Sunday, October 4, 2015

Today´s Sermon Notes



2015.10.04                               Ephesians 1: 3-10  
                                   Part 2
                       Redemption is In Christ
Last week we began the letter to the Ephesians…. Last Sunday one of the brothers came up to me and said slow down… You see… the last time I taught on Ephesians was 5 or 6 years ago… We went through rather quickly that time… And my brother is right….
This is an awesome portion of the Word of God…
 We should try to harvest everything that we can as we get to know our Great God and Savoir the Lord Jesus Christ… And so we're looking at the first part of chapter 1 again this morning…. We will focus on verses 3 to 10…. We will be looking at the theme of redemption…
The very important concept of redemption is central to Christianity… And it is the theme of the wonderful text that we will look at this morning…  
Paul is teaching that the church is the body of Christ  We should be doing exactly what Jesus did when He walked through the world when He was here…   And that's what the book of Ephesians is saying….
Paul is teaching about how it should function in practical terms... Let´s read Ephesians 1 v3-6…

Ephesians 1: 3- 6       NKJV
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1: 3-6       slt 2000
3 Gepriesen sei der Gott und Vater unseres Herrn Jesus Christus, der uns gesegnet hat mit jedem geistlichen Segen in den himmlischen [Regionen] in Christus,
4 wie er uns in ihm auserwählt hat vor Grundlegung der Welt, damit wir heilig und tadellos vor ihm2 seien in Liebe.
5 Er hat uns vorherbestimmt zur Sohnschaft für sich selbst durch Jesus Christus, nach dem Wohlgefallen seines Willens,
6 zum Lob der Herrlichkeit seiner Gnade, mit der er uns begnadigt hat in dem Geliebten.
The first amazing truth about redemption is that it was planned before the foundation of the world…  
v4… "He's chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world." And so we can say that verses 3 to 14 are a glimpse at the eternal plan of God…. in forming the church…The key word is election…. God the Father chose us from before the foundations of the world…. He chose us in Him… And it says in v5 that …
v5… He predestined us to adoption…. 
God´s predetermined plan is built on God's election… He adopted us into His family…  He did it in order that we might inherit all things…
These are the elements… 1 God chose… 2 God Redeemed and adopted us…  and 3 He promised us an ultimate inheritance…
Last week we discussed  election and  that we have been chosen by God in His own sovereign will… We see clearly that this redemption was His choice… totally apart from us… We had nothing to do with it…
Redemption…
This is a great subject… Ephesians wonderfully explains it…  Another place to study redemption is the Book of Romans… Specifically Romans ch3 - 8…. But here in the first 2 chapters of Ephesians we get a wonderful Readers Digest Version…  In both of these places we see the big picture of redemption….  What it is and what it means to us…
Redemption is an act of God by which He Himself pays as a ransom… the price for our sin and rebellion…  Basically it is  deliverance from sin and from the penalty of sin… by the payment of a price… Now 4 Greek words  are used translate the  concept of redemption…. The first 2 are agorazo and  exagorazoagorazo simply means marketplace… Exagorazo means is to buy out of the marketplace...
The other words are perhaps even stronger… lutroo… and apolutrosis… which we usually translate as redemption…. It means to pay a price to free somebody from bondage… Perfect…
The scripture is clear we are lost in sin and pride and rebellion…. We are slaves to sin…  Verse 7 tells us…  "In whom we have apolutrosis." In whom we have “redemption”… or “the purchase which sets us free”…
In Romans ch 6… v23..  Paul tells us that the wages of sin is death…
That´s Bad news…We have all sinned… We all stand condemned by our own sin and rebellion…  Without the Lord Jesus as redeemer we are all dead men walking…  But the good news of the Gospel is that Jesus redeemed us….
What does that mean to us? It means that Jesus paid the penalty… The price for our sins…
He did this to make freedom available to everyone who is willing to repent and cry out to Him for forgiveness and mercy…    That's the whole point of redemption...  It was the Fathers plan and Jesus paid the price to set us free… turn to Galatians 1…v4…
Galatians 1: 4,5                NLT
4 Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. 5 All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
4 Er hat sich selbst für uns geopfert und ist nach dem Willen Gottes, unseres Vaters, für unsere Sünden gestorben, um uns aus dieser bösen Welt, in der wir leben, zu retten.
