Grace to You Weekend

John MacArthur: God sees everything in stark naked reality and says, in spite of it all, I'm satisfied with you because I'm satisfied with my son and you're in him.

And I forgive you everything from before the foundation of the world for as long as you live.

Phil Johnson: Welcome to Grace to You Weekend, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson.

You and I, and everyone, enters this world as condemned criminals, sinners before a holy God. Yet, if you're a Christian, your penalty has been paid, and right now you have amazing spiritual blessing at your disposal. But do you really know all that's in your spiritual bank account? What is this spiritual treasure and how do you tap into it?

Today on Grace to You, John MacArthur is going to help you recognize, appreciate, and use the infinite wealth that's yours if you're a believer in Christ. His series from Ephesians chapter one is called Richer Than You Think. Here's John with today's lesson.

John MacArthur: Let's look together at Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. We have begun what will prove to be greatly beneficial study of a marvelous word from God, the letter to the Ephesians. And we're looking at verses six to ten, discussing the theme of redemption as Paul speaks of it in this section.

Now, let's look at this as it unfolds in our text. We see five aspects of redemption as Paul speaks. First of all, the Redeemer. Let's look together at verse six.

Grace would be the antecedent. Grace through which He hath made us accepted in the beloved one, in whom we have redemption. Who then is our Redeemer? In whom do we have redemption? The beloved one. That's what He says.

We have been accepted in the beloved one. You see, because we are in Christ, because by faith we are made one with Jesus, because we are His body, because we are Christ in the world, we therefore are acceptable to God in Him. And it is in Him that we have redemption. There's only one Redeemer, beloved. And that's the beloved one.

Second, not only do we see the Redeemer but the redeemed. Who are the redeemed? Who are? Well, that's very, very clear. It's the us and the we, the us of verse six and the we of verse seven. Us accepted, we have redemption. So we see the Redeemer and the redeemed.

And thirdly, the redemptive price. That's in verse seven. The redemptive price. It says, in whom we have redemption through what? His blood. That was the price. How did it happen? What was the price to buy us out of the slave market of sin? What was the price to take us back and set us free? How was that bondage broken? How was that price paid? Well, it's very clear, the wages of sin is death. The price was death. Somebody had to die.

And Jesus did. In whom we have redemption through His blood, Christ's blood, Jesus' blood. And let me say this to you again. This is simply a metonym for His death. Jesus couldn't just cut Himself and bleed on somebody and redeem them. This is simply a way of saying that He poured out His life, you see. Speaking of a sacrificial, substitutionary, violent death for sin.

It's just a way of saying it. The point is a life poured out. It implies substitution. The New Testament says, for example, He gave His blood. The New Testament also says He gave His soul. The New Testament says He gave His life, and the New Testament says He gave Himself. It all means the very same thing.

He died for us. He was a substitute on the cross for us. We should be there. We should have been there. We should die. We should pay the price. We should be able to do that on our own. That's what would be pure justice, but God's justice is mingled with His mercy. So God provided a substitute.

And the substitute was Jesus. And His blood and His death actually, now get it, actually made redemption. The blood of bulls and goats through all the sacrificial system were simply symbolic and typical. His death was actual. It did it. For by one offering He perfected forever them that are sanctified.

Oh, by His blood poured out, He paid the price. And He offers us the purchase price to buy us back from the slave market of sin and turn us loose and set us free. Boy, I tell you, when I think about that, it's no wonder that Peter said what he said in First Peter 1:18, "For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ."

No wonder he thought it was precious, huh? The blood of Jesus, indication of His sacrificial, substitutionary death frees us from the guilt of sin, the condemnation of sin, the power of sin, the penalty of sin, and someday even the presence of sin. So the Redeemer, the redeemed, and the redemptive price.

Fourth, Paul talks about the redemptive results. What does it mean to be redeemed? What are the results? He presents two areas of results. First of all, in verse seven, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. In whom we have redemption through His blood, which means the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.

