking his law. Have you felt the curse of the law, the sense of God’s anger on your head? Have you ever felt yourself gripped and held with chains on one side by covetousness, on another side by lust, and on another by anger, feeling slavery to the curse of the law? You feel all these chains are dragging you into hell, making your life here itself into more and more hell. You are becoming worse and worse; your lust and anger in the coming years will make you like a monster.
Unless you have felt that, you have no understanding of the salvation experience, because that is the beginning of salvation. For anyone who has felt that bondage of chains gripping them, the word “redemption” is the most precious word. “I am redeemed! I am redeemed! Hallelujah! I am free! Oh, what a glorious liberty!”
If you are still thinking, “I am so good compared to so many bad people; everything will turn out all right,” my friend, you’re living in a state of absolute spiritual ignorance and self-deception. You don’t even realize the curse of that law is hanging upon your head. Okay, the first set of chains is the curse of the law.
Our second set of chains of bondage is sin, both its guilt and its power. The Bible says that you and I are in a state of genuine guilt, not just guilt feelings. Romans 3:19 states that all the world is guilty, not before its own conscience, but before God. It’s one thing to have guilt feelings, which may be purely psychological pain. It’s another thing to recognize that there’s a living, true God and judge to whom I am accountable, and he declares me guilty in the court of God. Like a prisoner waiting to be executed, I am waiting for his time to be executed. Very soon I will stand before him and audibly, publicly, and loudly hear the eternal sentence. Sin has brought me under eternal guilt before the eternal God.
If that is so, can I leave the sin? No, I cannot. I am not only a slave to its guilt, but I am a slave to the power of sin. Jesus said in John 8:34, “Whosoever commits sin is the bond slave of sin.” Romans 6:17, “we were the slaves of sin.” You and I know what it is to be under the power of sin. It is the worst bondage; 24 hours a day our life is nothing but obeying sin. Sin dictates, and we obey. Sin demands, and we run in its ways. It’s the picture of a master who snaps his fingers, and the servant comes and bows down and says, “Master, what do you have me to do?” Oh, it will not allow us rest, day and night—one sin or another lust, covetousness, anger, worries of the world. Oh, how many people have written about the bondage of our will to sin; totally depraved. No peace in the mind with 101 fearful thoughts, no peace in the heart with 101 emotions, no fixed will, but drawn in 101 directions.
We are not only slaves to the curse of the law and sin, but the third chain is that scripture teaches we’re in bondage to the devil. There is a personal spiritual being into whose hands men have sold themselves and whose captives they are. In chapter 2, Paul will state how he drives his slaves; “he works in the sons of disobedience.” The same word used for God working is used for Satan, too, as he works to will and to do of his good pleasure, inclining their wills, minds, and affections, and using our body organs to fulfill his lusts and bring shame and guilt to us. 2 Timothy 2:26 states it very graphically, where the apostle Paul says that they may “recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him unto his will.”
Oh, the horror of the unconverted state. Captive to the curse of the law, captive to sin, its guilt, its power, and captives of the devil. And what makes it triply worse? The scripture says that in that condition, in Romans 5, we are without strength.
What can we do to release ourselves from the captivating power of the law? Can we argue with God that we don’t like his law and he should change it? Can we somehow sweep away the curses? No. What can we do with the problem of our sin? Can we blot out the record that is against us? And in the place where the sentence is written “guilty,” can we put “not guilty”? We can’t do it. There’s no juggling the record books of heaven. There’s no hiding the evidences. What can we do with its power? The scripture asks the question, “Can the leopard change its spots?” “Neither then can we who are accustomed to do evil do that which is good.” We’re in captivity to sin, its guilt, its power, and we’re in captivity to the devil.
What worldly example can describe our condition by nature? Can I give a faint example? Imagine a poor person, under the sentence of death for terrible crimes, awaiting execution. Upon investigation, we find the fellow is not only in a prison awaiting execution, but he is blind. Upon further investigation, we find he does not have a penny to his name; he is a pauper. Upon further investigation, we find the poor fellow’s body is shot through with ten different kinds of uncurable diseases. And upon further investigation, we find the poor fellow is ignorant and illiterate. Wow, that is the height of suffering. You think you have problems? Look at this poor fellow. He is under the sentence of death, blind, ignorant, illiterate, poor, and diseased.
Now, think of all that needs to be done to make this fellow normal, to free him from capital punishment, blindness, ignorance, diseases, poverty, and illiteracy, and make him so honorable that he becomes the president of the country. Think of what all needs to be done. He needs a merciful pardoning judge who will release him from capital punishment. He needs the best doctor to deal with all his diseases. He needs a teacher to remove illiteracy and educate him. He needs a philanthropist to donate some money to his account. In the same way, God finds you and me bound in the prison house of law, sin, and Satan. And we are not only guilty but blind and poor and diseased and illiterate about holy things. And by a wonder of grace, this God has elected and predestined us to adoption as his own sons and heirs, to become presidents of his kingdom. The first work he does in redemption is releasing us from our bondage chains by paying a ransom.
