Grow With Pastor Joe

The believer’s life is found in the riches of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Who I am, what I possess (both physically and spiritually), and how I behave is built on the foundation of the riches of His grace. The riches of His grace give us our wealth and guide our walk. His infinite grace is the source and strength of our spiritual wealth and walk. As we began this study of the book of Ephesians a week ago, we have been discovering what it means to be in Christ. It is the riches of His grace that planned our salvation in Christ, provided our salvation in Christ, and preserves our salvation in Christ. There is nothing outside of God’s grace in your life or mine. Everything has been touched by it either in eternity past or in the experienced present. All that you and I are and have depends upon the riches of His grace. If we took the grace of God out of the equation of our life, then everything else would fall apart. It is God’s grace that is the foundation and fruit of our life in Christ. Martyn Lloyd-Jones puts it this way, “It is grace at the beginning, and grace at the end. So that when you and I come to lie upon our death beds, the one thing that should comfort and help and strengthen us there is the thing that helped us in the beginning. Not what we have been, not what we have done, but the Grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. The Christian life starts with grace, it must continue with grace, it ends with grace. Grace wondrous grace. By the grace of God I am what I am. Yet not I, but the Grace of God which was with me.”

The riches of His grace are only made available in Christ alone, applied to the believer through faith alone in Christ alone, and accomplished in Christ alone. It is these great riches that from eternity past to eternity future work for me, in me, and through me for my eternal good and Jesus’ eternal glory. As we continue working our way through the book of Ephesians, we have seen the “Will of the Father” in Eph. 1:1-6 and now we see the riches of His grace in the “Work of the Son” in Eph. 1:7-12. These verses will powerfully show us all that Jesus is and has accomplished for our eternal good and His eternal glory. Once more, all things will be to the praise of the glory of His grace.

The very first jewel that is seen in the riches of His grace is found in Jesus’ redeeming grace. Ephesians 1:7 says, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” The grace that redeems and forgives is found in Christ alone. Notice that the verse begins with “in whom” showing us that the entirety of the Christian life from start to finish is found in Christ alone. Christian living is less about us and more about His life He has given to us. Ultimately, it is about the life of Christ in the life of the believer. That is what it means to be in Christ and have our wealth and walk in Him. Neither redemption nor forgiveness come from outside of Jesus Christ. There is nothing that you and I can add to make His grace richer in the redemption and forgiveness that we have experienced in Christ. Grace must be seen as the source of our redemption. Our eternal redeemed position in Christ did not come from within us, but it is His grace that invaded our life. The doctrine of redemption points us to the idea of being bought with a price for the purpose of being set free from bondage. An example of this that pictures our redemption perfectly is that of a slave being bought by another and set free. The story of our redemption is a literal rags to riches story. Romans 6:15-18 explains our redemption declaring, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Eph. 1:7 makes it clearly known that our redemption is “through His blood.” Our redemption is not by our merit, but by His mercy. Not by our righteous behavior but by His righteous blood. Not by goodness, but by His grace. When we speak about being redeemed by the blood of Jesus we are talking specifically about His sacrificial substitutionary death on the cross for sinners. 1 Pet. 1:17-21 explains this saying, “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.” We “have been bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:20). Our walk should match the wealth that we have been given in Jesus’ redeeming blood. He paid for what we owed but could never pay.

Not only is grace the source of our redemption, but it is the security of our forgiveness. What is the difference between redemption and forgiveness? The two are certainly linked together but redemption is the root of the fruit of being forgiven by God. His grace has done a redeeming work to purchase our redemption and forgiveness through “His blood according to the riches of His grace.” Forgiveness is the total putting away of offences. Jesus’ redeeming blood cleanses us from our guilt and carries our sin away without the fear of it ever being placed on our account again. The language of forgiveness immediately points us back to the Bible’s great picture of what it means to be truly forgiven. In the Old Testament, the Jews had to keep a yearly “Day of Atonement” for the covering of their sins. Leviticus 16 gives us the details of the requirements of the people but especially the high priest on that day. Essentially, the high priest had to make atonement for himself before he could do so for the people. Once the sacrifice for his own forgiveness is made, he would then cast lots for one sacrifice to be slain whose blood would then be sprinkled on the mercy seat inside of the “Holy of Holies” while confession of sin would be made. The other sacrifice would not be slain but would have the sins of the people placed on him. This one would be called the scapegoat. After the first sacrifice, the high priest would place his hands on the scapegoat and confession of sins once more would be made. Then, the scapegoat would be led outside of the camp and deep into the wilderness as a symbol that the sins of the people have been carried away. All of this points to something and someone much greater. Jesus is the true High Priest, substitutionary sacrifice whose blood is sprinkled on the mercy seat of God, and the scapegoat who has carried our sins away offering forgiveness to all who repent and believe on Him (see Heb. 7-9 for more explanation). If all that we ever had was redeeming grace, then we would be rich beyond measure. However, the riches of His grace in this passage continues to unfold our wealth and walk in Christ.

Ephesians 1:8-9 says, “Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:” These two verses show us that not only is grace redeeming, but it is also revealing. God’s grace reveals and faith responds to the glory of God. It is God’s grace that reveals the riches of our redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. It is the riches of His grace that reveal to us our wealth in our redemption and the walk of our redemption. All things that God has chosen to reveal to us have been revealed to us in His Son, Jesus Christ. All that you and I must know and can know of God is revealed by, through, and in Christ. John 1:1-14, Heb. 1:1-3, and Col. 1:26 each show us that all things that God has revealed to us have been revealed to us by the riches of His grace in Jesus Christ. God’s revealing grace has been overflowingly lavished on us “in all wisdom and prudence.” It is the wisdom and prudence of God that He reveals anything to us sinful creatures. It is the wisdom and prudence revealed by His grace that gives us understanding and the application of wisdom. The idea of these two terms is to show us that by grace we can have a wealth of wisdom so that we can walk wisely in this life. Grace is for our learning and living. Grace is for our beliefs and behavior. Grace is for our wealth and walk. Grace reveals God’s will for us through God’s word and work in Jesus Christ. He has redeemed us and revealed His will to us so we would respond in faith to His glorious work of redemption in our life. I wouldn’t know the wealth of my redemption without revealing grace. Revealing grace empowers my walk in Christ. The Lord gives the daily revealing grace to point us by faith to Christ. Perhaps one of the most glorious thoughts of all of this, is that God is delighted to redeem us by the blood of Jesus Christ and reveal to us the riches of His grace in His Son. He delights in revealing Himself to His creation. He delights in redeeming His creation. This thought will be developed over the next few verses.

Grow with me as we study the believer’s wealth and walk in Christ.

Grow deeper.

Grow higher.

Grow wider.