Forgiveness. Oh man, that's a fabulous word, an absolutely thrilling word, with so much meaning and so much richness that no way in one sermon could we ever, ever possibly talk about it. Jesus said, when He was teaching the people to keep His supper, He said, "This is the blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins." Matthew 26:28. That's part of it. That's the redemptive result, forgiveness.

I don't know about you, but it's nice to be forgiven, isn't it? Oh, what a, what a inheritance. Forgiveness. Israel in the Old Testament understood this. You know when they had the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the day of national atonement for sin. There were two goats that were used by the high priest. The blood of one goat was sprinkled on the altar.

The other goat, the other goat, the priest went up to that goat, put his hands on that goat's head, and as it were, he laid all the people's sins on the head of that goat. He confessed the people's sins on the head of that goat. And that goat was then taken out and sent into the wilderness where it could never find its way back again.

It symbolized the taking of sin and sending it away where it would never, ever be seen again. Beloved, that is exactly the word used here for forgiveness. It is the Greek word apheimi, which means to send away, never to return. Our sins then have been sent away, never to return.

Isn't that incredible? Now listen to me. Remember where we are in chapter one, all of this was happening in the mind of God before the world began. Your sins and mine were already in God's mind, totally forgiven before the world was ever created.

What a thought. And some Christians go around so depressed because they think God's going to just, you know, really hold everything against them. No. The goat was sent away. So were your sins. Let me show you something.

In Psalm 103, I like to talk about this subject close to home. You don't have to look it up, just kind of listen. You can jot it down. Psalm 103:12. Here's how far that goat went. Are you ready for this? "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us." Anybody know how many miles it is? The east from the west? Infinity, isn't it? Has to be.

Let me tell you another one. Isaiah 44:22. That's Psalm 103:12. Isaiah 44:22. This is good. It says this, "I have blotted out like a thick cloud thy transgressions and like a cloud thy sins for I have redeemed thee." You see? In redemption is forgiveness, blotted out, forgotten, removed, sent away.

And then I love, I especially love Micah 7:18. "Who is a God like unto thee, who pardons iniquity, passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage, retains not his anger forever, delights in mercy?" Now verse 19, "He will turn again, He will have compassion on us, He will subdue our iniquities, thou will cast all their sins into the depth of what? The sea." They are in the depths of the sea, as far as infinity in opposite directions. They are gone. They are apheimi. They are sent away, never to come back again. All of this in the mind of God before the world began was already done.

When Jesus comes into our lives, He says to us what He said to that terrible, scarred woman who was caught in the act of adultery, "Woman, neither do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no more." And Paul says, "There is therefore now in Christ no what? Condemnation."

Forgiven, sent away, dismissed. You say, "But I don't deserve it." That isn't the point. Of course you don't deserve it, neither do I. It's through His blood. And by the way, forgiveness is complete. "My little children, he's forgiven you all your trespasses for His name's sake." First John 2:12. Ephesians 4:32, "Be tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Colossians 2:13, "He's forgiven you all your trespasses." People think, "Well, you know, it only when I was saved, they were all forgiven, but since then, man, I got to struggle to keep the slate clean."

No. They were all forgiven before you were ever born. When Jesus died on the cross, they were all there. When God had it in His mind before the world began, it was all there, it was all taken care of, it was all finished. And it's just what Jesus said to Peter, if you've once had a bath, all you need each day is to just kind of wash your feet off a little bit when they get dusty.

And as you walk through the world, and day-to-day you sin, the Holy Spirit does a little dusting work just to keep you clean. And that's what First John 1:9, He's faithful and just to keep on cleansing us. See? It's constant, constant, constant.

You say, "That means God accepts me." That's right. God accepts you. He accepts you in the beloved one, not on the basis of your good looks or your mind or your works, but on the basis of His plan from before the foundation of the world. There are no second-class Christians. We're all in Christ, as Christ, beloved sons, totally forgiven.

And if you can't forgive yourself, you got a God complex. You're saying, "Well, the reason I can't forgive my I know God forgives me, but I know some things He doesn't know." You can't say that. Or else you can say, "Well, I'm actually a higher standard." You you you got a real problem. You think you're God.