5 Dafür loben und ehren wir ihn in alle Ewigkeit. Amen.
Jesus gave his life… Just as the Father planned… In order to rescue us from this present evil world… All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
Turn to Colossians 1..v13..
Colossians 1: 13,14    NLT   Neues leben
13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
13 Denn er hat uns aus der Macht der Finsternis gerettet und in das Reich des geliebten Sohnes versetzt.
14 Gott hat unsere Freiheit mit seinem Blut2 teuer erkauft und uns alle unsere Schuld vergeben.  
We can already see that there are several parts or aspects to our redemption… I think that it is helpful to look at these ideas from the greek words that are used in Paul´s writings…
Biblical aspects of redemption and salvation…
1 dikaiosis… It means acquittal in the court…. It is used when somebody was acquitted of a crime…
In the Bible it is used for when somebody is justified…. In justification the sinner stands before God accused but he is declared righteous….
2 aphesis… to cancel a debt... We translate it in the Bible, as forgiveness… the sinner stands before God as a debtor and receives a cancellation of his debt… He is forgiven…
3 huiothesia… It means in the Greek world – adoption... The sinner stands before God as a foreigner and a stranger… but he is made a son.... Becoming a son of God…
4 katallasso…   means reconciliation…
In reconciliation the sinner stands before God as an enemy but he is made friend….
5  apolutrosisit means to redeem… to purchase… to set free…. And in the Bible… it is translated redemption… In redemption the sinner stands before God as a slave… and he receives his unconditional freedom
Redemption… The wondrous miracle of salvation includes all of these things… justification, forgiveness, adoption, reconciliation and redemption… They are all are provided to us because Jesus paid the price… Is this sinking in?
We are accused and condemned to die… but He bore our punishment so we can be set free… We are debtors…  Jesus paid our debt….
We are strangers but Jesus is the Beloved Son… And in Him…  and we  adopted sons and daughters…
We are enemies of God..  but now in Jesus we can become friends of God….
We are slaves to sin…. but He has permanently purchased our freedom…
All of these ideas are different aspects  of the doctrine of salvation… Redemption is just one way to view the meaning of salvation….
Now let's look at this as it unfolds in our text.  First of all we need a redeemer….
look  at verse 6…
v6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved…
This is a great verse… Let´s praise God for His grace….  we could translate it this way.. .   Because of God´s grace we have been pursued with grace… and we are accepted in Jesus the beloved one… God has poured grace out on us in unlimited measures…
The Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for our sin and rebellion… He bought us out of bondage to sin and the penalty of sin…. Death… Then He made us all one in Him… So that we could represent Him in this lost and dying world… He is the redeemer…. And there's no other redeemer… We as believers become the redeemed of God… look at the next few verse…
ch1 v7,8…
Ephesians 1: 7,8                     NKJV   slt 2000
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
7 In ihm haben wir die Erlösung durch sein Blut, die Vergebung der Übertretungen nach dem Reichtum seiner Gnade,
8 die er uns überströmend widerfahren ließ in aller Weisheit und Einsicht.
Not only do we see the redeemer in these verse but we also see the redeemed… Who are the redeemed? It's the us and the we…. The us of verse 6 and the we of verse 7…. He has made Us accepted… And so In Him we have redemption….
Let´s look closer at the redeemed...Who are the redeemed…. All of the really special people?.. you know the really nice people…. The good people…? Who are the redeemed?.. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1… here's the us and the we….