To such people comes the glorious redemption of God. It exactly frees us from each of our bondages. Are we slaves to the curse of the law? See what redemption does. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.” Christ redeemed us. He released us from this horrible eternal curse of the law by the payment of a price. The whole of that curse, in its unrelieved intensity, was poured on him when He paid the price. He not only redeemed us from our transgression of the law but also from the lack of conformity to the law. By his perfect active obedience, he met all the demands of the law. We are released, and we are free from the curse of the law by his life and atoning, curse-removing sacrificial death. And when He hung upon that cross, He swallowed up its curse into Himself and fully met its demands so that I might be released from the curse of the law. And so we are redeemed from bondage to the law.
Secondly, He redeemed us from our bondage to sin. Listen as Paul describes what he did in redeeming us from the guilt of our sin. Titus 2:14, “who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity.” Romans 3:24 says, “we are justified freely by His grace…through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Not only the curse of the law and sin, but thirdly, even from Satan. Hebrews 2:14-15 says, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Deliverance from the devil finds its expression in being delivered from the fear of death.
When we are seeing the condition of redemption, we were slaves to the curse of the law, sin, and the devil. Redemption delivered us from that. We know and enjoy redemption now. He doesn’t say, “some day we will be redeemed” or “being redeemed.” “In Him, we have redemption.” It is our current possession and experience. Knowing that should fill us with joy and gratitude and love for Christ.
The Means of Redemption
Redeeming means to secure release by the payment of a ransom. We said redemption can only happen by payment of a ransom price. What was the payment that was paid to redeem you and me? Notice the verse. Paul says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood.” Again, words are so important. There’s a lot of careless use of the phrase “blood of Christ” and “victory in the blood of Christ” on scooters and lorries. What does this term mean? It’s the blood of the beloved one, and the blood means nothing less than the life poured out as a willing sacrifice to God on behalf of sin. When you read “the blood of Christ,” it’s not simply speaking as a synonym for the life of Christ, but it’s the life poured out willingly, without the slightest hesitation, joyfully as a sacrifice to God. That is the nerve of the true gospel. The ransom price is nothing less than the blood of the beloved one.
Paul here uses the word “blood” to point us back to the Old Testament sacrificial system. Those animal sacrifices pointed ahead to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who by His death redeemed all God’s people whom he elected. Do we have any idea of the value of that blood? It is the blood of the beloved. This is the most expensive price even the eternal God can ever give. That precious payment was made to redeem us.
Hebrews 9:11 says, “Christ having come a high priest of good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, his life poured forth as a sacrifice to God, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption.”
See how the eternal plan was executed in redemption: The Father elected and predestined and accepted us in the Beloved and united us eternally to him. That beloved came with his people on his heart. As he walked upon earth, his obedience was reckoned as their obedience for their justification, and when he suffered and poured himself out as a sacrifice, he offered it as a complete atonement for the sins of those who were in him. He obtained eternal redemption for them by his life and death. He went back into the presence of the Father. After sending his Spirit, he now, through his Spirit and unceasing intercession, applies his redemption to his people by effectually calling them, regenerating, converting, giving them the grace of faith and repentance, justifying, adopting, sanctifying, persevering all their lives, and then finally glorifying them. All of those blessings are blessings of redemption. They are the blessings that flow out of his work of purchasing our freedom and release by the payment of a ransom price.
So, we have seen the meaning of redemption, the conditions of redemption, and the means of redemption. Next week, we will see the central blessing of redemption, the measure of redemption, and the sphere of this redemption experience.
Application
Oh, dear person sitting here this morning who is not in Christ, you have no redemption outside of him. The text begins with the words, “in whom we have redemption.” And if you’re not in Christ, you have no redemption. Today morning, you are a slave to the curse of the law, and that curse is slowly breaking on your head, more and more as you get older. You can live in a dream world saying, “there is no God, no law.” Your conscience will bear witness to what I am saying. You are a slave to sin, guilt, and power, and it will increase more and more. Sin has an unstoppable hardening effect. The more you go on in a sinful way, the more you will be hardened and unable to turn. “Oh, what sin? I am so decent.” You know what the greatest sin the Bible says is? The sin of unbelief. Daily, you are committing the greatest sin. If you go on in that sin, that sin hardens you, and you will never be able to believe in Christ and be saved.
