WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:27.600 Ephesians chapter one, verse seven in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:34.640 John Barry Machum was a black pastor in the early 1800s. 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:39.920 He pastored the most historic, the oldest black church in the state of Missouri. 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:46.240 He circumvented laws against educating slaves and teaching them how to read by creating what he called the River School. 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:54.079 It was a school that floated on the Mississippi River, and slaves would come on the school and it would push off onto the river. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:59.920 And so he would say that he was educating them in Illinois and then would come back to shore. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:03.600 And slave owners even let their slaves attend this school. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:07.439 Many of them were eager to have their slaves learn to read. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:09.760 This school became a church. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:32.159 This church began attracting people from both sides of the river and began attracting money from freed blacks from the state of Illinois and even from Indiana, started coming for worship there and bringing their money, and they started a process whereby they would go back and buy slaves' freedom if one of their family members already attended his church. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:34.959 He wrote a book about this that I read this week. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:36.879 John Barry Machin is his name. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:52.000 And in it he describes the first time this happens was a guy who'd been granted his freedom, and he came to that church for worship and talked about his wife and kids were all still in slavery, most of them in Virginia. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:58.079 So the church began taking up an offering and a collection over the course of many months to buy his family's freedom. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:06.319 Well, the guy actually grew tired of being away from his family and went back to Virginia and resubmitted himself to slavery. 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:17.599 He couldn't bear to be apart from his family, but the church had already gathered a significant amount of money and eventually went to purchase their first slave, which was this guy's son, who's in his twenties, and they purchased him. 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:28.879 This guy was married and had kids of his own, and so the church began working to purchase his wife's freedom, his children's freedom, and they began gradually building out his family. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:31.439 This man was working as a carpenter. 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:35.120 The first son who was freed became a carpenter in Illinois. 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:42.960 And with the help of his church, he was able to raise money to buy the last member of his family, his father, to buy his freedom. 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:46.159 He describes it this way This is the boy writing. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:54.240 Though my father was now 700 miles away from me, I held conversation with him in my head, for he was very near to my heart. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:00.560 After a short time, I was able to walk to Virginia and paid 100 pounds for him, Virginia money. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:04.800 It was a joyful meeting when we met together, for we had been apart a long time. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:06.479 The year was 1811. 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:08.800 I was 21 years old. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:16.800 I walked with my papa 700 miles back to Harden County, Kentucky, where the old man got to meet his wife and all of his children. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:19.120 They had not seen him in years. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:23.120 Oh, I cannot describe the joy at this reunion. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:25.919 There's ethical implications of this too. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:33.520 This 21-year-old, in addition to purchasing his wife and his own children and his father's family, went to work for the rest of his life. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:41.759 He writes, since that time, quote, I have purchased about 20 slaves, most of whom paid back the greatest part of their money, and some paid back at all. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.080 And oh, how their lives are changed. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:49.439 We bought one who happened to be a drunkard, and upon having his freedom, found he was no drunkard at all. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:51.840 Freedom changed his life. 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:05.840 It's a word that has lost its meaning for us because it's almost a Christianese kind of word. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:10.800 We just speak of, you know, we've been redeemed from the power of sin and we've had our sins paid for. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:12.400 We're redeemed. 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:20.240 But understand that this word, it's a marketplace word, and it's a slave marketplace word. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:23.759 The word redemption, you don't redeem produce when you buy produce. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:31.920 It was a word in the Greek Empire that was used specifically for buying the freedom of people who were unjustly and criminally captured. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:34.800 It's sometimes even translated to ransom. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:39.199 Slavery in the Greek Empire is very different than slavery in the Old Testament. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:41.600 Slavery in the New Testament was condemned as sin. 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:42.319 It was wrong. 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:43.759 It was immoral. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:54.399 And the early church had the practice of going after slaves and buying their freedom as a testimony of gospel witness to the world. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:03.519 And that is the word that Paul uses in Ephesians chapter 1 to describe what God does for us in Christ Jesus. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:04.720 He redeems us. 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:11.040 And he's talking here about a divide that is greater than the divide between slavery and freedom, even. 