Ephesians 2: 1                 NKJV  slt 2000
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
1 — auch euch, die ihr tot wart durch Übertretungen und Sünden,
2 in denen ihr einst gelebt habt nach dem Lauf dieser Welt, gemäß dem Fürsten, der in der Luft herrscht, dem Geist, der jetzt in den Söhnen des Ungehorsams wirkt;
3 unter ihnen führten auch wir alle einst unser Leben in den Begierden unseres Fleisches, indem wir den Willen des Fleisches und der Gedanken taten; und wir waren von Natur Kinder des Zorns, wie auch die anderen.
v1…" And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins… And you “plural”… all of the redeemed… That's the us and  the we from chapter 1…
We are now alive even though we were dead in sin…  We were rotten sinners… There is some more about us in v2 and 3…
v2… as sinners and rebels to the law of God… we walked after the world…
the us, the we… The you all Plural… all of us were dead… dead in trespasses and sin… walking according to the course of the world… Chasing the world and all that it offers…  children of disobedience…
v3…among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others… We were totally lost and full of sin and rebellion…. That's the us, the we and the you…
Jesus said, "I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance… Luke 5:32… Sinners that´s us… We are the ones that He has redeemed…
Eph 2…v4…Reminds us again of God´s divine intervention… Let´s look at verse 4…
Ephesians 2:4                       NKJV   slt 2000
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us
4 Gott aber, der reich ist an Erbarmen, hat um seiner großen Liebe willen, mit der er uns geliebt hat,
But God…  What unbelievable grace and mercy… This is great Theology… The practical implications of it are very important…
How thankful we should be for our forgiveness… How forgiving we should be to others… What? you refuse to forgive brother or sister so and so?
Shame dich… Jesus said that if we refuse to forgive we will not be forgiven…Matt. 6:15…
How patient the Lord has been with us… How patient we should be with each other…
So far we have seen Jesus our redeemer… And we have seen the redeemed…. Sinners everyone…. But sinners who have been saved by grace…
Now let´s look at the redemptive price…
Let´s go back to ch 1… verse7… the redemptive price….
Ephesians 1: 7,8                     NKJV   slt 2000
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
7 In ihm haben wir die Erlösung durch sein Blut, die Vergebung der Übertretungen nach dem Reichtum seiner Gnade,
8 die er uns überströmend widerfahren ließ in aller Weisheit und Einsicht.
v7… In him we have redemption through His blood... That was the price… How did it happen? What was the price to buy us out of the slave market of sin? What was the price to take us back and set us free from the certain just reward for our sin and rebellion…. Death… ? How was that bondage broken? How was that price paid?
The price was death… somebody had to die… And Jesus did…
This is simply a way of saying that He poured out His life… Speaking of a sacrificial, substitutionary death for sin…  
The Bible says that Jesus gave His blood…. It also says He gave His life…. In another…  He gave Himself… Jesus Himself says…. No man takes my life from me…. I lay it down…
It all means the same thing... He died for us… He took our place… He was our substitute… We should have died for our own sins…  That would be pure justice… but God's justice is mingled with His mercy….  
And so… God Himself provided a substitute… And the substitute was Jesus...  It was he standing in our place…. To receive our righteous punishment that brought about our redemption… We see this idea of substitution in every OT sacrifice…
The blood of bulls and goats did not wipe away the sins of the people… They were temporary… They were a picture of the coming once for all sacrifice by Jesus on the cross… In Hebrews we read this…
Hebrews 10:14     NKJV   slt 2000
14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
14 Denn mit einem einzigen Opfer hat er die für immer vollendet, welche geheiligt werden.
Think about that… perfected forever… Our position in Christ is forever perfect… and yet… we are still  being sanctified…
What does it mean to be redeemed? What are the results?
Paul presents two kinds of results... First … the forgiveness of all our sins… verse 7…
v7… the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace… forgiveness… What a wonderful  word…   That's the awesome result of the cross… Forgiveness!
Israel recently celebrated the Day of Atonement… Yom Kippur… the day of national forgiveness for sin…
There were two goats used… The blood of one goat was sprinkled on the altar… The priest went up to the other goat and tired a Scarlett thread on his horn… And then he put his hands on that goat's head… and he confessed the people's sins on the head of that goat… And that goat was then taken outside of the camp…  and sent into the wilderness where it could never find its way back again… it symbolized the taking of sin and sending it away where it would never ever be seen again… My friends…  that is exactly the word used here for forgiveness... It is the Greek word aphiemi which means to send away… never to return again…. Our sins have been sent away never to return…. Isn't that awesome?