Why should you remember what He forgot before the foundation of the world? You know that? Ooh, that's exciting. And that's why you're accepted. And if He accepts you, accept yourself.

You know, can you imagine somebody come up to me and say, "I'm a personal friend of the president." Oh, you are? Oh, that's very nice. I'm a personal friend of the vice president, Secretary of State, governor, mayor. And listen about 50 famous people. I would say to him, "That's wonderful." However, I am a personal friend of the Almighty God of the universe.

Furthermore, He thinks I am fantastic. Do you realize that right now He is up there preparing a place for me, so that when I leave here, I'll be dwelling with Him forever. Additionally, He has granted to me all good things as much as I need, for whenever I need of all that He possesses. And not only that, we talk about it every day.

You forget who you are? God sees everything in stark naked reality and says, in spite of it all, I'm satisfied with you because I'm satisfied with My son and you're in Him.

And I forgive you everything from before the foundation of the world for as long as you live.

Going to talk about one other thing. The end of verse seven. You say, "But how much forgiveness? I don't know if He's got enough to go around." Oh, yeah. "According to the riches of His grace." Now, watch that phrase, "according to." It's all grace. Just remember that. Grace is undeserved favor. It's all grace based on His love. But He always gives us according to His riches. How rich is He? He's rich, believe me.

Unspeakable riches, right? There aren't any words so there's no sense of trying to describe it. He has enough and more than enough. He has infinite grace. So, He always gives us forgiveness according to. The Bible doesn't say out of, it says according to. And that's a, that's a relative rather than an absolute. Like, for example, if I go to a rich man, he's a millionaire. And I say, "Oh, I have a need for $25,000 for a wonderful project. I'd like to do. Oh, it's so important to me. Would you mind supporting this project?" My brother, be happy to, and he writes me out a check, $25.

I say, $25. This is out of your riches. I go to another rich man, I say, "Rich man. I need $25,000 for this wonderful project for the Lord's work." He sits down, writes me a check, $30,000 says, "There's an extra five in case you need some more." Oh, you gave me according to your riches. See the difference? When God gives, He doesn't give out of, He gives what? According to. Always in abundance. Forgiveness according to His riches. As rich as He is, that's how forgiving He is.

All right, now the second one. The first result, forgiveness. The second one is wisdom and prudence, verse eight. In which He's abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Again, whenever God does something, He abounds. I mean, He doesn't just hand stuff out in little tiny increments. He dumps it on you. He abounds super abundantly. In two things, wisdom and prudence.

Now, this is the, the positive side. The negative side, forgiveness. The positive side, wisdom and prudence. He forgave us and now He gives us His plan. Let me distinguish these words. He made to overflow. The verb means to overflow, to super abound. The first word wisdom is Sophia. It has to do with wisdom in eternal things, like life and death and God and man and sin and and eternity and time. And it's theological. But the second word is prudence. And it's Phronesis in the Greek and it means it simply means insight into earthly things, day-to-day living.

Now, as a Christian, we not only have forgiveness that takes care of the negative, but positively God gives us the equipment to understand Him and to walk through the world on a day-to-day basis. Isn't that super? Wisdom and insight. So that we have all we're not just pie in the sky, spinning off great theological truths. We know how to put it into work.

So by wonderful grace He forgives our sin. And then He dumps into our minds and pours through our hands and feet and mouths principles for spiritual living in the midst of a world like ours. Spiritual discernment. We are the wisest. God has taken us into His confidence. Listen, God thinks so highly of you, beloved, as a Christian that He has given you the secrets of the universe.

And by the way, if there's anything you don't know, you can get it real quick because James 1 says, "If any man lack wisdom, let him what? Ask of God who gives to all men liberally and holds nothing back." I'm telling you, people. Not only has He taken care of the sin problem, but He's opened up to us the concept of His truth and how to live it in the world.

