Sermon Tone Analysis

*Introduction*

In John 8:44 Jesus says of Satan that he is a liar and the father of lies.

Satan’s biggest lie – or at least in the top 3 – is this: “You don’t have to serve me.

In fact, I’m fine with it if you don’t.

But you don’t have to serve God either.

The smart thing to do is, be the master of your own fate.

Serve yourself.

Be your own man or woman.”

Like most of Satan’s lies – half truth (you don’t have to serve him) – all lie – you do have to serve someone.

Get this – even Bob Dylan – yes that Bob Dylan – the spiritual chronicler of the hippie generation knows better than that.

Have you heard his latest song?

Just listen to a couple of verses:

You may be an ambassador to England or France,

You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,

You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,

You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

You may be a construction worker working on a home,

You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,

You might own guns and you might even own tanks,

You might be somebody's landlord,

You might even own banks

But you're gonna have to serve somebody,

Yes indeed you're gonna have to serve somebody,

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord

But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

So, we start with the premise this morning that everyone is serving either the Lord or the devil.

There is no middle ground.

And because of that, we are either members of the kingdom of evil headed by Satan or we are members of the kingdom of light – of the Son of God.

If we are members of the kingdom of God because we have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord, we could very properly join Paul in the doxology we find in verses 3-14 in Ephesians 1 which comprises one long sentence as Paul, although sitting in prison in Rome, finds himself dictating passionately about the wonderful privileges we have as Christians in Christ.

This great doxology is so rapturous that it is a bit difficult to outline, but we’ve done so around the Trinity.

Verses 4-6 deal with the past election of God the Father.

Verses 7-10 deal with the redemption of the Son and in verses 11-14 we will look at the sealing of the Holy Spirit.

Today we want to particularly look at verses 7-10 where Paul honors the Son and the redemption he’s provided – the means by which he’s moved on up from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.

He is like a baseball player who has moved from the bush conditions of minor league play to the glories of the major leagues and now enjoys all the privileges that come with that move.

He has been redeemed from the tyranny of annual contracts to the exclusivity of a secure, multi-year, multi-million dollar deal.

He no longer carries his own luggage; others carry it for him.

He is part of an organization where there is actually a plan for winning rather than the every-man-for-himself environment in which he previously found himself.

Now, as we look at verses 7-10 today, I want you to pay special note to the little phrase that comes second in verse 7. 7) In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

The work of Jesus Christ the son is emphasized here, but notice particularly that the redemption he offers comes “through his blood.”

Ephesians does not spend as much time on the death and resurrection of Jesus as some other epistles, but it is nonetheless the key to the whole of the plan of God.

It is implied in every one of the 15 times we have the words “in Christ” or “in Him” mentioned in these verses.

It is the objective act that makes everything else possible.

How it is possible for many in the emerging church movement to say that the death of Christ is nothing more than God providing an example of the kind of sacrifice we should all be willing to make is beyond me.

Scripture everywhere presents His death as the necessary, objective act that keys everything else.

And in particular today, we want to see how the blood of Jesus provides the objective means by which we, should we so choose, can move, in accordance with God’s overall plan, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.

Those words are not used here.

They are actually found in Colossians 1:13 13) He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, but the content of this passage in Ephesians describes for us exactly that same move – from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of Christ Himself.

In this passage, we find three great milestones on this trip.

How does the death of Christ on the cross effect our move from darkness to light?

*I.

It is the Basis for Redemption from Sin*

Read verse 7 with me: 7) In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

The first milestone on our trip from darkness to light is redemption from sin.

I love the way Paul phrases it here.

He might well have said that we have been redeemed through the blood of Christ and that would have been correct.

But instead he says, “We have redemption.”

We have – It’s a present tense word.

Yes it is based on a past act by Christ in dying for us and by a past act on our part in accepting his death in our place.

But assuming those two things, we have and continue to have – redemption.

This is just one of many ways in this passage that the secure and permanent nature of true saving faith is emphasized.

There are three words for redemption in the Greek language.

The first,

*– αγοραζω *– means to buy at the marketplace.

It conjures the picture of a housewife out in the morning shopping for the day.

She sees vegetables, puts cash on the barrelhead and they belong to her.

This is the word used in I Cor 6:20 – “For you are bought [our word] with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s.”

*εχαγοραζω* – to buy out of the marketplace.

Has the thought of buying for one’s own use.

You would never sell these again.

Used in Gal 3:13 – Christ hath redeemed [our word] us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.

Christ redeemed us so that He has taken us off the market for His own use.

We belong to him.

*Απολυτρωσις* – as here in Ephesians 1:7, means to liberate by paying a ransom to set a person free.

Carries the same meaning in Luke 21:28 “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”

“Redemption” is a marvelous word.

It means not only to go to the marketplace and put cash on the barrelhead; it means not only to take it out of the market for your own private use, never to sell it to anyone else; but it also means to set free or to liberate after paying the price.

The last applies to buying a slave out of slavery in order to set him free, and this is the word for redemption we have here in this verse.

From the time of Adam man has been enslaved to sin.

All one needs to do is look around to see that this is true.

I know it is not politically correct to say this in the 21 century, but man left to his own devises, is a rotten, corrupt sinner and he cannot do anything else but sin – he is a slave to sin.

This doesn’t mean that everyone is awful, but we know deep down that we are bad enough, and most of the time, apart from Christ, even our best and most kindly action are intended to get something for ourselves in return.

They are selfish.

We also know that try as we might, we cannot get it right.

That’s why Christ came to pay the price of man’s freedom.

He bought us in order to set us free.

John 8:36 says, 36) So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

That is the whole point of redemption which has been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The concept of redemption is beautifully illustrated in the Old Testament concept of the kinsman-redeemer.

Under God’s provisions, families were responsible for each other in ancient Israel.

The kinsman-redeemer, defined as the closest relative to someone in need had at least five roles.

1) He was to insure that the hereditary property did not pass from the clan in the event of death or poverty.

2) He was to buy back the freedom of individuals who had sold themselves into slavery because of poverty.

3) He had the right to track and down and execute murderers of near relatives.

This was in the days before DCI.

4) He was to receive restitution money on behalf of a deceased crime victim, and 5) he was to ensure that justice was served in a lawsuit involving a relative.

Essentially he assumed a lot of responsibility for family security, cohesiveness, justice and heritage.

Let’s turn to the book of Ruth this morning because this role of kinsman-redeemer played a most important role in this book.

An Israeli man named Elimelech took his wife Naomi to the land of Moab to escape famine in Israel.

Elimelech seems to have died relatively soon after they arrived in Moab, but Naomi was left with the two boys, both of whom married Moabite girls, Ruth and Orpah, and stayed on in the land.

They seem to have continued on for about ten years, when suddenly both sons died, leaving Naomi without a husband or sons.