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:24.399 This is a divide that is between heaven and earth, a divide from the world where God reigns in majesty and in mutable glory, and earth where we live in corrupted sinfulness and frailty. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:35.120 There's a divide between heaven where the cries of holy, holy, holy resound through the ages, and on earth a place of tears and sorrow. 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:45.040 Heaven, a place of love, joy, and eternal happiness within the Trinity, and earth where there is separation and sorrow and sin corrupts us. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:56.240 All creation groans under the weight of this fallen world, Paul says in Romans 8, while all heaven delights in God and his holiness. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:58.720 That is the gulf that is fixed. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:00.000 C.S. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:04.720 Lewis describes the gap between heaven and hell is the great divorce. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:16.560 Jesus in Luke 16, verse 26 says it this way: between heaven and earth, a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who had passed from here to there may not be able, and no one may cross from there to God. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:19.519 Lewis calls it a great divorce. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:20.160 C.S. 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:25.600 Jesus calls it a great chasm, but the point is there is a gulf fixed. 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:30.879 The most insurmountable gap in the universe. 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:40.399 The greatest divide imaginable, and the weight of this separation causes the very earth itself to groan in anguish because of its sin. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:52.959 And yet God has invented, designed a way to bridge that gap and to bring people from the captivity of slavery to sin to the freedom and holiness of worship. 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:57.439 And he does so through the process of redemption. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:00.800 That's the one word we want to look at this morning in verse 7. 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:03.120 In him we have redemption. 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:08.399 This word means buying something, ransoming it back. 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:14.720 Certainly a man working to buy his wife and children back from slavery would be a picture of this kind of redemption. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:20.160 We have similar pictures, although way less grave in our own culture. 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:25.279 I've told you this before, but when I was living in Los Angeles, my car got stolen. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:28.079 In Los Angeles, we call that Tuesday. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:36.879 And the police found it a day later with minus the radio in the car seats. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:38.079 They sold the car seats. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:39.199 I mean, come on. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:43.759 And I had to go to the impound lot and I had to the car jail. 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:45.279 I told Madison it was car jail. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:47.120 I had to go bail it out. 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:50.240 I had to go buy my car back from the police. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:54.720 Paid for it once, now I paid for it twice. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:57.279 And I complained about it. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:07:59.920 Why do I have to pay$500 to get my car out? 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:04.000 And they gave me some song and dance about how that's, you know, it keeps the tow truck drivers honest. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:06.480 You know, that way they're not stealing the cars because you're the one paying for it. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:09.040 Not that I'm like, that doesn't make any sense. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:13.199 At least I get a sermon illustration out of it. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:18.639 That's redemption where you're buying something back that belongs to you. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:22.800 It was taken from you, and you need to go pay for it. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:26.079 And that's what God does for us. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:34.879 Now, this passage that we're reading here, verses seven through ten, I mean, this whole thing from verses three all the way down to verse 14 is really one long sentence in Greek. 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:42.320 And so it's hard to just jump in with a few verses, but even in our few verses this morning, seven through ten, there is chronology problems all over this place. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:47.039 I mean, earlier in verse four, it's talking about before the foundations of the world. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:52.960 Verse 7 is speaking of in Christ, in him, in Jesus, we have redemption, present tense. 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:58.399 Verse 8, he lavished upon us past tense, all wisdom and insight, of course, going all the way to eternity past. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:02.240 Verse 9, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:07.519 Verse 10, fullness of time, looking forward into the future to unite all things in heaven and earth. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:18.879 And so this whole little phrase here from verses 7 to 10, it is spanning eternity past to the cross of Jesus Christ, to your present tense salvation, all the way into the future in eternity. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:23.919 I want to break up this passage and look at the word redemption through that kind of outline. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:26.879 First, I want to look at the past, redemption imagined. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:28.480 Redemption imagined. 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:31.120 It says that in him we have redemption. 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:34.159 In Christ we have redemption. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:43.039 That phrase in him, sometimes in English you might use a prepositional phrase in something to mean in relationship to him. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:47.440 But this word in Greek, it doesn't mean in relationship to. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:49.120 It means geographically. 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:50.639 It is located in him. 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:53.759 Our redemption is physically located. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:54.960 It's a physical term. 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:56.559 In Christ. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:00.799 We have redemption because we are in Christ. 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:06.480 In Christ is the most common prepositional phrase in the New Testament to describe believers over a hundred times. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:08.559 We're called being in Christ. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:10.159 Our identity is hidden in Christ. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:13.519 Colossians 1, verse 16 says, we are hidden in Christ. 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:17.759 And this is true before the foundations of time, verse 5 says. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:21.759 We have been predestined as adoption through Christ to the purpose of his will. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:25.120 This happens in verse 4 before the foundation of the world. 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:30.720 Before God made the world, we were placed in Christ. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:53.039 Now, last week I talked about some wrong views of predestination and election, some views of predestination, I called it divine duck duck goose, where we say God just looks at a bunch of people that are there and chooses some and not others, or maybe he looks down the tunnel of time and sees what you're going to do and then goes backwards and chooses you to do what he saw what you were going to do. 00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:58.320 And those are not adequate understandings of election or predestination for lots of reasons. 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:04.320 I mentioned some of them last week, but I want to talk about a different reason that view of election fails. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:13.759 Because in that understanding that God looks at a bunch of people, chooses some and not others, or looks at a bunch of people and sees what some will do. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:24.240 Do you understand that in that view of people, it has people that exist outside of God that are just there? 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:26.080 Where did they come from? 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:30.159 Those people that God is looking at before the foundations of time, He's looking at those people. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:32.080 Where did they come from? 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:35.279 Are they just there? 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:38.399 They're in God's mind. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:41.279 He's picturing them. 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:48.000 God, before He made you, pictures you. 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:52.559 I mean, you exist because He made you. 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:56.240 And He thought of you. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:11:58.399 He thought of what you would look like. 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:00.080 He thought of where you would be born. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:02.080 He designed who your parents would be. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:04.240 He designed what country you would be in. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:08.159 He designed what era, what dispensation you would live under. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:11.679 You live now, and not, you know, you're not one of Adam's first children. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:14.159 He designed you. 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:20.080 All of you, everything about you, he made in his mind. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:33.440 Now, this is true of all of humanity is made in the image of God, but it is particularly true in a different way of those whom he has chosen, verse 4 says, in him before the foundation of the world. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:41.039 That some of those people that he designs, he doesn't just design and then choose, he actually designs them in Christ. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:46.720 So if you're a believer, appreciate this. 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:55.919 If you're a believer, before God made the universe, he thought of you and designed you and set his love upon you. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:58.240 This is what Romans 8 describes as foreknowledge. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:03.279 Foreknowledge doesn't mean that God saw what you would do in the future and just knew about it ahead of time. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:13.919 Foreknowledge means that God knew you perfectly and intimately because he's making you before he even made the world. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.639 He has you in his mind. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:24.000 And he set his love on his elect. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:28.240 His love on those in verse 4 says, describes as chosen. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:31.039 Notice the same phrase again, chosen, verse 4, in him. 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:33.440 Now we see this again in verse 7, in him. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:43.919 When he's speaking of before the foundations of time, he's choosing and he's setting us in Christ before he even makes the world. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:48.879 You know, he makes the world through Christ. 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:52.480 He speaks and Jesus is the Word. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:55.759 Jesus, in that sense, is the creator. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:57.919 We are made through Christ. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:00.960 We are made for Christ to live for the glory of Christ. 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:10.399 But before we're made for Christ, before we're made through Christ, before that, we are in Christ before he even makes the foundations of the world. 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:19.519 You don't exist in eternity past as some outside agency outside of God that just happens to be there that he looks forward to meeting one day. 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:23.679 You exist in the mind of God before he makes you. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:29.679 And he made you with a special love upon you. 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:35.440 To adopt you as his child, to bring you into his family. 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:38.399 Now, the agent of all this is the Son, of course. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:39.440 You're made in Christ. 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:41.600 You're made in the Son. 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:43.200 Your redemption is in him. 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:45.759 And notice that this is still before the foundations of time. 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:47.519 Your redemption is in Christ. 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:50.720 Before God made the world, he designed redemption. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:54.399 And that's astonishing. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:59.519 The cross was not a response, it was the design. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:09.039 God didn't make the world good, holy, and perfect, and the devil snuck in the world and the world fell, and God has been scrambling trying to figure out how to recover ever since. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:14.000 I guess Jesus has to go now and die for people. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:18.639 Now that the world's fallen into sin, knew I shouldn't have left Adam and Eve alone. 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:21.519 Five minutes, this is why they can't have nice things. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:24.720 No. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:27.519 This is all his design. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:36.879 Now, how can people be morally responsible for their sin and yet God be sovereign over sin? 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:39.840 Well, that right there is the mystery, my friends. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:42.159 That's where our minds run out. 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:44.879 How can God be sovereign? 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:49.120 How can God tell Judas what you're Judas what you're gonna do, do quickly? 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:54.960 It's been predestined for the Son of Man to be betrayed, but woe to the person who does it, go and do it now. 00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:02.159 How can Judas be responsible for betraying Christ as he's filled with the devil and yet God is predestined this isn't the sovereign over all of it? 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:03.600 Who knows? 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:08.240 But it happened that way. 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:16.799 God made the world good, perfect, and holy, and before he did that, he had already designed the cross. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:22.000 The cross is the lever upon which the world moves. 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:24.879 It's the focal point of all of history. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:28.080 It's the centerpiece of creation. 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:31.600 It's not a response. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:36.159 God hasn't just been planning this for 2,000 years. 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:39.679 He hasn't just been planning this for the 10,000 years of the world's history. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:43.360 He has been planning this from eternity past. 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:49.919 Before he made the world, he planned to give a pure people as a gift to his son. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:53.600 He planned for the Son to be the redemption for those people. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:58.799 He planned to send the Spirit to the world to draw those people to faith in his son. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:00.159 We'll look at that in the next few weeks. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:09.200 He planned that there would be a multinational, multi-ethnic group of people who are made in the image of God, but have something more special in common, that they are adopted in Christ. 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:22.240 Before he created the world, he purposed to show his love for his son by giving his son a privileged gift, namely a church as a love offering, that his son would be the redeemer. 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:24.160 And that's the Father's love for the Son. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:34.079 And the Son shows his love back for the Father by saying that he will go and he will die and he will redeem those people and he'll purify them and sanctify them so they can spend eternity praising the Father. 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:37.279 I mean, this is the reciprocal love within the Trinity. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:45.119 The Father's gift to the Son is our salvation. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:49.920 The Son's gift back to the Father is our salvation. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:57.839 From eternity past, in the mind of God, he conceives this and he executes it. 00:17:58.640 --> 00:18:02.720 In Israel, right now, in the Temple Mount is the big dome of the rock. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:11.039 And according to Islamic tradition, that mosque is built over the rock upon which Adam first stood, when the world was first created. 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:12.240 It's where Adam first stood. 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:17.200 And they would even go on to say it's the same place where Abraham would offer Isaac as a sacrifice. 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:18.480 This is Islamic tradition. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:27.039 Jewish tradition goes upon that and says it's the foundation of where Solomon would build his temple, where David purchased the land to build the temple, and Solomon would build it. 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:31.759 And I'm a little bit skeptical about the truth of, you know, that's where Adam stood. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:34.559 I think there was a global flood that kind of moved the rocks around. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:51.359 But let's play along for the sake of argument and say that rock in the middle of the dome of the rock is indeed where Adam first stood, and it is indeed where Abraham offered Isaac, and it is indeed where Solomon built his temple, but that's not what it was put there for. 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:58.480 The main thing it's there for is to be the rock upon which the cross would be hoisted. 