What a lesson for us… God has sent way our sins forever… In another place he says the he will remember them no more…
Here is another practical lesson for us… We need to let this sink into our stubborn hearts…. Because of Jesus… We have been forgiven everything…. And yet we often refuse to forgive each other… If we do forgive them… Sometimes that old goat comes in the back door of our hearts… and we are angry all over again… You´ll never change… You don´t deserve to be forgiven… And it´s true… But then again… None of us ever derrve to be forgiven… Or we say… ok… I forgive you but I cannot forget what you did….
Brothers and sisters…. Let´s forgive each other from our hearts….. Don´t let that old goat get in the back door of your hearts…. It is poison…
Now listen…. Remember where we are as we read these verses…  all of this was happening in the mind of God before the world began… Your sins and mine were already in God's mind totally forgiven before the world was ever created…  
He forgave you of all of your sins…. Past present and future…. And all of them were forgiven before we were born…. What a miracle…
David understood this…. He understood it before the cross… Look with me in Psalm 103
Psalm 103:12                  NKJV    slt 2000
12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
12 so fern der Osten ist vom Westen, hat er unsere Übertretungen von uns entfernt.
That´s far… As far as God is concerned…. Our sins are never coming back…. Not ever…
Let me show you another promise…  from the O. T.… turn to Isaiah 44:22…
Isaiah 44: 22        NKJV   slt 2000
22 I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, And like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”
22 Ich tilge deine Übertretungen wie einen Nebel und deine Sünden wie eine Wolke. Kehre um zu mir, denn ich habe dich erlöst!
In this wonderful word Redemption… Erlösung…    is total forever forgiveness… Our sins are blotted out… forgotten… removed… sent away… All because as genuine believers… we are in Christ…
Are you in Christ this morning? You say… no I have never repented of my sins and cried out to God for mercy…..
Well the Bible is clear… today is the day… Repent today and your sins will be blotted out…   You can be free from sin and guilt…. You can have your sins forgiven forever…
Oh… What a great God!... What a Redeemer…! One more from the O.T… Micah 7..v18..
Micah 7: 18,19                      NKJV   slt 2000
18 Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy.
19 He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.
18 Wer ist ein Gott wie du, der die Sünde vergibt und dem Überrest seines Erbteils die Übertretung erläßt, der seinen Zorn nicht allezeit festhält, sondern Lust an der Gnade hat?
19 Er wird sich wieder über uns erbarmen, unsere Missetaten bezwingen. Ja, du wirst alle ihre Sünden in die Tiefe des Meeres werfen!
These verses make clear the wonderful truth that although God Hates our sin and rebellion…. He has passed over… v18…  and subdued our sins… v19… All because he delights to show mercy…
Again… All of this in the mind of God before the world began…. Our redemption was already done…
When Jesus comes into our lives… He says to us what He said to that terrible scared woman who was caught in the act of adultery… "Woman, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more… Paul reminds us over and over in His letters that all of this good news is because we are in Christ… turn to Romans 8 v1…
Romans 8: 1,2    NKJV   slt 2000
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
1 Also gibt es jetzt für die, die zu Christus Jesus gehören, keine Verurteilung mehr.
2 Denn die Macht des Geistes, der Leben gibt, hat dich durch Christus Jesus von der Macht der Sünde befreit, die zum Tod führt.
It´s all God´s grace and mercy because we are In Christ… We belong to Him… we don't deserve it... We have been forgiven…  
Today in our Culture… Humanists and  Psychiatrists come along and tell us that we can't be blamed for our sins...
We are the victim of genes or circumstances…  or mothers or fathers or whatever…. Oh my.. my… It's not your fault... But what does the gospel do? It walks up and says - Hey you…. you're guilty…. It´s  not anybody else…It´s just your fault….   you are a sinner… You need a Savior… When we repent and cry out for mercy we find ourselves forgiven… Set free…
You say - That means because of Jesus… God accepts me as I am... That's right, God accepts you just as you are...  There are no second class Christians... We're all in Christ… All totally forgiven...
