Sermon Tone Analysis

Ephesians 1:7-12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen Caswell ©1999

Christ's Blood, Not Ours

 

This story was told by a girl who was saved by her mother's sacrifice.

When she was 5 years old, before factory-installed seat belts and automobile air bags, her family was driving home at night on a two-lane country road.

She was sitting on her mother's lap when another car, driven by a drunk driver, swerved into their lane and hit them head-on.

She couldn't remember the collision.

But recalled the fear and confusion she felt as she saw herself literally covered with blood from head to toe.

She then learned that the blood wasn't hers at all, but her mother's.

In that split second when the two headlights glared into her eyes, she instinctively pulled me closer to her chest and curled her body around mine.

It was her body that slammed against the dashboard, her head that shattered the windshield.

She took the impact of the collision so that I wouldn't have to.

It took extensive surgery for my mother to recover from her injuries.

In a similar, but infinitely more significant way, Jesus Christ took the impact for our sin, and his blood now permanently covers our lives.

Introduction

 

Last Sunday we learned why Paul wrote to the Ephesians.

He wanted them to know how rich they were in Christ.

Paul told them how /God had blessed them with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

/Paul was so overwhelmed by God's grace that he launched into a hymn of praise about God's salvation.

All three members were intimately involved in our salvation.

Verses 3-6 tell of */The/* */Father's Selection/*.

Verses 7-12 tell of */The Son's Sacrifice/* and verses 13-14 tell of */The/* */Spirit's Seal.

/* Today we will look at verses 7-12, */The Son's Sacrifice/*.

Three things stand out in Christ's work of Salvation.

I.

Deliverance Through His Blood - /He Saved Us/

II.

Intelligence Of His Will - /He Shared His Plans/

III.

Inheritance Of His Wealth - /He Shared His Riches/

 

*/a.

Redemption    /Ephesians 1:7* *a* /In Him we have redemption through His blood, /

*/ /*

Jesus Christ */redeemed/* us with His own blood.

What does it mean to */redeem/* someone or something.

In ancient Roman times there were about 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire.

Slaves were bought and sold like pieces of furniture.

Usually they did not have the money to buy their own freedom because of their poverty.

However someone else could pay the price for their freedom.

This was known as */redemption/*.

This is what Jesus Christ has done for us.

* *

*1 Peter 1:18-20* /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.*

*/All mankind had become enslaved by Satan.

We were bound by him in the chains of sin and law and death.

But then Jesus Christ came to save us.

He paid the debt we owe God with His own blood.

*Galatians 4:4-5 */But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons./

Buying Back the Boat

 

One of my favorite stories is the story of the father and son who worked for months to build a toy sailboat.

Every night when he came home from work the man and his boy would disappear into the garage for hours.

It was a labor of love--love for each other and for the thing they were creating.

The wooden hull was painted bright red and it was trimmed with gleaming white sails.

When it was finished, they traveled to a nearby lake for the boat's trial run.

Before launching it the father tied a string to its stern to keep it from sailing too far.

The boat performed beautifully, but before long a motorboat crossing the lake cut the string, and the sailboat drifted out of sight on the large lake.

Attempts to find it were fruitless, and both father and son wept over its loss.

A few weeks later as the boy was walking home from school he passed his favorite toy store and was amazed to see a toy sailboat in the window--his sailboat!

He ran inside to claim the boat, telling the proprietor about his experience on the lake.

The store owner explained that he had found the boat while on a fishing trip.

"You may be its maker," he said, "but as a finder I am its legal owner.

You may have it back--for fifty dollars."

The boy was stunned at how much it would cost him to regain his boat, but since it was so precious to him he quickly set about earning the money to buy it back.

Months later he joyfully walked into the toy store and handed the owner fifty dollars in exchange for his sailboat.

It was the happiest day of his life.

As he left the store he held the boat up to the sunlight.

Its colors gleamed as though newly painted.

"I made you, but I lost you," he said.

"Now I've bought you back.

That makes you twice mine, and twice mine is mine forever."

*/Firstly God created man and now He has redeemed him too./*

*/b.

Forgiveness   /Ephesians 1:7* *b* /the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace./

If */redemption/* speaks of our freedom, then */forgiveness/* speaks of the removal of our sin.

Not only did Christ receive the punishment for our sin, He also took the sin itself and nailed it to the tree.

God will not hold our sins against us any longer.

Christ has also cleansed us from sin with His blood.

*Hebrews 9:22* /And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

/We are pure in God's sight since Jesus has carried our sins far away.

*Psalm 103:12* /As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

/

 

The Scape Goat

 

A picture of Christ's work was portrayed on the day of atonement.

We read about this in Leviticus 16:.Once a year the High priest would enter into the most holy place with the blood of a goat.

The blood was offered for the sins of the people.

But there were in fact two goats.

The first goat was sacrificed for the people's sins.

Then the high priest confessed the sins of the people over the second goat.

This goat was driven into the wilderness to carry away the people's sin.

Jesus Christ fulfilled the roles of both of these goats.

He went outside the city of Jerusalem to carry away the sins of the people.

Then He died on the cross to bear their punishment for sin.

*John 1:29* /The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold!

The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

/The Lord forgives us our sins for Jesus' sake and He forgets them too.

He will never hold them against us again.

*Jeremiah 31:34* / “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord.

For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

/This verse from Jeremiah speaks of the new covenant that God has made through Jesus Christ.

The New Covenant applies to Israel but many of these blessings flow to the church.

The New Covenant has accomplished forgiveness of sins.

The Old Covenant only covered them.

/ /

Conscious Act of Forgetting