VanRyn, Elliot: Month Of Meetings-1988-07 ~ Eph 1:3

Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. And we will begin our reading with verse three. Ephesians one and verse three. uh Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, the placing of a son by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. He hath blessed us, says the apostle, with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. And then he proceeds to name seven spiritual blessings. The central one of the seven is the one of which I wish to speak tonight. And it is around this central one that all the other six revolve, and on which they depend. In the seventh verse, he says, in whom, that is in Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. First of all, he says, we have redemption through his blood. And this immediately tells us, who have trusted Christ, that we have been bought with a price, and that we no longer belong to ourselves, but we belong to him who bought and paid for us with his own precious blood. The church writes or speaks the apostle to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter twenty. He refers to the church which he hath purchased with his own blood. You know, the blood of Christ cleanses us, the Bible says, from all our sin. But it not only cleanses us, it is as that which has claimed us. So when we think of redemption, we think first of all of ownership. Ownership. It's interesting that each of the epistle writers of the New Testament refers to himself as a bond slave of Jesus Christ. You're not your own, writes the apostle. You have been bought with a price, and on every child of God, there is this price tag, a brother or a sister for whom Christ died. We have been bought with a price. Speaking to Israel in the Old Testament, God said of those his nominal people, they were stupider than the dumb animals. In the first chapter of Isaiah, and verse three, he says, the ox knows his owner. The ox knows his owner, and the ass is master's friend, but my people Israel does not know. They do not consider. They didn't know who their owner was. They didn't know who they belonged to. Why, even Balaam's jackass was smarter than Balaam. Balaam didn't recognize the claims of God upon his life, and he went about doing his own thing. But that dumb ass speaking to the prophet said, am I not thine ass? He knew who his owner was. Balaam didn't know who his owner was. We have redemption through his blood, and that speaks to us of sanctification. For those who have been bought and paid for by the precious blood of Christ have been set aside as his people. We have redemption through his blood. Peter, referring to the apostates, those who actually turned away from the Lord, said of them, they deny the Lord that bought them. They've been bought and paid for, but they don't have enough sense to recognize their owner. Denying the Lord that bought them. Redemption through his blood. Secondly, he says we have the forgiveness of sins, and this refers to the past. The Bible says God requires that which is past. We are held accountable for our lives. Every man shall give account of himself to God. But when we think of the subject of forgiveness of sins, we think of fellowship. You say, how do you think of fellowship? Well, the Bible says, how can two walk together except they be agreed? We read of Enoch in the Old Testament. Enoch walked with God, and the fact that he walked with God suggests there was agreement. For how can two walk together except they be agreed? God cannot walk and talk with a sinner in his sins because the Bible says, thy sins and thy iniquities have separated between thee and thy God. There's a barrier, and until sin is put away, there is no chance whatever that a guilty sinner can walk in fellowship with God. It's interesting when the apostle takes up the subject of the gospel in the book of Romans, he takes up first the question of sin. He shows how that the sinner, the Jew, as well as the Gentile, have all been brought in guilty before God, and there's no opportunity for fellowship with God because of that. He says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's the condition of the sinner, but then he goes on to say this, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. To the one who has trusted Christ as Savior, God declares that all of his sins have been forever put away, and now he can walk in fellowship with God. When the question of sins has been put away and sins have been forgiven, we stand before God clean. Every wit we recognize that the Lord Jesus bore our sins in his own body on the tree. But there is a barrier between God and man, and I love that announcement that Paul makes in second Corinthians five and verse nineteen when he says this: God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and that's the only way a man can be reconciled to God, is when the question of sin has been dealt with, and then we know what it is, not sanctification being set apart for God, but justification being declared righteous in the presence of a holy God. Being justified by faith, we read, we have peace with God. The sinner and God can walk hand in. We sing sometimes, by thee, O God, invited. We look unto thy son, unto the son in whom thy soul delighted, who all thy will hath done. And by the one chief treasure thy bosom freely gave, thine own pure love we measure, thy willing mind to save. O God of mercy. Father, the one unchanging claim, the brightest hopes we gather from Christ's most precious name. What always sounds so sweetly in thine unwearied ear has freed our souls completely from all our sinful fear. The trembling sinner feareth that God can ne'er forget. But Christ's full payment cleareth his memory of all debt. When naught besides could free us or set our souls at large, thy holy work, Lord Jesus, secured a full discharge. No wrath God's heart retaineth to us were to believe. No dread in ours remaineth as we his love receive. Returning sons he kisses, and with his robe and vest, his perfect love dismisses all terror from our breasts. It's meet that we should make merry and be glad. This my son was dead, he's alive again. He was lost and is found, and he's restored to fellowship with his father. Such is the way God deals with every sinner who trusts Christ as Savior. To such come the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven. I wonder if you know the joy of God's forgiveness. Ah, says the