Unfortunately… Some of you are so “spiritual”…  That you refuse to forgive yourself… I want you to listen carefully now… If you can't forgive yourself you are saying that you have a higher standard than God Himself… That ain´t right… That´s wrong…  Since He accepts me as I am… I can also accept me… Because of Jesus… We are forgiven forever…
That is the first thing we receive in our redemption… Forgiveness and all that that means for us… But there is more… Back to Eph 1… Look at verses 7,8 again….
Redemption
1 Forgiveness
2 Wisdom and prudence
The second one is wisdom and prudence…
v7,8... the riches of His grace… "In which He's abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence."
We also receive wisdom and prudence from the LORD because we are in Christ Jesus…
We need wisdom and prudence to walk in this new life...   He gives us these things also as part of His plan… Let me clarify these words…. Grace Abounded… to overflow… run over the top…
The first word… wisdom… In Greek is sophia… it has to do with wisdom in eternal things like life and death and God and man and sin and eternity and time...  
But the second word is prudence…   phronesis in the Greek… and it means insight and understanding in ordinary things… day to day living…
As Christians we not only have forgiveness… God gives us the ability to understand Him and to walk in this world on a day to day basis…. You could translate these words as Wisdom and insight…. We receive not only  great theological truth…. We understand that we are seated in the heavenlies in Christ
More and more we learn how to walk this Christian life out… As we study His Word… We know how to live our Christian lives….
So by means of His wonderful abounding grace… He forgives our sin…. And then He gives us the spiritual principles we need for living in messed up world like ours….
He gives us Spiritual discernment as we study his Word… Our Redemption includes Wisdom as we walk in this world… He Prepares the way for us as we move toward eternity with the Lord Who has redeemed us… God has taken us into His confidence and showed us His marvelous plan...
Close
The whole point of these letter´s is to build up and disciple the believers with strong meat…. Solid Theology…. Theology not just to fill our heads with knowledge…… But Theology as a foundation for our Christian walk… A solid path with the way paved by the Lord Himself…. It is not based on the jello… wackelpudding of emotions or feelings or intuition….
It is not based on some new revelation from recently anointed Super Apostles and 21st century Prophets… No…  It is based on the Word of God… It is based on His promises…
Paul is showing us that we do not belong to this world… We are seated in heavenly places… He goes on in this letter to teach us how to walk in this world…  I want to read a few final verses from Ephesians… A sneak peak of the coming teachings in this book… Please turn to Eph 5…v1…
Ephesians 5: 1-7                   NKJV 
1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them. 1 Gibt es nun [bei euch] Ermahnung in Christus, gibt es Zuspruch der Liebe, gibt es Gemeinschaft des Geistes, gibt es Herzlichkeit und Erbarmen,
Ephesians 5: 1-7                     slt 2000
1 Werdet nun Gottes Nachahmer als geliebte Kinder
2 und wandelt in der Liebe, gleichwie auch Christus uns geliebt und sich selbst für uns gegeben hat als Darbringung und Schlachtopfer, zu einem lieblichen Geruch für Gott.
3 Unzucht aber und alle Unreinheit oder Habsucht soll nicht einmal bei euch erwähnt werden, wie es Heiligen geziemt;
4 auch nicht Schändlichkeit und albernes Geschwätz oder Witzeleien, die sich nicht gehören, sondern vielmehr Danksagung.
5 Denn das sollt ihr wissen, daß kein Unzüchtiger oder Unreiner oder Habsüchtiger (der ein Götzendiener ist), ein Erbteil hat im Reich des Christus und Gottes.
6 Laßt euch von niemand mit leeren Worten verführen! Denn um dieser Dinge willen kommt der Zorn Gottes über die Söhne des Ungehorsams.
7 So werdet nun nicht ihre Mitteilhaber!
Are you redeemed? If you are… I hope you're thankful... God has given us everything we need in Christ Jesus… He planned it in the past… He worked it out in the present… So that we can experience the fullness of joy in His presence forever… And it's all ours through faith in Jesus Christ…. Anybody who comes to Jesus Christ receives this gift of redemption… That's the gift we offer to you this morning… Let's pray.

No comments:

Post a Comment