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:01.599 That's what all of history is building to. 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:03.599 That's what everything is pointing to. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:06.960 That's the common thread that runs through the world. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:10.880 It's going up to Golgotha. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:19.759 And that thread begins in the mind of God as he imagines redemption before he makes the world. 00:19:21.119 --> 00:19:23.200 Well, first you have redemption imagined. 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:25.519 Secondly, you have redemption accomplished. 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:32.160 When God plans something, it's as good as accomplished, of course, but nevertheless the accomplishing of it remains to happen. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:35.759 From Adam until John the Baptist, thousands of years go by. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:37.279 The flood rises and falls. 00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:40.400 Israel is planted and exiled and repotted again. 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:42.559 Nations rise and nations fall. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:47.759 I mean, the world is moving along, looking forward to the Redeemer coming. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:49.200 But it hadn't happened yet. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:57.920 And this is an important point for you to have in your mind because sometimes people try to get around to the teaching of Ephesians 1 by saying, well, before the foundations of the world, God chose us. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:00.799 But what does before mean if God is outside of time? 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:03.119 Doesn't just mean present tense. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:08.799 I mean, after all, we could be in heaven right now worshiping with God because God's outside of time. 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:11.119 And there's some problems with that. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:14.960 Namely, you're not omnipresent, by the way, you're only in one place at a time. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:16.480 God's omnipresent, you're not. 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:18.319 You're not in heaven right now, you're here. 00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:22.000 Unless you have the coronavirus, you're home live streaming. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:26.079 You're in one place. 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:29.599 What does before mean? 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:32.319 I mean, Jesus took on a human nature. 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:33.519 He took on a body. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:35.759 Jesus has a physical body right now. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:41.440 God enters time in a very real way when Jesus takes on human flesh. 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:46.319 So whatever before means, it means before that happened. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:52.960 Before the foundation of time, before the first rocks were removed, before light was separated from darkness. 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:53.920 That's the before. 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:58.960 And now in time, God accomplishes our redemption by coming. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:00.559 Galatians 4, verse 4. 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:03.839 When the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:06.480 That phrase, when the fullness of time, time is singular there. 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:07.920 It's this jar of time. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:15.279 And when it fills up, all the events of the world are filling up, bubbling up in the progression of time, they overflow, and Jesus comes. 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:19.599 When time was filled, Jesus arrived in the earth. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:25.440 All of the Old Testament is dragging people through, bringing them to Christ. 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:34.640 Adam is pointing forward to Christ as the animal is slain and he's made a covering to cover his skin and his sin pointing forward to Jesus Christ. 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:39.759 Noah makes a sacrifice after the flood, pointing forward to Jesus Christ. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:44.880 Abraham has his sacrifice of Isaac interrupted because God will provide the sacrifice. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:48.559 He himself will be the sacrifice, pointing forward to Jesus Christ. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:57.279 The wilderness wanderings have all of the sacrifices commanded by them pointing forward to the day when the true Passover lamb would come and end that whole system. 00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:59.759 Moses says you need to wait for another prophet. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.519 Prophet like me who comes, only this prophet won't be me. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:07.119 He will be better than me, pointing forward to the Savior. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:11.920 Isaiah says that the Savior will come and will be stricken and smitten by God. 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:14.640 Nevertheless, God won't share his glory with another. 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:16.799 God himself will be the savior. 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:19.759 All of this pointing forward to Jesus Christ. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:26.160 And when the fullness of all of that is reached, Jesus Christ comes. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:28.799 And here's where the preposition changes in verse 7. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:30.400 In him we have redemption. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:35.920 This is an eternity past in the mind of God, but now we experience it through his blood. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:37.920 That's the word of agency there. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:40.079 We have redemption in eternity past. 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:45.039 We the next stage of it is it actually happens through his blood. 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:49.839 There is a moment in time when Jesus is executed. 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:55.920 Our salvation was secure before that, before he even made the world, it was secure. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:02.480 But now it is affected in time when Jesus takes the record of our sins on himself. 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:03.920 It happens through his blood. 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:06.640 And of course there happens to be blood. 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:09.200 Leviticus 17, verse 11. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:11.039 The life of the flesh is in the blood. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:14.720 I've given it to you as a payment to make on the altar for your souls. 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:17.279 It is the blood that makes atonement for life. 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:19.359 That's Leviticus 17, 11. 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:26.799 God designs the world in such a way that sin must be atoned for by the shedding of blood. 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:28.079 Why did he do that? 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:31.759 Because he designed the world to revolve around redemption. 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:32.480 That's why. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:34.000 So he could be the redeemer. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:38.079 And so, of course, sin has to be forgiven through the shedding of blood. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:44.640 Christians can lose sight of how graphic this is for the non-Christians. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:53.920 I remember at my once I got saved, I go home to visit my mom and be asked to pray for meals. 00:23:54.160 --> 00:23:57.599 She wasn't a believer then, she is now by God's grace, but then she was not. 00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:00.000 She asked me to pray for meals around the table. 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:02.799 And after a couple of years of this, yeah, I didn't see her that often. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:04.799 She finally says, Hey, can you pray for dinner tonight? 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:08.640 But this time, please no mention of blood in your prayer, okay? 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:12.319 Because I realized, like, I'm preaching the gospel in my prayer for dinner. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:19.279 I'm like, Lord, we're thankful for this food, but more than that, we're thankful that Jesus came to earth and led a sinless life and died on the cross and shed his blood for our sins. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:21.440 Whoever believes us will be forgiven forevermore. 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:22.000 Amen. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:22.799 Let's see. 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:26.720 It's like, okay, less on the blood. 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:29.839 And I didn't even notice it. 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:32.319 It just rolls off the tongue. 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:38.160 We have redemption through the shedding of his blood. 00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:43.599 What is graphic in the world is axiomatic in scripture. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:47.680 Our slavery was accomplished through Adam's sin, which became our sin. 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:52.319 Our redemption is accomplished through Jesus' death, which becomes our death. 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:54.240 He dies for us in our place. 00:24:54.480 --> 00:25:02.400 When a slave had his freedom purchased in the Roman Empire, they would take the bill of sale and they would rip it up and he was free to go. 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:19.279 That's the image that is used here in Ephesians that when you have your salvation granted to you by God, it is because on the death of Christ of Christ on the cross, he took your record of sins, nailed it to the cross, and it was obliterated by him bearing the penalty for it. 00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:22.960 He pays through his death for your sins. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:29.359 This is why the hymn writer can say, Oh, this is my sin. 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:31.599 The bliss of this glorious thought. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:35.759 And this is why you need punctuation on those slides, because otherwise that verse sounds really weird. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:37.920 Oh, my sin, the bliss of this thought. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:39.680 No, oh my sin, comma. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.960 The bliss of this glorious thought, comma. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:47.599 My sin, not in part, but the whole. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.319 That's the blissful thought, not part of my sin. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:57.200 All of my sin is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:04.319 That Jesus really dies, a real death in the place of your sins. 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:05.440 Why your sins? 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:07.359 Because you're in Christ. 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:11.119 He has you in his mind. 00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:13.519 This is why he came to get you. 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:20.480 He came to earth to be a redeemer for those who are in Christ. 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:25.599 This is why he can declare on the cross to telesti, it is finished, he declares. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:27.680 Appreciate this. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:31.119 At that moment that Jesus declares to telesti, it is finished. 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:34.319 Your salvation was purchased at that moment. 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:37.680 Nothing more has to be done. 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:41.839 You are saved, you are redeemed. 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:46.079 The sacrifice of Christ shows us that God does not take sin lightly. 00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:55.119 The death strikes at the very core of the Trinitarian relationship as the Father turns his face away, as the Son receives the wrath of God for our sins. 00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:01.680 And the record of your sins is destroyed at the cross. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:15.519 God comes in the person of Jesus Christ to the slave market and finds you and buys you and sets you free. 00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:22.400 And it says here that he does this in verse 7, according to the riches of his grace. 