That's the results of redemption. I mean, that's real freedom. Lastly, the redemptive reason. Why did He do it all? What's the intention of it? What's the purpose? Verse nine. Having made known unto us the mystery of His will. That's right. He told us this mystery of the church and the body and all these fantastic things according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself. He did it on His own, with His own desires in mind, for Himself. But why did He do this? Why this incredible revelation? Why this amazing reality of salvation and redemption? In order that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, and beloved, that means the millennial kingdom and right on out into eternity.

When time is filled up, when the end comes, when the kingdom arrives and eternity comes, the new heaven and the new earth, ultimately, of course, are seen there. He will gather together in one all things in Christ, which are in heaven and which are on earth even in Him. Listen, God is redeeming in order that He might gather everything to Himself.

That will be the day when Paul said to the Philippians, "Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father, whether they be on earth, in heaven, or under the earth." Christ will gather the universe into unity. Right now the universe is splintered, it is scattered, it is splattered, it is divided. Satan rules, demons rule, and God will call all things into one in Christ and there will be incredible and eternal unity in Him, all things redeemed.

Why is He redeeming us? To make us a part of the final goal of history. To bring all things to Himself, and the rebels purged out, dismissed from His presence. That's the purpose. Macbeth said it, "History is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing." Wrong.

That's wrong. God has an absolutely clear, wonderful purpose. The completion of history. Everything comes together. You begin to see it in His millennial kingdom, ultimately in the new heavens and the new earth. All things one in Christ.

Are you redeemed? If you are, I hope you're thankful. All that God could possibly give, He's given to you. He planned it in the past. He worked it out in the present, in order that you might experience the fullness of it in the future. And it's all yours through faith in Jesus Christ.

Phil Johnson: You're listening to Grace to You Weekend, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. John's current series is titled Richer Than You Think. Now, today John talked about divine election. It's a subject that many Christians find challenging to understand and accept. In fact, some people may conclude that it's better just to avoid the topic altogether since it can lead to confusion and maybe even disagreement and debate. Well, some years ago, we asked John why we should deal with the doctrine of election at all and here's what he said.

John MacArthur: Yeah, why deal with the doctrine of election at all? The safe route would be to avoid it, until people hear it from some other source, hear it maligned, or discover it themselves in the Word of God and need an explanation. Let me take the opposite view.

I believe that anyone should understand the doctrine of election at the very beginning of their grasp of salvation. And I base that on Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus. Nicodemus wanted to know how to have eternal life, how to enter into the kingdom. And what's the first thing Jesus said to him? He said, "You must be born from above."

In other words, something has to happen to you that comes from heaven. Something has to happen to you that you have no part in. You didn't have any part in your physical birth, and you don't have any part in your spiritual birth. So, here is Jesus evangelizing this non-believer, this religious Pharisee, and the first thing He tells him is that he is seeking something that only God in His sovereign power can provide.

I I don't think we need to hide this doctrine. I think it needs to be right up front. I've dealt with literally dying sinners who have said, "What do I do? I don't want to perish. I don't want to go to hell." And I've said to them, "Salvation is a gift from God. It comes from heaven. You need to be born from above. All you can do is ask. All you can do is ask. And God promises that if you ask, He will hear that prayer and answer."

Phil Johnson: That's right. And friends, subjects like election are complex, to say the least. You won't have all your questions answered in just one sermon. So, to dig even deeper into more important and comforting truths about salvation in Christ, let me recommend John MacArthur's book called The Doctrines of Grace, published just in the past year. Order John's book on The Doctrines of Grace when you contact us today.

You can order by phone when you call 800-55-GRACE or visit our website gty.org. The Doctrines of Grace is reasonably priced and shipping is free. Again, to order, call our customer service team during regular business hours, that's Monday through Friday, 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM Pacific time. Call us at 800-55-GRACE or you can shop online anytime at gty.org.

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Now for our entire staff, I'm Phil Johnson with a question. Are your prayer and Bible study times becoming mundane? Well, John MacArthur's upcoming study called Enjoying God can help revitalize your communion with the Lord. So be here for 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on the next Grace to You Weekend.