psalmist, blessed is he, most happy is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. All my sins, so great, so many, forever put away. That deals with the past, and I think there is an implication in the next statement that has to do with the future. It says that all of this is according to the riches of his grace. And God's riches not only apply to this life, they reach beyond this life, for it says in Ephesians two and verse seven that in the ages to come, he is going to show to us the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. And, says the psalmist, the Lord will give grace and glory. And those two go together, for as Peter puts it, the God of all grace has called us to his eternal glory. Yes, there's a complete salvation provided in Lord Jesus. For the past, forgiveness of sins. Now we have fellowship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Sanctification from the power of sin. We've been bought with a price set apart for him. Redeemed, no longer our own, we belong to him. And, says the apostle, we thus judge that if one died for all, and all of us have died, that we which live should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again. And he looks on to the future. We sing in one of our lovely hymns. We were singing a hymn this morning, chorus in Sunday school, completed hymn. Another hymn puts it this way. Yea, justified, sins forgiven, oh blessed thought, and sanctified, we belong to him, salvation wrought. Thy blood hath pardon bought for me, and glorified I too shall be. The past, the present, and the future, all provided for in our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to think with you of these three this evening. First of all, we have suggested in the Word of God the absolute necessity of the question of sin being dealt with before God can have anything whatever to do with us. I wonder if you have dealt with this question in relation to what God has to say concerning it. Do you know the blessedness of knowing on the authority of God's word that your sins are forgiven you? It was this that thrilled the soul of that man who lost his three children. His wife had escaped. He took a trip over to Europe to find the very spot he asked the man to waken him when they came to the area where his children had perished. There he wrote a lovely hymn that we sing, but one of the verses goes like this: My sin, all the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole, it's nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. In type, God took up the question of sin in the Old Testament. But when we turn to the Epistle of Hebrews, we read that they offered oftentimes the same sacrifices which could never put away sin. Each year there was just a remembrance of sin made on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. That's what it means, the Day of Atonement. The word atonement means to cover. The sins were covered up every year, but then they were uncovered year after year after year, and nothing was really settled in relation to the sin question. There was just a remembrance. Ah, it says there were many priests who were not suffered to continue by reason of death, and they offered oftentimes the same monotonous sacrifices year after year. They could never put away sin. Ah, says the as- the apostle, but this man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God. And on Calvary, God did not cover up sin. That was what was done in the Old Testament. Yom Kippur, there was a covering, the day of covering, the day of covering. But on the cross of Calvary, God uncovered all of our sins. And they were all brought out in the open, and God dealt with them in the person of his son. And we read in Isaiah fifty three and verse six prophetically, of that great work that our Lord Jesus Christ did. It says, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. How glorious that truth, that all my sins were laid on Jesus. Jesus bore them on the tree. God who knew them laid them on him, and believing I go free. And, says the apostle, for those who believe that, there is no more conscience of sins. Notice what he says. He does not say there is no more consciousness of sin, because the closer a man walks with God, and the closer a man gets to God, the more he is conscious of his sin. When Isaiah saw the Lord, he says, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Isaiah had said six times over, woe, woe, woe, but when he saw the Lord, he said, woe is me, for I'm a man undone. I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. When he saw himself in the presence of the holy God, he was super conscious of his sin. But you know, the believer in the Lord Jesus, while he's conscious of his sin, he has no more conscience of sin, because the guilt of his sin has been dealt with. It's been put away. It says he put away sin, didn't cover it, but he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and God is never, never going to bring up against one of his believing children one sin. It's all been dealt with on the cross. We sing sometimes a lovely hymn that expresses that truth so well. On the Lamb, that is on the Lord Jesus, the one who died for me. On the Lamb my soul is resting. What is love no tongue can say. All my sins so great, so many in his blood are washed. Sweetest rest and peace have filled me, sweeter praise than tongue can tell. God is satisfied with Jesus, and I am satisfied as well. Conscience now no more condemns me. For his own most precious blood, once for all, has washed and cleansed me. Cleansed me in the eyes of God. Settle forever sin's tremendous claim. All glory to Jesus. Blessed be his name. The forgiveness of sins. Do you know that? The Bible says through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. It's not a work to be done. It's not by works of righteousness which we have done. It's not a work to be done. It's simply a message to be believed. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of his sin- of sins. It's a universal message. The apostle declared it, be it known unto you, men and brethren, through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness sin of sin. God has said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and there is no one under heaven that is excluded from this blessing, save they who refuse to receive Christ as Savior. You can have the forgiveness of sins tonight. It's a message preached, not a work to be done. The apostle says the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, not to everyone that works, not to everyone that prays, not to everyone that gives, not to everyone that tries, not to everyone that turns over a new leaf, not to everyone that is baptized, not to everyone that joins the church, but to everyone that believes. The gospel, the good news of the Lord Jesus, that he died for our sins, is God's power unto salvation to everyone that believeth. It's a universal message, and it's a message about a unique man. There's only one Savior, that makes it simple. Through this man is preached unto you. This man. What man? The man Christ Jesus. Apostle Peter stood in the presence of the Jewish Sanhedrin, and he made an announcement to that ruling body in Israel, those seventy learned men, and he spoke a truth that's just as true today as when he said it. They looked at Peter and John, they said they were ignorant and unlearned men, but they may have been ignorant and unlearned men, but they were made wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, and they s- Peter said this, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It's not like you have an option. If you're ever going to be saved, you have to deal with the Lord Jesus Christ. Many ways to come to him. I've met men that have come to Christ in submarines. I've met men that have come to Christ in prisons. I've met men that come to Christ in all kinds of different ways, in strange places, under strange circumstances. But I've never met a man yet who has come to God, except those who have come through Christ. He says, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto Father, but by me. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. The forgiveness of sins. It's preached unto you, it says, through this man, God's universal method. No one is ever going to get saved except those that have heard the word and believed it. Paul says in Romans ten, how shall they hear without a preacher? He says, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. There has to be a message heard. It's preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things. On the cross of Calvary, the Lord Jesus prayed over nineteen hundred years ago, as he took the sinner's place, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. When the work of our redemption was all complete, he shouted triumphantly from the cross, it is finished. We can rest where he rested, in a finished work. The forgiveness of sins. And the only reason that we have that word in our Bibles, the forgiveness of sins, is that God, in the person of his son, said in effect, don't forgive me for their sins. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. I remember a couple of years ago hearing J. B. Nicholson, Sr. tell this story. He was born in Scotland and raised in Scotland, served in the Royal Air Force during World War II in India. But as a young boy, he was saying on one occasion he was out fishing in back of the home, and uh, where they lived in Scotland. He said there were some trees and shrubbery that hid this little creek from view where he was fishing. And his mother called him, and he didn't come, and she called again, and he didn't come, and about the third time she called, he figured he better get moving, but he thought he would have a little fun with his mother. He took the can of worms and whatever other gear he had that he was fishing with, and he threw it in this creek, and it made a little splash, and then he yelled, help, help, help! And his mother came running. And in her haste to get to her son, she thought he'd fallen in and maybe was drowning. She stumbled over something, and she was laid up for several months in the home, unable to walk. And he said, every time I would go into that room, and I would see my mother sitting there. He said, I thought to myself, it was your sin that put her there. And he said, when I look away at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, I realize each time I look at the cross that it was my sin that put it. He had no debt he owed, but he took the debt I owed, and he bore, it says, my sins in his own body on the tree. Have you ever owed anybody anything? Maybe a few thousand dollars, and you just tried to avoid seeing them because you knew you owed them that debt. You kind of see them coming, you'd cross the street or see them drive, you kind of just try and avoid them as much as possible because you knew you had the debt and you didn't have the means to pay. But I'll tell you, when the debt is paid, then you can look into the person's face with confidence. You know everything's straight. No man is ever able to look God straight in the face until the question of sin is settled. Have you settled it? You can tonight if you've never done so before. The forgiveness of sins, and then we have redemption through his blood. We're not our own any longer. The Christian is not free to do as he pleases. He recognizes that because he has been bought and paid for, the Lord Jesus has a legitimate claim upon his life. You know, it's easy to drift through life and think just because my sins have been forgiven, that the Lord has set me free just to do as I please. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am not my own. I've been bought with a price. And as someone has written, I would not work my soul to say, for this my Lord is done, but I would work like any slave for love to God's dear son. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. There's nothing uncertain about it. It says we have. It's a possession. It's a possession that we have by faith, and it's something that we're absolutely sure about. If you're not sure, you need to be sure. You need to find your security in what God's word says. In Hebrews chapter six it says that God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, he confirmed it with an oath, that by two immutable, unchangeable things we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. He says, which hope we have, we have as an anchor of the soul, and it's sure and steadfast. I think sometimes people must sing the song that we sing in Sunday school, something like this. Jesus loves me, this I know, for a peculiar feeling tells me so. That's not what the hymn says. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. And when we rest on what God's word says, we have the assurance of our salvation in whom we have. Someone has said there are three things that should be kept in order: fact, faith, and feeling. And when we get them out of order, we get into trouble. First of all, the fact. If we believe the fact, the Bible says Christ died for our sins. That's a fact, whether you believe it or not. Had you been standing by the cross and seeing him die there on the cross, you would not have known that unless God said it. All you would have known was that he died. But when you believe what God says, you believe that he died for your sins. That's a fact. And when you have the faith to believe that, then you should feel happy. Now, you're not happy because, and you're not saved because you feel happy, but if you believe what God says, you will be happy. Someone has written, feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. My word is the word of God, not else is worth believing. For though my heart should feel condemned for want of some good token, there is one greater than my heart whose word cannot be broken. I'll trust in God's unchanging word till soul and body sever. For though all things shall pass away, his word shall stand forever. The forgiveness of sins. God has taken care of the past of all who trusted the Son. We have redemption through his blood. We now belong to him, spirit, soul, and body, and we rejoice in the fact that we are not our own. We belong to him. What is the purpose of life, the chief end of life? Someone has said, to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. To rejoice in the fact that we are not our own and to seek by God's grace to live for him who died for us. So first of all, we have pardon as far as the past is concerned, forgiveness of sins. As far as the present, we have purchase. We have been bought and paid for. We now belong to him. We have ownership and then fellowship. And if we really believe this, that all that God has done is out of his abundant supply, his plentiful provision of grace, it will result in something else. It will result in worship. We have fellowship because the sins have been forgiven. We've been reconciled to God by the death of his son, all who trust him. Secondly, we have service because we're not our own. We seek to live for him who died for us. And then thirdly, we have worship. It's according to the riches of his grace. Not out of his riches, but it says it's according to the riches of his grace. How tragic it is when we have been bought and paid for by the precious blood of Christ, not to recognize that we're holy as we sing in one of our lovely hymns, Praise the Savior. You know him. Who can tell how much we owe him? Gladly let us render to him all we are and have. We recognize that we indeed are not our own. Ananias and Sapphira, the scripture says of them, they kept back part of the price. The thing that the Lord Jesus noted about that woman in Jo- in Luke chapter twenty one was this: she had two mites, but she committed it all to the Lord. She kept back nothing. And God said of Abraham, that great man of faith in the Old Testament. God says, now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. God does not look so much at what we give. He looks at what we hold back. Ownership. And it says it's according to the riches of his grace. And God is going to exhaust all eternity to bestow on his own all that he has for us out of the rich stores of his grace. It's the reason that our hearts are lifted to him in worship today, and it's the reason that we shall worship and praise him forever. Isn't this a lovely verse? It speaks of those three great things in the Christian experience. Those three great things that we see exemplified in the lives of that lovely, uh, si- those lovely sisters and that brother in John chapter twelve. It says, Martha served. Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. That was fellowship, in communion with the Lord. But Mary, she took that alabaster box of ointments. She could have given it to her sister Martha, who loved perfume. She could have kept some of it for herself, for she loved perfume. She could have put some of it on the body of her beloved brother Lazarus when he died. But she didn't do either one of those three things, and she didn't intend to keep one drop of it for herself. She didn't just pour a little bit of it out. It says she broke the box and all of its contents, and Judas said it was worth a man's wages for a year. And she poured that out on the body of our Lord Jesus Christ and expressed her devotion to him. Worship, service, and fellowship. And if we have the right appreciation of our Lord Jesus Christ, of his grace to us, our hearts will go out to him in praise and worship and adoration. But the question before us tonight and before you is this. Do you know that your sins are forgiven? That's the starting point with God. Have you ever come to the Lord Jesus, not pleading any merit of your own, but an honest acknowledgement, like Jacob did in the very first prayer recorded in scripture. He said to the Lord, and it's a prayer that God delights to hear, said, Lord, I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies. And if you come to God like that, not pleading any merit of your own, but pleading the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ, I can tell you on the authority of God's word, you will go out of this room tonight knowing that your sins have been forgiven you for his name's sake. May God grant it. Shall we pray? Our Father, we're thankful for this verse of scripture that tells us that all that thou hast is centered in thy son. And thy word says, if God be for us, who can be against us? That he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? We pray that each one here may know the joy of possessing these blessings, the blessing of forgiveness, the blessing of fellowship, the blessing of redemption, the blessing of ownership, and then according to the riches of thy grace, the blessing of worship and being so devoted to thee, Lord, and expressing our appreciation for thy love so amazing, so divine. Part us with thy blessing, we pray, and use thy word to our help and challenge and encouragement. If there's one here without the Savior tonight, we pray that this very evening may we believe the record of thy word, that he that believes on the Son hath everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life. These things we pray in the precious and peerless name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.