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:24.160 I wish we had more time. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:28.400 We could talk about all the depth of the word forgiveness, that there's an actual canceling of sin. 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:30.160 God holds it no more. 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:38.319 We could talk about the nature of trespasses, any failure to lead a perfect life, any failure to miss the mark, but let's just move on to according to the riches of his grace. 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:40.000 There's an abundance of his grace. 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:41.359 And where is his grace? 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:42.400 In heaven. 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:44.240 How much of his grace is there? 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:46.000 Infinite grace. 00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:53.839 There's love and joy and fellowship from all eternity past within the Trinity as the Father delights in the Son, and the Father and the Son delight in the Spirit. 00:27:53.920 --> 00:28:00.160 It's just a treasury of love and wealth that just pours out in the death of Jesus Christ. 00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:05.119 It's all seen as he comes and purchases you. 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:20.640 And he lavishes, verse 8 says, He lavishes this upon us in all wisdom and in all insight, which leads to our third point, redemption imagined, redemption accomplished, and redemption applied. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:24.720 There's a sense in which your salvation is secure in eternity past before God made the world. 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:26.319 It's in his mind, it's going to happen. 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:32.720 There's a sense in which your salvation is completely accomplished at the cross, where Jesus says, it is finished, it is done. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:41.680 But there is a third sense because after all of that crosswork, after Jesus dies as an act of atonement for sin, you're not even born yet. 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:44.480 And then you're born. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:46.960 2,000 years later. 00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:50.480 Think of all that has already happened by God for you. 00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:52.400 He has planned you in his mind. 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:53.920 He has designed you in his mind. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:55.839 He has brought you into this world. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:59.119 He has already sent Jesus who would die as a savior for your sin. 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:02.480 Your sins are already forgiven in the work of Christ on the cross. 00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:06.400 And now you're born and now you don't love God. 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:15.039 After all of that, after the riches of his grace have been poured forth in Jesus Christ, you come along and you do your own thing. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:19.920 You say, I didn't ask to be born. 00:29:20.960 --> 00:29:22.880 You say, I can live how I want to live. 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:24.640 I don't necessarily believe in God. 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:26.079 I don't believe in his truth. 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:27.599 I am all about me. 00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:30.319 Despite all of that. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:34.880 You're in this world and you're in sin, and you perhaps don't even realize it, but guess what? 00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:37.759 You are living your life as a slave to sin. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:44.400 Sin is mastery of you, even though you have already been purchased. 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:52.480 You are in Christ in some sense in eternity past in the mind of God, and yet you're a stranger to him in this life. 00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:59.839 You are God's enemy, despite of the fact that his sacrifice for you, you're a stranger to his promises, exiled from the covenant. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:00.880 What can be done? 00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:02.480 I mean, grace has been provided. 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:04.880 It's been lavished upon us, rivers of grace. 00:30:05.039 --> 00:30:06.160 What can be done? 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:08.559 Well, your eyes need to be opened. 00:30:08.720 --> 00:30:15.279 And we'll look at this more in the next few weeks, but you see in verses 13 and 14 that it's the Holy Spirit who will end up opening your eyes. 00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:20.000 But for now, in this week, look at verse 9, making known to us the mystery of his will. 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:21.920 That's what has to change. 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:28.960 You need to have the mystery of this whole providential working revealed to you. 00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:32.000 Your eyes of understanding have to be opened. 00:30:32.079 --> 00:30:34.640 You have to understand the gospel. 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:47.279 The fact that God planned this in eternity past and has executed it in time means nothing to you until you have your eyes opened to it. 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:52.319 He makes his plan known to you. 00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:55.119 That's verse 9. 00:30:55.279 --> 00:30:56.400 Making known to us. 00:30:56.640 --> 00:31:08.240 Harold Honor, who teaches New Testament at Dallas Seminary, writes this in his commentary on Ephesians making his plan known to you is a phrase that indicates God shows you the relevance of his revelation in the present time. 00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:11.759 That's a fancy way of saying that you believed the gospel. 00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:13.599 I love that line. 00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:15.759 It's like commentator talk. 00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:22.720 He makes known to you the relevance of his revelation in eternity past, blah, blah, blah, by getting you saved. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:27.039 That you have an encounter with Jesus Christ. 00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:32.319