Every spiritual blessing, Part 3
Ephesians 1v7-8a
We've been redeemed
29th January 2016
Paul begins his letter to the church in Ephesus by saying:
Ephesians 1v3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every
spiritual blessing in Christ.
And then he describes some of these spiritual blessings we've received. We looked at some of them last week, and we'll continue now.
Paul says:
Ephesians 1v7-8a
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
that he lavished on us.
The next spiritual blessing in Paul's list is: we've been redeemed.
When people are in debt, they sometimes take their possessions to the pawn shop, which gives them money and holds onto their goods for a period of time. If they want to get their goods back, they have to pay the pawn shop a sum of money - greater than the amount they borrowed. For them to do this is to redeem their property. In the ancient world, slaves could be bought and sold in the market place. A person could give a slave trader an amount of money to buy the slave. To do that is to redeem the slave. Jesus has redeemed us; He's paid the price to set us free from slavery to sin and death.
That redemption comes through his blood. The price paid to set us free from slavery to sin and death is the blood of Jesus Christ, shed for us on the cross. Nothing else is valuable enough to pay for what you and I have done wrong in our lives, but the blood of the Son of God is valuable enough.
This redemption from sin and death through the blood of Jesus Christ is the forgiveness of sins for us. God is just, and because Jesus has paid the price for our sins, God will never make us pay the price. We're forgiven for all the things we've ever done wrong - we're set free from sin, and from the eternal consequences of sin - we're restored in relationship with God for ever, and we will never die.
So here's another great spiritual blessing: our sins have been forgiven - all of them.
This forgiveness of our sins is not given grudgingly; it's given in accordance with the riches of God's grace. We don't have to plead for it; we only have to accept it gladly. If you want to live a godly life, and if you believe that Jesus died to pay the price for your sins, then God forgives you immediately, completely, willingly, for all the things you got wrong. You have only to accept His forgiveness, and you're set free, not only from sin and death but also from guilt.
Paul says God has lavished His grace upon us. God gives us His grace - His favour - extravagantly, generously, profusely. Has God got enough grace to forgive your sin? Yes! Has God got enough grace to adopt you as His child? Yes!
Praise be to God!