You are a slave to Satan. You will only do what he tells you. You will never come to God. “Ah, I don’t believe in the devil.” That very confession is evidence that you’re a slave to the devil. That is the first thing he makes people believe. The best way to keep you in his clutches is to convince you he doesn’t exist. The best way to keep a people in political slavery is to try to convince them they have freedom. That’s what goes on in many totalitarian countries. They don’t know what freedom is. And if they don’t know what freedom is, they’ll never seek it. In the same way, you don’t know what freedom from the curse of the law, sin, and the devil is. And the devil’s convinced you that you have so-called freedom. The God of this world blinds your mind to the glory of Christ. That’s why week after week we preach the glory of Christ, his love, his work for you on the cross, and his salvation. Nothing touches your heart; your heart doesn’t run out in love and affection for him. This same devil will harden and harden, and his final plan is to drag you into eternal hell with him. May God open your eyes today. Believe in Jesus Christ. In him, you have redemption by his blood. You have freedom from all of this.
As believers: There are biblical implications to the truth of redemption. In this passage itself, we are called to bless God for redemption. May we pause and meditate and drink in the biblical concept of what it means to be redeemed until we cry out with the Apostle Paul, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who accepted us in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood.” May we meditate on this term “redemption,” and may our hearts be so filled with a sense of the grandeur and the magnitude of that freedom and release by the payment of that price that we will not only be filled with praise but also filled with confidence that if he obtained eternal redemption through his blood, that redemption covers the totality of my deliverance from all the effects of the fall and sin.
This beloved, He ever lives to intercede and apply all that he purchased by his blood, that full redemption in the life, heart, body, soul, and every atom of my being, and to save me to the utmost, until I become like him. As a guarantee of that, in Ephesians 4, we have been “sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption.” There is a day of redemption coming when my heart, soul, body, and mind, every atom of my being, will be redeemed. That is why Paul could say, “we wait for the redemption of our bodies.” Even when I hear about the sufferings of Deepa, Vasudevan, or Pastor Bala’s shoulder surgery—how painful it is that we cannot do anything—sometimes we are in a dilemma: “Go to the hospital? Their procedures increase the pain. Stay home? It’s getting worse. What do we do?” But what comfort that he will redeem this body of sin and make it a glorious body like his. May God give us a great appreciation for this aspect of redemption and move us to praise and obedience to him and cause us to live as the purchased property of the Son of God. Understanding the immense cost of our redemption should fill our hearts with deep gratitude and inspire us to worship God with our whole lives.
Secondly, when we realize how extremely valuable we are to Christ and God, individually and as the church of God, purchased by the most precious price, there are three main implications of being purchased with a costly price.
1. We have to live our life in fear and responsibly. 1 Peter 1:17-19 says, “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” “I am free, redeemed. I can do anything.” No! Living in fear means not taking God for granted, not having casualness or presumption, and not treating our salvation lightly. The same Father who redeemed us, as an impartial judge, will evaluate our lives to see if we are showing the fruits of salvation. We were not bought back from our “aimless conduct” (the futile, empty way of life inherited from tradition). We should consciously turn away from the empty pursuits and traditions of the world that lack eternal significance. Our lives should be marked by a higher purpose to glorify God. Our lives should reflect the preciousness of the blood that bought us. This means striving for holiness and living in a way that honors Christ’s sacrifice. We shouldn’t cheapen His death by living carelessly or returning to our former aimless ways. Your time is a temporary stay; we should live with an eternal perspective. Our priorities should be focused on things that have lasting value in God’s kingdom, not on being overly attached to its fleeting pleasures and values.
2. We have to live to glorify God in our body and soul. 1 Corinthians 7:23 says, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” Writing to the Corinthians, who were involved in sexual sins and living as they wanted, Paul rebukes them with these words. Our lives are not our own to live as we please. Our bodies are not our own to do what we please. God has purchased us at the highest possible price—the precious blood of His Son. Live with a sense of accountability to God in all we do. We should seek His will and live to please Him, not ourselves or the world. This impacts our choices about time, resources, talents, and priorities. This freedom calls us to live differently. We should actively resist sin and its temptations, knowing that a very expensive price has been paid for our freedom. Don’t abuse that freedom. We should seek holiness, not out of obligation but out of gratitude for our liberation. This requires a conscious effort to grow in Christ-likeness. We should strive to live lives that honor God and are distinct from the patterns of the world.
3. As a church, we need to learn to see the church as God sees it. The church was purchased by his blood. In Acts, the same Paul told the same Ephesian elders, encouraging them to jealously care for the church, feed the church, and guard the purity of doctrine. He uses this concept that is most precious to him, and he speaks of the church of God, “which was purchased by his blood.” You see what an effect this would have on true elders? How can they be careless in the work of Christ’s church? The church is God’s great treasure possession, purchased with the payment of a most precious ransom price even to God. This shows the supreme value God places on His Church, and the depth of His love and commitment to His people. The Church is not a human institution or the possession of any individual or group within it. It is divinely owned by God Himself. We should treat the Church and its members with the utmost respect and care. We ought to invest our time, talents, and resources generously in its well-being and growth. Disregarding or mistreating the Church is akin to devaluing the blood of Christ.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 